C'mon, let's go!

Okay, did I mention that I looked at over 400+ properties, we put in offers for 7 (1) was accepted and now: drumroll please!!!! It looks like another is accepted...

Here is a little background, submitted an offer close to what the seller wanted a month ago. We negotiated seller financing, NO! says the seller..Then the seller said they would take an ALL CASH offer, but we were 35K apart in both of our offers..

WE DO NOTHING.. This weekend(three weeks later) we get another email from the agent. Saying: I believe we can work something out..We say(I am paraphrasing) how? We can't agree on the right terms..

TODAY agent calls my mentor and I will give you a peek at my email to see what happened:



"that mobil home park in ___________.

Had a LONG talk with him about how terrible the markets are for credit and that his seller should consider holding a note for $400k or $500k.....he said:

"The Seller WOULD BE OPEN TO THAT"!!!!

WHAT?

He was NOT AT ALL OPEN TO THAT A FEW WEEKS BACK!!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE me some negotiating.....waited this guy out and now look, just like a 4 year old, pout and we get our way."





Now, you see that...we may have just hit paydirt... Yes... power negotiating..But here is the lesson....

We knew that we had a bit of leverage..



1.The agent wants to get paid

2.The seller wants to get paid

3. THIS property (even with its excellent cash flow) has been on the market for at least a year.,,



LOOK ALWAYS for the leverage. EVEN in the sweet deals..find it, use it, make money with it..OVER AND OUT..



PS. I will tell you if/when this cashes in "cha-ching"...

Putting the "S" in SLOW....

I never figured it..



When you are on those "teleseminars". You know, the ones for free, where they try to sell you to the 5K boot camp. Whenever, I see a case study, it seems so quick, so free, so fanciful. But waiting for us to just get to a price to me is putting me to sleep. "snoooorrre"



Ok, here is MY case study: found apartment building on 11/20 and sent a Letter of Intent. Our letter was accepted the same day..BUT... my mentor said that this was "good and bad". GOOD in the sense that our offer was accepted and BAD that it was accepted so soon..This means that we really had more wiggle room and are probably leaving money on the table..WOW the art of negotiation..



What is even more telling to me is that I am REALLY a neophyte in negotiating..I realize that it is because of my own view of myself...I have a confidence issue. I am working around the belief that I can effective in "getting something that I want". In negotiating, and asking..I was reading a blog about the "belief concerning asking"...It was saying how, based on what we ask, how we ask and when we ask, we have the ability to translate what we ask for into a response of "yes"..



Many times, I realize I do not ask, because of my previous internal belief..(that I am changing "s"lowly) that I will not get it, or I do not deserve it.. I only really realized this when I asked my partner Ben, "if we have a criteria, the sellers are meeting the criteria, then why are we negotiating?" What for? and then he said, in a nutshell, "we have to ask", we only know by ASKING and asking again.



Well, it turns out that we saved about 500K by "asking" for a lower price and now have less to put down for this property. But, if we had taken everything as is..we never would have gotten the lower price..



Here is to asking..and asking, and asking more..

Okay, Okay, I did it...

Well, I have a great mentor who is teaching me this process of commercial real estate. I am waiting with bated breath as to when this process will come full circle.

In ALL of my real estate transactions, I have NEVER, EVER, EVER been to a closing..(Except for my own for my house..) BUT I am not just talking about any closing, I am talking about that closing(you know you have seen it) where YOU are the dude/dudette walking away with that big cardboard check and your picture..YESSS........ That closing..

I have dreampt, enacted, done speeches. Yes.. I believe in asking and receiving. But, I wonder WHEN... this will happen.

Let me tell what I have done: Since learning a criteria from my mentor..of at least 8% cap rate and preferably 16% cash on cash return..(using low downpayment and owner financing options). I went to work. In about three weeks, I looked at over 400+ properties, we have sent approx 6 Letters of Intent and we have 1 accepted from myself and one from my mentor. We are still working on about 3 more needing either owner to back down and finance or to meet our all cash offer requirements...(Still having the right cap rate and cash on cash...)

I even(with my mentor) offered up 17million on a 27million property..Listen, my family has about 70 dollars in our savings..We just had 4 bounced checks, we are still "restructuring" our house.(Yes, we are "those" homeowners everyone is trying to bail out) And I am on the internet putting in letters for 17 million dollar properties..

HEY..if you are gonna go, go BIG...

So now, my mentor is negotiating. One of our properties that was accepted seemed to have a decrease of about 12% from last year..so in writes my mentor..

"Our acquisitions director, Lisa Curry, will continue to complete research on area rents and developments (any information you could provide would of course be helpful), and, we would certainly welcome using your company for management."

Ha...Acquisitions director..that's a good one..this is just one of the people, YOU BECOME..(I will talk about this more in another blog) when you are doing real estate.. I LIKE THAT...I LOVE IT, THIS will get me some really needed funds. The word "need" brings to mind a thought that was presented to me by in infoprenuer in network marketing..(I am paraphrasing here)

"Do not PRESENT the the marketplace your NEED..the marketplace can't use your need, put PUT OUT in the marketplace what YOU ARE WILLING TO DO in the marketplace to fufill that need..and it will be provided.."

Think about it..Talk to you soon.

What to do, What to do.....in a down market...

Hello My name is Lisa, I have been a "newbie" in real estate since 2003. In 2002, I read a book called, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and loved it so much, paid money, took his course, got the "Cashflow" game and became in "love" with the concept of using passive income, as opposed to earned income to live a financially free life. I have been pursuing this goal for five years now. I have tried, "and failed" in:

• Lease-Options-lost 1K
• Pre-Foreclosures-was with an unscrupulous investor, houses still went to foreclosure
• Foreclosure consulting-Have you heard of a Md "anti-investor" law called SB17? Good, DON'T hear of it. You might be put in jail...
• Calling FSBO's
• Knocking on Doors/Running all over town still hearing "no"
• Foreclosure training
• Tried more 3k mentoring:For which I still owe

and FIVE YEARS later. I am still in pursuit of this dream. This dream where I will live free of a concern about money and dream that I am sure exists for many, AND WILL exist for myself and my family.

So in comes: Commercial Real Estate...will commercial really prove to be the "land of milk and honey?" Let's see, WE will see together. Along the way, you may meet my mentor and our group of investors. We will talk about the triumphs, trials and tragedies of being commercial real estate investors, IN A DOWN MARKET.

C'mon, come with us..It will be fun...