All Forum Posts by: Cortney Jones

Welcome to @Frankie Lubin  and to @Account Closed!

The first deal is always the hardest.  I wasted time, energy and money on ads, coaching and meeting sellers for 2+ years before I finally felt comfortable taking the plunge.  Now, 22+ years later I wonder what all the fuss was about.  Though I still remember all those butterflies in my stomach and invalid thoughts that would pop up and inevitably talk me out of moving forward. 

One day I just took a good hard look at it all and said, "NO MORE! What's THE worst thing that can happen?"  I determined that I could live with that worst thing, which in my head was pretty dramatic, and involved losing all my money, possibly being very far in debt and a whole lot of other drama I conjured up. 

I decided that day that the downside of NOT taking action was worse than the downside of taking action and I set a goal to buy a house, even if it was not perfect, within 30 days. 

I met that goal and 400+ houses later, I'm so glad I overcame that feeling and took action. 

A lot of things we do in life come with fear, but we do them anyway.  Acknowledge the fear you're having and use it to motivate you to take action and risks.  You can do it!

P.S. I do know investors in Atlanta, GA and Alabama and would be happy to help you find a 50/50 mentor if need be.  If they don't want to help you for some reason, I will.  

Tereal,

You are going to want to look at just the rate. There are many other fees associated with a mortgage and you'll want to take a look at those too. Many of them will automatically be financed into your loan creating an APR (Annual Percentage Rate) which is a more accurate apples to apples comparison for loans.

Also, you'll want to consider upfront costs and fees that each lender will require - do you have the money for each of these closing costs?  One lender may be better than another.  

Sometimes it just comes down to who do you want to work with.  Since you're doing all this online you probably don't have an opinion on the matter, but some research into customer satisfaction with the various lenders may help. 

Each lender should be providing you with a detailed report of expenses, fees and costs.  Be sure to compare them closely before making a decision.

Good job @Jeremy Davis - way to take action and go for the close!

@Martin S., Those "we buy houses for cash" signs that you call BS, pure and simple, work!

So does postcard marketing and yellow letters that @Jon Klaus mentioned.  When we first started buying houses my husband and I sat up late at night handwriting our own yellow letters and sending out 100-200 a day.  

When you market you're looking for people who NEED to sell so that you can get the best deal.  People who are going through a divorce, behind on their mortgage, inherited a house they don't know what to do with, have a 2nd house, are a tired landlord, have a house that won't sell retail because it needs work, and many more situations.  

As a real estate investor you get paid to solve problems.  Find the people with the problems and you'll be paid handsomely.

Hey Steve.  Welcome to the game. 

When I was buying 5-8 deals a month and our marketing was everywhere I would get 3-4 calls a month from people who wanted to "spend the day in our office" or "pick my brain."  I understand, I was there once.  

In the beginning, I did everything I could to help those people because I remember that lost and somewhat fearful feeling of just wanting to be sure you're doing it right.  

What got frustrating is that I would spend a lot of time teaching them and training them and then they wouldn't take action and do anything.  Of course, this is the 80/20 rule of life, but it was really frustrating.  

Finally what I started doing was giving them a little test.  I would tell them I would be happy to help them, but they needed to prove they were hungry enough to take action first.  Then, I would assign them a task that we needed done in the office and something that they could figure out how to do.  Nothing difficult, simple things, but things that they had to do, such as: 

* go to section 8 office and get list of available houses/owners and call me when you have it

* go to county courthouse and find a legal assistant working that deals with foreclosure filings and give her my card and get her's

Out of about 30 people only 1 person ever completed the very simple task.  He ended up coming to work with us and being our acquisitions manager for 2 years and then he went out on his own after he felt sufficiently trained with cash in the bank to proceed on his own. 

The morale of this story is to do something for them. Go to a few REIA meetings and watch, listen and be patient. Find about 3 people you want to learn from and work with. Be careful though, there's a lot of blowhards at those meetings who are a lot of talk. Really listen and look for someone that you think you would enjoy spending time with. Get to know a little about their business, look at their website.

Then, after a couple meetings go and introduce yourself to them and offer to help with something specific.  Maybe something that you've noticed they aren't doing well or could use help on.  Offer to put out bandit signs, or clean out a property for the chance to spend an hour with them.  If you know they like to buy vacant houses or do rehabs then go find some fixer uppers and bring them to them. Offer to buy them lunch to discuss how you could help them in exchange for learning from them. 

Be patient, but show them you're willing to help and tell them what you'll do. That will go a long way!

Consider your overall investing philosophy and goals.  Do you need the cash flow?  

Most of the properties I buy are no money down and direct with owners, however, on the few occasions that I've financed a property I've always gone with the philosophy of go with the 30 year mortgage and lower payment, but pay it as though it's a 15 year to pay the loan off earlier and save some interest in the long run. 

The idea being that you never know what is going to happen in life and having that "required" lower payment may come in handy during times of vacancy, family emergencies and unexpected occurrences.  But when you have a good paying tenant and good cash flow, you can always apply an additional $50 a month or an extra payment a year to the principle and pay it down as though it was a 15 year mortgage.  This will still save you interest, keep you generating cash flow and give you peace of mind for the unexpected. 

Thus, benefiting from both and having more options. :-)