Intro

Hi, my name is Drew Perry. You may not recognize my name…yet. But if I told you I almost called this ebook, “Learn How You Too Can Retire at Age 23 and Do Nothing but Sit in Your Shorts on the Front Porch and Wave at the Mailman”, would you be interested in learning what I have to say? I thought so.

I’m a country boy from Florence, AL. I worked at many different things trying to find what I enjoyed and could make good money at. When I was 18, I learned how to invest in real estate. I have now spent more than $150,000 on educating myself on how to excel in real estate and I set the goal for myself of owning 21 houses by the time I was 21. On my 21st birthday, my real estate portfolio contained 24 houses. I had excelled.

By the time I was 23, I had created a $1.23 million real estate empire, allowing my dad to come home from corporate America and work from home AND I retired. Twenty three seemed a little young to stay retired and it wasn’t long before I had the real estate itch again. So, I’m back at it. I am eager to rebuild my portfolio, quickly. With all the knowledge and experience I have gained, it will not be nearly as hard as you might think.

As far as I know, I am the only real estate investor who is mixing – and teaching – their knowledge of real estate, online marketing and ebay selling. It’s working, and it’s working very well. I have sold over 40 houses on ebay and continue to find success in doing so. (Including a house with holes in the roof, that was full of fleas and stunk to high heaven from dogs - all of which I thoroughly disclosed! More on that later…)

I’m a Turtle on a Fence Post

Imagine your life has been really busy and all you want is to get away and be alone. So, you find a lovely country road and start walking. You can’t see anyone else for miles. It’s just you, the birds, the sunshine and the breeze that’s blowing. Suddenly, you happen to see a big old turtle sitting on top of a fence post. Now, that turtle there is a sure sign of something: you are not as alone as you were hoping, ‘cause somebody helped that bad boy up there.

That describes my journey into real estate investing, as well. I didn’t get to the point of having a real estate portfolio large enough to allow

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me to retire at 23 all by myself. I’ve been blessed enough to have had many wise people in my life. Some of them have been in the form of real people, others have been in books or through seminars. But, they’ve all been people who are successful at what they’re doing.

It has been said that the fastest way to become successful yourself is to find successful people, learn from them and do what they are doing. That’s what I did. If you’re eager to become or see your family set free financially, even if you’re just interested in adding some additional passive income each month, I’d like to teach you how to do what I do.

Learning to Think Like a Real Estate Investor

The first thing that I learned from my mentors was to think differently. I found that the idea of needing to do well in school, go to college, get a degree, come home and make a lot of money, was no longer going to cut it. Our world is changing and while that used to be the road to wealth and financial freedom, it no longer is. In order to help you be ready to pursue your real estate goals, we need to address how you think, first.

I know, when you read some of the things I’m going to share, you’re going to think I am outside my mind. I understand that feeling very well. When I first arrived for my stay with my “rich dad” Chris Verhaegh, I felt like someone had thrown my brain into a paint shakin’ machine. It felt like I was a bb in a tin can. Chris is the first person to set this turtle up on top of that fence post. (Folks, if you’ve not read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, I would say that it is a “must-read” for any entrepreneur.)

Every where we went he had something new to teach me. Even things that I had taken for granted were suspect and up for discussion and reassessment. It was a hard time, because I was so far out of my comfort zone, yet it has been some of the most powerful teaching I’ve ever received. So don’t give up, just keep reading the things I’m going to share with you, until they make sense. It may take 2 readings….it may take 20, but when you get it, it will change the way you do business. In fact, I believe it will change your life.

Now, just to give you some insight into how my rich dad thinks, let me share with you a story from his youth. Chris was very good at playing pinball. In fact, he was THE BEST pinball player in his school. Chris attended a wealthy private school, on a scholarship, so he didn’t have

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a lot of excess spending money. He quickly saw a way to earn that money, while doing the thing he was best at and enjoyed doing most.

Chris would park himself at a pinball machine at a local arcade, after school. He would put his quarter in and play the game to the point that he had 8 or 9 extra balls. Then he would announce to the kids in the arcade, that he would be selling 7 balls at half price. So, the kids would come up and pay him to play out those 7 balls, he’d earn money and when they were down to 2 balls left, he’d start all over again. He could sit and play that machine for hours – and he would sometimes start up a second game on a second machine, so he could be earning from more than one game at a time. Chris did not think like anyone I had ever met before. I can say with pride I now think much more like he does, but it is only because of the time he spent teaching me.

One of the first things that I decided I wanted to develop, once I left Chris’ house, was what I call a Lazy Wealth Mindset…and in this case, being lazy is a good thing. Being lazy means I want to develop passive income. You see, a job, which is NOT passive income, is nothing more than doing the same thing over and over and over again. You’re trading your hours for their money. I decided I wanted to do something a few times – or better yet, one time – and let the money just flow in. That’s what passive income is, pay that you keep on receiving for doing something one time. (I know another investor who calls this “mailbox” money. I like that: money that comes out of my mailbox.)

What else is included in this Lazy Wealth Mindset? Systems. Wealthy people will sit for hours working on something that would normally only take them 10 minutes to do. They will work at it and work at it and work at it, until they have shaved 9 minutes off the process. AND they will never do those same 9 minutes worth of work again. You need to learn to systematize your work. It’s almost like putting yourself on auto-pilot.

Maybe you are not familiar with what I mean by saying you need to systematize your work. Basically, I’m just talking about the procedures that someone uses to keep something organized and flowing well. It’s the established order of something. For example, I bet you guys have a system for putting your tools away. Ladies, I’m pretty sure you don’t just throw your pretty glasses into the kitchen cabinet. The way you put things away, is a part of a system. Having your systems in place will help you make money.

Let’s stop right now and talk about money, before we go any further. Maybe you’ve been told it’s the root of all evil. You see, the problem

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with that proverb is, it’s been misquoted so many times, that we think we know what it says, when in fact, we’ve forgotten a few words. The quote comes from the Bible – and if you want to go look it up (it can be found in 1 Timothy 6:10) you will see that in fact, it’s the LOVE of money that gets us into trouble. (There are a lot of other verses that discuss the love of money, too.) When money starts being the most important thing in our life, then we can be sure that we’re losing sight of what it really is. It’s a tool. Not too many of us can be accused of having a love affair with a screwdriver, can we? (Ok, except for maybe a Snap-on.)

With money - this tool - we can see our lives freed up to enjoy 4 freedoms. Each freedom builds on the one before it. All of them are for the purpose of seeing us become and do all that God intended us to. There are too many of us walking around with a dream in our heart that simply don’t have the money to pursue it. That is a mighty big shame.

By gaining wealth – more tools - we will experience financial freedom. Once we have gained financial freedom, we will have time freedom. Time freedom allows us to determine what we do with our time, not what the boss says we should do. When we don’t have time freedom, we’re really not a whole lot different from one of those pin balls I was talking about before – being hit around, without any say of where we’re going.

Once we have obtained freedom with our time, we’re set free to enjoy and focus on relationships. No more missing your son’s Little League game or your daughter’s dance recital because you can’t get off work. Relationship freedom will help you focus on the people – not the things – in your life that are most important.

When we are living lives filled with rich relationships (and I don’t mean wealthy relatives, either), we think better, we work harder and we live more fruitful lives. This frees you to put all your time, energy and emotions into that dream or project that lies deep in your heart. God has put those dreams there for a reason. He wants you to do great things. This freedom, spiritual freedom, is “why” we’re doing what we do.

So, what dream is in your heart? What project have you always wanted to do, but couldn’t because you didn’t have the time or the money? Now is the time to pull that dream back out, dust it off and start looking at it with new eyes, because I want to help you make that dream a reality.

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As you start allowing yourself to dream that dream again, I want you to take that dream and write it down. You don’t have to share it with anyone yet, if you don’t want to, just write it down. You see, this is something else my mentors have taught me. You’ve got to have goals. If you don’t have goals, you can’t know where you’re going or worse yet, you won’t know when you’ve arrived.

A goal doesn’t become a goal, until it gets written down. When it’s still tucked away in your heart, it’s just a dream, but when it gets real space on real paper, you’re on your way to making that dream become your goal. Besides, your dream is important enough that it deserves to be written down. Then you can look at it and think about it. You’ll need to see it. Some days it’s just plain hard work to keep going and having that goal written down will be just what you need to keep on working away at it.

Now that you have your goal/s written down, it’s time to start thinking about the business models you need to build your wealth. A business model is the design of an organization that explains/defines how the revenue will be generated. When we talk business models, I want you to understand some terms that will help this all fit together in your mind.

The first word is cash. Now, I know you know what cash is – whether we’re talking green backs or the man in black – but I want you to understand it in the context of real estate investing. Cash is a one time out-pouring of money. Generally this comes from doing work. You work: they pay you….once. You spend that money – poof – it’s all gone and you gotta strap on those work clothes and go do it all over again. I’ve got nothing against cash, I just have something against having to go out and make it over and over again.

Now, the other word I want you to grab hold of is cash flow. I have a saying, “Positive cash flow will set you free.” Remember when I told you I wanted to have a lazy wealth mindset and have passive income? This is passive income. You work….once: they pay you. You spend that money – poof – it’s right back in your mailbox next month. Now, do keep in mind, there is some work involved in this. You DO have to go get that check out of your mailbox, sign it and take it to the bank. If you’re a really lazy investor, you might even see if you can’t find a way to have that money automatically deposited, then all you have to do is open your monthly bank statements. Now THAT is passive income. (Not to mention a fine system, too!)

I remember very clearly when the whole concept of passive income became clear to me. My goal was to bring my dad home from his job.

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I was 18. We were eating dinner in The Tower of the Americas restaurant in San Antonio, TX. Now, you’ve got to remember, I’m from Florence, AL where the only lights we have at night are the Big Dipper and the Milky Way. San Antonio, on the other hand, has lights like we’ve got cows. I was sitting there staring at all these lights and I got to thinking, “Every light out there is one house. All it takes to be financially free is 30 houses. That’s hardly any lights. I can do this.” That night I made it my goal to have 21 houses by the time I was 21.

