The one that got me HOOKED!

[Cary Love]

Hello BP,

I have never shared my very first deal I completed myself, that actually got me addicted to real estate investing. So I thought it would be cool to share my first experience in hopes that it may influence others. 

So it all started after I transferred to a college out in the DFW area. Up to this point I had limited experience in investing, but very knowledgeable from working with and in my fathers investments all over Tx. So as a student I was looking for creative ways to find myself a house to live in, while I look for more investment opportunities for my pops "bird dogging". I started out with fairly cheap inexpensive marketing. I am a public notary so I would meet tons of sellers, contractors, attorneys, and realtors weekly. Every meeting I would make sure they left knowing that I BUY HOUSES, and I would leave them with my contact info. I created and posted tons of craigslist ads, and mailbox flyers as well. 

Through my marketing I was able to get some finders fees, for sending deals to my fathers friends, and sending seller referrals to realtors that I've met through networking. Then finally my deal came. I got a call one day from an older lady who saw one of my craigslist post. She had a 2 bed 2 bath condo in Dallas she was looking at selling. The condo's ARV was about 60K, loan balance was 48K, and PITI plus HOA fees were about $640. The condo had a tenant thats live there the past 3 yrs and signed a lease for another year renting for $850/mon. So my question was why is she wanting to sell it?? Well she was actually ill and looking to move into another condo with some family. She had a senior citizen tax break for her homestead, which she wanted to transfer from the condo she's selling to the new condo she purchases.

Long story short I checked out the condo ran repair estimate, ran title search, searched comps, and everything checked out great. The seller and I agreed to paying her 1K up front for me to take over payments, and sign the deed to me. Helped her find another larger condo in the area and took care of the taxes at closing. The best part was actually after the transaction, she referred 3 others looking for the same type of deal. REI addict ever since. Happy investing!