Bigger Pockets 90 Day Challenge - A Success Story

[Matt Alvino]

Hey everyone, 

Closed on my first investment property just shy of a week ago. A big part of my success, besides the podcast, was committing to the 90 Day Challenge. I started on Jan 28th after a Brandon Webinar, made my first offer on Mar 31st (~63 days later), and closed on May 4th (~96 days later). I wanted to attach the spreadsheet I created to track my journey, but realizing now I can't actually attach a file... So this post is a lot less epic than I planned... However, I will copy the table in here, this will likely be hard to read, but hopefully helpful to some...

Any day where I do not have notes is a day where I either assessed deals or researched rents. I plan to make some sort of a checklist out of the other notes I kept along the way. Here is the table of my journey:

Day	Date	Start Time	End Time
1	1/28/2021	5:55 PM	6:15 PM
2	1/29/2021
3	1/30/2021	8:00 AM	8:15 AM
4	1/31/2021	3:00 PM	3:15 PM
5	2/1/2021	6:15 PM	6:30 PM
6	2/2/2021	5:50 PM	6:20 PM	Emailed two loan officers asking if they could give me an idea on the interest rate I can get (heard nothing back)
7	2/3/2021
8	2/4/2021	7:20 PM	7:35 PM
9	2/5/2021	10:20 PM	10:35 PM
10	2/6/2021	7:25 AM	7:40 AM
11	2/7/2021	9:20 PM	9:35 PM
12	2/8/2021	4:20 PM	4:35 PM
13	2/9/2021	7:20 PM	7:35 PM
14	2/10/2021	7:00 PM	9:15 PM	Attended the Feb StL Real Estate Investor Meetup
15	2/11/2021	12:25 PM	12:40 PM	Scheduled time with Peter MacKercher at StL Mogul and filled out his questionairre.
16	2/12/2021
17	2/13/2021	9:10 AM	9:25 AM
18	2/14/2021	6:20 PM	6:35 PM
19	2/15/2021	4:30 PM	4:45 PM	Chatted w/ Peter MacKercher from StL Mogul Real Estate
20	2/16/2021	4:30 PM	4:45 PM	Reached out to Peter's loan officer and researched Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development group regarding their tenant screening process
21	2/17/2021	7:30 PM	7:45 PM	Filled out my loan application
22	2/18/2021	7:05 PM	7:20 PM	Signed off documents on new umbrella policy for primary home
23	2/19/2021	12:30 PM	12:45 PM	Provided Chet more info on goals and investigated the docs he needs
24	2/20/2021	11:10 AM	11:25 AM	Reviewed pre-approval, reached out to Chet and team with questions and thanks, emailed Peter asking next step and some questions on other things to consider right now
25	2/21/2021
26	2/22/2021	7:00 PM	7:15 PM
27	2/23/2021	7:20 PM	7:35 PM	Got back to Tyson with Mogul (agent) and reached out to Eric Brand from Shelter Insurance, researched the type of lawyer I would need for writing a lease (Real Estate lawyer)
28	2/24/2021	4:45 PM	5:00 PM	Spoke with Tyson about what I am looking for
29	2/25/2021	8:15 PM	8:30 PM
30	2/26/2021
31	2/27/2021	7:00 AM	7:15 AM
32	2/28/2021
33	3/1/2021	4:25 PM	4:40 PM	Spoke with Eric Brand from Shelter Insurance
34	3/2/2021	5:55 PM	6:10 PM	Updated spreadsheet with insurance info from Eric Brand and reached out to Tyson on advice on making low offers
35	3/3/2021	6:05 PM	6:20 PM
36	3/4/2021	6:55 PM	7:10 PM
37	3/5/2021	7:40 PM	7:55 PM
38	3/6/2021
39	3/7/2021
40	3/8/2021	6:30 PM	6:45 PM
41	3/9/2021	8:35 PM	8:50 PM
42	3/10/2021	7:00 PM	8:00 PM	Attended the Mar StL Real Estate Investor Meetup
43	3/11/2021	7:30 PM	7:45 PM	Sent Tyson a list of properties to try and walk through. Added some lines to my spreadsheet to just show general targets based on rent levels
44	3/12/2021
45	3/13/2021	5:10 PM	5:25 PM
46	3/14/2021	2:00 PM	3:30 PM	Looked at two properties today. One on Arkansas and one on Flad
47	3/15/2021	2:40 PM	2:55 PM	Shared my deal spreadsheet with Tyson and sent him an email explaining the details. Also read the MO Agreement of Sale
48	3/16/2021			Stone Cold Day
49	3/17/2021	12:45 PM	1:00 PM	Emailed Tyson about the property on Dunnica that looks promising
50	3/18/2021
51	3/19/2021	7:50 PM	8:05 PM	Sent Tyson an email about getting in to Dunnica and a house he sent over on California
52	3/20/2021	8:05 AM	8:20 AM
53	3/21/2021	2:00 PM	3:30 PM	Visited 3400 Dunnica and two properties on Califormia
54	3/22/2021	7:45 PM	8:00 PM	Added a 10 year cash flow and CoC ROI column to my spreadsheet
55	3/23/2021	7:05 PM	7:20 PM
56	3/24/2021
57	3/25/2021	5:00 PM	7:30 PM	StL REI Happy Hour
58	3/26/2021	6:05 PM	6:20 PM	Filled out most of a loan application with Flat Branch, but then got nervous I was actually applying for a loan as opposed to a getting a pre-approval
59	3/27/2021
60	3/28/2021	11:00 AM	11:15 AM	Walked through my spreadsheet with Tyson
61	3/29/2021	7:50 PM	8:05 PM	Spoke with Jacob Day from Flat Branch lending and confirmed the application was just a pre-approval so I submitted. Also added columns to my spreadsheet that show cash flow & ROI with Rent and CapEx are excluded
62	3/30/2021	7:55 PM	8:10 PM	Messaged Tyson about two properties that the deals made sense and we put an offer together for both.
