djbusch

I'd like to have your yellow letter guy's info. Hand writing them? Meh...

I got a call on the signs yesterday - from city hall (the caller gave her name and left a callback number, unlike the fine officer did Friday evening). It seems it was the city that swiped my signs Sunday morning. I'm not terribly worried about he city prosecuting me, but if their crews are out pulling signs up on Sunday, what day is safe to post them? These guys aren't screwing around!

I figured out why only 1 seller called. Somewhere between yesterday afternoon (I saw most of my signs still up) and a few hours ago, someone scoured the city and stole all but 2 of my signs. Bandits made off with my bandit signs! LOL! Good thing I have more blanks & stakes...muhahahahahaha!!!

Well, the deadline the "officer" set for me came and went, and he didn't call back. Maybe he's subpoenaing Google for my home address so he can send me my fines. LOL I changed my greeting. I probably should have done that long before now anyway. All in all, only 1 seller called. Maybe it's just a slow weekend. Maybe I'm putting them in the wrong locations. I'll try something different next week. Oh well, time to go pick up whatever signs are left and put them in the garage until Friday...

I put up 25 bandit signs in my small city last night around 7:00. At 11:00, I get a voicemail from someone, purporting to represent the city police department, demanding that each and every one be removed within 24 hours. I must admit, I was concerned...until this dimwit claimed the PD would obtain my information from Google (for my Google Voice number). The caller, whose number was "private", went on to explain that Google has been very helpful in such matters of late. Here's the unbelievable part - you don't have to give Google any personal information to get a Google Voice number. I'm sure the only reason this "officer" knew it was a Google number was because I hadn't changed the default greeting from "The Google Voice subscriber you have called..." Lesson learned. I'll change the greeting right away. LOL

My point is simply this: at this time, in this country, I still believe there are more "makers" than "takers." If the makers get active in electing real fiscal and social conservatives to offices small and large, we'll see a push back against the out of control government spending on entitlements and "free stuff" for the vunnables who mindlessly vote for Democrats every damned time. We all have to get involved. It's no longer a matter of waiting another 2 or 4 years for the problem to correct itself.

All we can do is elect Senators and Representatives who will push back against the "free stuff" crowd (Democrats). Whether this happens here and now or down the road (a la Greece), it's bound to happen. We can't sustain the status quo of 50% (or more) of the populace living on the backs of the other 50%. People aren't working, but they're eating, driving cars and talking on cellphones. 50 years ago, that would have been an affront to most Americans. We need to bring back the shame of accepting government handouts. I say end all social programs now. Local churches and community organizations will take up the slack in helping those truly in need. For the lazy entitlement slobs, substitute the food stamp debit card for a community gruel pot. It's more than they deserve.

Oh boy...let me rant for just a moment... Nearly 20K votes in Philadelphia and not a single one cast for Romney? 99% Democrat in Cuyahoga County Ohio? What about all those polls that showed Romney & Obama tied (or Romney ahead) the very week before the election? Then there's the curious case of the packed Romney/Ryan venues and the half-filled Obama appearances. What about the Republican election observers being tossed out of their polling places? Or the Obama propaganda on the walls of the polling places? Gentlemen (and ladies), I submit to you that this election was a Democrat hack-job (i.e. it was STOLEN). I believe that Mitt Romney conceded too easily, and that Republican lawyers should flood every "swing" state Obama won to verify the outcome of the elections in each state. Say what you want. This is what I believe.

Well fiddlesticks!! There must be a middle ground here somewhere.

Well, since I've stopped mentioning the actual terms in the ads, I can only assume I'm not marketing well enough. Daily ads on craigslist, ebay classifieds & backpage must not be effective anymore. I need to come up with a new budget-friendly method...

Sounds like a barrel of monkeys! Skype works for me, too (GonzoREI).

Doug, I can agree with you on this. I've been advertising for "rent to own" buyers for over a month and haven't received a single decent lead.

Quite possibly true. I have had an irrational fear of the phone, like it's a hand grenade dipped in ebola. It was only yesterday that I finally mustered up the cajones to dial the numbers and talk. Facing your fears is HARD!! However, I will defer to your wisdom in this instance and remove my phone number from the 1st e-mail. I don't want to explain what I'm proposing over the phone 20 times a week. Still, I have had nearly zero contact with sellers beyond the 2nd e-mail. Should the verbiage be tweeked to fit today's market conditions?

Michael, they're calling after the FIRST e-mail. What I'm finding is that a lot of them believe that I personally want to lease/purchase their home. I may have to revert that first e-mail back to the original format (no phone number). It's just very exciting to have such a response rate. And the Packers...I guess we'll see if Sunday was a fluke when they face our hated rivals (da Bears) tomorrow night.

Upon reading the advice of one of the many wise sages on TNI, I added my full name and telephone number to my first e-mails to FSBO/FRBOs on craigslist (a la MC's 2-email method). Much to my surprise (yeah, I'm a little thick), people started calling! A lot of people, in fact! Over 20 calls in the first 2 days. I had to shut down my automated e-mail script today just so I can catch up with the backlog of voicemails. My question is this: Should I even be calling these folks back? Of the 3 I've spoken to tonight, 1 is selling a mobile home for $8k, one has a hunting cabin up in the Upper Michigan hinterlands and the other rushed me off the phone when I admitted I don't have any buyers lined up for the area where her home is. I also feel like I'm doing something horribly wrong on the phone. In talking to all 3 sellers, I gave them the spiel about how I find sellers interested in lease/purchase and pair them up with buyers wishing to improve their credit and build equity at the same time. I'm pretty sure I have the $8k guy sold on a pure option (the profit potential is staggering on this deal...LOL) for $4k, but I think I need to smooth out my spiel before I turn of any more sellers (like little Miss #3 above). Suggestions? Thanks for reading my rant. We now return you to NFL football season. Go Pack (stop losing, knuckleheads!) Go!