So, we’ve got our job, which provides us with cash. We’ve got our investments which provide us with cash flow. There’s one more type of income I want to discuss. Residual income is the income that would come from say, selling cars at Jr’s Used Cars. So, in this case you work, they pay you. You spend that money – poof – the money MIGHT appear again next month, it depends on how many cars you sold for Jr. Any kind of sales, network marketing or commission would qualify as residual income. If for any reason you don’t feel like selling, the company isn’t likely to feel like paying you. It’s a little different from a job, but not much.

Now that I’ve discovered passive income, I don’t ever want to go back to working a job. There is no freedom in working. But, with passive income, I have a lot of freedom. Now this kind of freedom may not be important to you. You will need to pick the kind of income that will match your goals. If you have a goal of having a roofing business, I’d be thinking two things. One, “Are you crazy?” and two, “You DO realize your clients aren’t going to be lining up to pay you for roofs that are still sitting in the back of your pick-up, right?” But, that’s me. I’m just a lazy investor. You may like all that hard work and sweat stuff and that may be the only model that lines up with your dreams. (I’ll think of you when I’m breaking a sweat opening my bank statements next month, if that’s any consolation.)

Creating wealth is when you have more income than you need to meet your basic needs, allowing you to invest the rest. How far away from creating wealth are you?

When I was staying with Chris, we watched a guy selling big old tree stumps for $500 each. I couldn’t believe it. What fool would pay that kind of money for stumps when I could find 10, just driving my pick up out into our woods? Chris explained that this was because he lived in Idaho. Trees like that just aren’t readily available. The man had created a market where he could be in control. He is the one who determines the price, simply because he’s the one in control. Make it your goal to find a way to be the one in control of all your business deals.

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Measurement is another one of those lessons that I’ve learned. If you can’t measure something, how do you know where you were, where you’re at and where you’re going? Measuring is the only tool to know where you’re at and when you’ve succeeded. Remember I said you had to write your goal down? This is part of why that is such an important thing to do. This is also an important part of planning how large you would like your real estate portfolio to be. If you don’t know how much you need to create wealth in your life, you won’t know what you have to do to get there.

Because measuring is so important to Chris, my rich dad, he keeps track of every cent he spends. He taught me to do the same. I have found that rich people do things that poor people think are either an inconvenience or just flat out unnecessary. It may be inconvenient, but if it’s going to help me see my goals realized or help me create more wealth, I can learn to write things down…and so can you.

Money is the best employee you’ve got, but it makes a mighty nasty master. You’ve got to make money work for you. You need cash for today, cash flow for tomorrow and both of them working together for wealth for the future. Real estate investing is the best tool I know to accomplish all three. Let’s get started creating wealth for your family, so you too can experience the freedom I already enjoy.

How to have the right business mindset for real estate investing

Having the right attitude will take you a long way in this business. I have found that when I approach folks with the idea that I want to help, they are more willing to let me get close enough to do business with them. If they’re the least bit gun shy, I assure them that if I can’t help, I want to get out of their way, letting them have their privacy. I just make sure I leave the door open a crack to let them come back through, if they want to.

There’s no point in going any further, without telling you that there are different parts to running the business side of your investments that are crucial for you to have in place.

The first one we’ve already talked about and I just can’t emphasize it enough. Write out your vision. This will in turn help you determine what your goals need to be. Having a passion for your vision will give you the drive you need to follow through on all these new things. So, I’ll say it one more time: Write out your vision and your goals! It’s

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just too important to skip this step. Any goal worth having is worth writing down.

Secondly, you MUST be organized. Your business is going to be a shadow of who you are. If you’re a slob, you’re going to run a sloppy business. When you get to the point that you’re running to and from different business meetings, you’re going to need to know where the paperwork for each house is. Furthermore, as we get into this more, you’ll see how very needful it will be for you to have your paperwork orderly and easily available. Don’t be a moron, get a Daytimer!

One of the tricks I have used when doing my planning is to use different color post-it-notes. I use a Monarch size planner and then I use green sticky notes for the projects I’m currently working on. Yellow for the ones that are further in the future and red for those that are furthest in the future. This helps me keep track, at a quick glance, of what all needs my attention at this time. Also, by using post-it-notes, I can take the yellow projects and easily move them forward in the calendar until they are ready to become green post-it-notes.

Every job we do must have a system that matches our vision. For example if part of your vision is spending time with your family, you will want to make certain that your business is as streamlined as possible, freeing you up to be with them.

Part of having a good system in place is knowing what you can and what you can not delegate. Don’t hang on to some job just because it makes you look good, if you know dog gone well that you aren’t good at it. Let me tell you, when we were doing rental properties, I hired a manager. Now, I would make a good manager, but I was smart enough to realize I needed to delegate that job to someone older than I was, to make my business run better. So what if that meant I had to do the peon jobs? My business was running well. There really isn’t any room for ego when you’re concerning yourself with the proper operating of your business.

You need to keep your focus. One focus and only one focus.. Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, says that focus means “following one course until successful.” I like that. It helps me remember to not get distracted by 100 other little piddly things that could keep me busy spinning my wheels. I’m your basic “go out there, kick some backsides and take names later” type guy. Having one focus helps me get out there, get kicking and get back faster.

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And last, the execution of our vision – the ability to get things done and the going out and DOING of our vision. This is where most people fail. Most folks can find a vision, but when it comes to mixing ‘the vision’ with ‘the doing’ together, people just get overwhelmed. It also takes guts. You must have guts, or you wouldn’t have purchased this book. So, let’s keep moving so we can get you out there executing your goals, so you can see your vision coming true.

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Bank

When I started into the real estate business, I started with rental property. I think rental property is GREAT…if you don’t need sleep, don’t mind being on call 24/7, LOVE the smell of paint, and the feel of a hammer in your hand and you think the sound of masking tape ripping off the roll is a thrilling one. That sound like you? Me neither. I’d much rather sell them a house than rent them one. That way, they get to do all the maintenance. (I’ve already told you I’m lazy.)

Since then, I have switched over completely to owner financing. Here comes the second part of Chris’ equation – the other person with a problem that needs fixing. Generally, the people I sell houses to are similar to the people that I buy houses from. In other words, they generally have come out of a divorce or have had health or financial issues. For whatever reason, these people just don’t like dealing with the bank. Period.

Now, I’m not a big fan of banks, either. I’d just as soon not have a whole lot to do with them, but I am fascinated by the amount of money they make. So, following the rule of wealth, I saw that they were successful and decided to do what they do. So, I became the bank. Actually, I’m not in the real estate business, I’m really in the banking business. You see, I buy the houses, then I sell them by owner financing. My clients don’t ever have to even speak to a bank in order to buy from me.

Let me explain the whole idea behind owner financing. You have the house that the first seller has given over to you, preferably with the deed, and you have taken over the payments. That makes it your house. Now, you’re going to find someone else to buy this house. But, you’re not going to sell it to them by asking them to go to the bank, you’re going to let them pay you a lease option and then buy the house from you over time. That’s what I mean by you becoming the bank. You are going to be the one making all the money instead of the First Three Fifths of a Bank, down on Main Street.

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These folks – these “I don’t much care for banks” folks - are my niche market. The idea of a niche market is to create a product or a value to customers that they can’t get anywhere else. I decided to find a regular house that somebody might want to fix up a bit. Even though their credit may have taken a hit – they still have lots of ambition and they’re good hard workers. They need a house, so I sell the house “owner financing” or what some call lease option. This allowed them to have some pride in their home and still be able to afford to live in a decent house. It is a win-win situation.

Now you know what I do, let me teach you how I do it. It’s not difficult. There is a learning curve, but with my help you will be chomping at the bit to get out there and start buying up houses. Even though I tend to be pretty much an action type guy, I’d still recommend you read to the end of the ebook, first.

Let’s Get Started

I’d like to give you a real quick overview of what we’re going to be doing here, so you can follow along without feeling lost.

The plan is to get your name out into the market place as someone who buys houses. When folks start calling you, you’re going to find out about their situation and ask about their house. If you think you can help them, you will go take a look at their house and if it fits your qualifications for investment property, you’re going to offer to buy their house “subject to”. Once you have the house, you’re going to sell this house owner financed. The best way to do this, I have found, is on ebay.

This is the general method that you’re going to follow. Remember: see someone who is successful and do what they do. I am successful and this is what I do.

Finding houses to buy

How do we do this? I suppose you could do what the politicians do and walk around, shaking hands and kissing babies, but that seems a little excessive. I’d much rather employ some basic marketing strategies and save my kissing for something other than folks’ drooling babies.

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This question has several possible answers. I’ve tried them all and for my market, I’ve only found one really good way. But, my market is not your market, and you’ll need to try your market out and see what works for you. Remember the importance of measuring? This is one of those times when you will really see that demonstrated. Keep track of the responses you get, so you can know where your marketing dollars are getting the best return.

Signs are generally the first choice of most real estate investors. Ron LeGrand, someone I consider to be another mentor for me, says put out signs, signs and more signs. I have found that the rule of thumb for a sign is 1” of font for each mile of speed that the reader is traveling as they go by. If your sign is on the highway and people are going by at 65 mph, you’re going to be needing a mighty big sign. If I’m going to put out signs, I prefer to use an 18 x 24 size. I put three of them in a row.

You will want to use horizontal signs with vertical flutes when you’ve got the sign in the ground. If you’re hanging it on a phone pole or some other kind of upright pole, you will want to go vertical with that or it will just fold over. I would suggest you start with 100 signs, but don’t put them all out at once. Put probably 15 or 20 out first. The reason I’m saying that is you don’t want to be inundated with calls until you have a few deals under your belt. Once you have your feet under you, it’s not uncommon to put out 200 – 300 signs a week.

The worst part of using signs is that they fade or blow away. So you might get a huge response the first month or two, but it does go down from there every month. Just a little at first, but it will taper off quite a bit at the end.

When you’re picking signs, I found that black ones with neon green, orange or even purple lettering to be most efficient.

