I hope you’re enjoying financial independence and if not - I hope you’re making the arrangements today to celebrate your own Financial Independence in the near future.

I made the mistake of posting the $2K Dinner Video just before leaving for Orlando on a 9 day vacation. I say it was a mistake because I only looked at the computer but two times the entire time I was gone and couldn’t answer some of the questions you had.

Anyway, I’ll try to answer the questions in this post.

First, in case you missed the video, here it is again:

The $2K Dinner Video

Your questions:

“Where is Swampers Studios?”

There’s no such thing - it was intended to be a joke because I confessed in a previous video that I had no idea what the hell the Swampers were, here’s the other video:

Drive Video

you never showed how you assign the deal, weather it was a deed or an option you got from the homeowner.

Plus you didn’t mention that these techniques will only work with homeowners who owe far less than what there home is worth, or you’ll never find a motivated buyer to assign them too.

Unfortunately, in todays market I think there is a much more abundance of homeowners who owe more that what there house is worth

1st - yes I did show how I did the deal. I used a warranty deed to take over the home, then resold the property to another investor in my market that I saw at dinner netting me a little over $2K. Remember, I didn’t want this deal because there wasn’t a lot of equity, however the investor I flipped it to, was happy.

Just because the deal may be tight for you doesn’t mean there isn’t someone else that’d be happy with that same deal.

I’ve seen deals that I wouldn’t touch that other investors are totally stoked to get. That’s why it’s important to build a list of buyers. There’s 3 different list of buyers you can target:

- A list of investors ( one of the easiest to find, focused strictly on the numbers )
- A list of A credit buyers looking for homes to live in ( focused on falling in love with the home - looking for a pretty house )
- A list of buyers looking for houses with credit challenges with a money to put down ( need flexible financing )

Finally- yes there are more deals where the homeowner owes more than the home is worth, however there’s still deals (remember - this is a numbers game!)

And what are you doing with the deals where homeowners owe more than the home is worth but are willing to deal?

Are you not pursuing short sales for these deals?
I’ll tell you what - Send me those deals and I’ll do ‘em.

Banks don’t want houses, so they’ll discount. So, lets say you send in 5 short sale offers - will you get every deal?

Probably not, but what if you get 1 or 2?

Remember - it’s a numbers game!

Who’s the chick in the film?

That’s my new girlfriend…
Just kidding - I have no clue.

What about investing in California

I feel there’s still money to be made in the California market, however investors should be crystal clear on the numbers. I like Kiyosaki’s outlook in these videos:

Rich Dad Video on the California market

Most “short sales” are failing, because the bank “loss mitigators” are not responding before the auction date and the property is foreclosed. If you can negotiate with a loss mitigator before the auction date and reach agreement, then you can “double close” with your buyer.

This continues to be a challenge, that’s why I highly recommend marketing to obtain pre-preforeclosure leads, so that you’re able to get the lead before anyone else knows there’s a problem and so you’re given enough time to negotiate, then sell the deal.

Gotta go and get ready to bbq and blow up some stuff.

Have a safe 4th

Derek

Post from: SuccessREI.com

2K Dinner Questions

ShareThis

Since, I hate flying, we drove almost 13 hours but it was fairly pleasant because we made an extremely wise investment -

2 dvd players with PS 2 hookups for my boys. So, both had their old PS 2’s ( I say old because now they have a PS 3 and a Wii)

Didn’t hear a word for the entire trip.

The trip was really cool and a much needed break from the day to day grind.

Back to business as usual though and I’m up to my eyeballs in emails,

Talk soon,

Derek

Post from: SuccessREI.com

I survived Disney

ShareThis

The Story of The $2,000 Dinner!

Best of all- there’s nothing for sale in this video - 100% content!

Now, there really was a $2,000 Dinner as well as an easy approach to invest in real estate - you’ll see it all in this video. Once you finish the video, the form for you to use is downloadable below the video (Just right click and choose Save As to save to your computer).

I’d love to hear your comments on the video, so post them below once the video is complete and share by clicking the ‘Share This Button’ below the video.

Download The Option Agreement by Right Clicking Here

Post from: SuccessREI.com

The Easy, No Risk Way To Invest In Real Estate, Plus The Story Of The $2000 Dinner

ShareThis

It’s been extremely busy here with kids getting out of school, planning a vacation, and running multiple businesses…

Let’s get back on track with this week’s Free question:

I missed my opportunity in California in 1998, it is now 2008, and I
don’t want to miss it again. I’m looking at buying your
pre-foreclosure coarse, but I want to ask you a couple of questions
first.
1)I know this will work anywhere, but the California market appears
to be a different animal. My question is, will your program work for
California. The reason I ask that is some gurus give great advice,
but it is only for their specific market.
2) Maybe your coarse will cover this but I would like to know first
if this is OK how in the world do you get the loan current on a
preforeclosure, without using your own money?

