One thing I have noticed, something that really irks me, is that a lot of REO agents never change there listings from “Active” to “Pending” when they have an accepted contract.

I could understand if they want to continue to show the property but when you call they say “We have an accepted offer on the table” and imply that you should not waste your time to go in the house.  Sure a lot of pending properties fall through the cracks and can be hijacked by the experienced and sneaky investor.  But if you are going to tell me not to waste my time then you might as well list the property as pending.

The reason I am really irked about this is because of one property in particular.  It was the property that forced me to get a letter along with my proof of funds stating that business A (my money guy) agreed to loan my business the funds to buy a property.  We called the listing agent and she told of this along with the fact that they had already received an offer that day and that we needed to get our offer in by the close of business….which we DID NOT!

I could not get the paperwork together fast enough and thought…ok, lets move onto the next.

So a week or two has passed and I see the property still listed as active and I call up my realtor.

“Let’s go look at property A and B and submit an offer on the property we saw before.”

So my agent called the Realtor and she said to send the offer over…so we did.

A few hours later we get a call from the listing agents office and are told that the property is already pending with an accepted contract.

There are certainly some extenuating circumstances that played into this scenario but if the property was marked pending, like it should have bee, then my Realtor and I never would have wasted 45 minutes drawing up all the paperwork!

Just writing about this gets me worked up…..

Ross Treakle

I am out the door to grab a few drinks with friends before going to a birthday party for my Realtor!

Enjoy your New Years!

The only similarity between any of them has been the requirement of a 10% EMD.

Property #1

Offer was submitted with all required Realtor forms along with Proof of Funds and EMD.

After offer submitted they came back and asked for highest and best because they had multiple offers on the property.  I lost out because I was not willing to go higher than my predetermined amount.

Property #2

Offer was submitted with all required Realtor forms along with Proof of Funds and EMD. In addition I had to sign the 15 pages of addendum’s provided by Fannie Mae.

I am still waiting to hear back on this offer.  I do not expect them to accept my offer, rather I think I will go into negotiation.  I have my predetermined offer and I am not willing to go any higher.

Property #3

Offer was submitted with all required Realtor forms along with Proof of Funds and EMD.  No addendums were required but the Realtor has requested that I have a letter from my lender saying they will provide the funds.

This is a little bit of a strange situation.  I am buying the property into my LLC and the funds are coming from a separate business.  They have said that my proof of funds must match up with the buying LLC.  OR…I can get a letter from the business who is holding the funds saying that they will provide $X amount of funds for the purchase of 123 Street.

I am noticing that there are a ton of hurdles to jump through when offering on a Fannie Mae property.  Some are easier than other and all of them may require something a little different.  I am not sure why this is but it is a good learning experience and all I can do is learn and continue to make offers.

I already have my eye on several other properties and plan on continuing to make offers until I can get a few under contract.

The last two are still up in the air and I will keep you posted.

The point of this post is to let you see some of the differences that you may encounter while dealing with Fannie Mae owned properties.

Good Luck and Happy Investing!

Ross Treakle

My thoughts have shifted from doing one home at a time to doing multiple.  My brother, who has been an active real estate investor for many years is switching his focus off of short sales due to the recent legislation and he is going to be practicing the same investment strategy as I am.

He told me last night that his goal was to buy, fix, and flip 20 homes in 2010…I immediately responded that my goal is 21.  It is nice to have someone to push me and if you can find someone to push you than I think your chances of success increase.

Right now I can feel the momentum building as I have overcome some of the initial deal funding hurdles as well as contract issues (Fannie Mae) that had to be dealt with only once.  I can see that I am getting streamlined in my efforts to make offers.  I have properties lined up to go see and make offers on the minute I get word back on the properties I have already submitted offers on.

I am building momentum!

To start the ball rolling it did take me longer than I would like, but I have slowly picked up speed and things are starting to happen.  It took me years to find an investment strategy I was truly comfortable with, but now I have chosen and I have taken action.  I have followed the recommendations, making a few tweaks here and there to fit my personality.

