All Forum Posts by: Ashley Simmons

Thank you all for your responses. They really helped me with my decision and with route i want to take.

Thank you for your advice. What percentage of the asking price would you say that i should get for my assignment fee.

This is great advice, especially for someone like me. I am in no postion right now to buy anything because i screwed up my credit but it's not to late for me either. I want to start out as a wholesaler and with my first paychecks, i will definitely pay back all of my creditors. If my first check happened to be $10,000, that will be exactly enough to pay back every creditor i owe and get all the negatives of of my credit report. From there i would definitely start saving the next couple checks and really start investing in properties then.

Hello BP Fam,

I want to start out investing by doing wholesales. I have read the wholesaling forum and read the posts about what formulas to use to see if you have a deal to assign. I partially understand the numbers but i want to make sure. From my understanding, I will use the general formula 70% of ARV-repairs-assignment fee= Maximum Offer, unless my investors say otherwise. Now if i use 100,000 ARV, would it go this way

70,000 - 10,000(repairs) - 5,000(assignment fee)= $55,000

Do i include a certain amount for closing costs or other costs that i don't know about?
Do i offer $50,000 to the seller and the $55,000 to my investor?
If i don't have it correct please let me know with this same example and please include what to offer to the seller and investor. Also when i contact potential buyers for my list, do i tell them that i'm a NEWBIE wholesaler and i was wondering if they looking for more rentals, rehabs, etc? Thanks guys

Thank you guys so much for your advice. I'm just going to contact my creditors and and work out a payment plan where i would pay something (i'm thinking maybe 20) per mth to at least get the ball rolling and get those negative items back in good standing. Do anyone know how many payments i would have to make before they do that? I've been told at least 2-3 mths of on time payments will get the negative back to good standing. Thanks again

Thank you guys for your input. Devry really has a bad reputation so i think i'll just go to a community college first and then transfer to Georgia University later.

Hello BP Fam,

I know that this has nothing at all to do with real estate (that's why i posted it in the appropriate forum) but has any one ever dealt with Devry University or know someone that has? I've being doing my research about the school and i have found all types of bad reviews. I see that they say employers aren't fond of for profit schools and that degrees from them mean nothing and are laughed at! I was interested in the school because it's career based and i wanted to major in Business Accounting or Finance. Now i want to own my own REI company so as far as employers not hiring me, it kinda doesn't apply since i will be working for myself. I guess people will ask, well what if REI doesn't work for you and I'll say 1st YES IT WILL and 2nd I'm a Cardiac Technician by trade thanks to 4 yrs in the Air Force and i make a pretty decent amount there. I would want to take the classes solely to benefit ME and my REI business. I know that they are very expensive (550 per credit hour) but my GI Bill pays for all of it. Any thoughts?

Thank you so much for your advice, I have a question for you though. Why do you say that credit repair companies are a waste of time? I ask because i was contacted by a very sincere and sounded honorable BP member that read my post and referred me to a CRS company that he said that he has personally dealt with and that they actually have gotten negative things taken off of people's credit report. I'm actually doing research now about the company and i am suppose to speak with a rep tomorrow to get more info.

Hello BP family, i have a couple of questions for you guys. Before i get to my questions, i'm going to let you know about my situation. Okay I'm 22yrs old and i've been wanting to get into real estate for about 3 years. I want to stop being fearful and nervous and make things happen and really jump in now. I've been reading this forum and and other forums like this over the course of 2 years and have decided that it's now or never. I want to start REI by buying my first investment property (that i will live in for a while) in January 2010. But let me back up because of my credit issues. As stated before I'm 22yrs old and i will be 23 come Jan 18th. When i was 17yrs old in January 2005, I joined the Air Force, did 4 years and just got out in Jan 2009. Now to build my credit up i was told when i was 18 and 19 to take out starter loans with my bank, put that money in my savings and let the bank take back their own money over a 6 mth period. That's exactly what i did over a year and 10 mth period. Now it's Oct 2006 and i looked at my credit score and it was either 654 or 684, and was told that my score was very good for me being only 19 yrs old going on 20 at the time. Now here i am with a awesome credit score for my age and things went down hill from there which i am paying for now. Here is the list of the irresponsible things that i did since Oct 2006 until now that i really want to correct.

1. 2006 took out a $4000 loan in my name for my daughter's father that til this day he hasn't paid for, It's on my credit in the negative
2. 6 mths later on that same loan in 2007, i took out an additional $1500 for him, very stupid.
3. From 2007 and now, if i got a cellphone and the bill was too high like $500, my attitude was forget that, I'm not paying that, i'll just get another on through another company. Well i did that 4 times and i now owe T-mobile, ATT, and Verizon money and they wrote me off to collections and i am paying for them now. Negative on my credit report.
4. Opened up 3 credit card accounts where i'm being hit with late charges and OCL fees. Negative on my credit report.
5. I was suckered into taking out a $2000 loan to invest in a business opportunity and was scammed.

Now those are all the negative things on my credit report that have drastically taken my score down to 534 (according to credit inform in that gives me quarterly reports, this was back in Apr.). That's about $9300 in debt already. Everything is in the negative because i haven't made payments on it except the $2000 loan i got from my bank (when any money is deposited into my account, they make sure that they get theirs first!). Now for my questions. I really want to clean this up because i really understand the need for good credit in REI. I plan to call all of my creditors and see if i can make payment arrangements like 10-20 dollars a mth for the next couple of mths until i can completely pay them off in the next coming mths using my GI Bill money.

Question 1. If i start making some type of payments now, by Jan (with the payments all being on time), will they take it out of the negative on my credit report?

Question 2. Will that make my credit go back up in time for Jan. that i want to purchase a property?

Question 3. I plan to use my income tax money i will get in Jan(got back $7400 last yr and i know that i'll get back at least $5000 to $6000 this yr) to put down on a down payment on a property. Should i just pay back the creditors with that money and worry about the house later?

Question 4. Should i go ahead and use the tax money on a house and pay back the creditors with my GI Bill money( which is about $1200 per mth in my area) that i will be getting once i start school again in Jan.?

Question 5. I'm very interested in wholesaling to start with and gradually moving into doing rehabs and renting once i get my credit straight. And also save some money from wholesaling to help fund my rehabs. Is that goal reachable to you guys? I haven't written a business plan yet but i plan on starting on it really soon because i want 2010 to be my year and i HAVE to plan for it!

Question 6. Could i just get into a HUD foreclosure as a owner occupant and find a really cheap and profitable town home or sfh to start with? ( a friend of mine purchased a hud home off of the hudpemco website and put in a bid on a as a owner occupant. It was a $16,000 2bd town home and he got it for only $8,000 and it is his! He just had to do cosmetic work, which he did on his own. I think the only thing is that he couldn't sell the house and live in the house for at least a year though)

Question 7. If my credit doesn't go up by Jan or Feb when i want to purchase a property, will i be able to get financed with a 534 score? What about my VA home loan, could it possibly help me?

I know that this is alot and for anyone reading this, thank you in advance for your help!

Hello BP family,

My name is Ashley and i absolutely love this site! I'm 22 yrs old and have been interested in real estate for about 3 years now and i still haven't jumped in yet but from reading all of the valuable information that you guys have on here I have to ask myself," Ashley why wait any longer?" I want to start out in wholesaling and then work my way up the ladder. I'm so addicted to this site and i look forward to learning from everyone here. I'm also looking for a mentor in the Atlanta GA, so if anyone is interested please contact me. All of my contact information and info about me is on my profile. Thanks and i enjoy being here!