JamesT

Hi Michael! Long time no talk! yes that is indeed a solution to the problem. We were hoping to use FHA because of the low down payment requirements ( we actually want our TB's to cash us out). I understand it's much harder to find low down payment programs now a days! thx! James

In Washington State we are hearing from our mortgage brokers that it will be difficult to get our tennant buyers FHA financing when it comes time for them to exercise their option. We must be on title for 3 months or our tennant will not qualify for a FHA loan. Since most of these will be Sandwich leases that presents a problem. We are trying to figure out a good solution to this problem. Any one else facing this and have a good solution? Thanks! James

Interesting post Alan, you make a very good case for cold calling. I think motivation is tough for making these calls even if you know it's a sure way to make money. Why is a good question. This last weekend I was attending a seminar and one of the presenters was talking about his old days of cold calling. He had an interesting idea. Here is a quick summary and it's application towards LO's. Let's assume it takes 100 calls to get one motivated seller to do a lease option and that you make on average $5k for a CA. Create a 10x10 grid and in each square write $50.00 Now each time you get a rejection cross off one box. YOU JUST MADE $50.00. The key is switching your thinking away from rejection and towards the money you are making doing your calls. Heck most of the time I'm sure it won't even take 100 calls! I think it's an interesting idea, maybe worth a try! James

MSNBC has a good list of charities that are help the victims. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6770278/?GT1=5936 Also, I'd suggest look up any charity your thinking about giving to at this site. http://www.charitynavigator.org They give the facts on how much of your money actually makes it to the people they are helping! One more thing. Check to see if your company (if you still work for one like I do!) will match your funds. My company matched my donation 100%!!! So I basically doubled my gift! Cool! Thanks for starting this thread Bev. I can't remember a bigger disaster in my life time and encourage everyone to give whatever your comfortable giving to help the millions of victims. JT

Okay, I admit it, I'm looking for some New Year Cheer! I'm just getting started and looking to see how all of you pros did this year. Give me something to look forward to in 2005! Give me some incentive to keep making all those calls! JT

Oh, Mike, by the way. Do they provide an email if available? thx! James

Wow, thanks for the link. I'm going to try it. For the past several weeks (I'm just getting started in this biz) I've been paying a gal $8.00 an hour to scour the internet and send this info to me. Usually it's about $24 bucks a week, which is no big deal. But Warnocks is cheaper, and I'm hoping it's more complete! I'll report back here on how it goes! James

I started out using the small business contact manager application that ships works with Outlook andships with Office 2003. It did a beautiful job. However, like others have noted, it was time consuming. So now I'm just using Excel to track when I have called and emailed FSBO and FRBO adds. It's simpler and faster. James

Hmm, this is interesting. On my second email to people (after they respond to the first bland email) I've been including the LPA doc. However, my first priority is to sign people up to Sandwich Lease. So I guess I should be sending the FAQ doc. Anyone figured out a good way to target the customer with emails that first go for a SL then if that doesn't work go for the CA? Thanks! James

Okay, I'm just getting into this business, and this situation sounds scary! How do I (we) avoid this in future deals? Good luck jmccade! James

Oh, one more thought on doing things faster. I'm just getting started but also have a couple of young children and a more than full time job so efficiency is important to me! For my emails I've been using Microsoft Office to print merge to email. It's very easy. I just make a spreadsheet with one column for the link to the property (I get them online) and another column with the email address. You can track other things in the XLS if you want as well. I then created a merge document that merges the link into the email and it then sends all the emails at once. They all are customized with the specific link of the property, so that when they reply I know which property they are talking about. After I collect the emails it takes less than five minutes to send all the emails. Fast and easy! James

Yes, this is a great idea. I've been thinking of having someone go through the classifieds every week and pull out all the FSBO and FRBO adds, dump the key contact info into a spreadsheet and send it on to me. Since it's all over on the internet, the person could be anywhere. In fact.... anyone here know someone who would like to make a few extra bucks have them PM me! thx James

Do you know people who work for local companies that may have a lot of highly paid exec's? Maybe ask friends who work their to post your fliers on their lunch rooms. Or at my work for example, each floor has a snack area where there is a board where anyone can place fliers. Depending on the companies in your area this might be a good idea. Good luck James Caveat: Poster is a newbie RE investor and maybe talking out of his you know what!

Thanks for the words of wisdom Dan. Speaking of which, what do you use to manage your call lists? What do others use? James

Hi MrMonster; I'm new here and new to LP, but I'm looking forward to learning! I've been investigating 800 numbers as well. One that I like and think I may use is from this company. http://www.kall8.com Take a look and see what you think. Good luck! J