Justin B. McClelland

Over the long Thanksgiving holiday, I didn’t get as much done as I had planned.  I took alot of work home with me to Saint Louis, but most of it stayed in my bag.  I don’t know who I’m fooling when I do that.  Most of my time was spent with the family and catching up with friends.  I’ll admit, I had too much fun, I should’ve got more work done, but I live life to the fullest even with my brokeness…but now I’m back to the grind.

I spoke with the High-Tension line lady today and said that I would like to revisit negotiations about her property.  I communicated that the power lines in her back yard are a hindrance and frowned upon by conventional lenders.  I told her that despite my cash offer, the lending would be an issue when selling to a retail buyer down the road.  Just the simple fact that there are power lines in the backyard drops the value of the property by about 10K.  I was as courteous as I could be on the phone call.  However, when I mentioned the issue, the lady responded that the high-tension lines shouldn’t be an issue and if they are, then “a request could be made to the the power company to move them”. WTF!  I think this lady is trying to play the “naive old lady role”, I’m not buying it.  She’s gotta know that a power company isn’t just going to move a big-ass tower just cuz.  Oh well.  I told her I’d get back to her in 48 hours…I’ll let that one marinate and decide what to do later.  Most likely I’ll pass on it…but this one is sooo close…if I can get her to drop by 10K I’d have three buyers that are ‘really’ interested.

It looks like I’ll have to man-up and take some of my planned outsourcing activities in-house.  I’ve concluded that so far the virtual assistants I’ve screened are either flakes or priced out of my budget ($20 an hour…seriously lady?…how does a VA request this much pay?).  So I’d rather pay top dollar for a great assistant than to pay a little bit for a lame one.

On the way to Saint Louis, I got a damn speeding ticket.  82 in a 65.  Crazy thing is I was keeping up with traffic…ok not really.  Just one of those times that you zone out in thought and next thing you know you’re doing 90.  That’s happened so many times, I’m not too mad about this ticket.  Haven’t had one in over 5 years.  I usually pay a lawyer to do what they do, so I can avoid the points on my driving record.  But, if I can find some estimates on how much my insurance will increase by and add that up to compare against the lawyer fees, I may decide just to take the points.  It’s been so long, I don’t remember how substantial the insurance hike would be.  Anybody out there know?  So I mention all of this because, as I sat there I was thinking about how the ticket & lawyer fees would take away from my damn Marketing Budget.  It seems like every expense nowadays intrudes on my marketing budget.  Need an oil change…marketing budget deduction…need milk…another marketing budget deduction.  Oh well.

So with this marketing budget deduction, I won’t be buying the CL Bot Pro software anytime soon (I may have to wait until a few freelance web project checks come in).

So in the mean-time, the show must go on.  And “Accountability Mondays” are back.  Here is what I’m going to accomplish in the next week.

Tasks:
1. Make at least 10 offers on properties listed on MLS
2. Brush up on REO literature so I can start making REO offers too
3. Distribute my new door hangers with brochures to select Urbana neighborhoods
4. Find more cash-buyers (section 8 landlords, find past cash buyers in MLS, members of Central Illinois Apartment Association)
5. Put something together for a CraigsList nationwide cash-buyer campaign

This is a short list, but it should keep me busy.

- Peace Out

Marketing, Real Estate accountability monday, Central Illinois, CraigsList, Holidays, St. Louis Missouri, Thanksgiving, Traffic ticket

So I ran into a snag with the property that I’m looking at.  I took a second look at it today, but this time with one of my buyers (who also happens to be an appraiser).  There are high-tensi0n lines in the backyard and apparently this will be a huge flag for a lender (FHA especially).  So, even if I get a cash buyer to wholesale to, they may be stuck with the property when/if they attempt to sell to a retail buyer.  This limits a buyers’ exit strategy severely, therefore it limits me.

Now that this power-line issue is clearly a hurdle, I may need to renegotiate the selling price.  I need to get a bit more wiggle room on this one so that the power-lines in the back yard won’t be such a deal breaker.

Now that I’ve had more time to reflect on things, it’s now clear that I don’t nearly have enough cash buyers.  I’m very glad that I don’t have this property under contract yet, because I would’ve contracted too high of a price.  I’d rather the seller sell to someone else than for me to wrap the property up under contract and have to bail.

