Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

Jean Vermillion & Gail Patten are equal partners in VAP, LLC. We started investing in real estate in 2002 by purchasing five single-family homes from one seller all at once with seller financing for the down payment. We went to a bank for a regular loan.

After attending my first Creative Real Estate Online Convention in March 2002, I came home with three programs in hand ready to start my investing career.

I was laid off last year from my corporate job of nine years. After a slow start, I found a good mentor program and started getting deals. I was excited to see that I was able to get deals signed up and cash flowing when I’d had so many people telling me this wasn’t possible.

The seller found me from one of my bandit signs I placed on a busy road. The seller has a house she bought from HUD. She lived in it for three years, then let her son move in and take over the mortgage payments. The only problem was he forgot to make them.

INCREDIBLE! I’m still amazed…I purchased the Carleton Sheets course five years ago, but then got shipped overseas. I just got back to the good ol’ USA in September 2002. I finally started my real estate investing on October 13th.

My husband and I have studied real estate investing for over five years. We have looked at or owned virtually every real estate investment course known to man. Some were good, some were a waste of money. We have worked with a mentor, and he was quite helpful (and still is when we have a question!)

I have been doing “Lonnie Deals” now for 4 1/2 months. I remember reading in one of Lonnie Scruggs’ books [Deals on Wheels and Making Money with Mobile Homes] about how he and his wife did a deal over Christmas one year. I had a similar experience.

After attending my first Creative Real Estate Online Convention in March 2002, I came home with three programs in hand ready to start my investing career.

I was laid off last year from my corporate job of nine years. After a slow start, I found a good mentor program and started getting deals. I was excited to see that I was able to get deals signed up and cash flowing when I’d had so many people telling me this wasn’t possible.

I have purchased several “nothing down” seminars and books, including Robert Allen’s, Carleton Sheets’ No Down Payment course, and two courses from Joe Kaiser, including The Mechanic’s Lien System. None of these worked in my county, Marin County, California.

When it comes to real estate investing let me tell you that nobody is a bigger procrastinator than me. I first found Creative Real Estate Online in 1998 while doing a search for “creative real estate investing.

After a three-month mentoring program with an experienced investor and asking many questions, I have gotten enough courage to find the following deal:

We made our first real estate investment about six months ago. We bought a two-family foreclosure for $5,000. It was a mess: holes in the wall, broken windows, the gas lines running to the house had been cut–you name it. My husband put a few weeks’ work and about $6,000 in it. We now have a fully rented home for $425 per unit!

In 1998, I built my own home on ten acres with a mortgage of $84,000 on four of those acres and the home. In 2000, I sold five acres for $13,500, leaving me with a mortgage balance of $70,500.

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 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.

I’ve been reading and learning all I can on this site. After making the decision six months ago to start investing in real estate, I just closed my first deal that netted $13k. I’m thrilled to say the least! CRE Online has been an excellent source of information and has helped me become more creative in my thinking and putting together deals.

I have been coming to CRE Online for over two years. I have read books, talked to people, partnered with people, and until this past Friday, I have never done a deal. I was the ultimate procrastinator. Well here it is, and if you think you have seen all the reasons a person can be motivated, then read on because I still cannot believe it.

I was a recently laid off tech worker with over 10 years experience in the field. Even when I had a cushy, high-paying job, I never felt I had job security and hated relying on others for a paycheck.

A few visitors of Creative Real Estate Online asked me to share this story with you. They think it should be put on the success stories. Please feel free to do so. I would love to share it with everyone. Thanks for this wonderful site.

Picture this: A new investor with $15K college savings for kids learns about buying a second as the way to get a foreclosed property. He finds a vacant foreclosed property with a second note, takes kids’ college money (First kid going to college within a year. No problem; I’ll be in and out in 3 months), and buys the second.

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.”

In June 2001, I had contracted to buy a duplex in a low-income area of town for $100,000 as one of two replacement properties in a 1031 Starker Exchange. After further personal examination of the property’s condition, I consulted with my agent, Jerry, to apprise him of what I’d found. He then “officially” advised me to get out of the deal.

I just wanted to write and thank Lonnie Scruggs and CRE Online for helping me get started. First, I want to say that I’m one of the biggest skeptics you’ll ever meet. But after ordering and going through Lonnie’s material, I did my first deal!

I bought Deals on Wheels back in early part of 2002. I did research by driving the speed bumps in mobile home parks in my area for a couple months. We finally realized we needed to just quit talking and do something.