All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I’m upset for missing Mr Van Horn’s recent one too but I had something scheduled long before. They had the DME in NJ a few months ago and the IMN as well down here in Florida. Also Scott Carson had his recent Mastermind in Florida but you’re right, it seems that the majority are in Texas or the West Coast unfortunately. Not a conference but Martin Saenz has an upcoming educational course that would be worth looking into. It really is surprising there’s not more on this Coast.

This is interesting. I myself have been trying to partner up with someone that has plenty of deal flow, but he’s so hard to reach. I got an email from someone the other day (I’m on the preferred investor list) and he stated he’s been calling banks and is surprised at lack of inventory. I was just at Scott Carson’s Mastermind (great event) and he and a lot of others are fond of CFD’s and there seems to be an abundance of those. I personally don’t like them. Yet they are closing on deals whereas I’m not. But again I don’t like that asset class. So I sit and ponder. I can only learn so much (well the day I stop learning is the day I die) but a business with no business isn’t really a business. Thanks Martin Saenz for bringing this topic up!

Hi Martin Saenz well actually I didn’t. Have you ever met that guy? I’ve met people like him before but and you can easily basically say the wrong thing. I just viewed it as an introduction. He literally said during his presentation “If I sound like I have a massive ego, it’s because I do and I’ve earned it”. That may put some off but like I said I’ve met people like that before. Don’t get me wrong he was a complete gentleman and I spoke to him afterwards. I hope that doesn’t sound like an excuse just my take on how to assess the situation. We are all human but this guy was on another playing field. I did enjoy Patrick Desjardin’s comment that in all these years nobody had asked if he had a note to sell. Eye opening.

Hi Jay Hinrichs . How do small investors compete? Well I don’t think you can. However I do think you can find little cracks you could squeeze into. Really I can’t give you a definitive answer but I’m working on it. Believe me I wouldn’t be flying across country for nothing. As for what you do, I have no doubt from your words that you are a man of integrity and offer a good product. Believe me that Texas thing I have going that you know about I enjoy the monthly ACH’es every month without any work on my part. If I had 10mm I would stick with things like that. However I don’t have that kind of money so I have to take another route. Besides I’m enjoying the process in the meantime and it’s not like I have to show up to an office and answer to anyone. Hope you are well by the way!

I just attended the Noteworthy Summit in Irvine, CA (boy I thought South Florida was ritzy, that place was something else), anyway as Martin Saenz was saying there’s stuff out there you just have to get off your duff. One speaker who was probably the smartest person I’ve ever seen in this industry and quite frankly just in general, was Matt Kelley. He said after speaking he was going back to the office to work on a pool of 2700 notes. Of course he’s been around a long time and is smart as hell but still, it’s a business and really some of the things Martin mentioned, if you don’t do them do you think you will stay in business long?

As Levi T. stated, you need an attorney. However you should educate yourself as well. Google the difference between an asset sale vs a stock sale. Good luck!

I’m a huge fan of Quickbooks (desktop version). I wanted to try the online version for a previous venture but it had some limitations (I believe importing data files if I recall which wouldn’t be relevant to notes). I would like to remind everyone that whatever you choose MAKE SURE IT’S BACKED UP. This can’t be stressed enough. I personally use Carbonite for everything, but there are other options. Just make sure you do it.

This is a great topic. I’m personally with Adam Adams I’d personally rather be dropped in Beijing and have to learn Mandarin than deal with math. Chris Seveney posted somewhere else about his calculator and it blew my mind (and he only posted the generalities of it). But if you don’t like something I guess find someone that does. My wife has a BA in finance and an MBA in international economics and she could play with Excel all day long. Again great topic thanks for posting this.

For most this is a bad idea but I started my last business like that. There used to be a strategy, I believe a poster on the now defunct website Fat-wallet who went by the name Suckisstaples coined the phrase App-O-Rama for it. Basically you would do your homework and get a list of companies you would apply for and apply for them all in one sitting. By doing this the credit card companies didn’t see all the hard inquiries and you could get a substantial amount of money. It’s still possible but now they all charge a 3-5% balance transfer fee. Honestly back then the hard part was getting the money off the cards. Some like BOA would deposit the money in cash into your account. Most wouldn’t but I use to balance transfer to Amex and then call them up and say I did the wrong card and have them mail me a check. Also as it asked for your income and any additional household income, I would put mine and my wife’s without adding her name to it. Then I would do the same for her and just reverse it. I think at one point I had up to $250,000 in zero percent interest money. (Prepare for your credit score to tank for a while). However one day with that much owed I figured if something went wrong I’d be in trouble so I paid it back. But I’ve done this off and on over the years many times. One final thing. Yes it’s better to get it in your business name as it is still personally guaranteed but it doesn’t show up when they run your personal credit report. But if you are not 100% responsible with your spending or you seem to forget that it’s not your money you will do a lot of damage.

