Those of you who know me, know 2009 was a year that took me all over the map for investing. From Indy to Arizona and back to Maryland, yeah – I did that. What did I have to show for all the globe-trotting? Skymiles and an extra few bucks, to be perfectly frank.
In early 2009 I got a call from a friend (huge tax lien company) who was looking to move 150 houses in Indianapolis. We did all we could do to sell the crap through wholesalers in the area, but we could not get one bite. So, I hopped on a plane and met my good buddy Bob Norton for what turned out to be a very interesting 36 hour trip. We had more laughs than two guys should have – but what we figured was all the houses amongst the 150 were JUNK. We also discovered that Indy might be a hot-pocket and the perfect economy to invest in. Or so we thought.
In a nutshell, it wasn’t. I could bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that Indy is a great Landlord market, but for rehabbers, its pretty sleepy. And you’d be hard pressed to find any banks out there willing to lend.
So as Indy was winding down, Bob got intrigued with Arizona. After a pretty lengthy discussion, I agreed that I too would drop Indy and trek to AZ to make a ton of deals. Long and short, we did a few – and yeah we made a few bucks, but frankly, I’m not in the game to make a few bucks. If I can’t be the biggest and best in a market, I don’t wanna play the game. I found investing in AZ to be more frustrating than it was worth. Don’t get me wrong, there is a crap-pile of money to be made out there, but the market is changing so rapidly, you just can not keep up if you’re not in it every day. You truly have to live in the market to be really successful.
That brings me to the last 6 weeks. After a long talk with Bob, we both agreed that AZ was too frustrating and that I needed to focus on my own back yard. Folks – since making that one simple focal shift, my business has BLOWN UP!
My Current Pipeline
I’m now working on 2 rehabs in Prince Georges County (stay tuned for those updates), one rehab in Glen Burnie, one in Hamilton and one in Parkville. I’ll be closing one two more row houses in the next 30 days. Count ‘em up, that’s 7 rehabs in the pipe folks. And every one of them is an ass-kicking, smoking, high-profit deal!
So why am I telling you this? I’m telling you because we investors have so many ways of outsmarting ourselves and self-sabaotging our own success. One day you’re a wholesaler, the next day you’re a short-saler, the next day you’re a landlord. To have success you MUST focus on what truly gets you juiced!
I know that I love to rehab houses. I freakin’ LOVE IT and I’m good at it! I’m supremely focussed on being the best rehabber I can be. Look at the results over the past 6 weeks. I think they clearly speak for themselves. If all goes well, I should make more money by February or March of 2010 than I made in all of 2009. Not a bad way to start the year, huh? Imagine.
Figure out how you will make money in real esate – then work the crap out of your plan until the wheels fall off! Focus, Focus, Focus! Don’t get caught up in the latest greatest fad, or the Guru of the day. Make your plan, put your blinders on, and WORK!
Popularity: 4% [?]
