Day 445 - I Suck at Real Estate

I suck at real estate!

That's what I thought to myself. I was/am suffering from shiny object syndrome. I've been dipping my toe into mailings, bandit signs, MLS, ect.. and then there is Craigslist. My rational mind as a salesperson knows that consistency is key but I couldn't stick to it. Mailings 1 month, no calls!? This sucks. MLS everything is overpriced, stupid. Bandit signs, residents give you stares and nasty VM's. What's the point?

Craigslist? Hmm... tons of people with phone numbers for contacts, negotiate directly with sellers, plus it comes at my favorite cost of $free.99. Now, for a lot of my sales career I've been a "smile and dial"-er. This is my wheel house, I've become numb to rejection over the phone, I almost welcome it.

So I got to it. Pouring over Craigslist ads for 2 months and calling of owner-landlords and FSBO's at least 3 times a week. Now, I have a demanding full time job and 2 little ones under 4, but I kept at it consistently. After 250 calls, 52 followups, and 16 site visits I got my first non-house hack deal. It's in a convenient location in the Manayunk (B class area) section of the city.

I've been approved by the bank and was able to get away with 15% down. and it still cash flows $400 a month. Pretty much rent ready, new baths and kitchen but needs some detailing for max rents, SS appliances, new paint, new floors, but otherwise ready to go.

The moral of the story is that consistency is key. I may have just gotten lucky, but over the year this is the one method I tried for a prolonged amount of time and it paid off. So, the question is how do I carve out time to do stay at this consistently and scale up? Baby Steps. Baby steps to the door... baby steps out of the office, baby steps to the elevator...

I'll post some details of the house and pics once we close next week.

Until next time.