First thank you Martin Saenz for starting this thread (and we must be the same age as I certainly remember Big Daddy Kane). Seems as if everyone that’s posted is experienced in this. So I’ll chime in as one of the new people flooding into the field. I actually get quite a bit of private messages from people that prefer to just read on here and are new and are in the same shoes as I am and I get a lot of positive feedback for expressing my experience up to date. Thank you to everyone who has reached out. I would also state up front that my experiences so far are MY experiences. We all come from different backgrounds so what’s good or bad for one may be the opposite for another. Actually I got a message yesterday from someone new to the game who flat out stated this is a job, but he’s home and at least he’s working towards his own vision not someone else’s. I’ve always been self employed for the most part and am not looking for a job. Ok so I’m one of the people that jumped in with virtually no knowledge or background such as some of the people have on here. I do have a small portfolio of car notes and I just pay a company to monitor the insurance and such and if any problems they just repo the car and put it back on the lot. I just now picked up my monthly check of $6300 or so. Easy as can be, no work involved. That is truly passive. So I listened to some podcasts saw a few videos and then paid one of the “gurus” (and I don’t like to use that word as it has a negative connotation and the person I paid certainly knows this business.) But I had no business doing that and worse I brought in a partner who hadn’t even watched any of the videos (the seminar allowed me to bring someone). He is no longer my partner (though the one person I would call my friend) as this was way more work than we anticipated and he works full time so he couldn’t commit. It is ironic, I received a call the other day from someone that use to work for me with my previous company I owned. He mentioned how he was always amazed how I would just jump into things and say “we’ll figure it out”. To him it was an admirable thing whereas to me it has done good by me and also bad, yet I am who I am. So here I am. I do believe almost everything that Jay Hinrichs writes on this. This seems to be the new de jour “get rich” idea. Please note that I am not badmouthing the business nor anyone in it. But this is definitely work, and I’m not afraid to work, but some jobs are better suited for certain people. My wife would be amazing at this business but she likes her day job and quite frankly she’s relatively well paid and good at what she does. It also has a very high barrier to entry. I do notice that people are very pleasant and helpful. I met and sat for lunch with Bob Malecki at IMN and he was a complete gentleman. And if you have a question, people are very helpful especially here. So as @steve Hidgdon says this is no get rich quick thing it is a long term play (and the person I paid did say that as well). Have I failed yet? No I’m still here and I’ve built up a good team of people very qualified in this business who will be working with me. But I have at least some capital to start with. I’ve met many that have none. The last thing you want to do is learn on someone else’s dime unless they know up front as I know a nice couple with a lot of money and they jv’ed with someone who is new. The person who is new was very upfront about his lack of experience and questioned them if they were sure they wanted to JV with him. So as long as you are completely honest well people are grown adults and make their own decisions. So it can be started with no money though I personally couldn’t do that. I was told by someone who’s been in this for a while and even has a book published on Notes (we live close and we had lunch together) to not go to any expensive course and to just watch all the free content out there and just learn for a couple of years until things turn around (as we all know we are all chasing the same paper). I didn’t listen. Does that mean everyone should do that? No I’m just giving my perspective. I don’t want to sit on the phone and cold call all day. That’s me. Others may not mind and are just happy to not be working for someone. Others are working full time and still make it work. There is no one easy answer as we are all different people. But for what it’s worth, do know it is a business. One weekend course is not going to cover everything. That’s not a negative against the course I took as I’m not here to badmouth anybody at all. Well, actually I should qualify what I said in the last paragraph. I recall during the housing bubble I took a weekend course on being a loan processor. I recall sitting quietly there and listening to two women talking in front of me. I believe they were going on to be actual mortgage brokers. I recall one saying “it’s amazing, one weekend course and you can make more than a Doctor”. However everyone is a genius in a bull market. We are not in one now as far as distressed notes go. I thought I did the right thing by starting out with a performing note but turns out it wasn’t performing. Lack of proper due diligence and knowledge cost me on that (though a good payment was finally just sent in). However once you are experienced I’ve heard of others who bought a non performing that turns out to be performing. In the end I would just highlight from someone that is new that this a business and to take it as such. Yes no toilets and tenants but every business has its drawbacks as well as it’s positives. Educate yourself and be realistic with what you bring to the table as Steve Hodgdon pointed out. Best of luck to all!