Carlton Sheets - Posted by Gina G. Brown

Posted by Jim Pack (FL) on December 02, 2005 at 08:07:02:

Congrats on the baby! They are wonderful little people to have.

Does Carlton Sheets’ program work? Yes. The principles are sound and tested. Will it work for you? Maybe. Depends on how hard you want it to work. How serious are you? If you want to learn about real estate, go to the library and study books and cds on the various topics. That’s free. It might help you get a better feel for what you’re interested in so you can concentrate your research. The more knowledgeable about a subject you are, the better you will do at it. Same goes for self discipline, desire, drive and energy; key ingredients of anyone self employed. I suggest finding the nearest Real Estate Club in your city and start attending. Being with other like-minded, fired-up people who are actively working in real estate is essential.

Carleton Sheets’ program teaches about how to buy rental property, plain and simple. Its one small aspect of the world of real estate today. Will buying and renting houses make you money? Yes it will, if done correctly. I’ve been doing it for about 30 years as a sideline to living. I was in the Air Force for 28 years and everytime I got orders to move, I bought a house. The goal was to buy the most run-down house in the best neighborhood, live in it for 2 years, fix it up, paint it, make it look great, then sell it for a profit. I had to live somewhere so why not own a home, fix it up little by little and make money when you leave? My first house I bought in California for $58,000 with $3500 down. I fixed it up and sold it 2 years later for $68,000. This was back in the early 80’s before the big real estate boom. Hey, I made 10 grand when I left meaning I not only lived there for free, I had fun and got an education, too. My last house I paid $247,000 for with a downpayment of $20,000. It was in a new neighborhood on a resort island. Needless to say, I sold it for $560,000 5 years later! Nice little chunk of change on that one. The modest home I’m living in now I paid $3600 down and the owner held a Lease Option I drew up for him. I cashed him out a year later with bank financing because I stipulated that every penny I paid to him each month be credited to the purchase price of the home, minus a fair interest rate. A year later, I showed that money to the bank as a big downpayment to the seller and they gave me the customary 80% loan to value loan. It cost me $460 to close that loan because I made the seller pay all the closing costs. The sale was for $94,000 and now, 2 years later the home is worth about $275,000! Oh yes, its waterfront in Florida. How do you buy waterfront in Florida so cheap? Get there before people realize the future value of their land. This takes research, education, guts, determination, self discipline and drive to do this. Something you can’t get out of a book no matter how attractive it is. That’s why I said: “Will it work for you? Maybe.”

Now I’m in the mobile home business. I buy and sell them and I’ve just done a turn-around project on my first mobile home park. Real estate is a fun and lucrative business but you have to learn about it and you have to work at it.

I hope this wasn’t too preachy and long but it’s the truth. Good luck man and enjoy that little baby (and mom).

Jim Pack
pacman

Does real estate work? What do you think?

Carlton Sheets - Posted by Gina G. Brown

Posted by Gina G. Brown on January 23, 2000 at 21:59:43:

I recently purchased the Carlton Sheets home program on
how to buy real estate with no money down. I am curious about how effective this program really is and if it is dependent on location? I saw some info on a web page when I tried to access info in Yahoo under Carlton Sheets; however, I was unable to access this page/info.

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Mark (SDCA)

Posted by Mark (SDCA) on January 26, 2000 at 15:33:33:

I purchased CS about 8 years ago so my info may be dated (but probably not!!) His info is not location dependent… exactly. The problem is that he comes from a buy and hold mentality. That is fine. The problem is that in expensive areas like I am in, it is VERY tough to buy and get enough rent to cover your mortgatge payment. If a house sells for 300K and rents for 1600 per month, well… do the math. So you have much more work ahead of you… You REALLY need to look for special situations (foreclosures, out of state owners etc…) where you are buying well below market. ie you need price AND terms, not jus terms which is what Carleton emphasizes. Or you may need to go a different route. Lease Option works well here.

Hope this helps,

Mark

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Kip

Posted by Kip on January 24, 2000 at 14:47:29:

I too purchased Carlton Sheets program and found it was full of good info but mainly just the basics. There is quite a bit more info needed which you can purchase from the Professional Education Institute or by getting help on line. I am considering hiring one of his mentors but at $2500 I can’t push myself to do it. I live in Southern CA and hope the program is not location dependant.