Another option is door hangers. I have a friend who just loves using door hangers. Now, I for one find them to be annoying and too expensive for the return I get on them. But, Derek has found a neighborhood he just loves doing business in. He will hire a couple youngsters who have nothing better to do, send them out and let them do all the work. They love getting paid for something so easy and Derek loves getting the door hangers out.

You can always try a mailing campaign. You will need to obtain a mailing list to do that, so it tends toward the pricey side. Or you could start mailing letters to people who have already moved out of their house – most folks can’t afford two payments.

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The thing that I prefer to do most of all is running ads in my local newspaper. I have the same ad in 3 local papers. Every month. I like to make this as brainless as possible, so I just have them charge my credit card every month and I can forget all about it. But, my phone keeps on ringing.

I tried putting my ads in larger papers and paying several hundred dollars for it. Now I stick with Penny Saver or Nickel News types of papers. They consistently offer me a good result for the marketing dollars I’m spending.

So, what should your ad or sign say? Well, I prefer to keep it simple. I would recommend, “We buy houses cash. Any price, any area, any condition.” OR “Avoid foreclosure. We buy your house.” OR “We buy houses – we take your debt.” OR “Executive homes needed” Then list your phone number AND if you have it, your web site. Generally, I stick with the first wording, but I’ve tried the others as well.

One last option is trolling the obituaries in the newspaper. It’s really difficult to make a cold call there without sounding like a barracuda cruising through a pool of sardines! If you can do it and do it well, there are some fantastic deals to be made, but often you will have to wait out probate and if that’s the case, you may be wishing you WERE a barracuda, so you could at least be bringing in some fish while you’re waiting to finish off the deal.

So, now you’ve got your bait out there, what next? Well, next, your phone is going to start ringing.

What to do with all these calls that are coming in

First of all, you’re going to pause for just a moment and be very thankful that your new venture as a real estate investor has begun.

Secondly, you’re going to answer the phone. Be sure to answer with a smile on your face, because that is going to come through on the phone. (I don’t know why, I just know it does) Before you do another thing, you’re going to ask the person who is calling for their name and their phone number. Repeat it back to them, just to make certain you’ve heard them correctly. I know of far too many business men who can’t take down a phone number and get it right, so repeat it back, just to make sure.

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Now, I’d like to pause here for just one moment and encourage you – encourage you STRONGLY – to not use your own home phone if you can help it. If there is any way at all that you can have a business phone that is separate from your home phone, I just think that is a much better situation. This would especially apply if you have children in your home who might answer a home phone. If you are putting your phone number into the paper or out onto signs, you just don’t want your kids talking to any old fool who might see that number and call. People can be really weird sometimes and this is one simple way to protect your kids.

It’s also best if your kids don’t answer your business calls. Sometimes that can put people off. There are some folks who prefer to think that you’re a hot shot in a slick suit, sitting in your big office, watching the time on your Rolex. Having a child answer the phone will shatter that idea right fast. Since you’re in the “getting to know one another” stage, keeping things as seamless as possible is your best bet.

Start the call asking for their name and phone number – especially if you’re on a cell phone, they may be able to hear you now, but what about 5 min from now? It would be right annoying to have, what sounds like a peach of a deal, only to lose it due to poor reception on your phone and not know how to call them back.

Since they’re calling you, it’s important for you to remember that this is when they’re ready to deal. It might not be the best time for you. I love Taco Bell. I’m telling you, every time I’d get in line at Taco Bell, my phone would ring. (When things got slow, I’d even go get in line at Taco Bell, just to make my phone ring. It worked too!) Now, you might not be at Taco Bell, you might be in the middle of making dinner, or relieving yourself of it. Either way, you’ll want to make yourself as available as you possibly can, AT THAT MOMENT, so you don’t lose the momentum of the potential sale. If you really can’t speak at that time, tell them you’ll call them back as soon as you possibly can and do so!

Remember, these people are generally dealing with some pretty stressful things in their lives, so if you have to call back, don’t be surprised if they just aren’t ready to talk to you then. Besides, most people aren’t real comfortable doing this kind of business over the phone, so when they finally work up the courage to make the initial call, if there is any way at all that you’re able to talk, boy, that would be best! Waiting is like a slow leak in your basketball – it’s hard to score with a flat ball.

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Once you’ve got them on the phone, again, get their name and their phone number. The next most important thing to find out is where they got your name from. Why? Measurement! We need to know if our marketing dollars are being spent to their best advantage. Nobody likes wasting money. We’re aiming for efficiency and effectiveness, so keep track of where you get the biggest bang for your buck.

Get those first questions behind you, then you’re free and clear to talk to these folks, find out about their situation and their house. I have found that creating a lead sheet helps me remember the things I need to ask. (This is especially helpful if I’m already distracted) A lead sheet is a form created by you, for you, with all the information you need to get started working on a deal. It is generic enough you can use it on every deal and every potential seller who calls you. (I will happily share mine with you, at the back of the book, but it’s likely you’ll want to create one that is more suited to you.)

Once I’ve gotten their name and their number and ask where they got my number, I say, “So, tell me, what made you decide to sell your house?” Most likely that will blow the lid off all that’s been happening and you’ll have them gushing on and on, telling you all about the problems they’re struggling with. Let them. I used to try and talk during this time, I found I’d learn a lot more about them if I just kept my mouth shut and listened. Besides, if I was quiet, I could eat that Taco Bell I was buying when the phone rang.

“Tell me about your house.” Now depending on who you say this to, you might have time to eat another couple tacos. Generally, if you’re asking a woman, she will tell you everything about the house, from the color of the vanity in the guest bathroom to the number of shelves in the pantry. “I got a nice garage” is about all a guy will tell you. If he’s feeling talkative, he might tell you what color his house is too. Try to get something that would fall right in the middle of those two. Make SURE to ask them, “Where is the house you’re selling located?” I have had too many times that the folks are telling me about their own home, when that isn’t even the house they’re wanting me to buy!

”May I ask you a very personal question?” seems to be the best way to start asking how much they owe on their house. Most of the time, if they’ve called you, they are ready to share that kind of information. If they seem hesitant, you can try to just get them talking to you all over again and then asking later in the call. If they are still uncomfortable, you may need to gently say something like, “You seem a little unsure of this, are you certain you are wanting to talk about selling? It just might not be the right time.” Give them a gracious way out and don’t

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burn any bridges. “I don’t have time to sit here playing games, buddy!” is a BIG bridge burner.

The last thing I want to know is “How were you hoping we could help you?” This will be a real clue-in as to what they are expecting from you. If they’re thinking you’re Donald Trump and their property is the perfect addition to his portfolio, it’s probably not worth going any further in the deal. But, if you think that there’s a chance this house could fit in with your goals, then by all means, make an appointment to talk with them.

I’ve been doing this long enough now I can pretty much tell within the first 2 -3 minutes max, if I’m going to do the deal or not. You aren’t going to be able to do that at first, of course, but with time you will know right away. Until then, you’re just going to have to spend some time talking to folks on the phone about their houses and their lives.

Oh – one last little thought. Let’s face it, when you get a few hundred signs out there and your phone is ringing day and night, you might want to start thinking about hiring an answering service. I kid you not, I got really burned out on all the phone calls. I remember thinking, “If that phone rings again, I’m gonna shoot something!” I knew then that it was time to hire an answering service. But, I sure don’t recommend that you do that at first. You need the practice communicating with people and you need to spend some time getting to know your market better.

How to know what kind of house to buy

I have found that the best type of house to purchase, would be what I refer to as an Average Joe house. (What you ladies would call a Big Purty House.) This type of house would be a reasonably well kept single family home, generally in the $90 – $150k range. You want to look for these Big Purty houses in nice neighborhoods. We want to be providing a nice place for nice folks to move with their nice families. We’re in the problem-solving business. We don’t want to put nice folks into homes in not-nice neighborhoods.

When you go to look at this house, drive by it a few times and decide how this house makes you feel. If you don’t get a warm, welcoming feeling, think seriously about whether or not you should pursue this. Now men, don’t give me that face. If, as I said before, emotions determine the reality, who is going to have the most “reality” invested when it comes to this house? Uh-huh. And how many men do you know who will buy a house their wife doesn’t like? Uh-huh. So, do

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you want to sell this house or not? Ok, then, go drive by the house and start thinking about how it makes you feel.

Look around the neighborhood. Would you let your kids go out to play, feeling safe? (Would your wife?) Can you see yourself going home to this house? Can you see it decorated for the holidays? Can you imagine kids’ bikes and toys lying around the yard? These are the things that make a house a home and these are the things that sell a home.

I’d like to take a moment here to encourage you to know the neighborhoods in your area. Drive through them, take a look at the houses that are selling. Get a feel for the prices that houses are going for. It’s also important to remember to not buy the best looking house in an average neighborhood. It just won’t sell for the price you need to get for it. (Unless of course, this is one of those “steal” or “give away free” houses.) I always say, “Buy locally, sell globally.” By purchasing houses in your own market area, you’re just establishing one more aspect of the transaction where you’re the one in control.

If this house is at all quirky, you’re going to need to look for pluses to market. What do I mean by that? I mean, go take a look at the kitchen. Quirky house plus ugly kitchen means no cash flow. Cash flow: good. Paying house payment yourself: bad. Nice bathrooms and kitchens sell houses. The ladies love a well equipped kitchen. (Keep this in mind when it comes to selling your house on ebay.)

As you go through the inside of the house, remember, folks are pretty protective of their homes, so it’s best if you smile and nod a lot. Tell them what a great house they have.

Even though I didn’t mention it at the beginning, your real estate work is going to require a few field trips. You need to spend a few weekends, just wandering through Home Depot or Lowes, so you can have a general idea what you’re looking to spend on house repairs. You’re going to want to have a general idea what kind of money you’re going to be able to make on their home. (When you’re trying to decide this, you’ll be really grateful you took time to get to know your neighborhoods. If you’re sitting there, it’ll be nice to have the “ace” of knowing whether or not you can sell this house for the price they’re needing.)

Students ask me, “Drew, what about little houses?” I tell them, “The more dollars ya waller in, the more what stick to ya.” Besides, if you’re going to go to the trouble of putting a deal together, it might as well be for a big house. If however, you find that your target market

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prefers little houses, then by all means, do little houses. I just haven’t found that they fit my business plan for my goals.

