June was a great month, we put a ton of properties under contract.  Sold a house and bought a bunch of houses.

I am a bit uncertain about the market right now, it seems like the retail buyer action has cooled a bit.  Investors are even more aggressive, so the margins have completely disappeared.

1. We bought five houses.  A sixth one was supposed to close yesterday, but we had some issues with the City, so we are still trying to sort that out.

2. We sold one retail deal.  It worked out pretty good.  It was pre-90 day FHA transaction.

3. We rented 3 properties.

4. Cash flow has been pretty tight this month as we closed a ton of properties and I need to work on getting them set up with long-term financing.

Get to 20 rentals properties (not units)

We are at 21 rentals now, possibly 22 (depending if we find a wholesale buyer or not).  So far I really like being a property manager.  It’s a lot of work, but the truth is no one cares for your property as much as you do!

Make 36 Purchases (Rentals, Retail or Wholesale)

We are officially half done 2010.  I am three properties ahead of schedule at 21 purchases.  July should have at least 4 closings in it too, so that would put me a bit farther ahead too. We want to ramp up to 5-6 purchases a month for the rest of the year if we can, but we will be forced to wholesale at least two of those.

Make at least 10 Blog Posts per Month

I knew if I put it in writing it would happen!  Written goals are the key to success people.  The blog traffic has really picked up again now that I am being more active.

Everything else is pretty boring, all the rehabs are going pretty smooth.  The massive fire damaged House #39 is coming along great, we’re passing inspections left and right and actually will be dry-walling next week.

I have not done as good blogging as I was hoping.  May was a decent month for us, not great, but still chugging along in Southern California.  Inventory is really messed up right now.  People are fighting over very few properties and it doesn’t make for profitable deals.

1. We bought 2 houses in May.  A third one was supposed to close, but we had HOA issues that have delayed things.  We also where high bidder at an auction on a great retail flip property but the bank ended up rejecting our offer after two weeks of deliberation.  This was a bit discouraging.  The good news is we are close on 2 or 3 properties.

2. We rented one property in May.  Now pretty much everything we have available is occupied.

Get to 20 rentals properties (not units)

We are at 18 rentals now.  Our most recent escrow House #47 is going to make one of our better rentals.  We are paying a little bit more for our typical rental but it’s really a Class A property (by our definition at least).

Make 36 Purchases (Rentals, Retail or Wholesale)

We have bought 16 properties so far in 2010.  We are pretty much right on track with our goals and we are really searching hard to buy more properties.

New Goal: Make at least 10 Blog Posts per Month

Well, this goal I failed.  I made a whopping 4 blog posts in May.  Granted I got a bit of a late start.  #1 focus is buying more properties and #2 is blog posts.  So as long as I can open a couple escrows you should see a lot of blog posts!

How did you guys do in May?

Believe it or not, I am still alive, but my free time to blog lately has been greatly suffering.

We are still buying properties and April was a really good month.

1. We sold one house in April.  It was a wholesale deal.  House #41.

2. We bought 7 houses in April.  House #38-House #43 and House #45.

Here are the yearly goals:

Get to 20 rentals properties (not units)

We are still at seventeen rentals (with all but one of them closed).  Fourteen are rented, two are for rent and one is in purchase escrow. We still have three mot to go and have 6.5 months to get there.

Make 36 Purchases (Rentals, Retail or Wholesale)

We have bought 14 properties so far.  In May, we should have 3 or 4 more closing.  So we are a little ahead of schedule right now which I am excited about.

Raise $250,000 in Private Money – Accomplished

We raised another 150,000 in April.  It is short-term funds, but it gets the job done.  At this pace we might hit $1,000,000 for 2010.

New Goal: Make at least 10 Blog Posts per Month

I like blogging, it is great to keep a record of what is going on and it helps me remember what is important.  To keep myself rolling my goal is to make at least 10 blog posts per month.

How did everyone else do for April?

Better late then never.  March has been done for 9 days now and I am just posting this.  March wasn’t a great month in terms of purchases, so now we are a bit behind schedule but should catch up plus some by the end of April.

