20 deals in 2016! Thank you BiggerPockets!!!

[Philip Marsh]

I just wanted to take a minute and thank BiggerPockets for helping my wife and I have our first successful year in real estate.   There are soooooo many details I could share but I will keep it brief.

I was first introduced to BiggerPockets in 2015 while listening to Dan Miller's podcast, 48 days to the work you love. I started listening to the podcast and have been hooked ever since.  

In 2016 we did 4 fix and flips, 14 wholesale deals, and bought a 2 rentals (1 duplex and 1 SFR). All while working a full time job and honestly could have given real estate a lot more focus.

Looking back, I wasted a lot of time on things that really didn't matter or contribute to our success.  This year I'm going to focus on 20% that really matters.  Focus will make you rich!!

Can't wait to see what happens in 2017!!    God has been good to us!  Hope everyone else has an awesome 2017!  

If anyone would like to connect, please feel free to contact me.

[Philip Marsh]

Thanks everyone! 

@Chris MasonI don't know about top 3 or how to rate them but these are the things that come to mind............... hiding behind my computer, browsing websites, building websites, designing business cards, trying to figure out what SEO is, building apps in PODIO  aghhhh!!, probably wasted months doing that.   Those things do not create revenue.  I felt busy and kept telling myself I needed to do those things but I didn't make any money doing it.    The uncomfortable things are what bring revenue.  Whatever you are afraid of is most likely what you should be doing.  

In regard to wholesaling,  the only thing that matters is buyers and sellers.  Everything else is just a distraction.  Talk to as many people as possible every day.  Create systems that allow you to talk to even more buyers and sellers every day.  Then build a team so you can talk to even more buyers and sellers every day.  lol.   Simple...........right?

A mentor is very helpful too.  A good mentor will help you focus on what matters.  Otherwise you are just reinventing the wheel. 

My first wholesale was an off market referral from my realtor. It was a probate. I originally intended on buying it to fix and flip it. He wanted 45k for it and I had very little experience at the time. I offered 30k. ARV was roughly 75k. House needed a roof and complete remodel inside. roughly 35k-40k worth of work. I should have offered less but I was honestly worried about offending him. He accepted my offer and I decided to try and wholesale it. I didn't know any buyers and had no experience. I thought, who would want to buy this? Contractors! I called the local Home Builders association and got a list of all their contractors and just started calling. After about 30 calls or so, someone told me they knew someone who had about 300 properties in town. I called him and he met me there to inspect. We talked a while and he offered 32k and said he was only doing it to help me out and that the house wasn't even worth that. So I made 2k. I was expecting to make more but at the time, I was just happy to get that. I just wanted that first deal to know how the process worked. The buyer ended up becoming somewhat of a mentor and also introduced me to a title company that I have worked with ever since. He helps me analyze deals from time to time.

When you start making phone calls, you just never know what you will find.  There is gold out there if you just start digging.  

Did I mention I am in a county of only 200,000 people?  I used to think that would prevent me from having success.