63	3/31/2021	11:15 AM	11:30 AM	Put in offers on two properties (Oleatha and Osceola) and visited the Oleatha property
64	4/1/2021	7:30 PM	7:45 PM	Oleatha offer accepted. spoke with Jacob at Flat Branch and filled out disclosure form for F&B
65	4/2/2021	7:35 PM	7:50 PM	All kinds of **** happened today... got quote from Jacob that beat F&B, signed off. Told F&B the sitch. Did a deep dive of multiple scenarios for Oleatha and know the key is raising rents to $700/unit
66	4/3/2021	9:20 AM	9:35 AM	Submitted bid requests and called two tree services to inspect the large tree in back of Oleatha for health. Davey Tree service is going at ~10 AM Tuesday
67	4/4/2021	11:45 AM	12:00 PM	Took earnest money to Elite Title, Lauren paid it, and paid for tomorrow property inspection ($775)
68	4/5/2021	8:30 AM	8:45 AM	Uploaded mortgage statement, W2 and paycheck stubs for mortgage.
69	4/6/2021	10:00 AM	2:00 PM	Inspection at Oleatha, all went well. Almost too well...
70	4/7/2021	7:50 AM	8:05 AM	Filled out title company buyer form and then realized I cant sign it, so then decided to walk down to the office and sign... Emailed Eric with Shelter to let him know the address so he can quote me insurance. Sent over other loan related forms to Flat Branch.
71	4/8/2021	2:30 PM	2:45 PM	Spoke with Tyson about the inspection, due to how good it was, we are going to simply ask for the lateral line cabled. Also spoke with Eric and he sent over an insurance quote that I then provided to Flat Branch
72	4/9/2021	3:00 PM	3:15 PM	Sent an updated mortgage statement to Flat Branch as well as connected my NWM account to AccountChek. Then I emailed financial advisor Rob on how to get the closing funds in a liquid account.
73	4/10/2021
74	4/11/2021
75	4/12/2021	4:45 PM	5:00 PM	Reached out to Peter @ Mogul to start process for setting up property management, ran a Rent-o-Meter for Oleatha to get its take on rents nearby
76	4/13/2021	7:05 PM	7:20 PM	Peter is going to send me a contract for PM on 5/3, reviewed his team of contacts to determine if I should reach out to any of them and then got overwhelmed by the three types of lawyers... prepared questions for tomorrow's MeetUp, some about lawyers...
77	4/14/2021	7:00 PM	8:45 PM	Attended the Apr StL Real Estate Investor Meetup
78	4/15/2021	7:05 PM	7:20 PM	Emailed Jacob at Flat Branch to ask if getting a new credit card for real estate would impact my loan approval at this time. Also researched the difference between business and personal credit cards.
79	4/16/2021	6:55 PM	7:10 PM	Spoke to Jacob and he said it would be better not to try and get a new credit card right now because it could raise questions, but it likely would not cause me to lose my loan. I am opting not to pursue one.
80	4/17/2021
81	4/18/2021
82	4/19/2021	9:25 AM	9:40 AM	Let Chelsea at Flat Branch know that funds had been transferred to my closing account and emailed Peter asking for a representative example of a property mgmt contract. Took a call from Credit Plus to confirm my home mortgage
83	4/20/2021			Provided Flat Branch confirmation of trades made to closing account
84	4/21/2021	6:00 PM	7:30 PM	Bigger Pockets webinar "How to become a real estate millionaire"
85	4/22/2021
86	4/23/2021
87	4/24/2021
88	4/25/2021
89	4/26/2021
90	4/27/2021	8:10 PM	8:25 PM	Reached out to Tyson to get an idea on closing time. Reviewed final disclosure doc for mortgage. Got appraisal on Google drive.
This is where the challenge stopped, but I wanted to keep taking notes
	4/28/2021	7:55 PM		Sent email to the title company to get the closing time scheduled
	4/29/2021			Confirmed closing at 11 AM on May 4th at the title company
	4/30/2021
	5/1/2021	11:15 AM		Got cashier's check for closing
	5/2/2021
	5/3/2021			Tyson confirmed Oleatha passed occupancy checks
	5/4/2021			Met at title company for closing, collected keys from vacant unit, applied for AMEX Blue card
	5/5/2021			Began providing checklist items to property management, changed electric/gas in to my name for vacant unit, priced out new fridge/range for vacant unit
	5/6/2021			Provided more checklist items to property management, setup new checking account at local credit union, met with property manager and asked all my questions
	5/7/2021			Sent paperwork to City Water to have service transfered, literally have to fill out a form that is a photocopy of another form... this is why St. Louis cant have nice things...
	5/8/2021			Dropped keys off at Oleatha for Property Mgmt
	5/9/2021			Mothers Day and was not allowed to work at the property...
	5/10/2021			Organized all the files associated with the Oleatha purchase in my inbox and Google drive

My goal is to show other newbies out there that taking this big first step is possible and the 90 Day Challenge really helped me stay committed to making progress every day. Keep the faith and something good will happen.