1. We sold House #16, March 31st.  The escrow took forever.

2. We bought House #35 in early March and that’s it for acquisitions.

3. House #36 through House #45 are in escrow, most of them will close in April.

Get to 20 rentals properties (not units)

We are up to seventeen rentals (including what is in escrow).  Eleven are rented, one is in under repairs and the other five are in purchase escrow.  So this goal should definitely happen, only three more to go.

Make 36 Purchases (Rentals, Retail or Wholesale)

By the end of the March we made our seventh purchase so far this year.  So right now we are two behind schedule, I am confident we will have twelve acquisitions so far this year by the end of April, maybe more.

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have a lot going on and getting ready to go on vacation in 10 days.  Wish me luck on making everything happen.

Raise $250,000 in Private Money – Accomplished

Now it’s time for you guys to give me an update on how your March was.  Mike Z, QkNic, BJ Fitzgerald, Stephen J. Moore, Jennifer how are you doing?

Well, another month is down, so it is time to update the world on what we accomplished in February.

• We sold House #26 and House #29.
• We rented House #28 and House #31.
• We bought three properties, two retail flips (House #32, House #34) and one rental (House #33).
• One property is in sales escrow and should sell in March (House #16).
• One property is in purchase escrow (House #35).

So we are on track again for February.  Three more purchases, that makes 6 so far this year.  House #35 was supposed to close in February, but I just got HOA docs on Saturday, so it should be recording tomorrow.  I am little worried about how many purchases we are going to do in March, but we are making a ton of offers so I am confident we will get something.

Get to 20 rentals properties (not units)

We are now up to twelve rentals.  Nine are rented, one is for rent, one is getting repaired and one is just closing escrow.

Make 36 Purchases (Rentals, Retail or Wholesale)

Like I mentioned above we are on track, with six purchases so far this year.  Three a month.  I was hoping to be ahead of schedule in February, but that is not how things worked out.  On the sales side, we have pretty much everything sold and in-escrow so that is going really smooth.

Raise $250,000 in Private Money – Accomplished

We raised a 1st trust deed on a property, so consider this goal accomplished for right now.  I am thinking we might be able to double or triple this goal.

Now it’s time for you guys to give me an update on how your February was.  Mike Z, QkNic, BJ Fitzgerald, Stephen J. Moore, Jennifer how are you doing?

If real estate investing has a lot of anything, it is self proclaimed gurus who are trying to sell you something!  In general, I really believe in training and further education in your chosen field. Here is some advice I have and the research I would do before I would pay for any training.

How the Bad Real Estate Trainers Typically Make Money

Training is a business model in itself and usually more lucrative than doing deals for the most successful trainers.  Most setups, especially the scammy ones work like this:  they start you off in a free or low-cost training seminar (cost $0-100), this is very hype based, they usually have a power point and flash some big checks.  At the end they let you know at the back of the room you can sign up for a 1-day training event (cost $995 – with $8,000 value).  Most of the time they say they are only selling 39 spots or 99 spots.  If you are one of the lucky ones to pay the $995, you will get 8 hours with a little bit on information and lot of hype up-selling you to their gold level training (usually 10,000+).  So when everything is said and done, you can get sucked into spending a lot of money with very little value.

Before paying for training from anyone I would recommend the following:

Do Your Research

Before you pay for anything always Google the trainers name.  You can also check for their name with the word scam added to the end (e.g. “Armando Montelongo” scam).  Read the reviews carefully.  Obviously, people can publish anything they want on the internet, but if they have a lot of negative reviews from multiple sources I would steer clear of them.

Be Careful of Training Information Overload

If you are new to this business, it is overwhelming.  I would suggest you spend at least 20 hrs practicing the real estate business for every hour of training you pay for.  So many people I have talked too, come to the clubs and one day seminars.  My first question is almost always, how many properties/deals do you see in a typical week?  Too often the answer is, I am “building my team” or I am trying to get xyz accomplished first.  All the training in the world isn’t going to make a stellar deal fall onto your lap!  You must get out and practice this business.  If you find a great deal, the rest of the pieces of the puzzle will come together.  When I bought House #1, I didn’t have a lender, I didn’t have any repair crews, etc.  I have learned so much since then, but the deal still came together.

