Posted by Gerald-DC on June 19, 2001 at 17:04:01:
Jim IL
As usual your post was informative and a good read. I really like teaching your kids to say I NEED HELP instead of I CAN’T. I think I will adopt this policy for myself as well as try to teach it to my son.
Gerald-DC
If You HAD to do a deal TODAY…what would U do? - Posted by SueC
Posted by SueC on June 19, 2001 at 07:07:39:
This one is for experts and beginners alike: If you absolutely had to do a deal TODAY, you HAD to get $2000-5000 cash, in hand, TODAY, you were getting kicked out of your home, or your child needed medical care, or your husband needed cash to move out (just kidding) - what would you do? I mean, if you were really really desperate, I think it could be done, but what would you do? Call ads? Knock on doors? Call agents?
No, I’m not kicking my husband out, I just thought this would be an interesting exercise.
Re: If You HAD to do a deal TODAY. - Posted by Kent Cheatham
Posted by Kent Cheatham on June 22, 2001 at 04:40:01:
Prostitution
But then my wife might want to quit…grin.
Hey, no fair, I didn’t want to think today - Posted by Jim IL
Posted by Jim IL on June 19, 2001 at 16:15:45:
Sue,
Okay, I’ll play along. Sounds like fun.If I had to have $2k-$5k TODAY, I’d sit down and look at what I have that I do not need at this moment. I’d see what I could liquidate out of that bunch, and then sell it FAST!
Since I’m lucky enough to have been doing REI full time for a little while, I have some deals I could sell to others usually.
OR something pending.
In fact, I just did this recently.
I had a home that was going into foreclosure that we got subject to, and the only way to stop it was to re-instate now, and get a buyer in it later.
The funds came from selling another home I owned via a Land contract to a buy who I had on file, for the amount needed to cure the other home.
I’ll get this money back when the T/B’er in it now exercises, and I still have cash flow from the other one I sold.
Obviously this would not work for someone who is just starting, and has no deals to sell.
But, they can use the concept and see what they do have of value to sell in some way.
Heck, I made $1500 this past weekend with a moving sale alone, I could not believe what people were paying for my junk. Not a bad way to sit around and relax, while making money and purging unwanted items.
I rather enjoyed it.
I don’t usually have a very large savings per say, I just hate to let money sit in the bank. I prefer to have what money I do have out there working for me.
I also like to have some of it easily liquidated.
The bottom line is, IF I HAD to make $2k to $5k TODAY, then I’d think HARD and with an open mind. I’d also know that I CAN do that, and WILL, nothing would stop me until I did it. This seems to help me because I REFUSE to say “I can’t”.
My kids are even banned from saying that in our home. They have been told, "NEVER! say I can’t, instead, say, “I need help”.
thats the other things I’d do, talk to others, perhaps here.
Good post, thought provoking…
thank you,
Jim IL
Great question!!! - Posted by Carey_PA
Posted by Carey_PA on June 19, 2001 at 09:08:44:
If I HAD to do a deal today, I’d probably go the mh route. Simply, because all that is required of a sfh deal isn’t generally required with a mh.
The very first way I’d try to find a mh is just driving the parks. (taking special notice to abandoned and vacant homes)
Then I’d talk to the park owners/managers and try to find out about the homes that are for sale, especially the abandoned and vacant homes.
I’d concentrate on the abandoned and vacant homes, because these are the puppies that you can get for free!
I would do my research in finding the owners, which includes www.555-1212.com and www.411.com to get a list of phone numbers with the owners name. Then I would call EVERY LAST NAME that’s the same that comes up from the search.
I’d tell them that I wanted to take their home off their hands, because I know that a lot of back taxes and back lot rent is owed, etc. (I would have called the courthouse and found out exactly how much back taxes are owed and I would have tried to strike a deal with the park owner to NOT have to pay back lot rent)
When the mh owner called me back, I’d let them know how much they owe, etc. and let them know that I’d take care of everything if they’d just sign the home over to me. When they say yes, we’ll go to the notary and I’ll pay the $40 to put the title in my name.
THEN I’d call EVERY buyer on my mh buyers list and I’d call EVERY person that ever bought a mh from me and ask who wants a home. What I’d sell it for depends upon the past taxes due. (the last one I got for free had $600 in back taxes due, so we’ll use this scenario)
I could sell the home depending on the condition for $5,000 and I’d ask for $2000-2500 down (and I’d pay the taxes with this)and I’d finance the rest of the purchase at 12.75% 
or IF I REALLY NEEDED the cash I’d sell the place for $3,000 CASH (and pay the taxes from that) and I’d walk away with $2400!
With a mobile home all of this can be done in a day! Especially with the title work, EVEN if I didn’t have the title I still have sold to my end buyer.
Ok now I know that is all a jumbled pile of stuff…but that’s what I’d do if I ABSOLUTELY needed to do a deal today!
CAREY
Re: If You HAD to do a deal TODAY - Posted by Rob FL
Posted by Rob FL on June 19, 2001 at 08:27:41:
If I needed some fast cash, I would probably try to find a wholesale flip type deal. I would start either at the courthouse digging through foreclosure files or driving neighborhoods looking for vacant, fixer-upper houses.
Being realistic though, I wouldn’t expect to tie a property up, wholesale flip the property to a rehabber, and get a check for thousands of dollars in one day. No rehabber would be stupid enough to give you any money unless they had a strong relationship with you already and a title search had already been performed.
Credit where credit is due - Posted by Jim IL
Posted by Jim IL on June 20, 2001 at 15:12:35:
Hello all,
Actually, I must give credit where credit is due.
The idea about not allowing my kids to say, “I can’t”, and instead say “I need help” came from another investor/poster here. She told me that this is her practice in her home with her child, and I liked the idea so much, I implemented it here.
You know who you are…
Thanks,
Jim IL
Re: Hey, no fair, I didn’t want to think today - Posted by SueC
Posted by SueC on June 20, 2001 at 14:49:46:
Thanks Jim, what a great post. It would be alittle easier with some resources like a buyer’s list ready to go, or etc., but I believe it CAN be done! In fact, I am planning to put this to the test myself one day in July when I have some vacation time coming to me…
I too like the idea about “I NEED HELP” - I think I need to use that one myself!!