All Forum Posts by: Jimmie Darden

Jerryll, I think it's fantastic that you've found a method which yields quantifiable results that you can track and improve upon. Congratulations, that is good stuff. My comment was more specific to "great success" formatting my letters in MS word in a manner that was satisfactory to me - not implying great success on spend vs. Return. That is all TBD, but several variables are being considered in my current marketing campaign. It took a lot of time to get a handwritten appearance on my yellow letters, and I know that many others struggled to achieve a similar result. Only time will tell how successful these strategies are, and I will be tracking that as well so that I can see what works/what doesn't (numbers/data/cost/return). All a part of the process. No silver bullet here- will experiment and adjust. SEO is also in the infant stages for me, perhaps I will extract your thoughts on the topic.

Ditto on Derricks method. Using this with GREAT success. Took some tweaking, and wish I found this page before I spent days trying to perfect this. The secret ingredient is in the text boxes and removing the image before printing.

Hi All! I'm a new investor based out of Richmond, VA - so new that I haven't made my "first deal" yet, but have made some offers and closed in on a few deals from wholesalers with promise, but haven't found quite the right fit. I've been listening to the podcasts and stalking around the forums for a long while now, soaking up the great information from this site. I'm getting antsy looking for my first deal, so in the meantime I'm looking to learn as much as I can. Here is my situation:
I own a primary residence with good equity in it, have good credit, and about 25k towards my first deal (down payment + rehabs). I'd like to start with a good starter flip to build up some cash reserves/capital towards future deals, then move into some buy and hold/rentals. I have also toyed with the ideal of wholesaling (I know, focus) but I am having a lot of trouble finding solid deals. Most of the deals I have found have good ARV, but are in "warzones." One of the houses I looked at today had some serious foundation problems and the other house is vacant and in a very rough area of town, where the neighbor told me that last week right after I viewed it, there was a crackhead and a prostitute in the house that drop in from time to time. As you can tell, there's alot of variables and I am having trouble calibrating my strategy due to all the misfortune in getting started. On a positive note, I have learned a ton from reading books, I also have a mentor, and others who are involved with some aspect of real estate investing - but my issue is finding my first deal. Any tips for a newbie?

Thanks!