Alrighty then: the house looks good, it’s a nice Average Joe house that you feel pretty confident you can sell, what do you do next? You buy it. But you don’t buy it just any way, you buy it “subject to.”

Buying a house

It was a really nice, new house – about 2 years old. The house was out in the middle of the country, a fine piece away from town. It sat near a lake, in an older well-established neighborhood. Not least of all, after I bought it, I found out it had a very interesting back yard. At the point that I bought this house, I’d been buying houses for a while and felt pretty confident I’d be able to sell this one.

I placed an ad in the paper and a young guy came out to look it over. He had plans of getting married in 6 months and thought it would make a good place for him and his bride to start out. He gave me $1000 plus a REALLY good 4-wheeler as down payment. I was paying $720 a month on this house and he agreed to pay $856 lease option. All was well. Then he found out he had cancer. He felt he wouldn’t be able to keep the house payments up while undergoing chemo, so a month later, he moved out. There I sat, holding a nice new house with nice house payments to go with it.

The next 14 months were pretty hard on me. Oh, did I mention it was out in the country? Yeah, so far out no one wanted to drive that far (Strike 1). I continued to pay the $720 a month payments, while the house sat empty. Yep, it was right near a lake. Far enough away you couldn’t see a drop of water, but near enough to have it raise the price of the home (Strike 2). I did every thing I could think of to get that place to sell. The older, established neighborhood, while well established wasn’t exactly well liked. The entire area was…well….ok, so it was stinking Dog Patch out there (Strike 3, I should have been out by now!)! Eight months into this, I realized SOMEONE HAD BUILT THIS HOUSE IN A GRAVE YARD! (Strike 4 – GAME OVER!) Drew: -$10,800. Stupid Tax: BIG winner!

Life has a way of teaching us powerful lessons, whether we like it or not. We either learn fast or we pay something I call the Stupid Tax. The more Stupid Tax you pay, the more you learn. I learned more from selling that house than almost any other I’ve sold.

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I’m starting this section off by telling you about this house, so that you can know no matter how bad you mess up, you won’t do anything I haven’t already done. (or at the very least thought about doing) I still made $1.23 million and was able to retire, at 23, even with this house mess. So, don’t let yourself get scared off as we go through this section. There is a lot to learn, but you can do this. If I can do it, you can. I know you can!

Every house we obtain, we are going to get either because someone is selling it to us really cheap, they are giving it to us for free or they are selling it to us “subject to.” The term “subject to” is a very old one. (In fact, it is part of the old real estate contracts.) What it means is taking over the existing financing on the house. (Or the loan is being taken over subject to the existing financing.) The current owner signs over their deed and we take the property.

I know, I know, you’re thinking the same thing I did when I first heard about “subject to” – you’re wondering why in the world someone would allow us to take over the financing on their house, leaving it in their name and allow us to have the deed to their homes. I am telling you, when people are in a time of crisis, they just want someone to come in and take over. I have seen it many times. Remember, the folks we’re buying from are the ones who are in situations that they need rescuing from.

Furthermore, it’s important to clarify that we’re real estate investors – entrepreneurs – not opportunists. What is the difference? Entrepreneurs are business builders. Opportunists are out for a fast buck. We are not out to take advantage of anyone. (Which is why, when we get into the discussion of selling on ebay, I will stress again and again the importance of full disclosure!)

It’s also important to know that while bankruptcy will clear off your credit report in 7 years, foreclosure is forever. If my taking over the house payments can keep this person from foreclosing on their house, I feel like I am keeping the door open for them to get through whatever bad spot they’re going through and come out on the other side, financially intact.

Now, if you buy this house from them, it is imperative that you play ball and keep their payments made – in full and on time. They are entrusting their credit rating to you and you need to honor that. When people ask me if I think I might not be able to pay it, I remind them that this is my BUSINESS and I have no intention of letting one house take me down. If they continue to fuss, I ask them, “If for any reason I can’t make the payments, do you want the house back?” If

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anyone you’re dealing with would say yes, then hold up your end of the agreement. Contact them immediately if you have any problems, and return the property to them.

I have only had to do that one time. Remember the grave yard house? I did it with that house. And get this – within 2 months they had that house sold for all cash. To this day, I don’t know how they did it. (Drew, young real estate guru: 0; “Unskilled” homeowners: 1) Like I said, I paid more in Stupid Tax on that house than any other I have ever bought.

It IS important that you find good deals. But, it’s even more important that your first deal be a really good one. I tell people to feel free to pass up the first 5…10…15 even, good deals and wait for the GREAT one to come along. And it will. I’ve seen it happen too many times to think otherwise.

A Good Example of Buying a House “Subject To”

The house had a mortgage balance of $56,000 and the house appraised for $65,000. The old boy who bought the house couldn’t even read. To make matters worse, he was on disability. The house was an Average Joe 4 bedroom, 2 bath house. When he went to buy the place, the mortgage company said, “Oh yeah, we’ll get you the loan.” Well, they did, alright; they put this poor guy in his house, with a monthly payment of $550. When he first went in to talk to the mortgage folks, he told them straight up that, with his disability payments, he couldn’t afford any more than $300 a month for his house payment. By the time he called me, he was frustrated, he was stuck, he was one month behind on his mortgage and he was angry. He’d been in this house 6 months.

This is typical of the kind of deals that I do. I buy problem houses. It is rarely the house that has problems, it’s almost always the people in the house that have the problems. When people are in the midst of bad life situations, having a house payment hanging over their head makes them crazy. I am able to go in there, help them out and make money, all at the same time.

Remember my rich dad, Chris? He bought a motorcycle once and owned it for a total of fifteen minutes! He just bought that thing, rode it over to another guy’s house and sold it to him (for a profit, of course). He used to tell me, “Become a problem solver. Take the

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problems of two people and put them together and get paid.” That’s just what I do.

Mr. Green, the old boy above, was thrilled to sell me his house. I went in, took a look at it, paid him some $300 for the shed he’d been building out back, made his two late house payments and took over his loan of $55,000. Now you remember, I just told you this house was appraised for $65,000, right? I have $9,700 equity in that house at the very moment we sign those papers.

Did I do right by him? Does he feel like I cheated him in any way? Are you kidding me?!! Mr. Green, he’s like glue by my side. To this day, he still feels like I did him the biggest favor in the world, taking that house off his hands. When you help a client like that, they ARE going to stick with you. If they need a new house, you’ll be the first person they contact. If they need to sell a house, it’s your phone they’ll be ringing. In this job, we make a lot of new friends.

I’m telling you, our feelings are mighty powerful. The key is perspective. Basically, perception is in the eyes of the beholder. Whether it’s right or wrong, it really doesn’t matter. Whatever you believe with your feelings is your reality.

Let’s say you and your wife are getting to the point that your only form of communication is Icelandic and China-eze, meaning she isn’t speaking to you at all, unless she’s yelling at you while sending something glass flying at you. The last thing you want to do is worry about is how you’re going to make next month’s house payment. You just want to pack your stuff, hopefully end up with just enough dishes to eat a meal on, and clear the front door before she starts speaking JaPANese. (Those cast iron pans are mean!)

When you get to that point, what are your feelings telling you? They’re telling you, you’ve got to get rid of that house and get out of there! It’s not just people in bad marriage situations - it’s people in bad economic situations, bad health situations… or perhaps they inherited a house and live 4 states away. So, they just don’t have the time or inclination to deal with selling it. It doesn’t matter what the reason, people in emotionally exhausting situations just want a way out of their pain. I have the privilege of being a part of that process for them. Soon, you will too!

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OK, I’ve got a House…Now What?

For each house we buy, we will need to have a clearly defined exit strategy. The exit strategy is a plan for the way you’re going to complete this particular transaction. (It is sometimes called a “liquidity event.”) In fact, this is so important, that if you can’t see the exit strategy BEFORE you buy the house, don’t pursue that deal. I generally have only one exit strategy in mind, but really, there are 3 to consider.

First, you could buy the house and flip it. For our definition, that would mean you buy it cheap, rehab it and resell it for a profit. I did that for a while. One of the first ones I did that with was a nice, little, older home – 3 bed, 2 bath house on 2 acres, with a cute little barn. I paid $22k for it. Dad and I then spent the next 2 months and $8k to fix it up. We re-roofed it and remodeled the whole thing. We put it on the market, where it sat for 2 -3 months, until I sold it owner financed for $48k. They paid me $1k down and $600/month. A year later, they needed to move out and we resold it for all cash for $48k. Not too bad - $18k for 2 month’s work. The key here, is to buy low and sell high. That is the best way to ensure that you’re going to make a good profit on the house you’re buying.

Another possible exit strategy option would be for you to buy it cheap and hang on to it and rent it out. I tried this on for size for awhile, as well. Our first rental deal consisted of 13 rental properties. One of them was a huge old 5 bed, 3 & ½ bath, 2 kitchens – one up, one down – with an in-ground pool. All the rest were smaller units. When we first came upon this deal, we took it to a realtor friend who took one look at it and told us if we didn’t buy it, he would. We took that to mean it was a good deal.

Now, don’t you know, we got those houses closed and within one week or so, we got a call that one of them had developed a huge water leak. Dad and I climbed into the van, drove an hour to get there. Sure enough, a pipe had broken and was leaking all over. We shut the water off and drove home. As we pulled into the driveway, my dad looked at me and said, “Drew, I’ve got to work in the morning, you’re going to have to take care of this yourself.” It was the best thing he could have done.

The next morning, I drove into town, got a cell phone and established a business number for myself, found a plumber and got that pipe repaired. I found new carpet and any other supplies I needed to repair the house. By the time I got home that night, it was official, I’d

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been bitten by the real estate bug and it was a fatal bite. I couldn’t get enough of it.

The problem with being 18 and owning 13 houses is, the people living in these houses weren’t any too happy to find out that their new landlord had been on the face of the earth for less time than some of them had been in their house. So, I found a manager who could collect rent for me and presented him as the “face” of our business. I, on the other hand, would show up on the property to do maintenance work. They just thought I was some peon kid.

