All Forum Posts by: Jeff Cichocki

I own & host over 30 domains on my server. All of them are using Wordpress as their base. However, over time, I've learned that getting the SEO and other ranking factors to work right, you need someone who knows that well. 

So, I don't have my house buying site on my server. I was on OnCarrot.com for the past few years. We've done quite well with it. I've had a much higher success rate of people filling out the forms that I have with any of the sites I built myself. Why, because the content is already optimized for the client. 

However, I recently switched to LeadPropeller.com. Why, partly because of cost and partly because I felt like I needed a change to the site. Almost everyone in my area is using the carrot. I wanted to change so that my site stood out more. My new site is much better looking and simpler than my carrot site. Time will tell if I made the right choice.

However, my suggestion to you is to look at both of these services and decide for yourself. Not having to build the site and get optimized content pre-loaded is a huge benefit. To me, it's worth the extra cost. One single deal pays for a lot of years worth of website hosting.

Freedomsoft.

We’re continually told that to reach our full potential as real estate investors, we must work outside the box.At the beginning of Bill’s discussion, he’ll explain why this advice is wrong.It’s not about working outside some box that counts.To reach our full potential, we must realize there is no box!

To be a successful real estate investor, consider this: The job of a real estate investor is not to buy, sell or rent houses.Our job is to solve people’s real estate problems.

Do you want to achieve financial freedom?Then don’t go out looking for “deals”.Instead, go out looking for problems to solve and people to help.In other words, look for peoples’ uncomfortable circumstances.This one shift in your thinking can completely alter your life’s financial outcome.

Think of it this way: When you go out, are you looking to do FOR people or TO people?You already know that “FOR” attracts and “TO” repels.Each day, are you attracting or repelling business?

To make all deals possible, you only need to do five things:

• 1.Get face-to-face with sellers
• 2.Be curious and ask questions – a LOT of questions!
• 3.Draw up a T-bar
• 4.Understand a teeter-totter offer
• 5.Put your offer in writing

At the REIA meeting, as we talk about creative deal structuring, you'll walk away with a clearer understanding of these five most-important things.

You’ll also see examples of a number of our creatively constructed and funded real-world deals.In addition, we‘ll answer these four deal-making questions:

• a)How was it found?
• b)How was it structured?
• c)How was it funded?
• d)And once bought, what did we do with it?

Finally, here are a number of questions we promise to answer:

• What’s the fastest, cheapest, most effective way to get face-to-face with homeowners and sellers?
• What is the best way to learn how to creatively construct and fund a deal?
• What type of deal is the safest to do, and still offers the highest yields?
• What is the best way to get owner financing or find private money lenders?
• When a seller calls, what two questions should you ask?
• What’s the best way to determine a property’s value?
• What’s the most you should pay for a property?(This answer will floor you!)

• When an investor is sinking, what two questions do I ask to determine the cause?
• Is it possible to make ten written offers each day?
• What needs to be your daily goal?
• What does it really take to succeed at real estate investing?

We look forward to seeing you at this month’s main meeting!

Hi Matthew,

I would suggest you go to one of the REIA's in either GB or Appleton to get your questions answered. Do your homework with every answer you get. Don't believe everything you hear (even if it comes from me). It may not be 100% correct for your situation. Every state is slightly unique in it's legal interpretations of what is or isn't selling real estate without a license. Most states were pretty relaxed on the issue in the past, but they're getting pretty strict now.

Assigning the contract may avoid the legalities, but maybe not. How you market the contract/property will determine the legality, not the assignment itself. How you market, your ability to close and your intent all come into play in staying legal. In my experience, most wholesalers don't do it legally.

There are ways to do it completely above board and legal in all 50 states, but you need to learn the basics first. If you want a good overview of the legalities of wholesaling, I would head over to Jeff Watson's website. He's a friend and all around awesome investor. And, he's the attorney for the national REIA so he's pretty on top of the legal issues. You can find his video's at Watson invested dot com. He did an interview series with the heads of Ohio regarding this topic. I would go and watch his wholesaling videos. Everything he says about Ohio is relevant to Wisconsin.

Be careful buying wholesale courses or listening to guru's. Many do and teach wrong. If you do want a course on how to legally wholesale, consider buying Jeff's course. He put it out with John Cochran of Real Estate U dot com (I don't get any kind of kickback for recommending it).

Good luck.

Hi Rachel, 

Generally speaking, if the agent is an owner and they don't disclose it, it's an ethics violation.  Depending on how strict your state board of realtors is on this issue, they could lose their license if you find out and report them.  

But, before you head down that path, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

Does it really matter? Would you buy this property without that knowledge?  In other words, even if they are an owner and you find out, does that all of sudden make it a bad deal?  Don't get me wrong.  If someone is being dishonest about one thing, are they being dishonest about another.  If you're concerned about them hiding some defects in the property, then you should have it inspected.  If an inspection comes out good and you still the deal is a good deal...  Why would you walk away?

Just because you have a suspicion doesn't make you right. But, to be sure, just ask them. If they say no and you don't believe them, call the state agency and request information about the LLC. There will likely be a small fee to get it, but it might be worth the state of mind.

If they are an owner and you find out after the fact and there are other hidden problems, you'll likely have some pretty good grounds to sue on.  If the state records don't tell you what you want to know, consult an attorney.

If you can't get past the fact that they may be lying, walk away.  Better to walk away from a deal than to buy one that'll get you in trouble.

Just my thoughts on the topic...  For what they're worth anyway.

Good Luck!

Hi Tyler, I get this question at the Green Bay REIA sometimes. Contrary to the popular belief that partnerships don't work, I am in a partnership and it works extremely well for both of us. We're both straight shooters and have differing but overlapping skills. It's a great thing when you have the right partner.

However, I don't encourage partnerships with people who are exactly like you and have the exact same skill set.  You need to be partnered up with someone who brings something to the table that's different than you.  If you both bring the same thing to the table, what real benefit are you to each other? How will you handle the things that neither of you is good at?  People who are exactly the same and bring the same thing to the table usually butt heads because you will each want to do the same thing a different way.  Being too much alike is what causes partnerships to fail most often (in my opinion).

I don't know either of you, so I don't know how alike you are to each other; you'll have to take what I'm saying and determine if it fits.  Regardless, I agree with Rebecca.  You need the partnership in writing.  Maybe instead of going into business together, start out with just a single project and see how it works.  If it works well, try another.  In other words, try it before you buy it.

I hope that helps!

Jeff Cichocki