Derek, if you ever come to California I will take you to see the
Clippers, naw just kidding, the Lakers I mean. We also could catch a
baseball game( wherever) my treat just to pick your brain a bit

First, understand the market is just making a correction. You know 10 years ago, people were wondering if they could still make money in the California market as prices continued to soar. Some sat on the sidelines and just wondered…

And some made money, but investors had a different complaint 10 years ago. The complaint was that they couldn’t find the deals.

Now, people are lining up ready to hand the deed over just to get out from under the deal. And, now people complain they can’t sell the deal.

Let’s look at my market - good ole’ Alabama…

Different market entirely - It never really took off like some of the bigger markets, and investors here would complain that they couldn’t make money because of lack of appreciation.

People will always wonder, always complain but the only people that really make any money at all are the ones that stop wondering and start doing.

Let me ask you this - do you think there’s no one making money in California investing in Real Estate?

Someone’s buying deals left and right and I’d almost be willing to bet there’s a significantly lesser amount of competition.

Play it smart but get going.

On to question #2:

I have buyer’s lined up ready and willing to invest in the deal before I ever talk to a seller.

They know if I call, then they’d better get off their ass and look at the deal. I’ll use their funds with a double close or to catch the payments up if I’m in a time crunch.

When you already have a backend (a buyer) then you’ve just got to focus on finding good solid deals that meet their criteria.

Lastly, I’d love the Lakers game, but you’ll probably never see me in California cause I hate flying.

I’ve flown several times with each time hating it a little more. I believe it has something to do with the lack of control.

Gotta go -

Derek

PS -By the way, this next week celebrates my 8 year wedding anniversary!

Post from: SuccessREI.com

I’m still alive

ShareThis

In this business, personality sells. People will deed their house over to you because they like and trust you. In every marketing piece that I send out, there’s always my personality and my own personal story.

This allows people to connect with you and you can build rapport really fast.

And a blog mixed with a little of your personality, add a few pics and videos, and throw in some real world tips helps create an unshakeable bond with your seller.

So…

Wordpress - great blogging tool, but I was having some problems this week in the admin dashboard, so upgraded and disabled a few things on the site that I wasn’t utilizing as much as I’d planned - (yes the photos are gone for the time being) I may bring the photos back if enough people want me to post pics, but I found people really didn’t care how many deals I was doing, how much money I made - they just wanted to know how they could get into this real estate game for themselves.

So, the site looks a little different with the new home page, but you can view all of my articles just like before by clicking on the ‘blog’ tab.

Take care and talk soon…

Derek

Post from: SuccessREI.com

Holy Smokes - it’s done!

ShareThis

And yesterday, new data was released that shows Homeowner Vacancies are at an all time high at 18.6 million homes.

Now in most cases, homeowners that have vacated a property have given up - they’ve lost the emotional attachment to the home which means you’re already 1 step ahead.

For many of these owners, they’re happy for you to take the deal off your hands.

In some instances, when the owner is still living in the house, they’re still attached emotionally. They’re not thinking logically about what would be the best move for them financially. For those, they’re still thinking about the mark’s little Johnny made on the wall, and about having family functions - you know the memories…

And for many, this blocks them from making the right call.

But for vacants, typically the homeowers are stoked to get your letter or phone call.

One reason I love using direct mail is not just for the fact to get phone calls, it’s also to see which letters come back so I’ll know which deals are vacant. And then, these deals become high on my priority…

Even if the deal is tight or upside down, I can still do a short sale and make the deal work.

So, it’s time to get hip on how to effectively chase the vacant in preforeclosure.

And that’s exactly what I hand you with my Preforeclosure Mastery system - now’s the time to get a systemized approach to take advantage of all the opportunities going on all around you.

Click Here now to learn more

Later

Derek Pierce

Post from: SuccessREI.com

Chasing Vacants

ShareThis

It’s Friday and I’m taking the afternoon off, but first I owe you this week’s Free Question Friday - right?

I received several questions this week, but the one I received this morning made my blood boil…

Here’s the question:

Message: Hi Derick!!! Hope everything is going fine with you!!! My
question is I have a home ownwer who is 1 payment behind has a very
nice home wants to short sale Don’t know what year was purchased but
it was for 55,000 owes 196,000 in a good market would probably bring
this is a guess but I figure around 225,000+ has made alot of up
dates even added on a work shop. 5 beds 2.5 baths is upside down in
his morgage. Do I need comps to make a sensible offer or would you
shoot from the hip? Small town Iowa. I have a network of all cash
Investors Owner wants to sell Now!!! Any help would be
appreciated!!!! Thanks .

