man

I'm with you... I can't find a penny / nickel saver around here either.

The two ways Michael has taught us to make it as risk free as possible (its impossible for any type of investing to be risk free) is done in several ways. First off we start payments as far into the future as possible, two months prefferably. The other thing is there is a 30 day cancellation clause in our contracts, which gives us the first 30 days to walk away if we think we won't be able to move the property because something unexpected comes up. And thirdly, theres a clause in the contract stating we can cancel it at any time during the agreement, and not be held responsible for more than 1 months rent. While that is not risk free, I can afford to fork out one months rent if I have to.

Great Idea TPSG! Sounds like something we may all want to do, and the great part is we are all in different geographical areas, so we don't compete with each other Did you end up with a deal after talking to the homeowners? Keep us updated!

bella, where in the central valley are you located? I too am in the central valley, Modesto to be exact.

Sorry to butt in here... Putting flyers on car windows is a big no-no. You can get in a lot of trouble doing it. How do I know? Lets just say personal experience is a bit**. You can put flyers on doorsteps, but not on cars, and especially not in or on mailboxes. Just trying to keep us all out of trouble here.

Yes, actually I can reccomend a great book. I just spent the day studying the heck out of it, and it teaches you practically everything you need to know about subject to's. The author reminds me a lot of MichaelC, as he gives you full support. He gave me his email address, and even his cell phone number should I ever need help, or get stuck when I'm dealing with a potential seller. The manual will cost you around $160, but let me be the person to tell you, it's worth every penny. I don't think I could have made a better purchase than Michael's LO manual, and this subject to manual. I don't want to advertise anyone's work here, so I have PM'd you the link to the website for this Subject To book. Let me know if you have any questions, or better yet, let the author know and he or his assistant will be happy to help you. -man

Hey everyone. I haven't posted anything on here for quite a while. I'll be there on Thursday evening for the teleconference, so hopefully I'll get to meet some of you. My question today was for Michael. I've been reading up quite a bit on different methods of investing (I have some capital, so I'm not focusing only on l/p). Michael, have you heard of 'Subject To' purchasing? It seems to have some more benefits, and it seems easier to get the buyer qualified for a loan of their own after your term is up? Also the title is transfered to your name. Just wanted to get your thoughts on this. Thanks!

rburke, I wasn't fortunate enough to get out of the stock market before it crashed . The beauty of lease purchasing is there is no risk to you. If the market collapses, the worst I can see happens to you is that you pay the owner an extra month of rent, and cancel the agreement (you should always have a cancellation clause for you to get out if needed). Just get out there and start making some deals... don't get discouraged before you start. Good luck!

My question is... If I file the paperwork for a LLC, do I still need to have a regular business license through the city I live in?

Regarding title companies... I have found that they are more than happy to help you once they know what you are trying to do. I contacted an agent at Chicago Title Co. They gave me an account to their premier services, which I can log into from my computer and get instant property profiles. Along with that, I let him know what I'm planning on doing, and he wants to setup a meeting with me for next week to introduce me to one of the escrow agents and give me some material. Cool deal for me

Samantha, I'm curious, can you post what the ad you placed looks like? And in what section of the newspaper did you put it under?

I have a question about filling out the 'Authorization to Release Information' form that I got with Michael's book. The first four lines are common knowledge, but the area I'm not sure about is the 'TO' area (with four lines). Do I fill out my name and address there, or do I fill out the loan companies name and address there? A quick reply is appreciated. -man

I'm looking for a copy of the Purchase and Sales agreement (mls contract). Does anybody have a copy they can email me? Thanks!

To run in our local paper, that exact ad would cost $165.00 per 12 days. A bit costly... But well worth it if it gets you just one deal.

I have heard that some people offer mobile notarization services, where they will actually drive out to wherever you need them to notarize a document. Of course there is a slightly higher fee for this, but it may well be worth your time and the homeowners time.

Thanks for the suggestions Michael... I was also thinking of putting something like "Get CASH Now" above all of those that you suggested. What have you found to be your normal turn-around with flyers? I remember seeing you say something like 1 deal per 4,000? I should have my first lot of flyers printed by the end of next week, and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