Because they didn’t know who I was, they would tell me all kinds of things about their life. Sometimes they’d tell me they were getting ready to move and weren’t planning on paying another cent of rent until they were gone. Sometimes they’d tell me about their husband’s car accident and how hard it was to hold it all together since he’d gotten hurt, since he couldn’t work. Armed with all this information, I was better able to make good decisions for the folks living in my houses. It made me a better landlord.

The final option for a possible exit strategy would be to buy it and sell it owner financed or lease option. This is the part where we get to become the bank. We obtain the house subject to and then make the option to purchase the house available to qualified buyers. I will explain more of this when we talk about qualifying buyers, but suffice it to say that basically, being a living, breathing, employed individual will just about qualify you to buy from me.

There isn’t a lot of difference between this and renting, except I’m offering someone the option to buy this house. They are able to live in it and care for it, like it was their own. By doing this, I find that most people take much better care of the house than if they were renting. Doing this allows you to take control of the house – because you own it. Being the one in control of the situation is very important. This is how I sell all my houses on ebay.

Now you remember our discussion about passive income? Selling property owner financed is the only one of the above options that allows me to receive the majority of my money as passive cash flow.

Cash for today, cash flow for tomorrow and wealth for the future is the goal here. The down payment or lease option from the buyer becomes my cash for today, the monthly payments are my cash flow for tomorrow and the appreciation/equity build up, as well as the addition of other assets is what will provide me with wealth for the future. Each of these areas is a profit center.

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This means that even though they are all working together for building your business, they’re each individual sources of profit.

Once you’ve figured out your exit strategy, you’re going to know better if this is a deal you’re willing to make. If it is, talk to the owners, find out how much they’d need, cash in hand, to close on this. Find out how soon they’re wanting to move out and get an appointment for them to sign the deed over to you and complete the paperwork.

Before you’ve signed paperwork (and even then there’s some measure of “give”), you’re not stuck in any deal. If you don’t have the heart to tell the dear granny sitting across from you that there is no way you’re going to pay her $4000 cash and then pay off her $160k loan on a house you can’t sell for any more than $130k, there are a few “tricks” here that I’d like to teach you.

One, you can pick up your cell phone and call your spouse. Since the two of you are working together, don’t hesitate to tell granny that you need to check in and present the deal to the investing group that you’re working with. “Group” could mean your wife, the kids and dog, right? Ok, give them a call. You can then tell her that the investors simply aren’t interested at this time, but thank her for her time and of course, keep smiling and being nice. She may decide a month from now her needs are a little different.

Two, another option is simply to sit down with some papers, looking as confident and as totally self-assured as you can and tell granny that you’re very sorry, but after crunching the numbers, the house just doesn’t meet the “cash-buy criteria.” (It sounds a bit like a bogus word and it kind of is, but it really isn’t. Basically you’re saying, “You want too much cash for me to buy it.”)

I’m not, by any means, suggesting that you cheat someone, but the fact of the matter is, you want to leave this deal with the least amount of cash outlay on your part, as possible. This can be a huge profit center, so don’t short it, if you can help it.

Sometimes, just the relief of knowing next month’s house payment is off their back will be enough. Sometimes, they need to have a few hundred, maybe a few thousand in order to move. We aren’t out to leave them with no money to help with moving expenses, we just want to make certain we’re not putting out any more of our money than we have to. Banks don’t just give out “free” money, so neither do we. We become the bank.

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It works for me, it will work for you. (Find someone who is successful and do what they’re doing.)

Selling this Big Purty House you just bought

In this ebook, I’m going to focus on two methods of selling the newest acquisition to your real estate portfolio. I’m going to teach you how to sell it lease option/owner financed offline and I’m going to teach you how to sell them on ebay. This section of the book will be totally devoted to selling offline. In my real estate courses, you would, of course, get additional information on selling houses.

So, now you own a house. Well, hey - congratulations! You’re well on your way to creating your own real estate empire. See, isn’t this addicting? I just love real estate! I love talking about it, I love doing it and I love teaching it. It’s just so much fun to see a deal come together. As I teach you how to sell this house, you’re going to learn how to market it, how to pre-screen your potential buyers, how to qualify your buyers and how to close on the deal. I am not going to teach you how to go out and celebrate when you’ve closed. Sorry, you’re going to have to figure that one out on your own.

I want to be very honest here, folks. I have found that for my market, I am doing better selling houses on ebay than I am selling them offline anymore. So, while I’m going to teach you how to sell offline, you really ought to know that I really prefer to sell on ebay.

Guess what? You get to start all over again at the beginning. You’re going to start marketing the sale of the house, this time, rather than the purchasing of one. (The fact that I don’t have to do that is one of the pluses of selling on ebay.) Now, the best response I ever got was from a big ole ugly sign I put in the front yard of this house I was trying to sell. I mean it was ugly! This thing was huge as well as ugly. That bad boy was 4 feet tall and 8 feet wide. Leaving it sit in the front of that house made it look like a circus wannabe.

Man, that thing was nasty ugly. The sign said, “RENT TO OWN Stop trowing your money away! Today only $x (whatever amount you want) down and $x/mo (whatever you need for your payment) Other homes available.” And it also listed my phone number. Now, that sign may have been ugly and it may have had a stupid misspelling on it (I really did write trowing!) but that ugly sign cut my marketing budget in half! I sold more houses with that thing, than you can imagine. For all I know, all the neighbors were trying to find me

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prospective buyers, just to get that thing taken down as soon as possible. Did I mention it was really, really bad?

Should you decide you don’t want to make your property look like a refugee from Barnum and Bailey, you can go back to posting boring old ads in the newspaper. I would also encourage you to put a few signs at the corners of the street that your house sits on. In your newspaper ad, I want you to use the following ad: “100% Owner Financing, no banks, no qualifications”. Then I want you to give a full description of the house. Be careful how you use abbreviations with this, people can think b’rms is bedrooms when in fact you meant bathrooms. DO NOT say “No down payment” or “Zero down” in your ad.

Again, you can make up those nice little papers with all the information on it and stick them out in front of the house with 3 or 4 signs that read, “100% Owner Financing – No banks!” all around, if you want. But, I had much better results with my ugly sign than I have had with little ones.

The goal of all this is to get people calling you, of course. Once they’re calling you, you can send them to the house. When people call, don’t take any information from them, don’t ask them any questions, don’t spend any time on that call that you don’t have to. Simply tell them, “Hey, let me give you the address, you just go feel free to walk around the yard, look in the windows and then you give me a call back if you’re interested.”

We just don’t have time to give all the information on this house to someone who is bored and thinking that in 10 yrs or so, he might like to finally marry Julie Beth and settle down and raise a couple litter of hound dogs and kids, and figures since he ain’t got any money, your house is just what he ought to be looking into. No, no, no. It isn’t gonna be like that. Your time is too valuable and you need to use it well. Having people just go take a look at the house first is a great way to do some pre-screening too.

By doing it this way, you eliminate anyone who isn’t serious and is only out to gawk at your house anyway. The ones that are left are the folks that are wanting a nice house and a good deal. Those are the people I want to do business with.

If they call you back after looking at the house, then it’s time to move into qualifying them right away. I try not to say too much about the house yet, because they may or may not qualify. If they don’t qualify, I don’t want to get their hopes up and leave them frustrated with me.

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Drew, are you serious? NO qualifications?

Yes, basically, I’m serious. My one qualification is the ability to pay. I am not going to pull their credit report and I’m not going to take down all the information that a bank would. I do want to know where they work, how much they make and who is going to live in that house. I don’t take to mamas buying the house for their kids and letting them trash my nice house. I’ve seen it done too often. If we’re dealing, we’re dealing so you can move in. (If you’d rather, leave the “no qualifications” out. Those that are uncomfortable dealing with banks are still going to be drawn by the “no banks” part of your ad.)

Being one of 7 kids, I have nothing against kids, kids are a good thing. Do keep in mind, though, if someone has a bunch of kids, like my folks did, this is something that could affect the wear and tear on the house. You may decide you want a bit more down payment/lease option if they’ve got 26 kids and 14 dogs running around in your house.

The first question that comes to everyone’s mind right now is, “How much money should I figure they need to pay each month for their house payment?” Here’s my rule of thumb: I figure I need to make $200 cash flow per house per month to build my empire. So, I take the house payment - piti as we say in the real estate industry (which means principle, interest, taxes and insurance) - and add $200. And how many houses do you need to meet your financial goals? At $200 a month per house, it might not be as many as you think.

Even though we’re not going to run a credit report, you DO need to be wise. In general, if your seller has more than 35% of their monthly pay going to pay for credit cards, vehicles, loans, etc, then they aren’t going to be able to keep up with their house payment. So, you’re going to have to ask some of those kinds of questions UNLESS (and this is a BIG unless) you’re willing to let them move in, knowing that in a few months, you’re going to have to evict them. That’s a lot of work and it’s almost impossible to get them out in just a few weeks. Sometimes it takes months.

My friend had a renter who was a professional tenant. The guy would move in, pay his deposit, first and last month’s rent and then just sit there. He wouldn’t pay another dime. He knew the law well enough that he could take advantage of my friend, while he went through the process of having him evicted. It took my friend 6 months to get this guy out of his place, all without a single cent of cash coming in, of

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course. So, don’t enter into a situation where you might need to remove them, if you can help it. (And sometimes we just can’t. It’s not the end of the world!)

Because of this guy, I learned to ask about their last or current landlord. I just want an idea of what I’m getting into. (He’s also the reason I stopped selling to crooked lawyers. I don’t have time to deal with people who want to take advantage of other people, and do it in a way that is legal, but not moral.)

The down payment or lease option – how much should it be?

I use a very technical formula for figuring how much I am going to ask for a down payment for a house that I’m selling owner financed. I’m glad you asked. It’s called the PFA formula and it goes like this: Take the balance of the mortgage, subtract your age, add in the numbers in your address and the numbers in your license plate, divide by 6. Then Pluck From the Air whatever answer you want. (Gotcha!)