First thing to address - you mispelled my name,

Second, the numbers…

If they owe $196K and the deal is worth $225K, then the homeowner isn’t upside down. They have a very little amount of equity but they’re not upside down and the only way to do this deal is a short sale or having a buyer already lined up.

Third, how in the world do you know it’s worth anywhere near $225K if you haven’t pulled comps?

This is one of the first things you do to get an accurate number on what the house is worth.

NO! -You never shoot from the hip unless you like losing your shirt and money. And if you’ve read any of my courses, my articles, or seen any of my videos, then you already know I’m extremely passionate about knowing exactly what is going on in your market and being aware of what houses are worth.

So, don’t make me come to the small town in Iowa and get medieval…

Look at what houses have sold for in this neighborhood in the last 3-6 months, look at what’s currently on the market, then compare your deal to those houses.

How does the deal stack up?
What’s unique about this deal?
- More Square footage for the money?
- Cheaper than other houses?
- More features?

What makes this house appealing over the other homes for sale?

Finally, look at the DOM - days on market to see the average holding time to sell.

Again - NEVER shoot from the hip…

And my response to…

“Owner Wants To Sell NOW!!!!”

Big deal? There’s so many of these deals that you shouldn’t let them put pressure on you to buy a bad deal. After all, the woods are full of these deals.

Get accurate comps, get clear on the numbers, make a short sale offer that will make the deal profitable for you, because it’s all about turning a profit!

Forget the Miss America answer about helping people. Just forget about it. It’s about making a profit, making money, and if it ain’t gonna work, then don’t do the deal.

Finally, you need to be willing to invest in your education. I’ve laid out all my years of investing in an easy to read how to course on preforeclosures that I highly recommend. Click Here for more

Take care and see you next week…

DP

Post from: SuccessREI.com

Owner Wants Out - Big Deal?

ShareThis

First, I fired a girl and I’ve noticed that I’ve become completely immune to the process.

Call it cold, but it’s part of life and when you do business sometimes you’ve gotta swallow that huge lump in your throat and just do it.

I believe it was the movie Point Break where Swayze’s character Bohdi says “Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true.”

And so, once you take that action, whatever it is you fear, the more comfortable you become at the act.

In my case this morning - firing an employee.

Next, I’m at another one of my businesses and one of my employees comes in and says “Derek, tell me how to make $10,673 in 30 days or less…”

I said - Youtube - right?

Sure ‘nough. She’d saw one of my videos on youtube.

So, I talked about what I do in real estate for another 30 minutes and explain some of the concepts.

Next, I followed up with a lady about printing up some tear sheets for a new marketing process I’m testing. Tear sheets are nothing new, but its something I’ve wanted to implement for a long time now, yet never have.

I’d called the company yesterday and left a message with the rep with just my email, but never received an email and never heard from them so I decided to give them a second call.

Carrie answers the phone and says ‘I sent you out a packet yesterday.’

I let Carrie know that I didn’t receive it in my email, and ask her to resend.

She says, I sent it First Class mail.

How did she get my address?

She googled my name and found me.

I guess I can throw out the idea of becoming a hermit.

Seriously, it really took a huge step for me to fire the first employee, buy my first deal, publish this blog, publish a newsletter and to offer a course at what I do for a living.

But I took the first step.

I really had to step out of my comfort zone and just do it.

And you can too.

Sometimes, it’s good to become immune.

- DP

PS - Thought this was a good follow up to last Friday’s Free Question Friday post

Post from: SuccessREI.com

Becoming Immune

ShareThis

Hope you guys are doing well…

A comment appeared on the blog this past week:

“Im just so freakin frustrated…”

For many, they never take any action. Sure, they’ll read a book, grab a course, take a seminar, but for some reason - they never get around to running their first classified ad, never call a realtor to build a relationship, and never even begin to think of starting a direct mail campaign.

Is it fear?

I think so, but I can’t say for sure.

I believe for some, they intend to do well. They mean to get going, but something always comes up today.

And as a result, we put off our intentions for another day, and then another, till we’ve completely lost sight of our vision in the first place.

Then, just maintaining our concentration is a challenge in of itself.

Cause, you’re searching for the knowledge to take you to the next level and it seems every Tom, Dick, and Harry has the solution for your problem - virtual real estate investing, flipping, preforeclosures, short sales - are just a few of the hot topics.

And many of these guys blast away with blatant pitches every single day without an ounce of content.

(Sorry for the rant…)

Anyway, I’m about to tell you something that you may be surprised to hear from someone that actually sells their own Real Estate Investing Courses…

STOP BUYING STUFF!!!

