There are plenty of ways to find the owners of that little jewel you just found.  We will go over the ones I use the most in this blog.  The first thing you want to do is ask the neighbors around the house.  Tell them you’re an investor in the area and hand them your business card then ask them if they know who owns the house, if they know where the owners live now or have their phone number.  If they seem hesitant tell them your going to ask everyone on the block and the first one that gives you the info will give 20 dollars.

The next thing I do is go to my county web site.  Go to your tax assessor’s site on the county web site.  There you can put in the address and the property will come up.  From there you can find out the property owners name and where the taxes are being sent to.  This is also a good place to find out additional information about the property.

At this point you can either go to the address were the taxes are being sent to and talk with the owner.  See if you can get their phone number from the white pages.

You could put them on your post card list and start sending them post cards.  I make sure to send them 4 post cards in 6 weeks.

If you can’t get their info from the county web site you can send a post card with (Address service requested) on the post card. If none of that works you can go to www.HomeInfoMax.com and for about 20 bucks you can get their info.  Although I would recommend you exhaust all other avenues first.

Good Luck,

Sean Marmoy
MOKSRealEstate.com

There are lot of different ways to do this. I will go over a simple proven method in this blog. You can experiment and let us know what works best for you.

First, what is driving for dollars?  The term diving for dollars came from driving around the area you want to invest in. Another term would be farming the area you are investing in. I prefer to call it driving for dollars.

Things that you will need to do the job.
1.    A mapsco or key map book of your area you can go to http://www.mapsco.com
2.    Note book yellow high lighter
3.    A friend or partner preferable
4.    Digital Camera
5.    Business cards

Ok now that we have all of our material we can get started. You need to pick out 8 to 10 blocks that you want to work in.  Mark it out on your map and choose a starting point. Now take your note book and on the right side and draw a line down the paper about an inch before the side of the paper. In this area you will put a (V for vacant D for distressed R for rental and F for fore sale buy owner) we will get into what all this is for later. Now the reason I like to bring a partner or friend is to write all the info down while you drive and you don’t have to break your neck looking at both sides of the street. The camera is to take a pic of the front of the house to put in to your file so when you  get a hold of the home owner you can look at the pic to give you a better visual of what your talking about.  Business cards are to leave at the vacant properties the owners do come around from time to time.

Now start driving down the street. Make sure you high light all the streets you drive down so you don’t end up back tracking. You are looking for properties that are vacant. How do you tell if they are vacant, if there’s tall grass, gas meter missing , a lot of mail in the mail box , news papers pilled up in the drive way , electric meter missing. These are just a few of the things you can look for. At this point you can take a picture of the front and put your business card in the door. Write the address down and put a V next to it. You might also knock on the two houses next to the house and see if they now were the owner is. You could tell them the first person that can give me the info on the owners and it leads to me buying the property you will give them 250.00 dollars. You are also looking for distressed properties these are properties that have a lot of junk in the yard maybe gutters hanging off property that isn’t taken care of. These properties could be motivated sellers.  You could send them a post card or letter. Which I’ll be going over in another blog.  The properties that have a rental sign in the yards are a hidden gold mind that people over look.. These are sellers and buyers, call the land lords, and ask them if they are in the market to buy or sell. This can help you build your buyers list which we will cover in another blog.  Last but not least the FSBO these properties can be used in a couple ways, you can ask if they will do owner finance in which you could take the property over through owner finance. Or you can match a buyer and seller together and charge a marketing fee.

Make sure you highlight your area you have driven and put your V D R F in the edge of the page to determine which property is what.

Good Luck,

Sean Marmoy
MOKSRealEstate.com

Starting a real estate business can really take a toll on you especially trying to do it part-time with a full-time job and maintaining a family. But if it’s your dream to own a real estate business or buy real estate make sure that you focus on your long-term goal. Don’t get frustrated with the ups and downs, it’s business. Take your time and always try to reinvest capital back into it. The end result may not come 1 year from now, 2 years or even 3. Remember this…BE PATIENT. Take your time with it and make wise decisions based on logic not emotion. Also remember that a business runs itself, if you can leave your business and come back and it’s still making more or just as much money as when you left, it’s a true business, if not you’re self employed. Focus on your 5-10 year vision of a TRUE business, seek counsel and stay consistent by practicing discipline. This will bring you closer to financial freedom day by day.

Happy Investing,
God bless you!

ERNESTO TINOCO
MOKSRealEstate.com

Real Estate is a very secure investment. The ability to collateralize real estate gives you a better chance to leverage off other people’s money. Have you ever gone to your rich uncle for money? Maybe you needed to buy books for school, or pay off some debt. Whatever the reason, there is no better cause for lending you money than buying real estate. Think about it…how does a bank make money? You put thousands in their accounts or cd’s and they give you 1-3% annual return on your money, to then turn around and lend that money at a much higher rate. In other words you lend them very cheap money and they turn around and make it expensive by creating demand. Well let’s see…if I invest $30,000 of my hard earned cash in a cd at 3% for a year I can make a whopping (drum roll)… $900 bucks?! Sorry but your rich uncle is much better off with what YOU have to offer.

Take this for instance: You ask your rich uncle to lend you that same 30,000 to buy and fix up a house, as well as pay any fees involved in the transaction. And then with a well thought out exit strategy you can pay him back in 3-6months (yes it’s possible)…at 10% simple interest. That’s $3,000!!! In max 6 months. Do this twice a year and now you’ve made him $6,000. That’s 20% annual return. Rule of 72 tells us you can double your rich uncles money is 3.6 years. It would literally take you 24 years to do the same at your bank!

Using the right security documents your piece of real estate is collateral in case you don’t pay your uncle back. He just basically cut out the middle man and is making money with his favorite family member!

Remember to always consult an attorney and obtain specialized training before implementing any of the above. It’s not as easy as it sounds, it takes a system and years of knowledge. Not that you have to have all the knowledge about investing using private money. But you do have to surround yourself with those who do.

Till next time,
God Bless!

Ernesto Tinoco
MOKSRealEstate.com