8 SIMPLE STEPS TO RICHES IN REAL ESTATE OR IN ANY OTHER FIELD, FOR THAT MATTER REGGIE BROOKS
like a knife.“ Everybody knows old Alice. She gets lonely and calls on someone’ s newspaper ad or direct mail piece. That’ s how she entertains herself. She never leaves the house.’
It was sheer agony having to wait until the next day to meet with the lady in the big house. The thoughts running through my head were nonstop! Will she contact someone else? Will someone else contact her? Maybe a family member. What if she changes her mind? Am I really ready for this? This is a huge step! What if it doesn’ t work? What if I fail? I don’ t want to loose any money. Does any of this sound familiar to you? I think we all suffer with Uncontrollable Thought Syndrome. There’ s nothing like doing a good deal and making yourself $ 20,000 to $ 40,000 to make all those negative thoughts disappear. You might still have those uncontrollable thoughts running through your head, but they’ ll be a little different. Let’ s see, I wonder if we should go to the Bahamas, or if we should go to Hawaii? Should I go for the Mercedes, or should I go for the BMW?
Back to the little old lady. For three weeks, we went back and forth. Every time I thought we were close, she’ d throw some garbage into our deal that would bring negotiations to a halt. Then I’ d call her after a few days, we’ d reach what I thought was an agreement, and we would resume. This would happen over and over. You’ d think I’ d have gotten a clue about this one, but I didn’ t.
I happened to be talking with a friend who was a fellow investor, and I mentioned Ms. Jordan, the lady that I was dealing with, and how frustrated I’ d become. He looked at me with a little sly smile on his face. He said,“ You mean Alice Jordan”? I said yes.
Needless to say, I was stunned. The uncontrollable thoughts started again. I quickly took control by feebly asking,“ Uh, how do you know Ms. Jordan”? His answer cut
I was crushed. I was merely an old lady’ s entertainment. Everyone else knew about Ms. Jordan. I didn’ t. My friend even called her by her first name!! That’ s when I learned how important it is not to waste time on sellers that are not motivated. By the time you make an offer based on your profit criteria and you get a counter offer back from the seller, you’ ll know whether you have a motivated seller or not.
7. Lack Of Focus
There are so many different ways to make money in real estate. You can buy, fix up and sell. You can buy and hold for cash flow. You can wholesale to other investors. Come to think of it, you can even make money without ever owning the real estate. You can buy mortgages, and you can lend money and charge hefty interest rates. And this is just to name a few. It’ s easy to see how a new investor can jump from one strategy to another. A new investor