Posted by Brent_IL on February 07, 2002 at 18:28:03:
nt
Give me a little hope!!! - Posted by Angela
Posted by Angela on February 07, 2002 at 16:25:21:
I am unemployed and hubby has been laid off. Our credit is bad and we have no money in the bank. I have 3 more weeks of unemployment left. Can anyone tell me how in the world we can begin or where we should start?
Re: Give me a little hope!!! - Posted by Joe
Posted by Joe on February 08, 2002 at 11:09:07:
Angela, you’ve already received some very good advice. I wanted to wish you and your husband the best of outcomes. Many have gone through hard times, as you are, and have come out so much stronger in the end. Get tough, get angry if you have to, but don’t let this get you down! Make up your minds you are going to fight back, whatever it takes!
You can start by immediately calling all your creditors and telling them what’s going on. It’s hard to do, but you will be surprised how much creditors will bend in these cases if you show that you want to pay them when you get back on your feet. Ask them if you can have some time to work it out. It doesn’t hurt to mention you don’t want to declare backruptcy, but you may have no choice if you don’t get some cooperation.
And immediately get out and get a job! Both of you!Take the first one you get, for now. It’s only temporary. You can quit anytime when you get a better offer. It’s NOT time to get picky about job hours, salary, benefits, etc. For now, just get some money coming in to the household. Right now. ASAP.
Bankruptcy is a LAST RESORT. Don’t do this to your already poor credit unless there’s no other way out.
God bless you and your husband, and GET GOING.
My favorite “hope” quote… - Posted by eric-fl
Posted by eric-fl on February 08, 2002 at 09:25:22:
“Industry need not wish, but he that lives upon hope will die fasting.” - Benjamin Franklin
I know platitudes aren’t what you need right now, but I just want you to be aware of the “hope” trap. Hoping won’t get you anything. I myself still sometimes find myself saying things like “I hope”, or “I wish”, or “if only…” and then I remember this quote, and catch myself. If I were you, I would write this quote down and paste it to the wall above the phone where you will be working on your real estate deals from.
Ultimately, you’ll need to get down to work. At some point, you’ve got to stop hoping, and start doing. It’s amazing, the effect on your morale that even just a little bit of positive action will give you. And that will show through to others you deal with, and inspire you to do even more. My point to all this is that, a positive mental attitude is more important than money, property, or any other advantage you can think of that you “wish” you had. With it, all things will be ultimately possible, and without it, nothing will, regardless of what other resources you may have. I think it was Stephen Covey who first introduced the concept that your mental attitude works like a bank account, and it’s the truth. You make deposits when you say you’re gonna do something, and you do, and you make withdrawals when you don’t. It really does work like that - guard it just as jealously as you would a real bank account, try to build up deposits through action, rather than hoping, and don’t let it get into a negative balance.
I agree with the general sentiment below that jobs are more important than real estate for the moment. One thing I always did that paid pretty well (before getting into I.T.) was waiting tables. Plus, it leaves your days free to do other things. If you don’t have any skills to speak of, it’s very possible to make a living doing that, and still have flexibility with your time. Of course, if you do have a skillset, you should be looking for a job in that skillset, even if it means taking a paycut from your last job.
Re: Give me a little hope!!! - Posted by Robert (NC)
Posted by Robert (NC) on February 07, 2002 at 21:14:56:
Angela,
Everyone that responds will give a slightly differnt set of advice. However, i think you will find common themes…
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Get yourself and hubby employed… Even working Dominos and McDonalds will pay more than NO unemployment check.
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Reduce your living expenses to the bare minimum… If you don’t have kids… Can y’all move into a 1 bedroom apartment ? If you own a house, make sure to keep the mortgage current. Don’t eat out, etc…
I know people in similar situation and they just will not reduce their spending… Almost like they won’t accept that they don’t have a job at the moment. -
As Chris said… Go sell plasma if things are really tought… you and hubby could get 400 a month…
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Take TIME to learn bout REI… don’t rush in… I’m a newbie… Been reading and studing for a year and just now doing my first deal. I’ve seen more people lose their shirts becuase they rushed in and tried to make big profits right off the bat not knowing what they were doing… GET Educated… read all the FREE stuff on this and other REI web sites… then read it all over again…
Decide what type of REI you want to learn more detail about then buy one or 2 books/courses about it…
Find your local REIA and join it and start networking and meeting folks… You might can birddog for some quick change… put that money back and build up a cash reserve for your business… work another job to pay your household bills…
happy investing…
Robert
Re: Give me a little hope!!! - Posted by Chris O. (Seattle, WA)
Posted by Chris O. (Seattle, WA) on February 07, 2002 at 20:34:47:
Hey, you know a last resort way of acquiring a few extra bucks in hard times? Plasma donation. I don’t mean to turn this into a discussion on how to survive in times of poverty and I know you didn’t ask how to scrape up some change, but consider it, seriously.