I know everyone is telling me to get some deals before going out and spending money, but today I went out and bought a cell phone for business. I got one of those unlimited local phones. It'll cost me around $48/month with taxes, but the nice thing is, it's unlimited. I am not at my home very often, and people who call may not want to speak with an answering machine everytime, or some fancy voice script service, so I figured this way I can take my office phone with me wherever I go (in addition to my regular at&t cell phone). I would like to put out some flyers, since I have the capital to do so. I'd like my flyer to be a combination, so it appeals to the l/p advantage, and I also wouldn't mind buying some homes from people who are facing foreclosure, or can't make the payments anymore. I'd like to see some other peoples flyers to get an idea of what to put on there. I'm planning on having 1,000 at a time printed, and passing out on doorsteps myself during the mornings that I'm off. If anybody would like to swap flyers, my email address is mkoko@pacbell.net. Mine so far is very plain and comes mostly from Michael's documents. I can't remember who was asking about getting a copy machine, but I talked to the folks at Office Max's copy center, and for 1,000+ copies, they only charge $0.03/copy, which includes white paper, or any color you want ($30 for 1,000). Not a bad price at all. You can even send them the document through email, and they'll have the copies ready for you to pick up. I compared prices at Kinko's, and they wanted $64 to do the same job ($0.064/copy), and they wanted 24 hours to do it. Office Max is a far better deal. Anyways, I'll stop rambling here. Any feedback to a successful flyer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -Manoli mkoko@pacbell.net

I ran into an ad in the paper yesterday. I knew from looking at the ad, that it was an investor. It reads.... >>REDUCED, $219,000 to $206,000 for quick sale by owner. 4/2 in great location. 1039 Walnut, Oakdale. May consider lease option/purchase. 595-3508 or 639-1790<< Now, I looked up the information on this home through the assessor, and it was bought in September of last year for $140,000. I called the number just to find out what they meant by lease option/purchase and discovered some information. The guy was very down to earth, and told me that they picked up the house for a good deal, and put in a lot of work to make it nicer, he said it was a fixer-uper (new carpet, lanolium, etc.). I asked him what he meant by lease option and he told me that I'd have to put down a small deposit, and pay $1250 for 36 months. He said that $150/month would be credited towards the purchase of the home. Now, it would seem smarter if he offered a 12 month lease option, with a bigger rent credit in order to sell the home faster, wouldn't it? Since I know he's open to the l/p idea, should I try and make an offer to him for a 36 month lease purchase, with no option money, no rent credit, and a substantially lower selling price? Probably not a good idea, but I think if the guy marketed the property better, he could sell it fast. Or is this perhaps an opportunity for a co-op?

Doesn't sound like a motivated seller to me. I'd stick with your offer of 202k, and walk. Might be a good idea to mention to him the advantages of the l/p. His house is being paid off during those 3 years, so that puts more equity in the home, and he doesn't pay any closing costs.

I contacted the county I live in to see if they have an eviction list, so I can call these homeowners and see if they are interested in l/p because of their past problems with tenants. The county referred me to the county sheriff's civil division. I haven't been able to get anyone to pick up the phone at that division. Has anyone else had any luck in obtaining an eviction list, and if so, who did you contact to get it? Many of these tenant screening services check for prior evictions, so there must be a list or database somewhere right?

I know this reply is late, and you may have already solved your problem... But it sounds to me like you are more in need of a laser printer, since most of what you are saying you print is documents saved on your computer. There are several laser printers available on the market now for dirt cheap. I know I saw one at Best Buy (a Samsung, I think around 13-17ppm) for only $169. That includes the toner (which alone costs somewhere around $70). At that price, you can buy several of those for the price of one used copier, which you may run into problems with. You can also probably throw the performance guarantee on there for an extra $20 and use the heck out of it until it breaks and then you'll get a new one I probably sound like a salesman, but I'm just expressing my ideas as to what makes business sense.

I made a database using Microsoft Access, where I enter the phone number and any info I get on the property from the seller. If I go to call a number I've already dialed, it brings it up so I don't. Works quite well so far on my first 10 calls

Ok guys, I made my first 10 calls tonight. The first one was the hardest to make, but after that it was a piece of cake ... I of course got turned down by everyone, but at least everyone was nice about it. Left messages on a couple answering machines also. I scoured the paper for FSBO's, and that was all of them, so I guess its off to the FRBO's now. My business cards should be here any day now

By 'cold' calls, are you refering to calls to FSBO and FRBO ads, or calls to random homeowners?

I've got yet another question maybe you guys can help me with. I have a little bit of money to play with. I have about $45k I can use. Would it be to my advantage to use that money as a down payment on a house (or 2?), possibly some fair deals from FSBO's, and then L/P them out to tenant/buyers using favorable terms? Perhaps 12 month lease blocks would work good. Is there any disadvantages to me actually owning the homes and doing this? I could probably get a 30-40 year loan on the home (or homes) to keep the payments low (and tax benefits high), since I won't probably be keeping the homes for more than 1-2 years. This could also help me out quite a bit in learning how to deal with tenant/buyers, so when I do actually find a motivated seller, I will have the t/b part of it down ... Anyways, I just wanted to get your input on what I should do with the money I have available. Thanks in advance.