Building Back Up To 30 Deals a Year (long)

[Danny Johnson]

I’m getting my act back together and would like to show anyone that is interested how I am doing it.

My wife and I have been real estate investing for 8 years in San Antonio, TX. For the last several years, we’ve typically bought and sold between 25 and 30 houses a year. Our exit strategy is mostly to fix and flip retail, but also sell some houses with owner financing for long term cashflow.

Here's what happened and what I am doing about it:

Last summer my family took a vacation to the west coast. We went from San Diego to Seattle over three weeks, stopping in the major cities and San Simeon. What a beautiful place (the west coast in general).

Seeing Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose†was on my list of things I wanted to do and so we visited the Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, OR. Seeing this place really rekindled my desire to learn how to fly. I’ve wanted to learn for the last several years since I had flown with another investor down the shoreline of Lake Michigan. What an absolutely amazing experience.

So, as soon as we got back, I started researching flying schools and taking flights with different instructors. For several months, all I was doing was thinking about flying. Investing took a back seat and I was playing "semi-retired".

I ended up passing my checkride in November and immediately realized (now that my brain was starting to allow other thoughts) that we had quite an inventory of houses waiting to be rehabbed. I would never wish rehabbing 6 houses at one time on anybody. We had some that were already finished also that were just sitting on the market.

The market got really slow over the new year and I was hesitant to pick up anymore, especially because I was so wore out from dealing with contractors and rehabbing issues (the hardest part of this business in my opinion).

Fast forward to the present, the houses are all finished and on the market and we are getting them under contract. I now need to fill by deal pipeline again.

I feel like I am starting over (I know it is not completely starting over) because what you experience today is usually a result of what you did the last 3-6 months.

I was needing motivation and was thinking about ways to make the process more exciting. :idea: The result is that I have decided to share, with whoever is interested, the process. I am going to show how I am marketing, documenting the leads that come in, my analysis, purchase, rehabbing and selling of the properties for others to read about and learn from.

I will be posting regularly on my blog (in signature) as I go along. Please join me. I would love to hear your ideas and feedback. It should be a fun ride.