I get payed $210 a month to have my blood drained out, the plasma extracted, then infused back in, twice a week while sitting comfortably on a chair for 30 minutes. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Do some internet research on it if you’re not already turned off.
Look up blood banks in your phone book and look for plasma centers. The center I visit is SeraCare. They used to be called SeraTech or are owned by SeraTech (I forget). Try the internet to find a center too.
If you’re not afraid of needles, 16-guage needles to be precise, you and your husband could generate an extra $420 or so, depending on the extact local fees, a month! Yeah, it’s chump change in the overall scheme of income, but so is the cost of a month’s worth of gas and groceries.
- Chris O.
We can give you a lot of hope!!! - Posted by Jim
Posted by Jim on February 07, 2002 at 19:57:02:
Did you ever hear the saying “don’t quit your day job”? Well, that applies here, only in this case the slogan is “get a day job, and don’t quit it until an adequate income from real estate investing comes rolling in”. When starting a new job or busines venture you should have a positive attitude and be able to apply your mind to your work. You will not be able to apply yourself to real estate investing at this time because your mind will be focused on your bills and worrying about getting enough money to meet your living expenses. I suggest that both of you get day jobs, and in your spare time, learn all you can about real estate. Read this message board religiously. Once you have a basic knowledge of real estate investing, you can start part time.
Re: Give me a little hope!!! - Posted by Rudy
Posted by Rudy on February 07, 2002 at 19:15:26:
I am looking for a marketing assistant to do data entry and office work for minimum wage and a % of each lead from the Sunday paper. We then call every FSBO and FRBO to get their address and mail them the REI letters and follow up Post Cards in my marketing marketing program. If you want to learn how, email me.
rudy
Re: Give me a little hope!!! - Posted by Brent_IL
Posted by Brent_IL on February 07, 2002 at 18:24:01:
You have a lot to do in three weeks. Sleep is not an option.
1 - Get your husband involved immediately. Have him pass out flyers and handle advertising. Get people who need to sell to call you. Have him learn the local comps by looking at 100 houses in detail (Thanks, Ron).
2 ? During the night, spend 50 hours a week on line. Check archives using “beginners”, JohnBoy, Jim_FL, and Ronald Starr as parameters. Read Joe Kaiser?s article on maximizing profit with a prehab. Read all the How-to and Money- Making articles on site. Search for topics that don’t require money. You?re pretty much limited to flipping property and/or contracts on a wholesale basis. No time to wait for retail. No long-term rehabs. Learn about pure options; forget about leasing for now. Make it profitable for someone else to stand in your stead.
3 - Get a local real estate board contract and learn how to fill it out. Go to www.legalwiz.com and learn about addenda. Understand contingencies. Have a pre-typed addendum for those CRE requirements that you are likely to use.
4 ? Use your last unemployment check to buy a good financial calculator. Work through every example in the instruction book. If you don?t understand something go on-line for an explanation.
5 ? Go with your husband and make many offers. If a property is listed make the CRE offer through the listing agent. Insist on being present when the offer is made. Use what-if’s when you’re with a workable seller. Do not make RE agents drag you all over town just to look at a property.
6 - Your goal should be to do a deal at an adequate profit. $2,000, or even $500 is O.K. if you can move on to the next one. If you spend 40 hours on one deal to make $500, it’s more than unemployment pays. Your profit per deal will increase with experience and financial capability.
7 - Sell your interest in the deal for a modest mark-up.
8 - This is one of those GIGO things. You?re substituting frenzied activity and modest subject knowledge for other areas in which you lack.
Here?s to your first deal.
Don’t start with REI now!!! - Posted by Nate(DC)
Posted by Nate(DC) on February 07, 2002 at 18:22:06:
Angela,
This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but I’m going to say it anyway.
NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO START INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE! What you and your husband need in the immediate, SHORT term are JOBS to provide you with some steady income to meet your monthly obligations.
If you have no money at all, you will find it difficult to get involved in real estate to any serious degree. Even looking for and trying to do “No Money Down” deals, you will still need some money for marketing, advertising, and the like. And if you found a great deal on a property, you would have no deposit to give the seller which would make them less likely to accept your offer. Besides, real estate is not necessarily going to make you money FAST if you have no experience or even if you do. The money comes in fits and starts.
My advice is, get yourself on your feet first, THEN worry about doing real estate to try to better your situation.
Good luck!
NT