Realistically, down payments should be right around 5%. But, you’re going to have folks that look at that figure and their eyes roll back in their heads and they start howling at the moon. So, I always start by asking, “How much were you thinking on using as a down payment?” I let them tell me. Then I ask if they’ve got anything else. If I hear them take a deep breath, like they’re getting ready to howl, I mention that I’m willing to deal when it comes to down payments.

The issue here isn’t actual money, although cash is best, it’s actually all about value. Remember that really nice 4 wheeler I took as down payment? (And MAN was that a nice 4 wheeler! That thing was FAST!) I ended up taking it and trading it in on 3 HVAC units. The value of those 3 installed HVAC units? $3800. Not bad. Since real estate is appreciating in value, it’s important to only take something that is increasing in value, as well. (The big screen TV I got was nice, too.)

Another possibility would be that they could take a cash advance off their credit card. If that won’t work, you might want to think about offering them the option of taking a house on for sweat equity. Got a house that needs a goodly amount of work? Got a handy man? Remember what Chris says, “Be a problem solver!” Bring the two of them together and make money while you’re doing it. Every one will be happy.

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I learned a lot about this from one of the gals that bought a house from me. She bought this place and just put a ton of work into it. She was a truck driver and every time she was in town, she’d be out there, working away at the house. After several months of this, she realized that she really didn’t want to keep on working on the house every time she was off. Her daughter lived not too far from her and she wanted to spend her time with her instead. So, she came to me and told me she needed to leave. She left and I had a much nicer house to sell. Where she paid me $450 down, after the work she did, I was able to ask for nearly $1k down, instead.

If you have a good potential buyer, don’t let the lack of down payment slow you down. For some folks this is all that is keeping them from moving into your house. Help them find something that they can offer, of value, to help them get in there. Don’t take every cent they have, most folks like to have a little bit set back, for “fixing the place up”. (Even if the house looks perfect, they still want to make it seem like home.)

Remember I said we make a lot of friends in this business? This is part of the reason why.

So, how much should I sell this house for?

I have found that the best way to figure this is to take the appraised price and add 10%. That will keep it right in the same general price range of the neighboring houses, as well as help it remain competitive, in light of the appreciating market.

Every day that your house is empty, it is costing you money. You are going to want to take a look at the house and see if there is anything that you can do to spruce it up quickly. Can you do some quick painting? What about a bit of landscaping? I’m not talking a ton of money – I am just saying, when your house is empty, you’re paying “opportunity costs” and if you can do something to make that cost smaller, it’s a good thing.

I want to say just a bit about major projects before we move on. Let’s say you’re looking at the roof of that house and it’s looking pretty sad. If you have the money and you can get it done cheaply, you might want to look into having it done. You’ll likely get your money back at the end of the deal. Usually. Just think about it and consider your options.

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They said they want the house, now what?

Once you have come to an agreement on the down payment and the monthly payments, you are going to need to complete some paperwork. Now, I’ll tell you right now, there are two things that will send more people running in fear faster than any other – paperwork and the thought of not being able to sell the house. We’ll take care of selling that house in our discussion of selling on ebay, so you can stop worrying about that right now. As for the paperwork….it’s just not that big of a deal.

I know it seems like it is, but it really isn’t. If you are truly frightened by this, find a lawyer who will meet with your buyer at the closing and let him provide them with all the paperwork they need. (Anymore, this is how I close on most houses. The reason for this is that I am simply too busy to do both the closings and sellings and the teaching. This is just one area that I can delegate and it just helps things run more smoothly.) If you’re planning on going ahead and tackling this yourself, I will tell you that I have made mistakes with my paperwork and I have not found one that can not be fixed! Really, I’m not joking when I tell you it’s not as much of a big deal as you might think.

The biggest things I want you to remember are: be sure you put this house into a trust. The trust is not a form of asset protection, but it IS a form of asset privacy.

I bet you’re wondering why you would want asset privacy. Well, let’s say you get one of your buyers downright angry. Let’s say the old boy wants you to come in and do all the maintenance work, instead of him. And, let’s say he isn’t taking care of the property and the neighbors are complaining. So, you call and tell him to pick up the yard. Well, that gets his dander up and he’s really mad now. So, he decides he’s going to have an “accident” on your property.

The next time there’s a bit of rain, he “slips” in the drive way and hurts his leg. He sues you. By employing asset protection, when his lawyer goes to the courthouse to find out how much you own, he isn’t going to print off a list of the other 12 properties you own. Depending on how deep and how hard he digs, he could find them, but he’s going to have to put some real effort into finding any of them, if you have put them into a trust.

So, the first time you sell a house owner financing, use an attorney. Let him do all the paperwork for you. Then, next time you can just use the same forms he did. It’s really just not all that hard.

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If you have any further questions about the paper work, check out my site at www.whichsiteareyouusingdrew?.com Real estate investors – we’re part knowledge and part paper shufflers. I’m giving you the knowledge, and at my site, you will find additional opportunities for continuing to add to your knowledge.

Final thoughts on selling houses offline

People ask me all the time what to do if the buyer refinances and buys the property outright. Well, I suppose you could go out to dinner, but my personal preference would be to buy another house. It’s just another profit center for you.

It’s the same way when someone moves out. Folks are always concerned about your buyers moving out of the property. Fact is, you now have the opportunity to get another down payment. This really is a win-win situation here. I had a house once that I sold 6 different times. It was another down payment every time someone else bought it. Believe me, when my buyers tell me they’re moving, there are no tears coming from me!

Something else I teach my students is to peel off some money from the down payment – rule of thumb is 3 months house payment – and put it in a separate checking account. This will offer you a little cushion, just in case someone needs to be kicked out or they suddenly move and you don’t have a new buyer. There’s no point in leaving yourself in a position of stressing all over the place when a simple step like putting the money aside can keep you from it.

Invariably, about this time, someone says to me, “Drew, what if I sell them my house, they live in it for a while and they trash it? What am I going to do?” Here’s what I tell them: “So what? If they do, you will throw them out. When you do, you will re-sell the house again. Re-selling the house again means another down payment. I like that. Keeping money in my bank account is a good thing.”

“That can’t be true – you’re handing me a bunch of horse hockey.” If that’s what you’re thinking, let me tell you a little story. It’s kind of a long one, so you might want to put your feet up.

My friend Tim had a house, a really nice house on a lake. A really, really nice house. Some people came along and gave him $3200 down payment, lived there for a while, making their $600 a month payments (I LOVE passive income!) and then they moved out. When he went

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down to check on the house, he found that they had taken the walls out! They had moved walls, cut paneling, made stairs where there were no stairs, covered up the stairs that were there….they did all kinds of crazy stuff to that house. My friend was depressed and his dad was having a hissy conniption fit. They figured they had at least $20k worth of damage done to that house.

So, I said, “Look, Tim, value is in the eye of the beholder. There is someone that this house will appeal to. We’re going to take your house, put it up on ebay as a handy man special and you can sell it again.” So, I put the auction together for him and we put it onto ebay. Some dude in Tennessee bought it. He paid Tim $2700 down payment and moved in. Now, why would a dude from Tennessee want a lake house in Alabama? He works for a power plant up there and has to drive back and forth between the plants. This gave him a place to stay while he was traveling.

Get this – Tim went over there not too long ago to check on the house. This guy has fixed the place up really nicely. He left all the walls where they were, but he’s redone the rest of the house. He’s added a bunch of stuff and the place looks absolutely great. You can sell anything on ebay and I’m going to teach you just how to do it.

PART 3

Selling houses on ebay

As I stated before, to the best of my knowledge, I am the only real estate investor selling houses on ebay and teaching others how to do it. This is the area that will set you, as a real estate investor, apart from the rest of the crowd. I’ve now sold more than 40 houses on ebay – ranging in all different price ranges. I have tried and tested several methods of selling. I have now figured out and will teach you the most productive and cost effective.

I don’t care if you think you couldn’t sell an igloo to an Eskimo, I can help you sell houses on ebay. It’s not hard with some very specific and tested techniques that I am going to be teaching you.

For example, here’s the copy for a house I sold:

“This nice little 1200 square foot fixer-upper is in a subdivision in a small town in northwestern Alabama. The house itself is in major

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need of repair. It not only needs a good clean up on the outside, it also needs new carpet and paint. There is a big hole in the wall where the dryer blows straight through. It will need to be fixed.

There is a terrible smell from all the dogs that used to live there. As if the smell is not bad enough, the place is infested with fleas and it is almost impossible to walk through the house without getting them all over you. Other than the smell and the fleas and the rotten wood on the outside of the house and the broken windows, it’s a pretty good little house.

It has a wood heater in the living room and used to have a window A.C. unit, but that’s gone now. The roof is in good shape and only leaks right inside the front door. You can probably patch the roof without replacing the whole thing, but hey, you can do whatever you want to with it, once you buy it. The floors are solid and covered with floral carpet, linoleum or just bare wood…you know, like bare plywood.

It has one bathroom, but I haven’t been inside it. I suspect the plywood floor will need to be replaced in there as well. The house is sold AS IS, WHERE IS with no implied warranties.

The cars in the yard are not included, and will be removed before the winning bidder takes possession. I have no clue how big the lot is, but I guess it is a whole acre.

The winning bidder will subtract the down payment, which is the winning bid, from the purchase price, which is $14,5k and we will owner finance the balance, if you wish, for 20 years at 12% interest, plus tax and insurance. Also, please add $399 filing transfer fee.”

I sold that house. With that copy. If I can sell that house, surely you will be able to sell any house that you find in your area.

Now, I know what you’re thinking….you’re thinking “What kind of person buys a house off of ebay?” (Let alone like the one above!) At first, my answer was, “I have no idea.” So, I asked the dude who bought this house and here’s what he said, “I live in New York. I own rental property in Texas and Florida. I wanted to find a place out in the country, that needed some fixing up, that could become my mid-way resting place.” So, now you know why at least one person buys a house off ebay.

But, you know what? It doesn’t matter. The fact is people do buy houses off ebay. In fact, ebay sells one house every 5 minutes and I –

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and soon you, too – will profit from this fact. Besides, you know what they say, “Whatever IT is…..you can get it on ebay.”