Not to get too deep into politics, but in November 2008, the economy went into a nosedive. It was suffering before that (a new congressional majority assumed office in 2007), but 2008 was the turning point. Anyway, I'll find a way to market this property. The lady contacted me this morning, all but begging me not to back out of the deal. I'll make it work.

LOL! I love the ingenuity of that approach! Yes, I work a J.O.B., around 60 hours per week just to keep the lights on and my Chihuahua fed... I realize it's harder to make a buck today than it was, say, prior to November 2008, but I'll keep on. Hopefully sometime around November of this year, it will get a tad easier.

Dee, there really aren't any "large" areas in my part of Wisconsin. I live in the largest market north of Milwaukee already. I'm renewing and reposting and reworking my ads daily, but so far I've managed to pull only spambots out of the ether. And none of the spambots are following up. LOL

Steve, that sounds like great advice, and if I could afford signs right now, I'd do that immediately...but I can't. It's the age-old dilemma - I need to sell the deal to make money, but I need money to sell the deal. I may just tell these folks I can't help them at this point and keep marketing for buyers while working on finding new sellers. Eventually I'll get everything pulled together and knock one out of the park.

I've discussed various aspects of this particular deal here over the past few weeks. Now I get an e-mail from the sellers telling me (essentially) it's time to fish or cut bait. They want an offer in their hands, like NOW, and they're growing ever more impatient day by day. Normally, a seller this motivated would be a golden opportunity to make some cash, but I'm having problems finding a tenant/buyer. In fact, I haven't heard from even a single promising prospect since I began marketing for them over 3 weeks ago. Of course, I'm working 60 hours a week (so I have no spare time) and my budget is tight (so craigslist is the only marketing outlet I can afford), so there's no way I could carry the property in a SLO situation. The sellers want to make an offer on another property by this weekend, and all I can think is how badly I got creamed holding another SLO home in the past. I don't want to back out on them, but without a single t/b in the pipeline and no cash reserves, do I have any other option?

MC, Good points, but I have to point out that most t/b's wouldn't know option consideration from a Fullback Option (yeah, football's back, baby!!), but they are familiar with the "down payment" concept. I suppose it is wise to make the distinction, one being refundable and the other not so much. My plan is to check their employment & rental background out first, and proceed with a credit score if/when I determine they've been truthful up to that point. I believe it would be smarter to get an actual signature before pulling credit, anyway. Anyone can claim they were authorized by some unknown entity on the Internet to pull their credit, leaving the investor in a tenuous legal position. If the applicant signs an actual authorization, I'm on solid legal ground to pull their credit. Additionally, it gives me an opportunity (if they're local) to meet face to face with the prospect and get a feel for them. If I'd availed myself of this opportunity with my previous deal, I suspect it would've turned out much better. I've updated the application, but I'm not going to chew up a bunch of MC's server space uploading it every time I change it. I'll post it on my blog (the link is in my sig) for anyone who wants to look at and critique it or even hijack it, change the name at the top & use it for themselves...

Good advice on the 5% thing. I just don't want a bunch of knuckleheads sending me applications on which they believe their charming personality would be a fine replacement for a cash down payment... As far as the domain goes, I'm setting the PDF up with a "formmail" script on my site, so the user will get a polite "thank you" message and won't have to send me an e-mail explicitly. The gmail thing is just there as a stopgap while I'm working the bugs out of the formmail thing. Thanks for your input!

I placed an ad on craigslist for buyers, for one particular property. About10 people have responded, and I'm suddenly struck with the horrifying concept of having to personally call each one of these people without knowing anything about them, their financial situation, employment status, etc. The entire concept makes me want to spew, so I came up with an alternative... I'm sure the concept of an application for t/b's is as old as the lease purchase itself, but I've added a new twist: this application submits ITSELF to me via e-mail (soon via web script - much more tidy), so I'm not bothered with tire kickers, relentless questions, etc. The prospect fills out the form on their computer, clicks the "Submit" button, then waits for me to contact them. To me, this is a sweet alternative to unnecessary phone calls from people who have no business contacting me to begin with. I've attached my application PDF here, so everyone can take a look at it. The basic premise is that each individual applicant completes one, even if he/she is looking for a home with another person. Now, having scoped it out, does anyone think I've missed anything with it? Or that I'm asking the wrong questions? Lease Purchase Application v1.1 - 120813.1003.pdf

Excellent advice MC and Steve. I can't let my enthusiasm paint me into a corner. If the numbers don't support what the seller wants, they just don't. I'll contact her today and ask if she can drop the CMA in the mail. On an unrelated note, I'm increasing my craigslist marketing to include 2 nearby markets, plus all the FRBOs contained in all 3 markets. If I expect to get anywhere in this business, I need to get the phone (or e-mail) ringing. I can't afford cards, bandit signs or flyers at the moment, so craigslist will have to do.

I hadn't thought of it that way. Just looking for the sweetest deal possible. If they won't budge on the price, the terms have to be attractive. I'm in the process of finding a friendly agent to pull some comps for me. I don't really have anything to offer or even promise them at this point, so I feel silly asking.