Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

Just like everyone else it seems, I read Deals on Wheels by Lonnie Scruggs and decided to give it a try. This, of course, was after going back and forth with the idea, going to look at some homes, and thinking, “I just can’t believe how some people can live.”

I am a high school English teacher whose wife wants to quit work when we have kids. Being that I have summers off, I decided to look into investing in something. I can’t remember how I heard about it, but after buying and reading Deals on Wheels, I knew that I would be investing in mobile homes.

It’s time I told my story…To all those who helped me get started back a couple of months ago when I was a newbie: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know who you are: gals and dudes who were real cool with their time and experience to help me with some questions I had to get me started.

I am writing this to let Ed Garcia know what a huge, life-changing difference he has made in my real estate investing career and life.

I am 18 years old and currently attending The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. Before I left for school, though, I did my first real estate deal. This site helped me a lot in my doing this deal. Here is how the deal went.

I’m not all that tempted to call this a “success story.” It’s more of an “experience that hasn’t turned out miserably” story. This is the story of buying my first mobile home park.

Eight months ago, four of us decided to try our hand at buying and selling homes. Through self-education during the first few months, we KNEW that we had hit on a good business. Also, we are still educating ourselves.

One day on my way home, I decided to take a different road to my house, and I came across a overgrown house (actually a jungle), with numerous violations from the county posted on the door.The house needed some work on the outside, but it wasn’t that bad. I could not see the inside.

I have gained many things from your site (knowledge about real estate investing, wisdom on dealing with people, courage to do a deal) that helped me do my first deal. I wanted to say “Thank you.” I am now working on deal number two. I wanted to pass on my success story on deal number one. Here goes:

Back in August, I moved my family to Billings, Montana from South Texas. As soon as I arrived I started riding the speed bumps, looking for mobile homes. I called on a manager of a mobile home park I drove by every day and inquired about any mobile homes for sale. I explained to her what I did, and she didn’t hesitate and gave the name and number of a gentleman wanting to sell his mobile home.

Finding good deals really is the hardest part of this business, but sometimes, just by keeping your eyes open, one falls in your lap. That’s how I found my first deal, and here’s the story

Since I wrote about the $27,000 Profit on My First Real Estate Deal, my opportunities have been growing. I’ve kept the three properties that I had purchased while I anxiously awaited the sale of that first deal. And in ONLY two months, since that sale, I’ve closed on the additional four properties that I mentioned were under contract, got another under contract, and BEST of all–got approved for a credit line!

My original plan was to buy and keep two or three rental properties per year for five years, for cash flow and equity growth. I was determined to find a property (or two) that would need a few cosmetic fixes for a few thousand dollars, in a good area, close to home, for a decent price, place decent tenants, and hold.

Wow, where do I begin. I had a friend that had a property he bought at auction for $13,100. It was 1.3 acres of land with a well and septic on it. He was a friend of the family that had to sell it (estate auction).

I’ve netted over $30,000 after all expenses from my real estate investing business, wholesaling real estate in last six months just doing part time with my regular job. Not looking to “toot my horn” here in a success story.

I have been limping along with my 15 rentals for a while now. I also make good money for a corporation buying and selling electricity nationwide in realtime. It’s the adrenaline I like. So I still have my 50 hour/week job. I haven’t bought a property in 4 years–until this month.

I just closed on a 1.23 acre parcel that I have been negotiating to buy for the last five or six weeks. The owner had agreed to a price of $8,000 ($2,000 down and $250 per month for 24 months with 0% interest, which Ernest Tew helped me structure).

Here is a deal I did that made me a nice bit of pocket change. I went to see a house where the lady had seemed mighty motivated over the phone. But, after sitting with her and explaining the details of how I could help her, we both determined that she was not motivated.

I have been waiting to invest in real estate for three years. For one reason or another, I was not ready. But I am now and have arrived. I am closing in May on my first real estate investment. I have set a goal to purchase 10 houses and have a cash flow of $300 monthly per house. I have one down and nine to go.

The CRE Online Convention in Atlanta was all I needed. I closed my first flip last week. It took me exactly one month from start to finish.

In November 2000, I bought a 1065 square foot, three-bedroom, two-bath house for $40,000. This was on Thursday. I placed a “fixer-upper” ad in paper to run Sunday, asking 58,000. Many people called, and I sent them to look at outside of the house and neighborhood because the owners were still in house.

The closing date for my first deal will be in two weeks. I purchased two duplexes on the same deed for $124,900. I am getting a second mortgage on the house I live in for the down payment and closing costs and first mortgage and second mortgages on the duplexes.

In a previous Success Story, $16,400 Practically Fell into My Lap, I mentioned a rehab that I picked up for $4,500. Well I purchased it in the name of a land trust. I had recently purchased Your Step-by-Step Guide to Land Trusts by attorney William Bronchick. This has been and will continue to be an excellent privacy and real estate investment tool for me.

I’ve been pretty quiet lately, really hustling at building my business. I just thought I would drop a line about a recent success I had

I know that fear is not from God, but I am walking away from a profession that I have been in now for the last 16 years. About three years ago, I sat at my desk wanting an opportunity to create freedom of time, wealth, happiness and, more importantly, choices in my life. I asked for direction for these things and I was led to real estate investing.