Just like with selling your house offline, selling on ebay has several specific steps. So, let me outline them for you, just so you can start to have a clue of where I’m taking you and then we’ll jump in and execute our plan. I’m eager to teach you how to blend the basics of real estate investing with the secrets I’ve learned for selling on ebay. You will be amazed at the results.

I’m going to start by encouraging you to set up an ebay and a PayPal account, if you don’t already have them. This makes it as easy as possible for people to access you. Then I’m going to teach you how to take pictures and make a video of your house, that you can then put online for folks to look at. I’ll help you know how to write up an auction, including the copy needed to sell the house. I will teach you some key strategies for getting more buyers to your auction.

Finally, I’ll teach you how to close the deal and collect the most amount of money possible. I know it sounds like a lot, but you’ve gotten this far, you can’t quit now…this is where it gets REALLY fun. I never imagined that anyone would buy a house off ebay but here I am, selling them all the time.

I realize that selling something on ebay like this may seem really risky, but a great rule to remember is “The one who defines the terms controls the deal.” I’m going to help you know which terms to define and how to define them so that you remain in control of the deal. There is no need to be afraid.

I want to clarify, I am not auctioning the selling price of the home. I’m auctioning off the down payment or the lease option – the option to purchase the house. If you were to happen to see one of my auctions and see that there was a day left and the winning bid was for $3,500, there would be no reason to panic. First of all, most of the fast and furious bidding takes place at the end of the auction. Secondly, THE AUCTION IS FOR THE DOWN PAYMENT ONLY.

Before we do another thing, it’s important to understand that everything I do with my ebay auctions is the result of 3 valuable marketing rules: test, test, test. Everything I do - everything I’m going to teach you - is a result of those tests. My way may not look the slickest, but my goal is not looking slick. My goal is selling houses and making money. If I make my pages look slick then they take too long to load, and I risk losing some buyers. I would rather sacrifice looking slick to get the house sold and get the passive income rolling!

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Ok, so let’s get this bad boy listed and get some passive income rolling into your mailbox!

Where do I even start?

Most folks already have the very beginning steps to selling houses on ebay established. If not, it won’t take you but just a few minutes to set up an ebay account and a Paypal account. This is truly a pretty painless step and it will serve you a great deal to have both accounts established.

The next thing I suggest you do is open a hotmail email account. You don’t have to do this, but you are most likely to get an inbox FULL of questions and if you don’t have to sift through your regular mail, it will make things easier for you.

Once you have done that, get your camera ready, grab your video recorder and a 2 million candle power spotlight and let’s go to that new house of yours. Stand out in front of that house and find THE best spot to take a picture of it. I don’t care if you have to take 10 pictures to find a really good one, you just keep taking them until you have it. This picture is going to go into the gallery. You want it to make your house look good. It is going to be part of what draws people to your auction. So, keep on working for the best shot you can get.

Next you’re going to walk through the house and take at least 50 good pictures of the inside of this house. Stand at different angles – move to different sides of the room – get as many pictures as you can. Remember bathrooms and kitchens sell houses, so try to make certain you get THE MOST complimentary pictures of them, as you can.

Don’t freak on me here. We’re now ready to make the video of the house. You will want to start your video out at the street and walk toward the house. (I like to stop part way there and turn both ways, so folks can see their new neighborhood.) Walk on up and into the house, filming all the way. Once inside the house, take that big old spot light and shine it at the ceiling. That will disperse the light better for you and give you better light to film by.

Now, you don’t have to qualify for an Academy Award, you don’t have to be brilliant and you don’t even have to do this perfectly, just take the folks through the house, talking as you go. Talk as though this house is just begging for them to move in. Be somewhat creative in

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how you present it. Don’t just walk into, say the living room, and say, “This is the living room.” Any moron can see that it’s a living room, you don’t need to tell them the obvious. Be sure to point out anything that makes the house especially desirable. “Wow, this kitchen has some great cabinets! You just have to see these – aren’t they nice and BIG? You’ll be able to fit quite a bit into them.” Sell the house. Now, don’t hide the negatives, but don’t spend a lot of time focusing on them either.

I remind you again, we’re not aiming for American Idol here, folks. Your job is to introduce this house to its new owner. Make folks feel welcome and make it enjoyable to walk through the house with you. Have you ever gone to the movies and just watching the popcorn has made you hungry? What about a fast food commercial? A big steaming hot burger, with the perfect bun…sitting there, just BEGGING you to take a bite? That’s what you want to do with this house. Make it seem like it’s BEGGING them to move in. (More of that is going to come from your tone of voice, than your words.)

If this part of the plan makes you think that J.O.B. means “Just Okay By me!” and you’re thinking you can’t do this ebay stuff, let me tell you, it’s just not that tough. Really, if it just freaks you out, ask a friend to go with you – show them through the house and practice with them, what you are going to say on the video. I can tell you, get a few houses under your belt and you’ll be a real pro and won’t even give it another thought. Besides, your video is only going to be a few minutes long. You don’t have to create a script and hire costumers to do this. Be yourself.

My personal preference is to stay off screen. I suppose, if you were just dying to have your face on film, you could make sure you get into the picture. You could probably even step in front of the camera and introduce yourself at the beginning. I would however, suggest you be real careful in the bathroom, ‘cause I can’t tell you how foolish you’re going to look getting caught on film, standing in front of the mirror, camera in your face, balancing that high powered spot so it can shine on the ceiling, and your mouth flapping. It won’t be a pretty sight, no matter how good looking you are.

No matter how intimidating this may seem, please remember we’re in the problem solving business. That’s really what you’re doing here. You’re helping someone solve their problem of not having a house that they want or need at a price that they can afford. This video is about the house, so it isn’t going to matter if you look like a water buffalo or the prettiest thing in the neighborhood. Just care about the folks that you’re talking to and it will go just fine.

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When you download your video, you’re going to want to make certain that you have the picture of the house first. Viruses are so common now, that it will reassure folks when they see the house first.

Putting your house on ebay

You’ve got your pictures, you’ve got your video, let’s go to work. You are going to go to ebay and sign in. Once you’ve done that, click on Sell. Let’s get this bad boy up and start getting some traffic.

The first thing that comes up is the search page - used to find the proper category for your “IT.” Just type “house” in there. This is not your title; it is not ever going to show up anywhere. It’s just used to figure out what category to put your listing in. Hit enter. The next page that comes up is basically useless for what we’re doing. At the left of the tabs, you will see the words, “Browse for Categories”. Click on that and scroll down until you find “Real Estate”. When you click on “Real Estate” another menu will come down and you just highlight “Residential”. Go to the bottom of the screen and click “Save and Continue”. As a way to double-check your work, see if the number “12605” is in the box in the lower right corner marked “Category Number”. You’re officially on your way to posting a house for sale on ebay. Congratulations!

Ok, this next page is the one that will be your actual listing. At the start of the form, you will list your title. Now, let’s pause for a moment and discuss the importance of creating the right title. What is the purpose of the title? It is how people search for your house on ebay. This is not the place to write, “Cute brick starter house Alabama” – which is what I did on my first ebay auction. There isn’t anyone stupid enough to search for “cute house” when they’re looking for a house on ebay. I still don’t know how we managed to sell that house, since the only good search word in there is “house”!

On that first auction, I got right around 3000 hits. That may sound like a lot to you, but anymore, I expect to see anywhere from 7-10,000. What a difference a good title can make! I have messed around with this process enough that the tricks and tips I’m going to teach you are going to give you an advantage over the competition, which translates into better sales for you.

So, what words should you use? You should use “house”, “home”, “real estate”, “property”, “income”, “no reserve” (or “NR”). If you have an especially nice house, use “luxury”. Remember key words are KEY! You may want to spend some time wandering through the

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residential listings on ebay to see what people are listing and how they’re titling it. (And it’s just plain fun! OK, fun for people who love real estate, anyway.)

While I’m thinking about it, do NOT list your house in ad format. While it works well for realtors, it won’t work for you. I tried this. Had tons of emails from people asking questions, but no one made any offers. Just not the thing to do. There is no place for folks to bid – it’s just for gawkers.

The next thing you’re going to focus on is your subtitle. You want it to include the fact that you’re going to be selling this house “100% of balance Owner Financed, no bank qualifying” If the title is the demand for attention, the subtitle is the emotion that will draw the buyer in.

Here is where you put your great picture. You want the combination of the title, subtitle and picture to make people drool over the opportunity to bid on your house. This is the first impression that any one will have of your house. Make it a good one. Every good impression will result in some kind of traffic. Traffic is your key to successfully selling your house.

You have 12 picture slots available. Depending on the house, you may use 4 of them, you may use all 12. You can be the judge of that. Absolutely, use the one GREAT picture of the front of the house. Beyond that, include one of the back, one of the kitchen, one of the something that makes this house special and if the bathroom is nice, I’d include one from there, as well. You DEFINITELY want to pay the extra .35 for the gallery photo. Consider it just plain old fashioned good marketing sense.

You can easily complete the next section that includes the physical information about the house, itself. The Residential Real Estate Product Finder (a big name for such basic information) will help people when they are searching for a home, to find yours based on details about your property. (Like location, or the number of square feet, number of bedrooms or bathrooms.)

The description. One thing I hate about reading auctions on ebay is a ton of information running from one side of the screen to the other. If all the information you have to share about your house is crammed in there, most people aren’t going to read it. They’re going to take one look at that garbledy-gooked up mess and just click “back” on their browser – and there goes another buyer. Think of it this way, having a mess of words thrown up there for the description is a lot

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like showing a messy house. If they can’t get past the mess, they sure aren’t going to be looking to see if this could be their house.

So, rather than just typing out your auction description in the box that they have there, I want you to go to Word and create yourself a table. Make the table 6.5 wide. In this table, we’re going to create copy that is going to build interest in your traffic and draw your buyer out.

Start your description off with a headline. You’re going to want to come up with a headline that will grab people’s attention and hold them there to read the rest of your copy. Think of what features you’d want to have your attention drawn to (price? size? location?) and use that as your headline.

Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” We want your copy to be like lightning. This doesn’t mean you have to find the PERFECT word, just the right word. So, how do we figure out what the right word is? Well, it’s going to depend on what part of the house you’re talking about.

If you’re talking about the living portions of the house, you’re going to want to use the word “home” more than the word house. A house is a structure. A home is a warm place. Home becomes an emotional word and it will appeal to the women, who generally have their focus on making the house a place her family wants to be.

When you shift over to talk about the mechanics of the place, call it a “house.” Again, this is a generality, but most of the time it’s some dude who cares whether or not there is a new water heater.

When you describe the house, you’re going to want to include some of the same key phrases you used when you did the video. For example, you walked into the kitchen before and stood at the sink, in front of the big window and said, “Wow, what a great view, you can work in the kitchen and see the kids all at the same time.” When you’re writing your copy, be sure to include a description of the kitchen that says, “Great window to watch the kids from.”

Every line of your copy needs to be working toward helping the reader either want more information or to simply bid. Assume they’re actively interested in the house and refer to the house as “your house/home….” Use phrases like, “You are bidding on…..”

Start your description by talking about the house. Tell where it is, how big it is, list the positives as well as the negatives. I would even

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include a discussion about the school systems that this house would use. (This is another reason it’s a good idea to buy locally, sell globally.) PLEASE use full disclosure here. You don’t want anyone coming back to you mad because you didn’t tell them about the bottom stair that was missing. That isn’t good sales, not to mention it’s just not ethical. These folks are trusting you to accurately represent this house to them, across the miles, and you don’t do that - just once - and your ability to sell houses on ebay will be seriously limited.

After you have established the value of the house, you’re going to want to start talking about the financing. Be certain to tell them again that they are bidding on the lease option/down payment only. Repeat again that the balance will be 100% owner financed. Don’t assume they are going to remember that. (Especially if you’ve done a good job with the copy. By drawing them in with your copy, they may have gotten lost in the details of the house enough they don’t remember.)

Because you’re auctioning the down payment only, this is a good time to remind people that the payments on this house will be the result of the asking price minus the down payment. (I will explain more of this, don’t worry.) Be sure to make the price of the house clearly marked.

When I first started this, I would go around and take a look at the other auctions that were selling houses similar to the one I was selling. I would harvest the best lines from their auctions, so I could put them all together into my own. This is not wrong, it’s just good marketing skills. You will learn what works best for you, but for now, find who is successful at what they’re doing and copy them.

I like to include some of the local comps (comparisons – what other houses in the area have sold for), so that they can see that this is a fair market price that I’m offering them. This also gives the buyer an idea of the local housing market.

Be sure to list all financing information that they might need. Say something like this, “The winning bidder will subtract their winning bid of $xxxx, which is their lease option, from the purchase price of $129k. We will owner finance this balance for 30 years at for 6.9% interest, plus insurance and taxes.” List the annual taxes and any association fees that might be required for this property. He who defines the terms controls the deal.

I have created an Excel spread sheet that calculates the monthly payment, based on the amount of down payment made. It makes

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things much easier for the buyer. They are able to see immediately how much their monthly payment will be, depending on the amount of their down payment. For those toying with two different down payment amounts, seeing this might change their mind for them. (You can contact me at www.whatwebsiteareyouusingdrew?.com to obtain information on that software.)

Because of the changes made in ebay, I now ask for a $399 filing and transfer fee. The reason I do this is to protect myself a bit, should the person suddenly decide to not follow through, as well as needing to cover the cost of the paperwork needing to be done. You see, we used to be able to prescreen ebay bidders. That is no longer an option. I tell folks, if they win my house, they need to be ready to send me $399, through PayPal, immediately. I will then fax or FedEx them some paperwork that needs to be signed, and send back. Voila! They have a house, I have more money.

The last thing I include on this description section is, in 3 different places throughout the copy I have in larger font “To See More Pictures and a live video, check out my About Me page.”

Once you have created your copy, cut and paste it into the description section of the ebay listing. We’re almost done.

Visitor counters are almost useless in this case, since they just don’t provide you enough measurement information. You can use them, simply because it’s reassuring to know that you really do have folks that are reading your auction, but there really isn’t any other purpose for them than that.

Selling format includes the price and whether or not you are putting a fixed price on this auction. I recommend starting all auctions at $1. People ask me “Why are you starting that auction at a buck?” I tell them, “You gotta start somewhere, might as well be a buck.” I’ve had some folks that come pretty near having a stroke when I say something like that. If this just scares you silly, then go ahead and put a reserve on your auction. It IS just the down payment that they’re bidding on, but if you’re in a position that you need that profit center, then go ahead and include a reserve in your auction.

I have to tell you, I think the lack of reserve is part of the beauty of ebay. It just means the person with the most money wins. AND in this case regardless of who wins the auction, you are the winner.

What do you list for duration? Well, I generally go for 7 or 10 days. If I’m going for 10 days, I start the auction on a Friday night – generally

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around 9 pm EST. This lets it run through 2 consecutive weekends, ending on a Monday night, after dinner. This let’s people see it and think about it both weekends and check it again at work on Monday.

Do NOT start this auction until you do a preview of it. I have had enough times that I have come too close to posting an auction that would have cost me thousands of dollars in silly mistakes that I simply have made it part of the process. Double check your work.

My secret weapon

Ebay has a real burr under their saddle about you listing your website on their auctions. But, there is no reason you can’t do so on the “About Me” page. If you’re planning on creating your own real estate empire, you need to have your own web page. By going into “Community” and clicking on “About Me” you can create a page where you can share all about yourself and your passion for real estate.

On your “About Me” page you’re going to have a Name Squeeze page. If you are unfamiliar with a Name Squeeze page, it squeezes the name out of your visitor. Once they put their name and email address in, they then receive free information from me. I tell them straight up I don’t want to waste their time and offer an immediate unsub, if they want it. Assure them you don’t like spam and you won’t spam them….and then don’t!!!!!

This is one of the most powerful tools in your selling arsenal and here is why: not only are they able to get more information on this house, you now have their name for future houses. When you start adding other homes to your portfolio, you can then email them and tell them what other houses you have available. Do it all in the spirit of helping them and not greed. We really are in the people helping business.

Once they’ve entered their name and email address in my Squeeze page, they are automatically taken to my main web page. On this page, I have a navigation bar that includes “Current Auctions.” In here I have pictures of the houses I’m currently running on ebay, with an abundance of pictures and a video for each one. Be generous with the number of pictures you’re providing here. You are acting as the eyes of the folks who are interested in buying your house. Show them as much as you possibly can.

If you’re a good artist, you could even draw a floor plan. Do not just chump your way through this. It’s better to not have one than to have

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a really, really bad one. You can offer a verbal idea of the flow of traffic in the house, if drawing isn’t one of your gifts.

I’m sure that this might seem kind of intimidating, which is why at my real estate events, this is something that I will help you do. If you don’t have a house to sell when you come, I will help you once you get home. After you have bought your house, you can get ahold of me and I will walk you through it. I’ve done this enough that it just isn’t the least bit intimidating to me any more. I know how well selling houses on ebay works, I’ve seen it time and time again.

Selling houses all cash

Offline, selling for all cash is just fine. Online, I just don’t like it. The first house I sold on ebay I sold for all cash. I bought a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom shotgun shack for $6500 and a big screen TV. (Down payments can be things of value, remember?) I spent $3500 fixing it up, turned around and sold it on ebay for $18,500. That’s a profit of $8500. Not bad.

The down payment that won the auction was for $4500, the balance being owner financed, of course. The guy paid me through PayPal. I remember I was sitting at the computer when the notification of payment came through. I took off running up the stairs yelling and hollering, “Mama, look! The guy who just bought my house sent me $4500 from the Ukraine.” Mama was amazed – partly because of the idea of someone in the Ukraine buying my house off ebay, partly because she didn’t think it was possible that she could have raised a son who thought that a payment coming from the UK meant it was coming from the Ukraine. I guess this goes to show you, you don’t need to be a geography major in this business, you’ve just got to have good real estate knowledge. (I DO, by the way, know that the U.K. is the United Kingdom, I just got all excited at the thought of people sending me money.)

Since then, I have decided that I am not going to mess with selling eBay houses for all cash. I found that there were too many problems and the paperwork didn’t go through well – it just turned out to be a bad situation altogether, so I do not recommend that you do it, either. (I have however, had a few people who have bought a house owner financed and then sent me the balance of the money a few weeks later. But by only selling owner financed houses, it allowed me to make a system for the paper work and keep it all as streamlined as possible. You know me: I’m a lazy wealthy man.)

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Real Estate Investors Association

Before we end this book, I want to take a moment to encourage you to find your local Real Estate Investors Association. Find it and join. There is a lot of information that you will find there that you won’t find other places, not to mention the number of contacts and helpful networking you can do.

In conclusion

I realize that there is a lot of information in this ebook. I know that it might seem pretty overwhelming. Keep in mind, I started doing this when I was a testosterone filled 18 yr old. I jumped in and did a lot of things – right or wrong –just because I couldn’t stand the thought of sitting still with all the information I had. While I don’t want you to make the same stupid mistakes I did, I don’t want you just sitting on all this information, either. You CAN do this. Are you going to make mistakes? Probably. I hope you will find that the information here will help you keep those mistakes to a minimum. I tried to find all the mistakes and make them for you, first.

I don’t expect you to have your own real estate portfolio established by next week, but you can start small. List your “We buy houses” ad…Do it this week. Whatever you do, take that first step. Your financial freedom is just a few steps away!

When you’re dealing in real estate, one of our greatest tools is our knowledge. I shared with you earlier, that I have invested $150k in my continuing education. That education, that knowledge, is part of why I’ve been this successful so far. I want YOU to experience that type of success, as well. This book is a good start to setting you free from the rat race and allowing you to find financial freedom. But, it’s only a start. If you are ready to experience that freedom, come to my website, www.whatdoyouwantheredrew?.com and check out the other tools I have there to help you create your own real estate empire.

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