Commercial Real Estate Investment Articles

Here is my first success story and my first deal ever. This is what got me hooked!

Today, I walked out of the title company with a check for 12,081.50. I have done several deals, including, but this is my biggest deal yet. (I am still a newbie.) I still can’t believe it. I simply put this property under contract for $50k and sold it to an investor for $63.5k. At closing, I netted about $12,000!

Last fall, I found a 10-unit apartment building in a suburban town just outside where I live that was being used by an elderly lady as a single family residence. She had purchased it a few years back so some of her children and grandchildren could live with her (in their own apartments) as she got older and needed their help.

All the appear to be written by men, and women only come into it as partners in the deals. I’m not walking out of closings with money-back checks. I’m not doing simultaneous closings and being paid for being in the right place with the right knowledge.

I thoroughly enjoy reading about other newcomers’ successes and figured I’d share ours. I’ve read and thought about real estate investing for many years and never took action. My wife and I both work full-time and have two kids under three. We finally decided to get serious, and here’s our story

I was a wannabe real estate investor for several years, watching from the sidelines. I finally got the nerve to go out and test the market after many hours of studying and reading. The information and encouragement at CRE Online has been invaluable.

I am not sure if you would consider this for your “Success Stories” or not but, if nothing else, I wanted to write it as a “thank you” to you and all the inspiration that I have seen on this site. I have been silent for the most part for the past two years or so, but I read all the messages on the at least every other day. I have asked a few questions, and have always learned from the answers.

Several weeks ago, JP Vaughan entered the chat room, and I promised her that I’d write a when I did my first deal. And so, I’m going to write about my deal that I did last week. The numbers wouldn’t astound you. But it’s not the numbers that count. I’m writing the kind of success story that I wish I’d seen earlier.

It has now been two months since we moved. However, unlike the rest of our friends, we are now getting PAID to live in our house! We moved into a triplex and keep the other two units rented out. The rental income pays for the mortgage and taxes and puts a bit aside for upkeep. Every month we get our checks for $1,400 and all we have to do is pay our own utilities. (Tenants also pay their own.)

If you haven’t read my first story, then you don’t know that I’m brand new at this stuff. You do now. My friends haven’t figured out whether I’m a budding genius or a blooming idiot. I lean towards the former, naturally, but most think the latter is closer to home.

I am about to close on my third “Lonnie Deal” and my yields are improving significantly. My partner and I purchased a 3BR/2 BA, 1983 mobile home in fair condition for $1,400 cash and the two lots for $16,000 with $2,000 down and owner financing for the balance at 7% and payments of $200/month.

After reading Lonnie’s two books three times [Deals on Wheels and Making Money with Mobile Homes], I was really anxious to try my first “Lonnie Deal.” I traveled around a couple of mobile home parks in May, and finally spotted a run down, overgrown 1968 12 X 56 Liberty mobile home in the third park.This is a nice park in a small town about 10 minutes from a good size city.

This is a deal that many of you here on Creative Real Estate Online helped me with, so I wanted to submit it as a success story. This deal actually took about two weeks to put together. It started when I called an ad for a house for rent in our local paper.

Susan and I recently attendedBig Profits wtih Lease Options Workshop. I thought you might like to have an update on what we’ve done in the few months since these workshops.

I wanted to let you know about my first deal. It started when I spotted an ad in the Sunday paper with the words “Land Contract.” I called the owner and asked if he would do a lease option rather than the land contract, and he said: “Yes.” So I made an appointment to look at the property.

January 31, 1999 – I called a manager of a local mobile home park to see if a certain mobile home could stay in the park. I had talked to the owner and he said, “Sure, it can stay.” I asked him if he knew of any others that might be for sale. He said the park had one for sale for $500.

I can’t believe the deal that fell into my lap a couple of months back. I was helping my parents sell their home “for sale by owner.” At the open house, an interested buyer said he was interested in the larger home, but they needed to sell their house first.

My partner Mark and I (I call him legs, he’s the young one and does all the running around) have been very active this past year. On January 1st, 1998 we had one three-unit apartment house and two tenants.

I have always wanted to invest in real estate ever since I had to sell my New Hampshire home during a divorce and made $51,000.

As many of you already know, I started my real estate investing venture on June 21, 1998. At that time I had not done one deal. I was going through a very difficult time in my life and went for broke. I quit my job, I had no money, and I had bad (but improving) credit. I had my bills covered for one month.

I would just like to thank for the inspiring seminar I went to several months ago. I met a lot of great people, and I am starting to see what a little bit of education and work can do for your lifestyle. Here are some of the mobile home deals I did in the last three months.

Just had to send another “thank you” for all the assistance I’ve gotten from this site. I have a purchase contract and a sell contract signed and escrow was opened today on another deal.

I received a call one afternoon from a woman named Leanne. She was married with three grown children. She wanted to sell their house, so I went through the process of screening the call and getting the relevant information about the house, the mortgage balances, and what they wanted. It was a nice house, 3/1, 1300 sf, basement, on 2.5 acres, no repairs needed, just outside a town called Spencer, Indiana.

In January 1997, I found myself on the streets without a job and very disillusioned with the prospect of going back to work in corporate America.

First I would like to thank everyone who shares their secrets and ideas on this incredible site. I have found a wealth of info almost every day.