I am working on getting the guys behind the course to let me offer it to anyone who wants to read and follow along with me as I take my journey.  The course is closed right now and it is rare that they take on new members these days.  But the course did click with me so I hope that it will click with you as well!

I am building momentum and I am going to be a successful real estate investor!

What is your path to success and are you building momentum?

Ross Treakle

Last week I told you that I was getting back into the real estate investing game full time.  This involves first screening properties and making offers.  Last week I was hoping to make two offers on bank owned properties but I was only able to make one.  I will tell you why in a second but first let me tell you about the offer I did make.

The property is a Fannie Mae owned home that is listed above what the home would be worth if it was completely fixed up.  I have noticed that a lot of bank owned properties in my area get listed purely based on comps as opposed to the actual condition of the property.  So our offer comes in significantly below asking but it is the price that makes since for an investment property.

As an investor it is important to note that you make your profit when you buy, it is when you sell that those profits are realized.  Buying at the right number is the #1 factor dictating your success.  If you buy too high, your profits will quickly go away.  In my area that means I am having to make a lot of offers, many of which will get rejected, but the goal is to land an accepted offer enough to have a successful and profitable real estate investment business.

I have not heard word back on this property, but if we go into negotiations I expect to get a 20 page set of addendum’s from Fannie Mae which will trump the initial contract I signed.  This is just one of the many guidelines that Fannie Mae has and there is nothing that an investor can do to avoid.

Why did I not make a second offer last week?  Because Fannie Mae requires that the first 15 days one of their properties is on the market that only home owners may make offers.  After day 15, then investors can step in and make offers.

Another Fannie Mae guideline is that your Earnest Money Deposit ( EMD), must be greater than or equal to 10% of your offer price.  So on a $50,000 offer your EMD must be $5,000 and on a $500,000 house your EMD must be $50,000!  This certainly helps to weed out the pretenders from the investors who actually have the cash lined up to make a real offer.

On the second property I plan on submitting my offer on Wednesday of this week.

In addition, I am going to give my Realtor a call after I post this to go look at three (3) other properties, all of which are priced a little closer to where my numbers need to come in and order them in priority.  My goal is to increase the number of offers I make each and every week until I land a deal or two…maybe even three.

You will never get a deal if you don’t first make an offer!

Cheers,

Ross Treakle

For the past four years I have been an internet marketer who has dabbled in real estate investing.  I enjoyed having email lists and sending out something and watching the money come in.  The problem was that I was servicing an industry that I had very little personal experience in.  Sure I had bought and sold a few properties, but I hardly consider myself a real estate investment expert.

But that was alright, I did not position myself as the guru, rather the promoter of the guru.  And I will be the first to tell you that it was a good run!  It is really sad that I know a lot of “guru’s” out there who have not done a real estate deal in years!  Those guys were never people that I promoted but they do exist.

One of the benefits from being a promoter is that I was sent course after course of educational materials to screen before promoting.  So I probably have the education that actually surpasses many guru’s…but they have me beat in real world experiences hands down.

A quick recap of the last few months looks like a business sliding into the deep depths of despair…but I look at it like a blessing.  My online marketing has dried up and I am no longer adding new subscribers to my database.  Thus, my subscribers have stopped buying and the revenues have slowly dried up.  I will continue to promote but not as hard core as I did before, my focus is FIRST on becoming a full time real estate investor.  SECOND, serving anyone and everyone who will read my blog by sharing my journey from real estate novice to full time investor.  And THIRD, being involved in a few promotions from time to time but not until I have had a chance to fully screen and approve of the material being offered.

Now today…where am I today?

Today I am actually writing this while I am waiting on my Realtor to call me back and go walk through 5 homes.  My guess is that three of them have potential and I am going to figure the cost of repairs, take into account my desired profit margins and come up with an offer.  I think I am going to prioritize the offers and just go down the line.  I made an offer the week before my wedding and it was an adrenaline rush.

The home had been reduced over the weekend and my Realtor called up the listing agent.  He was able to get some intel and we realized that I could offer significantly below asking price and get my offer accepted.  Well, we did that except so did about 4 other investors and we start playing the highest and best war.  That is when the seller comes back and asks for everyone to submit their highest and best offer.  I raised my offer to my predetermined price and not a dollar more.  We were outbid!

But there is a very important lesson in what I just shared.  Investing is about the numbers, you cannot let your emotions dictate your actions.  If I did that, I would probably have a property to flip, but I would also be working with slim margins, which is not where I want to be on my first deal as I am getting back in the saddle!

And tomorrow…by that I mean the future.  I am going to continue to look at properties and run the numbers.  Make offers and I am going to get a property here very soon.  The more offers I make, the better my chances of getting one accepted.

I have a guru friend who says real estate is not about location, location, location…it is about making offers, making offers, making offers.  That could not be anymore true.  In order to make offers you have to have first studied the market.  That means you know the best areas to invest, what properties in that area sell for when in good condition, you know everything there is to know about the area.  I have spent several weeks driving around my target area before making my first offer!

My investment philosophy is not about buy one property, fix it up, resell, repeat.  My strategy is to buy one, continue looking for others, fix it up, start looking really hard for others, and then resell.  I want to have at least one more property being worked on before the first property sells.

And then I want to snowball the business.  Sure I could survive doing one deal at a time…but why do one deal when you can do multiple?  The funding…that is a topic for later discussion.

I gotta run because my Realtor is buzzing and it is time to hit the pavement and check out some potential investment properties!

Remember…Educate, Act, Prosper!

Ross Treakle

I have to be honest, it has been a while since I have been in the real estate investment game.  But just as many of you reading this right now, I am working towards closing a deal soon and putting some much needed money in my wallet.

I will tell you more about my story over the next couple of days but in the mean time, I want you to check out a video from a few people who I look up to and respect.

They are Tony Robbins, Frank Kern and John Reese.  These three people are legends in their respective fields and they sat down to talk about potential.  They see a problem with so many folks who buy good information to make money, and then fail over and over again.

This is a big problem in the real estate investment community as well as the Internet marketing community (my main area of business).

This is a very powerful video that I have already watched several times since its release last week and I plan on watching it several more times before they take it down (although I am not sure when that will be).

Watch The Video!!!

Cheers,

Ross Treakle

Word of mouth and referral marketing is a critical aspect of any business, especially in the service industry.  What your peers and potential customers think of you can either make or break your business.

In the video above, I share some of my thoughts on word of mouth and referral marketing as it relates to a business I am involved with as a legal assistant.

In the past two weeks since becoming affiliated with the business I have had two separate occurrences where I was able to share the business with a real person at a social function.  I had two separate outcomes from each, but both will serve to grow that business.

In the video you will elarn why it is critical to share your story with others, how to use the “Tentacle effect” to your benefit by asking the “Question”, and one mistake I made that you can learn from.

In business it is important that we never stop learning and I hope that I am able to impart some basic material on you that will either spring you into action or have you change your old habits in order to better yourself and your business.

Cheers,

~ Ross Treakle

I know for me, that answer has changed over time depending on where I am in my life.

When I first got the entrepreneur bug nearly 4 years ago, my motivation was to be able to pay my bills.  I had just graduated from college and did not have a J.O.B.  Luckily I just just sold an investment property and had received a very generous graduation gift from my parents, but I was still motivated to find a way to pay the next months bills out of income from that previous month.   If I could keep my little nest-egg, I would be in good shape.

Over time that nest-egg began to dwindle and paying my bills became a very big motivation…afterall, I am not the 9-5 type of guy.

After a while, the motivation shifted to my girlfriend at the time.  I was ready to get engaged and obviously that costs money.  And now my focus is on our marriage on Nov. 14th and life after that point.

The focus and the goal is not about the money, the motivation is about leading a happy and fulfilling life with my bride.

This is all about me…but what motivates you?

What pushes you to be a better person?  To be a more successful entrepreneur…or maybe even to just quit your 9-5?

If you are not clear on where you are going or what it will look like when you get there, how are you supposed to know what to do if you don’t know where you want to end up?

I recently was asked to take the simple question of what motivates you and draw a big picture.  I was supposed to go past the question and figure out what my world would look like if I achieved everything I had wanted.

What would my house look like?  Would I be married?  Have kids?  What kind of cars would I drive?  How many weeks (or months) of vacation I would I take per year and where would I go?

I would like to challenge you to follow through with this exercise.  Take a few minutes and draw a complete picture in words of what your typical day would look like if you achieved your dreams.

When you are done, take that peiece of paper and stick it on your wall…What motivates you?  You have an answer!

Cheers,

~Ross Treakle

And before the release of their 3 steps to monetizing social media release, I had started thinking about something…

Which is more effective…sending direct affiliate links on twitter OR sending a link to you blog where you have a review?

You are reading this because you got a link to this blog from twitter, but I do not think the answer is that simple.

Lets take a look at both scenarios and the positives and negatives of each.

Direct Affiliate Link

Pros: you will get more clicks through your affiliate link.  When using this method, use basic marketing principles and try to come up with a headline type of post followed by your affiliate link.  I have not tested but there would be no harm in using a masked affiliate link as it would likely only increase response.

Cons: very easy to alienate your followers by promoting either a squeeze page or sales letter.  You will quickly lose followers and those who still follow may not pay as close attention to your posts.

Blog Post

Pros: will likely have more readers of your blog post than those who click the direct affiliate link but have fewer who click the link in your blog (I know…that is a con).  The folks who do click the affiliate link will be more prepared for the offer because your blog post should pre-sell them to take whatever action is required.  You have the ability to impart some knowledge and education.  If you continue this pattern, you will likely see more long term growth than using a direct affiliate link.

Cons: less clicks through your affiliate link (maybe).

Overview…I honestly do not have a problem using a mixture of both!  And even though Perry Belcher says to never tweet a sales or squeeze page, I have watched him do the same thing! I think there is a time and place for both although I must agree that an overall business strategy of driving traffic to a blog is a much better, sustainable business model.

And don’t forget, you can do the same thing with a YouTube video!  My flip video recently busted but bet I will be getting a new camera in the next few days!

After all, that is part of Perry Belcher’s strategy.  He says to use FaceBook to promote your blog and twitter to promote your YouTube videos.  I am going to use twitter to promote both the video and the blog…why not!

Either way you break it down, Perry Belcher and Ryan Deiss are onto a good social media strategy that can not only help to grow your business but also add some dollar signs to your bottom line.

Check out their new PDF

Cheers,

~ Ross Treakle

Before you hit the back button, read the next paragraph (and I promise to answer the Einstein reference before I finish)…

After watching the first two training videos (which are awesome) I realized that I had already started to follow the techniques described with my two twitter accounts and have started to make a little money in only a few short weeks.  What I realized was that the videos will ramp up my earnings and progress me even further along in social media, and that is just the FREE stuff!

Watch The Videos!!!

One of the concepts was tying in your blog to every social media platform you use.  And how did you find out about this blog post…through twitter most likely!

I am not using all of the tricks and techniques that this “guru” shared in his free videos, but you can bet your ass that I am going to start to grow out my social media presence!

I am sure that every Internet marketer and there brother have been promoting this social media matrix report thingy and they will all probably be offering all sorts of bonuses to people who buy through there link…I really have no bonuses to offer, but I feel like I gotta tell you about this free material.

You are obviously a twitter user and I am guessing that you may have a blog (you can get one from WordPress for free)…so this content is most likely something you should be watching.

Get The Free Videos!

About the title of this blog post…”Albert Einstein”.  the “guru” in the video is wearing a shirt with an Einstein quote that may just be one of the most inspirational and real quotes I have heard in a long time…

“Imagination is more important the knowledge” ~Albert Einstein

Cheers,

~Ross Treakle

P.S. after you watch the free videos, would you come back here and leave me your thoughts?  I would really like to start a social media dialogue because it is one of my favorite new topics…