To get more cash buyers, I’m going to exploit CraigsList on a national scale.  I’m thinking of using an auto-posting software, such as CL Bot Pro, to post ads about Wholesale Properties in Champaign, Illinois.  Also, to complement those efforts, I’m thinking of hiring a University of Illinois grad-student to perform some extensive research on the residential real estate rental market in Champaign, Illinois.  Perhaps, have the student compile some information, statistics, and record a video presentation that would be PRO-invest-in-Champaign.  Post the video to CraigsList, a dedicated squeeze-page, and elsewhere on the web.  I think this would do the trick for drawing buyers to this market.  Actually, the more I type about this…it’s a done deal.  I’m about to do it.  I only have 363 days, no time to waste.  I need to launch a separate website for this or perhaps just give my Schwaps company blog a makeover and incorporate these changes.  Perhaps, also create an eBook incentive for the sign-up.  I’ll polish this idea over the holiday and I plan to have something up by next Monday.

I just remembered that I’m supposed to be doing Accountability Mondays’.  Okay, this time I’m putting this in my Outlook calendar, so I won’t forget again.

I’m out!  Happy Turkey Day!

Marketing, Real Estate Real Estate, University of Illinois

So it’s late now and almost ‘tomorrow’.  I haven’t heard back from the seller that I met with on Monday.  However, originally I was worried about the discount not being steep enough in my offer.  After contacting two of my buyers, they expressed interest.  So that’s a positive sign.  I gave the seller a call today and left a message.  I’m not going to nag her, so I’ll just let her call back when she feels.  If she decides to do so.  I’ve got other things to focus on in the mean time.

I have Google Analytics installed to both, this wordpress blog and my Schwaps wordpress blog.  Google Analytics is something else.  It is so comprehensive, it’s easy to lose yourself amongst the abundance of statistics (in a good way).  I’m going to install the analytics to my Schwaps.com site as well so that I can start tracking my traffic.  This will be beneficial as I venture in increasing my cash-buyers’ list exponentially.  I am still a bit paranoid that I don’t have a larger list of cash buyers.  I’ve got a few online methods in mind and I’ll need a good way to track things.

In addition to Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools is great as well.  I’m using both at the moment and still learning a lot each day.

- Dueces

Internet Marketing, Real Estate Google, Google Analytics, Search Engines, Statistics, Twitter, WordPress

It’s official, I’m 29 years old now and I have exactly 1 year left to reach my 7-figure net worth goal. I’ve come a long way from where I was last year, but I still have quite a ways to go. My strategy remains the same as it was a year ago; wholesale properties until I have a positive net worth of approximately 30K and then diversify by investing in short-sales and rentals. In October of 2010, I’ll be investing with a partner in tax lien certificates. I also have an internet marketing company in the works.  So the 1M won’t all come from Real Estate.  I admit, my plan is somewhat vague at the moment, however I realize now that trying to calculate every move is a wasted effort. For me, it’s best that I just have a template of a plan and adapt when necessary.

1 year, 1 million dollars. Sounds like a stretch, but seriously that’s not even that much money. This time next year maybe all of my friends will truly understand why I spent nearly every weekend and weeknight for two years working towards my business. But right now, I don’t think they get it.

So on to current events…I was all excited about my brochures and my flyers until it was pointed out that there is a word redundancy within them. They have the headline, “Need to sell your your house fast”. That was kind of a buzz kill. But oh well, I honestly didn’t notice and the damn things are already printed. I brought it up to the designer and she offered to have them reprinted. But granted that she charged me about 1/3 of what she could’ve charged, I wasn’t going to do that to her. The reprint probably would’ve taken her profit and left her in the red. So we negotiated a company-credit towards the next project. I feel like that was fair.

I also met with owner of the rental property today and made an offer for her property at about 70% of ARV. The house doesn’t really need any repairs and is ready for renters so I felt like it was best to not make her an extreme lowball offer, it’s pretty turn-key. She still felt like the offer was low, but I explained my reasoning. I completely explained that to buy it ‘right now’ I’d have to pick it up at a discount. I also told her that she’d be able to get close to full retail if she listed the house with a Realtor, but I also explained that it may not sell until Spring of 2010. So I was very glad that she was receptive and understood my numbers and motives. I was most nervous about how that would go.  She said that she’d run the offer past her lawyer tomorrow and contact me either way. This should be interesting.

