Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

In October, I bought a “fixer-upper.” I paid $22,000 cash. I bought it from an executrix (female executor) who had never bought or sold real estate before. I sold it last week for $42,000. I owner financed it with $5,000 down, balance at 7% interest, amortized over seven years, balloon in five years. I’ll collect $558 per month.

“You can’t make money having someone else do your work!”

I have an awesome success story here in San Diego. I have submitted four success stories, but this one is probably the most gratifying.

I’m thirty-six years old and bought my first mobile home park two years ago. It is eight acres with thirteen mobile homes and a mini-storage. I told the owner I would give her the full asking price of $200,000. I knew that would get her interest. After checking with the local banks, finding out their terms and the fact that they didn’t want to loan that much money for a small park, I asked her if she would consider owner financing.I’m thirty-six years old and bought my first mobile home park two years ago. It is eight acres with thirteen mobile homes and a mini-storage. I told the owner I would give her the full asking price of $200,000. I knew that would get her interest. After checking with the local banks, finding out their terms and the fact that they didn’t want to loan that much money for a small park, I asked her if she would consider owner financing.

This is for all of you lurking on this site. This is a “get off the couch” (GOTC) story for you all. Success Stories like this one got me off the couch, and I hope my story will help you.

I own a quadraplex apartment and was finally remodeling the last unit with my husband. The day was nice so we had the front door open. A young couple pulled up and asked if the apartment was going to be for rent and when. They owned a place and were trying to sell with no luck.

I’ve been promising to write my story for a few months. I’ve been on the message boards as Mike (Seattle WA) for a while, so now it’s time to give back more. I started coming to this site just over a year ago. After a week or so of absorbing information, I decided that this was for me.

I just wanted to share my success story with everyone out there because I believe that with the help of Creative Real Estate Online, I am on the way to establishing a financial security that I never would have done without the help I have received from this forum.

I live in Central Tennessee and not in a metropolitan city. In the past six months, my wife and I have helped three different people who were in pre-foreclosure avoid foreclosure, deficiency judgments, garnishments, and bankruptcy. In the process, we have made $20,000 and used less than $25 out of pocket to close.

My husband and I arrived in America in 1995. We traveled for the first three years and settled down in Pennsylvania seven years ago. At that time we came across an ad for a real estate seminar where a “millionaire guru promises to show you how to make millions in real estate without any money.”

Here’s my success story. The story began when I read Robert Kiyosaki’s book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, five years ago, and it ended three weeks ago with my first “easy” deal. (Oh yeah, and dozens of hours pouring over CRE Online Main Real Estate Forum posts.)

I made $6,000 for two hours of work, and I am set to close on $130,000 worth of property so far this month for July! I have been reading and participating in discussions on the Real Estate Main News Group for about four years now. I have had several small successes in that time, but I believe in the last two months, I have really started to come into my full potential.

I began investing in rental properties in the summer of 1996. I was very involved in CRE Online and chat room at that time. I attended the CRE Online Convention back then in Las Vegas. It was wonderful.

I have successfully completed my first transaction. These folks didn’t have good credit. They were one month behind on their land contract and owed around $700 in back taxes. I took my time and did the CMAs and ordered an appraisal of the property.

Just completed my first deal and wanted to share my excitement! I had purchased Lonnie’s books [Deals on Wheels and Making Money with Mobile Homes] about a year ago, read them once, rode the speed bumps a couple of times, and then got “too busy” for this.

Just thought that I would share my success story with everybody, since previous success stories have offered me so much inspiration. I am 24 years old and have FINALLY broken into real estate investing. After several years of busting my hump, trying to sell real estate as an agent, I decided to take the long awaited leap and invest myself.

I’ve read so manySuccess Stories on this site. Thank God for it! I stumbled onto Creative Real Estate Online at least five years ago but never believed I could do those deals. I worked at a major airline for a living. After the terrorist attacks, along with thousands of employees, I lost my job.

I don’t know about you guys, but this year has been one amazing year! I started investing in real estate full time around this time two years ago, and I was struggling somewhat until November 2004.

When I heard about some apartments for sale in July, I almost walked away from them. For my first deal, I was looking for a two-bedroom/one-bath or a three-bedroom/two-bathroom home, something “easy” for a first-time deal and a novice investor. But I drove by and saw that they were two fourplexes, not a large apartment complex.

Owning a mobile home park has many benefits, but one of the best is having a direct line to tenants looking to sell their mobile homes.

I just wanted to share my success story with you. I purchased Deals on Wheels by Lonnie Scruggs about four months ago. I knew right from the start that this was going to be my kind of business. I started telling everyone I knew about what I was doing and that if they found any deals for me, I would give them a commission.

Just a typical 120% yield “Lonnie” deal. I bought a nice 1995 two-bedroom, two-bathroom 14×70 in our favorite park for $4,500. I closed on it at 10:00am. Before 11:00am, I had it sold for $13,000 to a good buyer. She put $1,500 down and will make 48 payments of $302.84 on the $11,500 note.

I started visiting CRE Online in November 2004. I read it just about daily. I bought both Lonnie Scruggs books (A real heartfelt thanks to Lonnie for writing them) and started driving the speed humps.

My neighbors came by to tell me they were getting a divorce. Being a sensitive person, I asked, “What are you going to do with the house?” They said, “Give it to the bank.” So I said, “If you are giving it away, give it to me.” They said, “Okay.”

After a couple years of half-hearted attempts at real estate investing, I finally closed my first deal! The first year was spent mostly learning: courses, Creative Real Estate Online, and some one-on-one training.