In June 1999, I was a District Manager for a national restaurant chain. I knew absolutely nothing about real estate, could not tell a deed from a mortgage. What I DID know was that I was tired of working 80+ hours a week and never seeing my family. One night while out of town for work, staying in a motel room, I was up at 2 am. There on the television was Carleton Sheets. I had probably watched that infomercial 1000 times over the past 10 years but something made me order the program that night.
In the week that followed, while waiting for the course, I was all over the internet, learning all I could about “Creative Real Estate”. I found several websites and met many other investors who seemed to think differently from most of the other people I knew. These guys spoke of things like “cash flow” and “return on investment”. This stuff was all Greek to me.
My course arrived a week later and armed with the knowledge in that book, I was off and running! I bought 2 houses that first month, both with bank loans. Even though I had little cash, I was fortunate to have great credit.
During this time, I was hearing more and more about this other method of buying property. You just take over payments, the seller deeds you the property while they stay on the loan. Who in the heck would do that, I thought? Not long after, I would find out.
I had a young fellow call me who had just bought a new home 8 months before. He and his wife were divorcing and neither could afford the home on their own. I drove out, we walked through the house (it was beautiful) and I said, “If I could take over your payments until I could sell it, would that work for you?” He said, “What do I sign?” I almost fell off my chair! I took over payments on that house and sold it with owner financing. I got 13k down and collected cash flow for over 2 years. They re’fied this past summer and I got another 9k. All totaled, I made over 26k on that house.
Since then, I have taken over 100 houses much the same way. I have since added rehabbing, flipping and Lease/Options to my toolbox but sub2 is far and away my favorite.
Five months after I bought that first sub2 house, I left my full time job for good. Being a full-time investor lets me enjoy life like never before and I thank God every day for making sure I was awake that morning at 2am to see Carleton Sheets.
Where Will You Be in 5 Years?
My goals are set for the next several years. Are yours? Where do you see yourself in five years? Can you picture being there? Are you willing to work hard enough to achieve those goals? These are the questions you should ask before jumping into any venture. If you want it bad enough you'll take the necessary steps and have the commitment to stay the course no matter what. Welcome to our website. If you want to learn more about real estate investing, you have come to the right place. Read the articles, ask questions and share your knowledge on our newsgroup.
There are a lot of sites out there and a lot of “mentors” teaching methods of acquiring property. Remember, if you have a question, make sure you ask an investor who knows!
Good luck!