Frank

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by M.

Posted by M. on January 25, 2000 at 15:43:17:

I purchased the course a year ago and have had some success with it. I have found it difficult to find owner financing and am also very curious if it is location dependent. I live in an expensive area of USA similar to CA and would like a mentor. Does anyone live in Mass. who is an investor?

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Derek

Posted by Derek on February 09, 2000 at 15:16:12:

I was in Mass a few weeks ago and realized that owner financing is hardly available but it is in other areas IE: parts of TX. Good Luck!!!

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Jim Pack

Posted by Jim Pack on January 26, 2000 at 13:09:57:

I purchased Charleton Sheet’s course in 1995. I have found that you really do have to go through 50-100 properties to find one that will work for you. In that regard, it is somewhat dependant on location. I live on a small island on Geogia’s southern coast. It is a resort island where the property values are skyrocketing. The county only has about 60,000 people in it and realtors on every street corner. It is tough to find those “no money down” deals. They do exist though. I have bought and sold about 6 houses since I’ve had the course and I can tell you that the principles outlined DO work. I have come very close to buying truely “No Money Down” but haven’t succeeded yet. The course is just not very detailed about some things and it takes a lot of effort to gain the experience necessary to make it work well.

I’ve gone the route of buying via owner financing and that works well (both buying and selling). I have decided to get out of the rental business and concentrate on accumulating “paper” or 2nd mortgages. I find houses either through foreclosure or motivated sellers. I try to come up with a price that gives me room to fix up the property with little money, gain control over the property with little or no money and still be able to “flip” the house for my costs plus. I get my hard money back via a downpayment from my buyer, then carry the rest as “Paper”. I can then go and look for another property. Each time, I try to hold paper on the property. This gives me hundreds of dollars arriving in my mailbox each month for doing basically nothing. I don’t have to worry about clogged toilets or tenents who don’t pay the rent. If I need more money, I simply discount the note to someone for cash. If the owners walk and the bank forecloses, I have a clause in my note that allows me first grabs at getting the property back. I simply resell, take another note and move on to the next. I’ve done 4 of these now and there is no end in sight.

I recommend reading the “Real Estate Money Machine” book by Wade Cook. He goes into great detail on how to do this. Charleton does this, too but Wade has a whole book on the subject. This stuf does work, but you have to commit yourself to doing it and gaining experience. SOME STUFF DOES NOT WORK IN ALL STATES EITHER. Try doing a “wrap around” mortgage in Georgia. The bank will throw you out on your ear. Good Luck!

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by EL

Posted by EL on February 10, 2000 at 21:15:03:

Owner financing: Last week I put in an offer to a 3-family the owner could only show me one unit and I asked him to give a second for the down payment. He said yes that evening and then the next day he backout. I could have purchased it without the financing. I was hoping to use some of the Carlton stuff to take the pressure off of my savings. He took another offer. I am wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to sell the offer. I offered full price with a 10 % second amortorized at 30 years . Owner needed as much cash as possible so I offered a one year balloon. He went with a person with the realtor. Any ideas?? MA investors??

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Gracie Palacios

Posted by Gracie Palacios on January 04, 2001 at 23:56:32:

Hi there,
My name is Gracie and I live in California. I purchased the Charleton Sheets program back in 1993…And I’m assuming that it is due to my lack of knowlege in Real Estate that has kept me from going anywhere at all with this program…I ended up purchasing a family home in 1995 only after going through the headaches of cleaning up the credit report and saving the 5grand to do so…I really do wish certain parts had been more detailed for DINGBATS like me!
Thanks for listening

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Derek

Posted by Derek on February 15, 2000 at 21:35:37:

EL, Your offer sounded good to me but unfortunately some owners are afraid to sell under terms they don’t quite understand or do not come from a so called “professional” like a realtor. As Carleton continually advises you sometimes have to make five or more offers before one will be taken. Keep at it, your hard will will eventually payoff! Derek

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Deb

Posted by Deb on August 19, 2002 at 16:08:46:

This program was purchased for me as a gift and over a year later there were charges on the credit card used to purchase this program that were a mystery. We were told that the charges stemmed from our credit information that was sold to them by the company that sold us Carlton Sheets. Be very aware of what you buy and what may or may not come with it!

