vballdarin

Thanks MC.... Since I'm taking my "talents" to try a city outside my local area, I need to cut back on any un-needed expenses. If anyone has any other cost cutting ideas for their LO business....let's hear them! Darin (there's no way you can reach it with a 8 iron sir....trust me) Ray

Hey ya'll..... Not sure if anyone is familiar with the new style of faxing...... but if you're looking to have a fax for your office (and don't want to waste the money on a land line from the local rip-you-off phone company), which is what i'm trying to change...you may want to look into a few sites that offer the ability to fax using nothing but the internet. Send2fax.com is the one my sister uses and has had very good results with an 8.95 plan and 12.95 plan with your first month free. and Fax Thru Email from GoDaddy.com offers a 14.99 plan and 9.99 plan. Just wanted to pass along the info so that it may be helpful in everyone's business. If anyone uses this or knows someone who does, please expound on your experience for the rest of us who are just now moving into the 21st century. Darin (I don't like my local phone company) Ray

Hey MC....Just to let you know, I reported you to www.AttackWatch.com for your hateful rhetoric against the smartest President this country has ever had. I was told by his "TruthTeam" that if I see something.....say something! John....I'm trying to find the place on the EPA website to turn you in as well. You're just part of the 1% who's stealing energy from the poor defenseless Earth. Who knows how much global warming...ah....I mean...climate change you are contributing to in your house! You evil people have to be stopped!!!!!!!

It must have been WikiLeaks or Anonymous. They are trying to take over the most important informational sites and companies! Darin

Hidey Ho folks.... Here is your Christmas/New Years homework..... I need everyone's opinion/psychoanalysis on this one ESPECIALLY those of you who do mailings of brochures, postcards, etc. I need this to be as effective as possible for MANY reasons. 1) What do you think is the importance of receiving a Lease Purchase brochure direct mail piece with a local return address or local P.O. Box address in terms of how legit the homeowner/seller will consider the mailing & business as opposed to having an out of town return address? 2) What do you feel is the importance of having the postage stamp/permit on the brochure mailing coming from the general local area of said "target market" versus having a brochure which comes with an out of town postage permit? Would you think there would be any significance to that in a homeowners/sellers mind and would they even notice? I'm working out the logistics of living in SC while doing a mailing to a target market half way across the country. No pressure, now mind you. Either this is a success or I'm giving myself 1000 self inflicted paper cuts all over my body and then rolling around in a large pile of salt followed by lighting myself on fire then jumping off a bridge with C4 strapped to my body to explode upon impact. Thanks for the help guys and gals. Darin "Too fast to live...too young to die" Ray

Hey ya'll (that's the jargon I'm supposed to use since I live in the South)..... Not sure if this is the right category for this question but I'll leave it up to MC to figure that one out. Do any of you have a business credit card you use? I'm trying to find good deals on "company" credit cards for business. I'm in the initial stages of learning about the different types of cards, perks, usages, credit limits, etc. It would just be for purchasing brochures, marketing materials, and other things that I would want to keep separate from my personal credit card. I'm thinking that it would be 1000x easier come tax time too. Any and all information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Darin

MC's way is great. I agree. "Hey Mr/Mrs Homeowner, instead of having a Realtor show your house, how bout YOU do the showing since you know more about the house than he/she typically would. Not only are you saving the money by not paying commission, but since you're willing to show the house, I'll only have pre-screened QUALITY tenant/buyers lined up so you don't have to have a revolving door every other day with tire kickers. That sounds pretty good don't you think?" But....If they (seller or buyer) balks because they think i'm a "scam" because I'm out of town....."I'll tell you what. If you're serious about the house, when you have the money and the paperwork is ready to go, I'll fly out there personally to get the deal done and shake your hand while giving you the keys? How's that sound Mr Buyer/Seller person?" Darin

