I’d like to thank J.P. and Terry Vaughan for this awesome site, everyone at the CRE Online Convention who was so caring and supportive and everyone else who contributes to this site. It truly is an amazing resource!
In my senior year in college, and I had been bitten by the real estate bug. My story starts off similar to everyone else; I saw the Carleton Sheets commercial and was intrigued. I ran a search on the Internet and Creative Real Estate Online came up. I can honestly say it was a life-altering event!
I read every article and monitored the message boards like a hawk. I was completely clueless about anything relating to investing in real estate but after reading and educating myself it started to become more clear.
I took an interest in investing in mobile homes because the concepts were easy to understand, and I didn’t need much money to start. I ordered Lonnie Scruggs book, Deals on Wheels, and devoured the information within.
I was all set to go when I realized, “It really can’t be done where I live.” See, I was attending school five minutes outside of Boston, and there aren’t any mobile home parks within 50 miles of the city. Oh well, when life hands you lemons make lemonade.
It just so happened at this time a good friend of mine was looking at buying a new Nissan X-Terra. The dealership was going to give him $500 trade in for his 1993 Honda Accord. Well my mind started racing, and I began to think about everything I had read in Lonnie’s book.
I knew this car was easily worth more than $500, so I offered him $700 cash on the spot. SOLD! I went to the registry and got the title put in my name. I ran an ad in the local want ads:
Clean car with all service records.
Priced $600 below book @ $2,400.
I sold the car the first day the ad ran for $2,400. It was a win-win-win situation. My friend got $200 more to put down on his new car, the guy I sold it to got a well-maintained car for below book price, and I pocketed $1,700 for knowing how to put the deal together and recognizing an opportunity!
I’ve since done this with two other cars and have made about $5,000 in cash. Peanuts compared to some of the real estate deals I’m working on, but it gave me a chance to get a little creative and to think “outside the box.”