I’m fearful that a 30% discount isn’t as ideal as a 40% or higher discount for my buyers, of course. However, my logic is that the house is ready to go. No exaggerations, renters could move in tomorrow. So, that’s got to count for something. I plan on taking a small spread on this, since I think there’s little room. What are the thoughts that yall have on this? It’s not a smoking HOT deal, but it seems pretty solid to me (that’s if she agrees and signs the contract)

Welp…365 days to go.  The heat has been officially turned up.  It’s time to definitely go harder in all facets of life (like I’m not already going hard).  I’m about to go Lil Wayne on ‘em.  Lil Wayne puts out a mixed-tape with new music almost monthly.  He is one of the best Hip Hop artists to have ever done it.  And he is a self-proclaimed workaholic.  He inspires me…believe it or not.

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Real Estate Internet Marketing, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Net worth, Property

I just got my brochures and flyers in and I am impressed!  I outsourced the design to a friend from college who I mentioned in an earlier post and she knocked this out of the park like I knew she would.  I just basically gave her the creative room to do what she does, she used my website as a reference tool, and she did her thing.  I love it.  If you’d be interested in contacting her for some of your marketing materials, her name is Tabitha Vickers and her company is Spazz Group and she has very good rates.

Here is my 3-fold Brochure (will be inside of plastic sleeves hanging on homeowner doornobs):
- Outside

- Inside

Here is my 11×17 poster (will go on bulletin boards in grocery stores and restaurants and such):

Also, on another note, I spent a great amount of time today restrategizing my marketing plans.  This was incredibly time consuming, believe it or not.  But what I came up with is pretty damn good in my opinion.  There will be various activities and methods put in place to generate more leads, secure properties, and secure cash buyers (I need as many of these as possible).  The tasks listed below are meant to accomplish one or more of the aforementioned.

Direct Offers:
MLS properties
REO properties

Self-procured housing leads:
Yellow Page Ad
Champaign News Gazette Ad
Brochures
Flyers 11×17
Dollar Bill Flyers
Direct Mail To Tax Delinquent Homeowners
Direct Mail To Pre-NOD (Notice of default) Leads
CraigsLists Ads
Bi-fold Neon Business Cards

Virtual Assistant Cold-Calls:
Cash Buyers From MLS
Section 8 Landlords (convert to cash buyer lead)
Members of Central Illinois Apartment Association (convert to cash buyer lead)
FSBO Sellers

I think these tasks will keep me plenty busy.  This is my revised list after much thought and reading my Preston Ely Wholesaling ebook for like the 7th time.  On a tangent, why do people hate on that guy so much?  I happen to like his style and his material.  When you Google his name there are ridiculous reviews to browser through.  Anyways…so that about does it.  I just need to manage my time as best I can and things will start to pop-off.

- Peace Out

P.S.
I meet with a seller tomorrow to present an offer on her rental property that she’s looking to sell.  She’s an older lady and the more I think about it, the less motivated I think she is.  But that ain’t changing my offer amount, hopefully I won’t get shot when I present it to her…should be interesting.

Marketing, Real Estate Bulletin board, For sale by owner, Marketing, Preston Ely, Tabitha Vickers

I’m going to have to really work hard on Sunday to make up for today.  I knew that I had a martial arts tournament today, however I didn’t know that it would monopolize my entire day.  That thing lasted from 10:30am – 4pm.  I could work on some things tonight, but I’d rather go to Hooters and watch the UFC fight.  This would be in theme with the day anyway.  Besides, I want to watch Tito Ortiz get his face busted open.

I got some footage of my tournament (I’m in the white).  Bonus points to whomever can tell me the soundtrack the song belongs to.

Random Martial arts, Saturday, slacking

Another Friday evening. So much to do, that won’t all get done.  This weekend is going to be pretty hectic.  I’ve got alot of RE work to do.  On a tangent note, why is it so hard to blog everyday?  I’ve been aiming to do so, but it doesn’t get done.  Then when I do post, I have so much new news that is backlogged, it doesn’t all get told because who feels like writing a novel each blog post?  Anyway, I digress.

I’ve revamped my advertising plan.  I know that the Newspapers don’t work for me.  After about one month, I had received all kinds of calls but they were for properties way out in Lynchville, Illinois (that’s meant as a joke, but did you know Lynchville is a city in Maine, Virginia, and Tennessee? Me neither. Either way, you won’t see me there).  My focus is on the college town of Champaign-Urbana, IL.  I don’t have the time or interest to learn about all of these little surrounding cities that don’t even have a Walmart (a good measure of city size BTW).

