All Forum Posts by: Eric Olsen

 Never started investing in Aurora. From what I understand there is a good amount of "competition" there and it is further away than what I wanted to deal with. 

sorry for the typos. Posted via mobile and too quickly 

i havr not looked in Bolingbrook.  I was never interested in investing there. Why are you looking into bolinbrook if youre up in Waukegan? 

thanks everyone.  All good info! I figure I should begin my secound run of mailers and get back on the door knocking.

When I first started my driving for dollars campaign I had tried door knocking.  For some strange reason this is very nerve wrecking for me yet I gave it some effort.  I quickly turned to direct mail for two reasons.  1.  I was very unsuccessful with door knocking.  Perhaps I was just being a big baby in the matter.  Thinking on it now, my "effort" in door knocking was minimal at best.  2.  I felt that my time was better served with my direct mail as I was spending time knocking on doors that were not being answered.  This sentiment was amplified by my emotions of not wanting to truly work the door knocking appropriately.  

The door knocking never stood a chance with me, I didn't give it a real effort, and I am ridiculous to have even thought that it didn't work.  

On my first day out door knocking I spotted a house that had distressed written all over it.  Out of date decor on the outside of the home.  Landscaping completely ignored and forgotten about.  Drive way cracking weeds growing through all over. Roof issues, old windows, etc... Cool!  Lets go to the door and talk to the owner!

Mind you this is the first house I have ever knocked on.  Door bell doesn't work so I actually knock on the door.  Then the mosquitos  unleashed hell on me!  I would have been better being naked in a swamp.  I was being destroyed by hundreds of mosquitos.  Really, I am not making this up.  Knock again. No Answer.  Smack another 75 mosquitos. Knock harder!  Still no anwswer.  Decided to leave a note on the door and run to the safety of my car.  Never get a call back.

Drove by the house a few times after that but never stopped again.  Scared of mosquitos or door knocking.  Well that was months ago and guess what I found on Redfin yesterday?  Yep!  The same house is listed.  

1.  I made contact once.

2.  I thought about making contact again, yet didnt.

3. I failed to secure this deal before it hit the MLS.

Question for the forums...

How many contacts do you all make when trying to generate leads either door knocking or direct mail?

Thank you

Eric

True words, Dale!

This was my first Holiday season since undertaking this Real Estate adventure.  I figured that with the Holidays being so hectic for people, and with winter being a slow time (Chicago Suburbs) that perhaps I could get a jump creating more leads. I tried to step up my efforts and here is my take away from the chaos

1.  Ramping up my efforts was not an increase in work load as I had initially thought.  It was more of an increase in my focus on what I was already doing.  It was similar to practicing an instrument.  All you musicians out there know that practicing for 2 hours one day a week does not yield the quality results as practicing 4 times a week for 30 minutes.

2.  I was not properly prepared for the combination of my work schedule (full time - surprise week of travel), holiday prep (gifts, 5 separate school performances for the kids, kids sports/logistics, hosting new years party), finalizing my engagement plans, and the increase of contact with possible sellers (formulating my first offers ever).  It got interesting for certain.

3.  Due to incorrectly handling all these on goings, it negatively impacted my response time with the sellers that I was speaking with.  I feel that I could have been more concise with my notes in regards to my conversations with sellers. The result of this confusion was more time spent back tracking for clarity when had I not been in a rushed state of mind, things would have been smoother. This influx did not crush me, yet it did identify this as a weakness in my business that I am building.

4.  I took "off" from real estate from Christmas to New Years, and I would NEVER recommend this.  Out of everything that went on in the chaos the worst thing I could have done was take time off.  It feels that all the momentum that I had built up has vanished.  Yes, I will be able to create that again but lets be blunt about it, it was a dumb *** move!  Your car only gets you to your destination when it's in gear.  Put the car into neutral and you will lose speed fast!

Already I have my gears turning for this years holidays so lesson learned.  I will refocus my efforts to get my momentum back and create more problems for myself in real estate.  I heard some place that you can see if you are progressing by the amount of new problems that you are creating.  I'll take that!

And in case you were wondering....She said "yes"!

Keep getting after it everyone!

Eric

Id say slow down a sec. Ive been looking for a deal for about 6 months and have only offered on one possible deal. That offer was rejected.  It's not as if awesome deals will fall from the sky right into your lap. So i wouldnt stress too much about all the little details . Once I realized that, things eased up and began to make more sense.

I too, was very nervous about this all but just asking questions on the forum and not taking any action wont get you very far. You need to get your phone ringing for sellers calling you. How you decide to do that is up to you. Without that happening its like building the best motor for NASCAR without a fuel tank. 

Im no Pro by any means but your post reminded my of my thoughts so I felt I should reply.

Good luck!

The ABCs of Real Estate Investing  by Ken Mcelroy.

https://g.co/kgs/XhmR6R

 its been going well. ive tried to ramp up my efforts for December as I figured others would slack off a bit giving me more opportunity. im currently working with 4 sellers to get something under contract. 

I did alter how im D4D a bit. i realized i was spending too much time checking addresses on my mobile while I was out driving. just get the addresses down and  look them up  at home.  quicker and more productive!