After a long dry spell, I had a couple wholesalers call me. Both properties would cash flow, both were near my target market, yet I passed on both. They would hurt me more than help me. Its tough to be floating on the ocean surrounded by water. Wait long enough and that salty water starts looking mighty tasty. Take a drink and your demise is only a short time away. Houses are everywhere, just gotta find the ones that help you, not hurt you.

These houses simply did not fit into my overall investment criteria. Property #1 was a 2/1, 1 street over from rental #3 and needed very little work. My projected rents were $800-$850 and would have a net positive cashflow of $100/mo. 63k (closing, repair and refi) is a lot of risk for $100 net positive. I nearly bit on those one, but after some good chats with my wife and my coach, I feel I wisely passed. The 2nd property was in the right location, was the right size, and would be a marginal cashflow property as a rental, but needed to be 15k lower to fit into my needs. I liked the house, just not the deal.

Shiny object syndrome (SOS) is the bane of many investors. They jump from one type of deal to the next or one type of investment strategy to the next without any thought of were its leading them. I am just as guilty of this. Have a plan, stick to the plan, and execute it with vigor.

Tip: I have been finding many new wholesalers lately via Craigslist. Do separate searches for wholesale, arv, investor, fix-up or any other terms only investors would use. Also search for all properties in your price range in your target zips. Gather a list of all those wholesalers. Start calling them, emailing them or simply signing up on their attached website. I have gotten 5 new active wholesalers in the last 2 weeks with this simple method. I went and looked at several of their properties and got some face time with these wholesalers. My potential deal volume has gone up greatly and this didn’t cost me a dime.

I leave you with this quote: “One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. ” Tony Robbins

The blogging world of real estate is sometimes very small. My wife and I had the pleasure of having dinner with Shae of www.goodfaithinvesting.com. She happened to be in town for a seminar given by Susan Lyons. Its amazing how many ideas can be shared and discussed in two hours. There is nothing more motivating then spending time with people that are making it happen. Shae and her husband certainly fit that category. Oh and by her account the seminar was great and I am kicking myself for not attending.   Hopefully there will be a round 2 in the near future.

In my world, its been a busy time networking.  My wife and I went to Baltimore to visit with my coach and other club members.  Another opportunity to meet with movers and shakers.  I walked through nearly  a dozen homes in varies stages of rehab, got a chance to spend several hours discussing my plans with my coach and enjoy some decent Baltimore weather on the inner harbor.

I have bumped up my marketing campaign.  Still with little success so far.  I am up to 500 letters per month.  I am sending to absentee owners.  I am also sending letters to distressed homes in a drive for dollars campaign.  One item I have focused on as well is finding wholesalers.  That has not been an easy task.  Many do not have great ways to find them via there websites and seo.  Hint hint to any wholesalers out there.  I decided to get on craiglist and do s few searches.  Rehab, investor, wholesale, bargain, you get the idea.  As I came across these folks selling actual homes, I either called them or sent them an email.  Will it work to find me my next deal? It can’t hurt.  I now have 4 methods of finding properties.  Absentee owners, MLS, drive for dollars, and wholesalers.  I will keep up on those to get the next property.

Till the next update (sooner rather than later), I leave you with this quote.  “The successful networkers I know, the ones receiving tons of referrals and feeling truly happy about themselves, continually put the other person’s needs ahead of their own.”  Bob Burg

I have noticed the MLS competition in my area really creeping up. I know I shouldn’t jump around to much, but I am switching over to direct marketing primarily. I am in no mood to get in a dog fight with other investors. Direct marketing has very little competition. I would rather compete with three people than 28 for a house. Yes its much more costly and interactive, but I believe that is what it will take. This will open me up to different types of deals. I must learn about owner financing, lease options and subject2 deals.

I will still receive my emails from the MLS. Deals can still be found, I know because I watch the sold properties in my farm area. I just need to open more doors to get that deal.

My coach has been preaching this for the last few months to me, just took a bit to get through my thick skull.

No other big news for now other than Sec 8 not paying me on my new rental with them. Grrr. Time to spend more time in their office.

I leave you with this quote “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” Albert Einstein

I have had a rather frustrating experience with sec 8 so far. For the most part, the tenants have been good. The entire struggle has been with the Denver Sec 8 office. Rather than focus on that, I will be focusing my energy to avoid the need for sec 8 in the future. That means once again, my properties need to shine. Also, If I have to lower rent to attract non sec 8 renters. It will save me money. Sad, but true.