As per Craigslist......"The fee for posting a job in these cities is $25. This fee pays for one job in one category. (One job posted in two different categories would cost $50.)" I'm not ready to start having to PAY to try to find a bunch of people who may or may not be able to understand how to show a house or explain our lease purchase program to buyers when they call. Here's what I'm thinking........ What I'm going to do is try to obtain some houses in my target city. Then I'll take the calls from buyers myself. If/when they are serious about moving in & have the money, (after I've run a credit check, etc), I'll do everything via email/faxing/snail mail. If they balk (or the owners balk) I'll take a small upfront amount to "hold the house" via pay pal from the buyers and fly out to the city to sign all the papers, collect & disburse the monies in person. If I can make $3000-$5000 per deal, I'm more than willing to schedule appointments for a few buyers, pick a day every 3/4 weeks and fly out and collect some money. Once I get some $$$ in the business piggy bank, I'll then up my effort to find a "on the ground" Rep. Or if things go REALLY well...i'll just move there. What cha think? Any holes in my thinking? Darin

The amount of help I've gotten from the Forum over the past few years has been invaluable. I'm 10x more confident which has spilled over into other areas of my life......but......I'm just really hoping that we don't have to see MC in a Speedo & snorkel gear any time soon. Darin

Niceeeeee I'm working on figuring out a way to get a Rep in a land far, far away as well. It would be great to have a person "on the ground" in the area that I'm focusing so that they could do little tasks or handle little problems since I'm 34 states away. I put a quick ad on Craigslist "Real Estate Wanted" category to see what it got me. All I got way one guy who sent me an email with nothing more than....."How much you paying?" Needless to say, he's not going to be part of my "Team". Let us know how it goes. Darin

No pizza joint here o wise and knowledgable one......this is the Ft. Lauderdale location of Pittsburgh's "Almost Famous" Sandwich Restaurant..... Primanti Brothers.....where the sandwiches consist of grilled meat, tomato slices AND cole slaw & french fries INSIDE two pieces of italian bread. I may be making a trip down to FLA the end of July to Primanti's so I'll see if I can steal you away from all those scantly clad models on the beach for lunch.

Whoa!!!!!!! I got ripped off then!..........(being that I'm the surfer guy on the forum) No car/truck surfing included in my package deal I guess..... Well....come to think of it, maybe it was a good thing. While I was in Texas with John, it was 28degrees and when I saw all you guys in Atlanta, it was about 50degrees. I'm gonna hold out for the Plantation, FL seminar so I can hop on over to Primanti Brothers for lunch and then pop over to the beach to catch some waves.

One reason is the fact that there were over 1,000 Realtors (out of a total 35,000 people)in my 30 mile radius....The second is that Real Estate Agents consistently rank among the lowest respected professions. I saw SOOOOO much back stabbing, unethical actions, no accountability, sapping of money from my bank account for this fee and that fee, etc. Third is the fact that MLS access is no big whoop for what I wanted to do. How many SLO's or CA's are seriously in play when talking about houses over $450,000 and retirees over the age of 65 (both of which dominate my MLS area). I went through Weichert Realtors AND Keller Williams looking for an investor friendly Broker and met UNBELIEVABLE resistance when I mentioned anything other than a "cookie cutter" transaction. I understand that each of the Broker's in Charge had a certain business philosophy and wanted to run THEIR business THEIR way. I have no problem with that. I, however, have my own business philosophy and wanted to do things MY way. Hence....ditch the license and be MY OWN boss.

It would be her ad with her information and she answers the phone to deal with the buyers or sellers. I'm just the guy typing out the ads on all the websites....just like a person in India, Bangladesh, etc. ****And a personal note***** As of January 1st, 2011, after 22 months and a bunch of phone calls, I'm FINALLY off the books and out of the system as a licensed Agent in the State of South Carolina. Free at last...Free at last....Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last.

What Pilot is trying to say is that she wants to use my noodle because of my experience. After speaking with her again, she just wants me to advertise her company (kinda like a typical "we buy houses" person) on the internet for her since she isn't computer savvy.