I’m serious.

That may hurt my sales, but I really don’t need the money from selling my real estate how to courses.

I only offered them and this site to help free me up a little because people wouldn’t stop calling me- I was many investor’s free education.

And I’m sorry but that’s totally uncool.

Imagine this…

You personally know the inventor of Coke.

Do you think this guy would give you his recipe?

His long hours, his testing, his years of experience - do you really think he’d just hand it over?

Sorry, but the world doesn’t work like that…

Moving on to my first point - the people that buy stuff but never do anything need to stop buying and start ACTING!

Look, I still invest in my own education. I pay a top marketer $300 bucks a month, read countless books - business and fiction, invest in new courses, and even review some of my older materials.

But…

I take action on the concepts and strategies. I ask myself whenever reading or listening - ‘how can I implement this?’

If it’s something I believe can help my bottom line - I’ll take an action that day to get the ball rolling.

Now, there’s some that take action, yet don’t get the results that you were shooting for.

One of Babe Ruth’s famous quotes was:

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”

Maybe your action didn’t yield the results you were looking for, the first thing you should do is remain calm, then reflect back on the action that you took.

Could you have done anything differently?

What were your expectations?
For example, doing 5 deals in a month is a unrealistic for someone that’s never done 1 deal.

What can I learn from this?

What is my new plan of attack?

Then you take a positive action to get your new plan moving.

For every success story, there’s been a time that they’ve hit a roadblock. And that’s where 99.9% of the people stop (yes, i took a poll with no margin for error).

So, you and I have to keep plugging and learning, and most importantly keep taking action.

It’s too easy to just say - ‘those gurus aren’t telling us the truth’.

While, in my own real estate courses, and in this blog, I do my best to convey what’s worked for me and how I conduct business, yet there are situations that only the act of doing can teach us.

We embrace that. We learn from it.

And we keep plugging away, getting better each and every day.

Most roadblocks with investing in real estate occur in 3 areas:

1. Getting leads: This is for both when you’re buying and when you’re selling houses. Either way, lead generation is essential. And with many businesses, they fail from this starting point.

2. Selling The Deal: Can you close the deal? Just like the first roadblock I mentioned, this applies to when you’re buying and when you’re selling houses. In both cases, you’re selling. Do you convey confidence when talking with sellers and buyers? Are you building rapport?

Are you recommending the wrong solution to your seller? For example, are you recommending a lease option to someone that needs cash to move on?

Your solution has to match prospect’s situation instead of using brute force to make your seller agree. And instead of trying to push your fancy techniques on them. Nobody cares what you just learn at the 2008 Amazing Super Duper Money Maker Make A Billion In 1 Hour Conference (i just made that up, but if I ever decide to hold one of those conferences - that’s what it will be called)…

they only care about what’s in it for them.

Remember - A-B-C (always be closing) from the movie Boiler Room

So, are you selling?

3. Systemization for repeat success: Do you have a system or was the deal just shear luck? Be honest with yourself. This is a legitimate business for those treat it like one.

Are you building list for repeat investor buyers?

Are you implementing new techniques for getting more motivated sellers in your funnel?

Are you building that relationship with a realtor?

So, if your frustrated because your action didn’t yield the necessary results, then pat yourself on the back because you just did something that most will never do.

Next, get out of the frustrated state. Take a walk, go to dinner. Get your mind off of it.

Finally, go back to the drawing board to map out your new plan of attack.

Take a realistic look at where you went wrong, but stay positive - don’t beat yourself up over it. After all, it’s not the end of the world.

I had to do this myself after I was in business for a little over a year. Some of my properties became vacant - the market had tanked because of numerous industries moving out and I was making payments on several vacant houses.

I’ve sold houses to people all over the country with shear amazement from what I initially called a GOOFY idea and laughed at my friend for even mentioning it.

Finally, take a different action.

Most importantly - Keep plugging away….

Wrapping up - to send me a question just go to the contact page located here.

I encourage and welcome your comments on the blog. You can comment by clicking on the post, then scrolling to the bottom.

Lastly, I’m going to shamelessly plug my real estate investing courses cause they’re like the best ever…

You can check ‘em out by clicking here

-Derek Pierce

Post from: SuccessREI.com

FRUSTRATED- your Free Question Friday

ShareThis

New cool stuff coming to the site here at successrei.com including the New Success Real Estate Radio Show.

I’ll be interviewing some of the movers and shakers in the real estate industry in the new radio show. It will be a podcast that you can download straight to your computer and even subscribe via Itunes

If you’d like to be included or know someone you’d like on the new Radio show, drop me a line here

Post from: SuccessREI.com

Success Real Estate Radio Show

ShareThis