It is a powerful lesson though. Never ever ever allow your business to be controlled by others or have a weak link with no backup plan. Sec 8 dictates my rent, my repairs, improvements, my rent increases, and even controls my pay day. I have very little recourse against the office itself. They have become my linchpin for those properties and that is unacceptable. I will share the story why at the end of the post for those that wish to read on.

In positive news, today is the official day that all three rentals are rented again. +2k income each month not counting expenses. Huge swing for a small portfolio landlord.

If you wish to read the rant, scroll further. Just venting a bit.

I have two rentals under the Denver housing authority sec 8 program. It took until March 15 to get two months back rent for rental #2 from them. The back rent goes all the way back to June and July 2010. Also missing is Aug back rent from them which I will not see. (They sent that payment to my fired PM who cashed it. “Not their problem.”) I called weekly and often times several times a week. Calls were either ignored or not returned. Over a dozen messages were not returned to myself or my new pm. I went to their office several times and was treated with disdain on 3 out of four occasions. I’m the big bad landlord. They then sent another missed payment to the fired PM in Dec after I specifically setup the new PM in Sept. Luckily that one was not cashed. Finally Early March I got confirmation the payment would be sent forward after some fuss. While they refused to print out any paperwork with the tenant info, they gladly print out the paper with my info without even checking my ID. Scary. Finally got payment Tuesday this week. I probably spent close to 40 hours collecting $1100 in back rent.

Next it took 3 weeks to get an inspection on rental #1 and 2 more weeks to get a reinspect. To make matters worse they lowered my asking rent by over $100 to “fair market rent” even though I have proof of other exact same model homes renting for my asking rent and higher. To make matters worse, the poor gal I will be renting to could not move in. She has been put out for over 4 weeks for their delays. How does that help improve housing in our communities? Between the delay and rent reduction, my reduced income will be nearly $2000 for this year on one stink property. That does not take into account 1 extra month of utilities. After all the delays, I would have nixed using them, but it would have cost me more to find another tenant this late in the game.

The final straw, its taken them 3 weeks to get an inspection on one property for a rent increase. It will be 3 more weeks until I get the reinspect on a 5 minute fix item. While the rent increase lost time and rent will not be as significant, it only adds to this problem. BTW, I will be writing them a letter asking why any landlord would want to stay on their program giving my experience.

Now I have a theory. Their funds did not get increased this year. By stiffing the landlords, they can save on costs. These delays are so egregious they almost seem intentional. I hope my theory is wrong.

These setbacks have only strengthened my resolve to have better properties.

On that I leave with this quote. “Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” ~Author Unknown

Never ever lose momentum.  My wife and I worked day and night on our new home.  We worked till 3am on several occasions.  Getting up at 5am for work was not fun or smart.  But, it was a fantastic learning experience.  I am very glad we went through it.  The problem with doing work on our own house and working full time is time itself.  We used every waking hour.  I dropped everything else in real estate.  I lost all my momentum.  I have been fighting like hell to gain it back.  Never lose momentum.

As anyone in real estate knows, it takes months to build up momentum to that first deal.   I will be working hard on getting those deals in the works again.  I have lined up 3 hard money lenders, got my Realtor on board with my plan, narrowed my farm area, and started walking through properties again.  Its all numbers from here on out.  With the new financing lined up, I will be shooting for 3-6 more rentals this year.  I’m ready.

In other news.

After I made the last post I almost had to eat crow.  The renter backed out of the good rental.  I kept his hold deposit.  I wasn’t worried about this property re-renting and for good reason.  It rented two days later.  I will admit, it helps to have an all time low 2% vacancy rate in the Denver metro area.

I leave you with this quote “Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?”  Anthony Robbins

As with anything in life, it gets easier with repetition. So here is a way to get better at your nemesis. Start talking to random folks you run into during the day. Here’s how you open. Find a quality you like about them (hair, shirt, tone of voice, anything, make it genuine), then tell the person. Start with a question, and then let them chat. People love to talk about themselves. Give them an opportunity.

These opportunities are everywhere. In line at the fast food joint, at the bank, a new coworker, that relative who’s name evades you. Just start the conversation, and get them to talk. Compliments are my favorite way because they are unexpected and open folks up. Just remmeber to get them to do the talking and show genuine interest in what they want to talk about.

This will help you long term when talking to sellers and finding out their needs. It will help you learn how to open sellers up. It will also help you to overcome that fear of talking to people. Whats the harm in a little conversation while waiting for a Starbucks? Remember opportunities to grow happen all day everyday, don’t let them go to waste.

