Several weeks ago, JP Vaughan entered the chat room, and I promised her that I’d write a when I did my first deal. And so, I’m going to write about my deal that I did last week. The numbers wouldn’t astound you. But it’s not the numbers that count. I’m writing the kind of success story that I wish I’d seen earlier.
You see, in a way, this was not really my first deal at all. I actually got into real estate investing several years ago. I purchased a Carlton Sheets No Money Down course and quite a few. And I bought a few properties.
Now, I’m a big fan of the information in Carlton Sheets’ course, but I learned a few hard realities: Just because you fix up a house real nice doesn’t mean that a tenant is going to pay their rent. And roofs, furnaces, etc. aren’t kind enough to ask you if it’s okay with you financially, if they suddenly need immediate replacing.
Oh well. I decided to try to find another route, so I read more books and acquired more real estate courses. I ended up meeting a Realtor/investor who promised to find me great deals for me to buy and then sell on contract. And I trusted him.
Unfortunately, by this time I had read too many books about getting rich in my underwear, so I literally let him handle everything. Big mistake! He swindled me and quite a few others. He went to jail, and I went to the (financial) cleaners. And my wife nearly made me promise to forget my real estate investing dream.
Then I found this site. And I returned to this site almost nightly! I read and I read. And I reopened my courses and bought quite a few more. I got to a point where I could read posts on the and know what the would advise, but that I wouldn’t dare advise because I hadn’t “walked the walk.”
I told my wife that I was going to start again. Though I’m self-employed as a computer trainer, the income is unpredictable. So she was willing to let me try. And I told all my friends that I was going back into real estate investing. And then something very sad happened: Nothing.
I mean, it wasn’t that my efforts weren’t working. It was that I wasn’t doing anything. There was always TOMORROW. I always had something else to do. I’ll make my fortune in real estate…tomorrow. I know what to do…I’ll do it tomorrow.
Two weeks ago, something very nice happened: I got depressed. By coincidence I ran into several friends on several different occasions. “How are you?” they asked. “I’m fine. I’m switching careers–going into real estate investing” “Well that’s great Ronnie, but isn’t that what you told me a year ago?”
Could a year have gone by so quickly?
If that weren’t bad enough, my wife asked me why I hadn’t done anything for the last few weeks with regards to real estate, considering that I didn’t work every week of the year. I didn’t have a good answer, other than the fact that I’d always had something else that “needed” to be done.
And then, it hit me like a ton of bricks: It’s very hard to make money in real estate if you don’t make any offers. And after age 21, a month gone by feels like a day. It goes by too quickly. So I finally got serious. I placed an ad to find , and I found one.
Now, the house was in an area that I wasn’t looking to do business in (semi-nice area in reality, but perceived as lower income and crime ridden). And this violated the “rules,” but, I made it happen:
I found a buyer (via an ad), and I assigned the deal to the buyer, and I’m out of it. No money down on my part. The buyer put several thousand down as option consideration, and I also got a note with payments due monthly. The seller kissed me when it was all done. I solved her problem and got paid for it.
Hope you don’t mind if I leave out the specifics, but they’re not quite as impressive as many of the other success stories. Besides, my point is not to astound you with high figures.
I want to thank a lot of people: Claude Diamond, Carlton Sheets, Ron LeGrand, , Jim Piper, Karp, Joe Kaiser, Ed Garcia, and (unbeknownst to them) encouraged me to get my first deal done. I am indebted to all of them, for educating me and enlightening me to their (sometimes differing) points of view.
This deal happened only a few days ago, and I don’t plan on this being my last success story. But my point is this: I’m a different person today, now that I have my first deal behind me. I’m no longer a real estate “wannabe.” I’m not even a “newbie” anymore, in a sense. I’ve actually done a deal! And I’m determined to do several a month on a consistent basis.
When you actually have a deal, you’re forced to learn the nuances of what “works” in YOUR area that can’t be found in any course. So if you can relate, please take my advice: Learn as much as you can about investing SAFELY, but then go out and do something!
Get started. So what if your first deal doesn’t yield $20,000; maybe the next deal will; or the one after that. But I’m living proof that you can make $0 in real estate if you say you’ll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is today.