About a year ago I was invited to attend a meeting of a fairly new real estate investment group.
The room was set up with tables in a "U" shape and I took a seat against the far wall, away from the crowd, and waited for something to happen.
When the room was almost full a young lady left her seat and walked around the inside of the "U" introducing herself to each person with a handshake and a business card.
I thought, "Why didn't I think of that?" After she returned to her seat I walked over and said, "I only have two business cards with me but this one is especially for you.
" That's how I met Carolyn Anderson.
Carolyn was a Realtor but her interest was in investing.
She had been researching areas all over the country that were likely to show better than average growth and appreciation, and where properties were selling at prices people could afford.
After selecting the area she started doing the hard stuff.
Her kitchen became her home office.
Maps and papers were spread everywhere along with a phone, and a laptop.
Using zillow.
com and craigslist.
com and other resources to locate Realtors or for sale by owner properties, Carolyn picked up the phone and started dialing for dollars.
Her question for sellers was, "Will you look at an offer with nothing down and no credit?" She got at least 100 No's before she changed her question saying, "Would you look at an offer with 5% down and owner financing?" She called her list again and at least 200 other owners or Realtors and some interesting things started to happen.
She had to educate a lot of people, including Realtors, about owner assisted financing but eventually she found forty-seven owners willing to look at an offer.
She put fourteen of these properties under contract, subject to her inspection.
All of her offers had assignment clauses in them.
Carolyn had never visited the communities where she was making offers.
She hadn't seen any of the properties in person.
After the Thanksgiving holiday she traveled to the area and began her inspections.
She spent three days renegotiating twelve of the offers and was successful in lowering her purchase price on five or six of them.
Carolyn ended up owning two.
The founder of the investment club bought two or three, and the remainder were wholesaled or assigned to other members of the club.
Carolyn worked from 9:00 to 5:00 for three weeks making the phone calls.
Sometimes she was tired.
Sometimes she was afraid.
Sometimes she cried.
Through this process she had developed a network of Realtors, property managers, investment club presidents, and bird dogs who were calling her.
I asked her how she did it all.
Her response was, "I get up every day.
I get ready every day.
I go to work every day.
" These are pretty good keys for success.
I realize that we all can't cut out a three week, nine-to-five, block of time in our busy schedules but we can probably do something each day that moves us closer to our goals.
I assume each of us have goals.
Carolyn has goals and they are the driving force for her success.
When I was in college, married with two kids and one on the way, I managed the men's side of a J.
C.
Penney store.
Our second child was in the hospital several weeks at a time over a period of two years.
The quarter he passed away I was carrying 18 credit hours.
That quarter I had a 3.
75 grade point average.
It was the best I had ever done.
I didn't have time to get distracted by less important things and easier things.
I didn't have time to waste.
Each year at Penney's, we had to take a few moments every fifteen minutes and record how we had spent our time.
This went on for a week.
I became very aware of the value of time.
Later in life I became very aware of the time value of money.
Both of these bits of knowledge have served me well.
Time value awareness helps me to plan effectively so that each aspect of life, i.
e.
family, social, recreational, physical and financial, is served.
Time value of money awareness helps me to get busy now, not later, to build my real estate portfolio and manage my investments.
Pursuing wealth through real estate can become a 24/7 addiction.
I don't recommend it.
I do recommend that you have a planning meeting with yourself for a few minutes every morning or evening.
Plan your activities.
Write them down, and prioritize them.
Do all you can on "1a" then go to "1b" and on down your list.
Don't let the easier "2's", "3's" and "4's" get in the way and keep you from obtaining your goals.
Have a special meeting with your spouse or significant other, or your partners, and set some long-term, intermediate, and short-term goals.
Make them reasonable and attainable and give yourselves a small reward when you achieve one of them.
As you perform a task, like picking up the phone and talking to a seller, your confidence will grow and you will get better at it.
As your skills improve you will be able to do more in less time.
You will learn to collapse time frames.
This is an important concept.
Why look at five houses in a week when you could plan your route more efficiently and look at ten? Why make one offer a week when you could make two, or three, or four? Now you are on a roll.
Life is good.
Enjoy it.