On another very positive note. I want to give a shout out to Josh Dorkin at Bigger Pockets. He has created the largest real estate forum on the web. Nearly 50k members. Not only is the largest, but it is hands down the best way to stay on top of the ever changing real estate market. The information freely given by its members far outweighs its weight in gold.

Recently Josh just put this blog on the top 20 real estate blog list. Its the who’s who of real estate bloggers. I was truly stunned at the mention. This is the Grammy of real estate blog recognitions. I’m am very honored and humbled to mentioned next to the likes of Shae at Good Faith Investing, Scott at Struggling Investor, Jason at 123Flip, Tom at Tom Tarrant, Rachel at Adventures in Mobile Homes, JP at REI Tips and many others. I can’t even compare to the quality of these blogs. I read them almost daily. You should too.

Again thanks for the honor and keep up the good work Josh.

I leave you with this quote “To believe in yourself and to follow your dreams, to have goals in life and a drive to succeed, and to surround yourself with the things and the people that make you happy – this is success!” Sasha Azevedo

I have been doing my coaching items whenever I can fit them in. Life simply took hold and did not give me any free time what so ever.

With the help from my folks and brother-in-law I completely redid the landscaping on our yard. Its almost done. Bought 2 dozen plants and 3 tons of mulch. Added a new brick border wall up front, removed those three bushes, removed several trash cans of trash and rose bushes, had the front step mudjacked, added solar landscape lights, put in a 3×8 foot vegetable garden, built a temporary fence to keep the dog out, seeded and edged the lawn. Phew. To be honest though, I loved every bit of it. Still have a dozen plants to put into the ground, but its great.

My fiancés folks had their 50th wedding anniversary last weekend. That was very cool. Think about it. How many times in your life do you get to see a 50th anniversary. 3 maybe four times at most.

The next day I completed a bucket list item.

As far as real estate goes. I have dropped probate for now. I will be focusing on REO’s and abandoned houses. My goal is to make 5 offers per week.

My Realtor and I spend 6 hours one evening going over the MLS and offer contracts. I learned a ton of information. He’s a very good guy. He even asked if I want to be on his radio show. How cool is that. I have worked a deal with him to get a form of MLS access. All the same info on a time limited bases. Its a very good thing. Now I just need to squeeze out 5 minutes to make it happen.

Everything is starting to happen. I’m tired of sitting on the sidelines. Its time to take action. I love how busy I am at the moment. It means I’m living life to the fullest and not letting a moment slip by.

I got a motivated call this week. Unfortunately they want FMV on property thats out in the middle of BFC. The other deals are in progress, but no real progress has been made this week. I’ll update when I know more. Small update right now. I really can’t think of anything else to add.

I have received a few more negative calls. I’m not taking them to well. Its interesting how some folks are very eager to talk to me and others would rather rip my head off. I’m beginning to wonder if probate is the right avenue for me. I keep telling myself I am there to help the seller and many sellers need help in this situation. To be honest though, I think I would be one of th angry callers if I got one of those letters. I have talked it over with my fiancé and I will also talk to my mastermind group for input. What kills me also is lack of focus. This was one item I was really focusing on, if I stop, I will be taking a step back if I stop. A lot to ponder.

On a positive note, I will be making a bid on an short sale listing in the next few days. I’ll update on that one later. I need to sit done with my buyers agent and spell out my criteria for him, and have him do the same for me. He’s been very helpful thus far, but I may be outgrowing one agent. Random thoughts, but I wanted to post an update.

Some of our more successful members gave input on the struggles they have faced. Imagine 40% vacancy on 400 apartment units in Phoenix or negative cashflow of 12k per month, or having a bed and breakfast where the city want to put a homeless shelter right next door. The problems don’t change, only the zeros involved.

The reason I love this group, I didn’t hear one complaint from those folks. All they had were solutions and ways to fix their problems. Every single one of them found solutions. Imagine 35 folks all brainstorming together and working together to help each others business. There is true synergy in the air at these events, and it doesn’t take a guru to get there. Keep like minded positive successful folks in your midst and you will be a positive successful person.

So many ideas flow from this event, the key is focus. Stay on topic, but use that energy and innovation to assist your business. I’m doing just that. I made many new contacts and reacquainted with old friends. Very cool stuff. If you ever have a chance to go to a similar event, or even host a local one, I strongly urge you too.

Go out and create that energy, only positive will come of it.

On a side note, I may have a property under contract in a few days. I’ll fill you all in later, as for now, I need to get back to stuffing envelopes. 50 letters and 26 postcards going out tomorrow.