Nixing the Newspaper ads will free-up about $200 monthly in ad expenses.  So remember the door-hanger brochure idea I spoke about while back?  The brochures are being printed right now and I also got my friend to hook-up a flyer design.  The brochures will go into plastic bag door-hangers and be put on doors of houses within targeted neighborhoods, while the flyer will be printed in 11×17 size and put in grocery stores and laundromats and such.

I’ve also got another idea.  And I think it’s DOPE!  So check this out…as a resident of the Mid-West the winters can be brutal.  It’s not that cold yet, but once January and February rolls around it will be an every-morning task of warming up the car for 10 minutes and scraping the ice off of the windshield.  And I mean everyday.  So since that is a part of the morning routine for most (who don’t have a garage at least), I’m thinking of getting some promotional “We Buy Houses” Ice scrapers.  BAHM!  How you like that!  Genius right?  If these free ice-scrapers are distributed to select homeowners and are quality enough for them to actually use, they will read my advertisement every morning.  And probably every evening in the parking lot at work before heading home.  The beauty is that I can get some decent ones for like a dollar each, which isn’t bad.  I’m a marketing machine baybeh!  I’m going to let this idea marinate and I may just get some custom scrapers to ad to my marketing mix.

I’m a bit cocky to be as broke as I am right?  WRONG!  My vision is clear “I can see it NOW” and pretty soon my bank account will grow into the ego.  It’s all coming together, slowly but surely.

- Peace Out

P.S.
I forgot I was supposed to bring back accountability Mondays.  I’m going to get back on it next week.  Despite the fact that none of my blogger friends do it anymore.  What’s up with that anyway?!  You all know who you are.  That’s OK! (said in Al Pacino – Scarface voice) I’m going to bring it back anyway.  Bring it back like fannypacks

Business, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Random, Real Estate Advertising, Ice scraper, newspaper

Over the weekend, created a tutorial video in which I performed a screen-scrape of the Broward County, Florida website.  The objective was to find the absentee owners of property in that county.  Shae Bynes, A fellow investor out of that area targets those who are absentee owners, so she was the beneficiary of this process.  Hopefully she’ll find some use of the list that was created.

The Broward County website was odd because it doesn’t let one view all of the properties within the county at once (no filters).  You are forced to select a filter to view anything.  So the most logical process that I could think of was to search via the owner “Name” field and by vowels.  Almost everyone has at least one vowel in their full name right?  Right.  So, I basically had 5 different lists one for A-E-I-O-and-U.  I then took those 5 different lists and pulled records out where the property PIN or “Folio” as BCPA calls it was unique.  Then lastly, I then took only the records where the “Mailing Address” field didn’t contain the letters “FL”, as in Florida.  Now that, I’m sure filtered out some legitimate leads as some street names contained FL and such, but I had to work with what that website would give me.

So check out the tutorial videos below and tell me what you think.  Soon, I’ll post another tutorial video of how I compiled a list of properties for the Tax Lien investor in preparation for the tax sale last month.

Real Estate Absentee Owner, Broward County Florida, Florida, Mozenda, Tax lien

It’s been a while since my last post.  Took some time to reflect on what I’m doing, what’s working, what isn’t and to restrategize.  No burnout, just always striving to work smart. The hiatus is over.

Real Estate burnout, leads, Real Estate, voice connect

I just got off of work and now realize that I have another full days worth of work ahead.  I have some phone calls to return (why does everyone want to talk these days, I’m so not a phone person), I have a BiggerPockets blog post to contribute, I have some Mozenda tutorial videos to create, and some MLS offers to concoct before I meet with my Realtor tomorrow .  It looks like it won’t be feasible to get it all done tonight, but I’m sure going to try.  And on top of that, I need to get in the gym tonight (I’ve been working out 5-6 days a week for the last 2.5 weeks).  I need to keep the ball rolling on these habitual workouts so that they become habit.  It already is very odd to take the route straight home and not go to the gym after work.  I’ve also been eating alot better, not that I ate bad in the first place (my Mom is a dietitian).  I eat a large break fast, mid-size lunch, and a salad for dinner.  That’s been working so far, I have a feeling I’ll need to change this up soon.  Especially the salad every night.  But what’s the point in having money if you don’t have your health, right?

Welp, gotta go.  I’m just going finish downloading this mixtape to my IPOD so I can have the necessary Lou Ferrigno inspiration while I go hard in the gym.  Maybe I’ll post again later tonight when I need a break. Peace Out.

Business, Random Apple iPod, Health club, Lou Ferrigno