Yesterday was a normal day for me since I started learning about real estate investing. I did my usual reading of the posts on...

ReiClub
and
ReiPlace

...forums. I do this every day and it's amazing how much free and valuable information you can get! Visit those sites daily if you want to learn.

I usually work on my website while I'm at my JOB but needed to do some actually JOB related duties so I figured I'd just work on it when I got home. That didn't happen either because I needed to do some work for my brother. He gets a pretty steady business with creating CADD drawings of building floor plans and I help him with this. He pays me and I get extra money for my Investing as I've discussed briefly in previous posts. Well to make a long story short it took all my free time to figure out and update the drawings he needed.

So even though I didn't get to work on my website I was still able to help my Investing career move forward by making some extra mullah!

Also I may have mentioned this before, but if anyone wants a free website that you can use for your business I'd look into

Google Sites

my brother is just setting it up to keep track of all his clients and drawing files and it looks like it is going to work out well. You can setup calenders, share pages with clients (I.E. create a page for one of your deals and send it out to your buyers). You can also have file storage pages that you could keep your contracts on. I think it is limitless with it's features. You can even link your domain to the site and create email accounts that use gmail. To get all of that you'll need a free...

Google Apps

... account as well. Google is GREAT! say it with me..GOOGLE IS GREAT!



Well have a great Holiday weekend!

Why does doubt creep into your mind as if out of nowhere? Every once in a while this rush of anxiety will rush through my body. I guess it's just the fear and uncertainty that the next step in my evolution to become a Real Estate Investor is. There is no more studying that I can do, there is no more pondering where I should start, there is only one thing in front of me now. That is getting that list of leads, whether by creating it myself of buying it, and sending out the mailers.

I started to think the other day that I wanted to get my real estate license again, and definitely going to. Now my usual inclination would be to do that first and then start investing, but I'm not going to do it that way. I'm not going to use that as an excuse to stay on the side lines. It's funny most of the time I don't even know I'm just doing things to avoid jumping into the game. I've rationalize it all in my head that I MUST do this, and this and that before I start. The mind is funny that way.

Well enough of these thoughts for now. It feels good to put them into words it kind of gets them out of your head and motivates you to get past them.

Moving forward!

On my first baseball free Sunday I took my wife to go see 4 open houses. Was sort of like killing two birds with one stone, I continued my goal of seeing 100 open houses and also my goal to spend time with my wife. It helps that all the open houses are in areas my wife and I want to eventually buy a house.

I can definitely see how going to 100 open houses will help in gaining knowledge of the area. I'm already getting a sense of price, quality and location. There was this one house, a "modified" ranch, that was very strange. It had an addition on one side that was a family/living room that didn't match the rest of the house. It had these custom cabinets and shelving all over the house, a hidden trap door in the wall between the kitchen and dinning room and the house was wired for a stereo system from the 70's. There was a fold out record player in the wall!!! This house was going to need a lot of work to be updated, it was a 4bed 2.5 bath and they were asking $799,000. My guess is that it won't sell very quickly.

The other houses where better and more reasonably priced. There was a newer home built in 1999 going for $699k (this would have been more but was on a major road) and a split Colonial for $649k as well as another colonial at $699k.

I'm finding it's hard to separate your likes and dislikes and just look at the house and see potential profit. I'll learn how to do that as I go I hope.

The rest of this week will be devoted to getting my website ready and getting my business cards(failed goal from previous week). Oh and I also didn't go to the REI Club meeting last week because I couldn't find anyone to watch my puppy. I will do a better job of planning next time.

I've been working on my website the last two couple days. After buying the Theme from Revolution I have been pretty much just figuring out where things are and how to effectively update it. It's not to hard but it's a slow process at first. Take a look if you have the time

IBuyNJProperty

Yesterday I decided I was going to take my dog for a walk around town a little bit to look at the homes in the area. We were out for about 45 minutes but didn't see much but nicely kept houses that would probably go from the low 400's to the high 700's. Since i'm going to be focusing on first time home buyers I've got to look for 3 bed 1 to 2 bath houses that should run around 350 in this area. I'm going to have to look at the older parts of town because anything new is a McMansion.

I did find out one good thing though, that little doggy is a conversation starter. Everyone you pass wants to pet the dog :) Great way to meet people and then talk about the neighborhood.

Time to do some work for my brother and make some extra cash, got a check for 180 bucks the other day.

Here are the pictures I promised of my vacation last week....hope you like them

The Condo We Rented which is 3 blocks from the beach...


Mom and Dad (In the back), Brother Joe and Fiance Alicia (Right Middle), Brother Tim (Middle), his wife Jen (Left holding two kids), Josh and Addie(The two kids), Me (bottom right) and my wife Valarie (Bottom Left).


Addie on the Beach


Val and me on the beach..


Some places we spent alot of time at...




Boardwalk Pics
We are all standing by a letter...


He didn't want to go on the ride anyway...


Joe, Alicia, Mom and Addie...


Welcome to Wildwood


Actual sign on the boardwalk...


I think that should be enough :) hope you liked them

I was reading a thread at one of the Rei forums I visit everyday. The thread talks about loan modifications and how you can make money doing them or even just helping out a home owner. It also includes a GREAT example of a Hardship Letter. Have a read

Loan Modifications and Hardship Letter

I don't have anything new to post about except that I am back from my shore vacation in Wildwood Crest, NJ. It was fun, had the whole family down there with us which is always nice, 10 people in all. We all get together very well so there is never any drama. I'll post some pictures when we get them uploaded.

My goal for this week is to go to a new REI group meeting on Wednesday and also create and order some business cards. Here is a good read on how to create a proper business card...

Business Cards

Last but not least, today is my Wife's 28th Birthday so Happy Birthday to her! On here request, I'm going to bake her a cake (chocolate with vanilla frosting) along with diner (probably some sort of chicken) and then give the presents. I'll let you know if I don't kill her with the dinner and cake..haha