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Jim Pack

Posted by Jim Pack on January 05, 2001 at 09:14:28:

It isn’t easy to buy real estate like Charleton says it is. There is one key phrase that he makes in his program that really sums it all up: “…you may have to make 25 calls to find one property that works”. It has taken me several years, but I have managed to find 5 or 6 properties that work with the Sheets concept. My net worth has risen to over a million right now but it wasn’t easy. You really have to stay on top of the real estate market and keep searching. The things you are looking for are: properties with a price tag that you can buy and have the local rent support the mortgage. Around here (Coastal Georgia), that’s about $60 - $70k ($650-750/month rent). Then, the seller must be willing to deal with his equity. If they just want cash, period, then consider raising the sale price 3k or so to cover the down payment and closing costs. You will probably still have to pay something out of your own pocket. It gets better when you own more properties. The banks like you more and will deal quicker, you can use your properties as collateral, you can refinance to get cash to downpay new properties, etc.

If you find that special property, in your target price range, that the seller outright owns and will do some owner financing, you are in the money! That is the type of property Charleton talks about. I have had no luck with: wrap around mortgages (banks usually have clauses against such nonsense), selling notes to raise cash (although there are web sites out there that do such things) or finding REO (banks want their money and will usually give ANY REOs to their favorite realtors to sell immediately). Actually, I am in the process of buying a little REO from my local bank just because there is a slow down of home buying coupled with a glut of spec building around here. There are a lot of contractors going to forecloseure. Again, the bank will deal with you favorably, but they won’t take a loss like Charleton indicates in his program.

Keep looking, keep talking to banks and find those properties that the owner will finance part or all of the price. That’s the key! This program works a lot better in a large, metro area (not like my little town of 50,000). Eventually, you CAN build a real estate empire, you just have to keep looking and trying. Good luck.
pacman

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Sandra Donnelly

Posted by Sandra Donnelly on November 30, 2002 at 10:24:03:

I sent all the pak back to them and they still insist on collecting the money from me. They have two different names The Carleton Sheets Real Estate Program and The professional ED. Institute. I have resorted to a Attorney

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by ANITA VARELA

Posted by ANITA VARELA on January 12, 2001 at 15:49:20:

Hi. I just purchased the CS program and can’t help but think that it will work great where I live Phoenix Arizona Metropolitan area). The RE section of the paper each Sunday has several ads for no money down properties. I haven’t gotten the program yet, but will this be what I am looking for?

Thanks,

Anita

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Jim Pack

Posted by Jim Pack on January 13, 2001 at 08:13:42:

The ads you mention COULD be what you are looking for. Honestly, I see those ads in bigger papers and I have never called one, so I really don’t know. To me, it sounds like another Sheets grad out there trying to make a living. It may not be what you want.

You are in a great area! I was stationed at Luke AFB twice and lived in Avondale. There ae PLENTY of properties to look at. I would get going like Charleton’s “Getting Started” video tells you to do. Let me know if you need any more help!

Jim Pack

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Latina

Posted by Latina on January 23, 2001 at 15:07:00:

Hi. I’ve owned the CS program now, for approx. 6 mos. I am in the process of “closing” on my new home now (I did have to put money down), but I think that this program may be what I’m looking for. Do you have any suggestions on how to make purchasing “rental prop” a S-M-O-O-T-H process?

I’m new at this, and nervous, but I do live in an area of Maryland where we do have a military base, and it seems to be many RE ads advertising “no money down” . . . .I just wonder if I can successful state, up front, what my mission is without the seller being pessimistic about it . . .

