Sold !

Then, Doug said..... Brian, You are an investor. Tell them that you are going to try to find a buyer for their house in order to make a profit for your efforts, (worded differently, of course). To say anything else is misleading and the last thing you want to do. For them to think you are doing this out of the kindness of your heart and for no compensation is a bit silly, don't you think? Be up front and honest, they will not only appreciate it, but they will develop a trust in you and will refer you to their friends and acquaintances when the need arises. Honesty is the best policy.

Alan, Let them use whatever lease contract they want to.....after all, theyare the pros at renting already if they are landlords now. It's the OPTION agreement you want to make sure is yours. They have no experience at this end of the deal and you do. Their lease + your option agreement and everyone is ------> !

Brian, Submit an offer. They'll say yes or no. When you are ready to submit the option, do it in the form of a Purchase and Sale agreement with a clause in it that states something like the seller grants the buyer 90 days from the date of this contract to purchase this property at $____________. They sign it, you go find a buyer for the paper.

EZ, I have only 2 deals under my belt since I am very part-time with my investing right now......BUT....the BEST script in the world ain't gonna do ya no good if you are talking to the wrong people. I can't speak for everybody, but, my 2 deals came from landlords who are renting right now and had no idea that they even want to sell their property. I approached them as someone interested in renting, got some quick info on the property and then told them I was looking for a place I could rent for a year or 2 and then possibly BUY at the end......"WOULD THAT BE A POSSIBILITY, Mr. Landlord?" It's Yes, No, or Maybe. You want to hear Yes or Maybe. Then, you can go into the script in MC's manual and change it around so you are the consultant that has a ton of people ready to rent now and buy later. Your odds of success increase dramatically when you speak to someone already in the renting game\, as opposed to an owner who wants to sell his house and NOW you are proposing he become a LANDLORD for a year ! There is no ONE script to accomplish the CA deal, but the basics are in the manual. Good luck !!

Brian, You are limiting yourself, but that is a GOOD thing in this case. Before you become a "landlord" with monthly payments coming due, you want to have the money behind you to pay the bills. This can be done in a few dofferent ways. First, get involved with money people, or set yourself up with private lenders who have the cash ready to pay the bills when you need it. More effective, though is doing the smaller cash deals, like CA's and Options where you can get in and get out quickly for $3000 - $10,000 a pop to build your own cash reserves (and confidence) so you CAN take on the projects like the one Pete describes here. He's been at this a while and probably started small like you are finding yourself starting right now... By the way, NICE JOB, PETE !

That's why you should write about it !!

You ought to write a book.

Thinking out Loud: Let's say you buy a 90 day OPTION from a seller for $125K on a house that comps out at $200K. Do you suppose you could Auction off that OPTION? Would home-buyers have any idea what you were doing/talking about? Has anybody ever done this?

Yeah, you got hosed somewhere or you didn't do your homework. Offer should be 20-40% below comps for the area. It gives you room to play and negotiate. Do your homework.

Alright, what's the deal with Kall8? $2.00 set up and $2.00 a month? I don't get it. Something's wrong when you compare the others at $15- $35 a month......... Confused,

I see. But, normally aren't you doing a 5-Day auction?

VERY NICE ! You seem to do long auctions. How long usually and why? Thanks,

21+ days left? 35+ days left? How long are your auctions, JON?

How much was your option for, Jonathan (if I may ask)?

You are walking a fine line there, Bev, aren't you? You ARE an investor. Don't get caught up in semantics and lead anybody down a false path. I'm not sure what the difference is in calling ourselves what we want to, but something just tells me that the truth about what we do needs to be right there skimming the surface, at least, no? It's kinda like the guy who drinks WAY too much every day saying, "I'm NOT an alcoholic.....I don't go to meetings !!"

TP.........and old college term. Your house is marked for Toilet Papering, amigo.

Correct. Avoid this at all costs. My opinion: If you don't have $50.00 to invest on a business card, you shouldn't even think about going into business.

Vista print is great if you want to look cheap. Their small ad on the back screams that you, too, are small time and not serious about your business, no matter what it is. Go to a local printer and spend $50.00 on 1000 cards. Now, what do you put on them? Bev has the right idea in my opinion.

What's your "out", Jonathan? With a P&S agreement, you are obligated to buy the house. I'm sure you have an "escape" clause in there somewhere, right? Are you asking for a 60-90 day close? Do you have a clause in there that states that if you cannot find a qualified buyer for the agreement that you can cancel? Do you make it an option by adding a clause in there that says something like: "Seller grants buyer exclusive 30 day (60,90) option to purchase property at said price and terms" ? Curious

Claude D and a little C&F ?

Ha ha ha ha ha ... Not in my backyard ! I bought my house less than 2 years ago, already have $100K equity and I only put like $10K down ! It's a good and sound philosophy, but, in raging markets like mine and many around the country, you can count on equity falling from the trees with 15-20% appreciation.

I have been looking for that thread. Does anybody remember where it is? Thanks,

Sure. Make it 10% - 20% of the Option Fee up to $1000.00, with a minimum of $500.00. You'll get their attention and when you PAY them their first referral fee, you'll hear from them again and again and again. Do the math: $3000.00 Option Fee minus $500.00 = $2500.00 for getting a deal done you might not have found otherwise. Sounds good to me ! Anyone else?

Adam, Realistically, can you challenge someone to get results? Probably not. You CAN challenge them to do MEASURABLE activities like calling 50 FSBO/FRBO's in the next 30 days, or mailing 1000 postcards/letters, just like the previous challenges. All those activities produce results, anyway. But, they are pro-active steps leading to a desired goal. I'm all for being accountable, but not for results. The n00bies like me will try our best and maybe come up short. We are losers if that happens. But, challenge us to do the activities necessary to GET results that we can measure and say that we DID or did NOT do. If we DO them and don't get results right away, we can just keep on doing them because they will work eventually. Challenging me to get a deal in 60 days if I haven't gotten one yet is scary and a challenge I might not even know HOW to accomplish. Let's back up, if we can, and start with a challenge that can be measured by the accomplishment of "activities" rather than merely getting "results." Thanks for listening.....

It says $34.95 now. Where did that $5.00 go? maybe I'll find it in an old pair of pants next year......