Get Training on Specific Topics

Rather than going for generalized training, I would suggest for going to specific topics that you want to learn more about. For example, I would be very inclined to go “Raising Private Money for Real Estate Investing” versus “All you need to know about Buying/Selling Real Estate.”  I do this same tactic with the real estate clubs.  If I am interested in the topic and the speaker I go to the club meeting, otherwise I typically take the month off.

Only Get Training from Active Investors in your Area

My favorite book is the “Richest Man in Babylon.”  In one of the early chapters it brings up a contest about who you trust with your money.  “Why invest in a chariot maker to go to a far-off land to buy rare jewels?”  The same concept applies to real estate, why would you trust a professional speaker to educate you on how to buy a house at a discount?

Look into Real Estate Clubs First

Oftentimes, gurus come and speak at real estate clubs for free.  They provide a condensed version of their typical training or a teaser.  You will get a feel for the speaker without paying very much.  Typical club entrance fees (at least in my area are $20-$30).

Never Stop Learning!

As much as I am giving the gurus a bad rap, I am a big believer in education.  One good concept can save or make you millions in this business.  So you better get out there and learn from the reputable educators!

Since I am a big believer in written goals and reviewing them often, I am going to start a new monthly review post.  In 2010, I have big goals, so I need to have laser focus to make sure I hit or surpass them.

What happened in January?

1. We sold House #17 and House #18.
2. We rented three houses (House #22, House #25 and House #27)
3. We bought three properties:
   1. • • Two will be rented (House #30 and House #31)
      • The other purchase is a retail flip (House #29)
   2. Currently, we have two more under contract and are really close on another two.  I would estimate there is an 80% chance we will make four purchases in February.

And now to the progress on the goals?

Get to 20 rentals properties (not units)

We are now up to 10 rentals.  I am slightly discouraged because House #33 (the contract the bank cancelled on us after the electric meter got pulled) was going to be a rental too, so that would have put us at 11.

Make 36 Purchases (Rentals, Retail or Wholesale)

In January, we made three purchases, so we are exactly right on track with our goal.  Three purchases a month * 12 months = 36 houses.  Earlier in the month I really thought we might get 5 deals done this month, but House #33 got cancelled and House #32 got delayed slightly.  It should close early this coming week.

Raise $250,000 in Private Money

We also nailed this goal; we raised $110,000 as a private first trust deed on one of our rental properties.  This grouped with some of the smaller amounts I have pulled in, puts us way over half way towards this goal.  I have another person that wants to invest 60,000, so we should be pretty close to meeting this goal by the end of February.

Now onto some of your goals:

I asked you guys to list some of your goals on my blog earlier this month, I am going to try to keep you accountable too, so I will list what you posted and you can post an update in the comments.  If you want to be added to the list feel free to post your goal in the comments.  If you want to be taken off of the list,  no problem let me know.

Mike Z: Purchase 10 Cash Flow Rentals (1 Down 9 to go)

Anything new in January Mike?

QkNic: Purchase and rehab 2 properties @ 100% return on investment.  Build a spec home in a high end community.

Any luck selling the first rehab?  How is the second rehab coming?

BJ Fitzgerald: Purchase my first property. I hope to have more than one but I need to take that first step. Last year several “excuses” held me back: work, wedding, etc. I plan to have NO EXCUSES when I look back a year from now…

How are things coming?  Did you get approved by some lenders to finance your deals?  Have you had a chance to go look at any properties yet?

Stephen J. Moore : I plan to wholesale at least 10 properties, hopefully more and get 2-3 rehabs or flips done as well.

You have big goals Stephen.  How is the progress coming?  Have you got the first wholesale deal down yet?

Jennifer: 1) complete 4 rehabs in 2010. We have purchased one and are working on it now. Should hit the market by February 20th.  2) have plans done and permits ready to build our own home! We have gotten as far as interviewing architects – now we need to pick one and just go for it! We have not done much as we bought the location in March 2009!!!  3) Get my real estate license. I have completed/passed 2 of the 3 courses and then I can apply to take the test!

How is the first rehab coming?  Have you found anything else to buy?  Did you schedule your real estate exam yet?

Good luck everyone!