All Forum Posts by: James Watts

Are these houses in New York? I didn't know there were $17k houses there! I'm interested if they are in  Battle Creek, MI. where I do my investing.

Jim Watts

[email protected]

208-559-2540

You're welcome Maurice, but don't let the easy money from Fund and Grow stop you from developing private lenders. when you get over that hump you'll be able to do anything you want.

@Maurice Colbert, here's an update.

Actually I'm still doing credit repair with their provider- Kaydem Credit Help- and I haven't gotten to apply for the  business credit yet. It's taking much longer than I expected but I think it's worth it. The 2008 real estate crash left me with some foreclosure history. Two of the credit bureaus don't want to erase anything but the third already erased a couple of dings (probably worth 15 points each). Kaydem has told me that they will keep going back and re-challenging those credit dings over and over for different reasons for up to a year. There's a good chance the credit bureaus will give in before we do and clear off at least some of my negative history, so it's worth the wait.

In the mean time I receive offers almost every day of the week from credit card companies to sign up for 0% credit cards for personal credit and fewer offers for credit against my business. Fund and Grow has asked me to not take out any loans while I am in credit repair so my credit score will grow as high as possible. So I'm between a rock and a hard place. I could use the business credit right now if I had it, but I think it's more important to wait and get my credit history cleaned up permanently. Also, it will be worth it to get business credit and not have those loans count against my personal credit score. So, I'm still happy with Fund and Grow. Mitch Stephen, an investor out of San Antonio, gave a very strong personal story about how he used the lines of credit they got him to buy and fix houses for several years so I don't doubt they are an honest company. In all my dealings with them so far they have been meticulous in their attentiveness. They still stay in regular contact and keep updated on my situation. They've been around a long time so I don't expect them to disappear. All in all, I'm happy with them. 

My guess is that Scott is a full time attorney and has reviewed all those cases, but a guy like Mitch actually did the buying and selling. Oh and by the way, maybe 40% of Mitch's cases were wholesaled or sold in some other way. Still, he's done a heck of a lot of owner financing.

I've had good luck with Mitch Stephen who reports having bought & sold 1400 houses. His go to model is owner financing. He also cites Scott Horne as his attorney reference. With any luck you might be able to get Mitch's books and course on owner financing for about $500. I definitely think mentoring is worth it if you've already learned and tried to apply as much as you can about the subject on your own. Then you've got both the confidence and baseline experience/ knowledge to excel with the mentoring. Don't know if Scott Horne is a good teacher but if you spend a few more months studying the subject you'll be able to ask enough intelligent questions that you'll find out for yourself. Good luck.

Please send me details about your Michigan properties to [email protected]

I've had good luck with Mitch Stephen who wrote "My Life and 1000 Houses". I bought his 3 books, devoured each, tried to write my own policies and procedures from what I read (cost about $130). then i bought his course and devoured that in the same way (cost about $300). Along the way I began applying what I read and found that things worked pretty much the way he said they would. Along the way I also listened to all of his about 30 podcasts. After all of that I feel confident I can shell out 15k to get mentoring for  a year and access to his mastermind group and it will be worth it. I have confidence I have both the motivation and talents to carry out his formula. I also have confidence his formula works if I only apply it. More than that, his  integrity speaks to me. He does investign the way I want to do investing- with honesty. Now if I spend big money it will help me make big money.

Who else has $97.5k available and you still meet your cashflow goals. 7% is very fair to both buyer and seller.  What's to think about?

Well stated Kevin. This should be the standard answer to all of these types of questions.

Ariq,

this is the basic formula that I follow and it works well. Try Mitch Stephen's book: "200 ways to find bargain properties" to learn how to find properties. Personally, putting out bandit signs each weekend has worked for me. I also find properties through wholesalers and HUD.

I came to a medium sized Michigan town and buy properties for under 20k, fix them up for 15 - 20k and sell them in the 50's and 60's. I travel once a month for less than 2 weeks and it has worked well. I can do this over and over. Be careful to find a Registered Loan Originator to do transactions through so you stay legal.