Help! I've got Analysis Paralysis!

[Brittney Rogers]

Hi Everyone! I am coming back to get some advice. 

Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. It can be a big ole pain in the rear-end. Do you feel me?

Everywhere I turn, someone says yes you should do this _______ [fill in the blank]

And then the next person says, No way! Didn't work for me! Do this_______ [fill in the blank]

See where I am going with this? And if I think REALLY hard, I question whether people are really telling me much about their marketing at all and are being quite hush hush about it. Why is everyone so secretive?  Maybe I can get some more insight on this forum without me being 'competition' I guess...

So, to you... Is it okay if I ask my dumb questions?   After being on some Q&A Calls before, I have realized, hey that person just asked a "dumb" question that I was thinking and wouldn't ask because I thought it was dumb. Obviously our questions aren't so dumb to the baby investors, but you seasoned investors, would you help us out? :)

The next thing I am struggling with are the real estate TERMS. Can someone suggest maybe a "Real estate for dummies" type book.  I have learned a lot already, but need some organization, something to unscramble my brain. I know my business partner would tell me I am over-analyzing everything, but I feel someone has to learn it right? That's why we mesh so well, but I digress. There's just so much! How do I learn it all?

Also, if you would like to befriend me on here, PLEASE do so. I welcome it! I am full of questions, don't want to bother people who don't want to be bothered, and could use a friend or two! 

I'm in Texas by the way and travel all over Texas for work, so bonus points if you are a Texas investor! Talk to you all soon, I hope.

[Account Closed]

Brittney,

I live in California, but played for the Oilers back in the day! I love Texas and have a patient here (I'm a chiropractor) that is a part of one of the biggest developers in California. I also suffered from Analysis Paralysis and I think that is expected with something as big and complicated as REI. I read books, bought investing programs way back to the Carlton Sheets program, but never took the leap! Eventually you will get to a point that watching from the sidelines is not enough for you. Watching is not going to get you a retirement income 10 years from now! While I am only slightly ahead of your position, it took me getting sick and tired of being sick and tired! I started an LLC for some online businesses that have done pretty well and, on top of our successful chiropractic practice, finally had no more excuses to just "watch" people's success stories in Real Estate Investing. I still fall into some analysis paralysis and have joined bigger pockets...twice, am a part of *************'s Insider Elite group, also signed up with the Clever Investor program. The one thing I noticed about all these "gurus" is that they just dove in and made it happen. They didn't now everything, made some mistakes along the way, but that is how we learn. The advantage of BP is that you can ask people that have been right where you are and I don't feel like competition is an issue. There is an abundance of wealth out there just waiting for you to claim it! If you take a glass of water from the ocean, does the level drop? No! Abundance abundance abundance! Here are the exact steps I would do in your case.

1) join a local Real Estate Investing Group (you can find a good meetup in your area)

2) contact local real estate agencies via email and let them know you are an investor that needs an aggressive agent that isn't afraid of making lowball offers to sellers. I did this and got connected to a broker that has been investing for over 30 years! Focus on Keller Williams or Remax because they are aware of the importance of investors.

3) post "ghost ads" on Craigslist, Postlet or even in the paper. A ghost ad is where you take a great deal that has recently sold in your "hot areas" (the agent will tell you where those are) and you just post it as if it hasn't sold yet. Make sure not to post any address so people won't be able to look it up. If it's a good deal YOU WILL GET RESPONSES. I have found over 6 CASH buyers in my area doing this.

4) try bandit signs. Only post them on the weekends and make sure they are in the area you're interested in and at busy intersections. You can simply google 'busy intersections in Austin' and a list will pop up. A bandit sign should just say something like "We buy houses ANY condition. Then a phone number and/or website". Don't use your real phone number but rather go to Google Voice and get a free local number that will be forwarded to your cell. It's a great service and will prevent you getting weird calls at all hours because of the ability to ONLY have calls sent to your email. It's awesome! 

5) If you don't have a website, get a local 20 something to make you a Wordpress blog. You can use that for all your online stuff. Make sure you have an optin for people to enter their name, email and phone number to join your email list. You can even offer them a free ebook or something to entice them to give their info. You can do this for buyers AND sellers. Make sure to have separate sites for each.

6) When people contact you from the signs or website, make sure you have a script of what to say. You need to ask them their name, phone, address but more importantly WHY they are selling. You want people that NEED or HAVE to sell because of financial challenges they are going through. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS and empathize with them. They will end up telling you the real story.  You obviously need to ask what price they are asking, neighborhood, condition of the property etc. to get a good idea of if it is worth your while.

7) Always defer to a "higher power" who can be your husband, brother, sister or even your dog. The point is, this takes you out of the equation during negotiations and makes your "business partner" they bad guy. 

8) I am starting out as a wholesaler which means I go in and get the absolute best price I can for the property while making it a win-win for everyone involved. Then I get it under contract which gives me the rights to the property for a certain amount of time. 30 to 60 days or more is best from your end because you then find a CASH buyer that is willing to take over your contract by you assigning it to them. There are some specifics on assignment contracts and purchase agreements and each state is different so find a good real estate attorney that works with investors to make sure it is 100% on the up and up. Make sure you have added your "assignment fee" when you "sell the contract" to your buyer. For example, if the house is worth $150,000 and you can get a great deal at say $80K then there is some wiggle room for you to make a good $20-30,000 while still giving the buyer a great deal. Everybody wins! The seller gets out of a tough situation, the buyer gets a great deal and you make a nice chunk of change for setting it all up! Best thing is you didn't have to use any of your credit OR money! Make sure you always have a good exit strategy written into the contract so that if you don't find a buyer, the contract simply expires and you aren't out any serious cash. You will have to pay SOME earnest money to get it under contract so the buyer knows you're serious but that has been done for as little as a few hundred bucks!

Hope that helps a little. Feel free to ask any and all questions. When I talked to my big developer, she said she LOVED Texas and has several properties out there.  My sister is also a UT grad...small world huh?