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Jim Pack

Posted by Jim Pack on January 23, 2001 at 21:56:20:

Glad you are out there trying to make it work. It will work, but you have to work diligently at it. I finally purchased my first house TODAY with “no money down”, can you believe it? I’ve been working at this on and off for 3 or 4 years now and, until today, I have always had to put something down. This makes my “net worth” (and net bills) at about 1 million right now! Here’s how it happened:

A realtor friend told me about some foreclosures. I went to see them and they were good properties but the realtors already had them. I asked which bank was foreclosing and it turned out to be a local bank whom I’d had dealings with before. I contacted the loan officer and asked if he had any more foreclosures. He said yes, they had just gotton another one and I went to see it. It was a little 2br 2 1/2 bath that was about 95% completed but had been sitting empty for a year. I checked the prices with other sales in the neighborhood and they were all in the 80-100 range. I had some sub contractors come over and tell me it would take about $3000 to finish it off. I asked the bank what they needed out of it and they hinted that $50k was too little. I offered 60K + $5k cash to finish it off with no money down, 9% interest amortized over 30 years with a 5 year balloon. They jumped at it! I closed today, with the attorney handing me a check for $3910.41 (after the closing costs were taken out of the $5000) and walked away with a house valued at about $80,000! I got paid to buy a house! Wonderful country! It’s going to take about 2 weeks to make it livable and it will be for sale, lease purchase or rent, in that order. I am trying to do a house like this once a month. Buy, fix it up, with little or no money down, then sell it for 15% more than what I bought it for, ask for a down payment that equals the money I had to put in it and take the equity as a second mortgage. Yeah, $10,000 amortized over 20 years at 10% is only $60 per month, but if you get 10 or 20 or 30 of these “contracts” sending you $60 per month, well…you get my point. That’s $1800 per month coming in each month for the next 20 years and all you did for it was sign some papers! You don’t have to be a Landlord. If they stop paying you foreclose and get the property back to sell it again with owner financing.

Not quite Charleton Sheets but same idea. GOOD LUCK, YOU CAN DO IT TOO. The secret is look at a lot of properties, know the market, find those that the sellers will finance part of, offer as small a downpayment as you can. Try to assume the loans if you can (most don’t assume anymore), and just work with people, especially banks and realtors, they can be your worst enemies or your best friends. The best situation is to work strictly with the sellers if possible.

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Candace

Posted by Candace on August 20, 2002 at 23:27:34:

I was wondering if it matters if you have terrible credit. I have 11 years property management experience and the idea of owning my own properties is a dream of mine. I have the experience and knowledge to manage them. Do you have any ideas or any sound advise.

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by Jim Pack (GA-FL)

Posted by Jim Pack (GA-FL) on August 21, 2002 at 06:37:23:

Yes, I do have some advise.

Why do you have terrible credit? No one should have terrible credit. Look into credit repair services. Do a search online. I have seen several companies who specialize in credit repair. You can pay off debts using their programs, send rebuttal letters and forms to have certain entries removed from your credit report, etc.

Also, look into other real estate techniques. Charleton focuses on buying and holding rental properties. While he shows you how to buy properties with no money down, you still need banks, lending institutions and good credit. There are others out there who show how to acquire properties with bad credit and not having to use any money at all. Check out Ron LeGrand’s site. His programs are expensive but highly worth their weight in gold. He shows how to get houses for FREE. Using the “Subject to…” contract and “Lease Options”. I don’t remember Charleton teaching this stuff in the course I bought from him back in 1995. Ron and his “boot camp” disciples have amassed hundreds of free houses and lease them out or sell them with not one penny out of their own pockets and not one banker in their rolodex.

I would encourage you to check into a Roth IRA. Go to the “Finance Forum” and do a search on the topic. Get Jack Miller’s book: “Roth IRAs and other tricky stuff”. Why? Because it will help make you financially sound. Concentrate on cleaning up your credit, seriously. Good Luck!

Jim Pack

Re: Carlton Sheets - Posted by michael southworth

Posted by michael southworth on December 01, 2005 at 09:21:20:

I’m 23 years old and married, and just found out i’m having a baby.I’ve always wanted to work in real estate and I saw carlton’s program on a 30 min. commercial but I usually never trust those commercials.Should I purchase the program," DOES IT REALLY WORK!" I could use all the advice I can get. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks