Quick Tip + Website Update!

Afternoon everyone,  Thank you everyone for all your support and patience while I’ve been; moving across country, continue buying and selling, writing great content for you (slowly now i admit, will pick up shortly), finish getting our new website up and running smoothly.   I am proud to say we are almost there.  By the end of this week or the start of feb we’ll be up and running.

Get ready for http://www.MobileHomeMadness.com

What does this means to you?

I’m putting my heart and soul into this site for everyone.  (No excuses in 2010!) I will be teaching anyone wanting and willing to gain financial freedom quickly with mobile homes.  I know that term “financial freedom” has been used so much recently by other teachers that I feel its lost all its meaning!  Financial freedom = Investing in 1-100 Mobile homes is such an easy, fantastic, hugely profitable way to retire young…

All I’m promising is to show you exactly how my operation is ran almost hands-free.  Showing you step-by-step, what I have done that has turned me from a frustrated employee INTO a man that is able to travel the world, take trips with family and friends, has extra money for spending on fun, not worrying about paying the bills every month, AND NEVER WORKING A 9-5 AGAIN! (and i dont even have a college diploma)

You can do this!  You now have no excuses! - This is your year to destroy it!

Get ready for Mobile Home Madness in 2010!

Here’s an easy tip that WILL EVENTUALLY save you time and money!  I have recently remembered this due to my sometime lack of organization. Let’s just say I lost a few forms and tore my office apart looking for these 2 forms.  They were in another folder mislabeled.

*Create a new folder for every deal you have.  Whenever you send tenant-buyers a letter or form place an extra copy into the corresponding folder.  If this tip seems easy than I can tell you are serious about your investing career!  Remember make 2 copies and keep 1 for yourself.

_ John

Answer to Posted Question: What Goes Into an A+ deal?

This is a great question by a motivated investor that’s putting together a package deal from what I’m guessing is a burnt out landlord.  This is not uncommon when dealing with any type of real estate.  Investors study and learn so much about creative financing and buying that they overlook how to property manage their tenants or tenant-buyers.  Eventually many landlords get burnt-out and just want to liquidate their portfolio.  Or the sellers just getting older and want to collect payments instead of managing properties.  I feel that this question can help many readers… here’s the question.

Hey John! Great info here man. I really appreciate you putting this information out here. I’ve been interested in mobile homes for little while now and I have a question. I came across a deal where a guy is selling 4 mobiles in a decent part of town on land that is on a long term lease with option to buy the land. He’s selling for $29,000 on an owner finance. The mobiles pull in $1650 a month. He’s asking for 20% down. In your opinion, is this a good deal or should I pass? Thinking about offering 10% down. What do you think? Thanks in advance for your response!

My response:

Great question! Thanks for following along.  There are a lot more factors that will go into the deal.  It’s so important for everyone to do their own due diligence before buying anything.

These are all questions and things to consider…

Depending on the condition of the 4 mobile homes $29,000 is not out of the price range.  I typically don’t pay over $5k for a 3/2.  But the chance to pick up 4 mobile homes with owner financing is worth the price increase.  At this price the homes should not need any repairs and should all be at least 2 bedrooms preferably 3.

Do the homes make $1650 before or after the land lease fee?  If $1650 is net monthly profit, minus of course what you’ll pay to your seller, you’re in good shape.  If you still have to pay a land lease I wouldn’t want to net under $1,400 (minus the owner financing fee) for all this work.

Do the homes already have tenants in them?  if not you need to negotiate no payments for X months.  And if they do how is their payment history?  How long is their lease for?  If month to month – Is there any room to raise rents?  Do the current tenants want to eventually own the homes?  You should always visit the homes AND meet with the tenants before you buy.  Ask the tenants directly what works and doesn’t work in each home.

How long is the land lease?  Will you be forced to move the homes in a number of years?  What is the amount of the monthly lease?  Who pays for property taxes?

We’ve established that $29,000 isn’t too high of a price to pay.  More importantly what’s the interest rate?  0% is ideal, and depending how motivated the seller is he may be open to 0% interest.  Also if you agree to pay him more per month than what he first offered you, he should be more apt to sell the homes with little to no interest.

Important to consider: This seller may have more property that he will sell you later on down the road once you’ve established yourself a reputable buyer.  I have gotten many deals this way! For this reason I said in the beginning that the price is acceptable if the homes are in good condition.  It is worth paying even double the normal price if A. they cash flow day One B.  They don’t need any repairs and C. you make a great real estate connection that will sell you more property down the way.  Just make sure he’s not trying to sell you a pig in a dress!

Miscellaneous questions:

Why’s this guy selling?  Does he have titles in hand?  Will the homes need any updating or rezoning once you buy?

NEGOTIATION TIP: Whether buying or selling the person who is more emotional about the homes will typically lose in the negotiations.

NEGOTIATION TIP: Try to get whatever monies you put down to be considered the first few months payments.  Example:  if you put down $5k and negotiate to pay the seller $500 a month, try to negotiate the $5k to be considered the first 10 months note payments.  This is typically easy to do.  Even if you don’t get the full 10 months “no payments” you may get 5 months to recoup expenses.

I wish I could give you a “HELL YES” or “NO WAY” if its a deal or not!  But I would defiantly say its worth the time to investigate further.

PS. Don’t let the seller bully you around.  Make sure you’re super happy with the final deal!

Anyone that has a question please ask!  I try to answer every question.

Happy investing

-          John

Doing a Steal… I mean Deal! Qualifying Sellers (Part 2 of 6)

Afternoon Investors,

Today it’s getting down to single digits; I can’t even imagine how cold it is getting for you in the upper states!  It’s important to know and learn about winterizing and weather proofing your mobile homes.  Not only to know how to properly winterize your homes but to make sure you can spot if a mobile home you’re interested in was/is accurately winter-proofed!  But that’s a post I’ll be making in the near future.

Last post we discussed gathering up your approved criteria and preparing the phone numbers you wish to call.  This next step: interviewing/qualifying the seller is what can make you a ton of money or waste you hours running around to see flaky sellers that were never good seller prospects to begin.

My goal is to teach you that before you hang up the phone with the seller to know (verbally) if you have a deal or not.  Our aim when making our first to call to a seller is to 1. Let the seller know we are investors 2. Have sellers agree or decline to price and terms range 3. Make an appointment to snap some pictures and inspect the mobile home further OR leave them knowing they can call you if anything changes for them in the future or if they have any further questions.

Let’s get started:

Before making any calls look over the information you already know about the home. You want to appear prepared and intelligent when talking to each seller.

Question?  Do you have a seller questionnaire?  Is your questionnaire designed specifically for mobile homes?  Does your seller questionnaire allow you to formulate ballpark offers to pitch to the sellers?

If the questionnaire that you are using does not, don’t worry.  Call the seller, introduce yourself and tell him/her that you are calling about the home for sale.  They’ll usually just say “yes” (and pause).  Ask if it’s still for sale and say something like “Can you tell me about the property and why you are selling it?”

The seller will most likely ramble on and on about the home.  Write down bedrooms, bathrooms, repairs, age, heat source, floor, roof, electrical, plumbing, walls, upgrades, park ammenties (if in a park), living area size, if they are current on pad/lot rents, etc.

Once they stop talking about the details of the home, I ask, “The mobile sounds very nice.  I’m curious why are you selling?”  Listen for the answer.  Listen for motivation levels.*

Now is the time I like to inform them that I a profession buyer (aka serious-investor).  I may say something like, “Mr. Seller before we go any further I need to tell you that I work for a company that buys mobile homes all around “your city”.  We are very serious buyers and from what it sounds like your home is something that we would be interested in.”

In order to save your time and theirs, you need to construct a low cash offer to offer to the seller.  They should be a little taken back by the offer.  That is the idea.  We then take a few seconds and explain the benefits (TO THEM) if they would allow us to make them payments for a purchase price “closer” to their original asking price.  Remember we are talking ballpark figures.  Once they say, “Ya, I’d consider that.” It’s time to move onto the appointment setting.

This is all so easy!!!!!

If they agreed to listen to some further offers then set up an appointment to view the home.  Say you will need to come out, shake their hands, take some pictures and go over numbers further. If they decline your verbal phone offer say something like, “Mr. Seller, I completely understand.  I talk to many sellers very day and some of them are really in a tight spot and need to sell.  Its good that you aren’t in that situation.  If you ever have any real estate questions in the future OR if things change on our side or YOUR lets promise to stay in touch.”  This is the best way I’ve found to leave a seller who declined the verbal offer.  (Side note: 25% of sellers that said no initially have called back to sell me their homes)

TIP 1.  Remember when talking numbers remind them that you are only making a ballpark estimate of what you can pay.  Say something like, “I hate waste other peoples time and my own.”  Be friendly and firm, you are the good cop here. You are simply explaining your company’s buying policies. (This will take so much pressure off of you!!)  Remind the sellers a few times that you are serious buyers that can close quickly.

TIP 2.  Make a low cash offer, one that you’d be thrilled to have them accept.  Remember: Once you say a number it is hard to go lower, but there are tricks to do this if you need to.

*Very very important.  Listen to how they talk about the home.  If they talk at great length about the new deck stain they just put on, they many not be as motivated as someone who talks briefly about the home and the condition THEN tells you for 10 minutes how his “blank” ex-wife ran off and left him with a  mobile he can’t afford.  Get the idea?!

happy investing

- John

Next chapter: Buying the home!

Why a park may not want you investing there!

Most parks will have NO problem. If they do have a problem, try to defuse the issue and find out what the real problem is.  It is probably a misunderstanding.  If they actually have a problem with “investors” buying and reselling the properties on terms, then you do not want to be in that park anyway.

There is really no reason why we could not buy a home and resell it.  (Unless we do not get approved by application process.  Maybe you have too many felonies.  Use a “partners” name and information and cut them in on some profit.)  As long as we pass the background/credit check there should be NO legal issue why buying a mobile home then simply reselling the same home, even if we hold a note and mortgage.  If the park is this strict in the beginning we do not want to carry out a relationship with them.

Why they might say NO; sometimes the managers do the same things we do and don’t want the competition. (This is rare.)

Most managers will say YES and be happy to take your lot rent money.  Some managers may need to call their cooperate office to check if they allow this type of buying and reselling.

Excerpt from Make Money Now!!!

- John

Doing a Steal… I mean a Deal! Step 1 of 6

Well everyone this is it!  The New Year is already five days old.  Sometimes it can get pretty overwhelming all that goes into real estate investing. It’s Not!

.

This post is the start of a “Multipart Series” finding, buying, filling and holding a mobile home in a park.  As most of you know I just moved from sunny Florida to the great state of Texas.  Why?  Mainly to see other parts of the country and because well, “I can”; simply put when we don’t Rent but “Sell” homes – the upkeep and hassles are virtually non-existent.

.

Well, moving to a new city; I have no connections, no info on parks that do or don’t deal with investors, any knowledge of the costs or market.  Basically I’m going to be starting where most of you are (except of course my previous knowledge, current empire and expertise.)

.

I will be taking you through a deal as I buy, hold, and sell a mobile home in a mobile home park.  I will try to video record and film what I can.  I hope that this will help all the new investors to see what goes into the “wonderfully simple” world of mobile home investing (on land or in parks).  And for those of you that have mobile homes will find this to very enlightening for someone else’s method.  You just might find a profit center or two that could make you an extra hundred or more per month AND remove a ton of pressure for your current methods.

.

I will break the steps down over the course over 6 posts.  These steps are very simple and easy to complete; today alone I did the first 2 steps.

.

1. Pre-Screen Criteria for Mobiles and Parks

2. Qualify Sellers – easily talking to sellers

3. Formulate Win-Win offers & Making the deal

4. Automatic Sales Funnel

5. Selling the Home

6.  Reverse Marketing (attract more sellers)/Celebrate

.

Today alone I “researched and found” a big stack of pre-qualified mobile homes to call on “For Sale” AND I made 5 phone calls. (step 1 and 2)  Within those 5 calls I connected with a motivated seller that I have an appointment with him this Thursday.  I am 90% confident I am going to buy his mobile home.  (You should know before you ever hang up the phone if you have a deal or not. No sense wasting anyones time.)

PLUS I planted the seeds for 4 other sellers to call me when they get motivated to sell.

.

There are funny stories and techniques that go into each STEP.  There are certain tricks and techniques that I have found work better than others when getting a Seller or Manager to say “YES”.  I will be teaching you a number of these tricks and techniques as we go on further!

.

Anyways, now that you understand the concept over the next few posts, you can follow along as we do a deal together.

.

The 1st step – Pre-screen for approved home/park criteria: Most people think the first step to buying any home is to find a great deal.  Wrong! You don’t even need to call anyone on this first step.  If you don’t have sellers calling you already from your marketing, then you will need to go out and find approved mobile home criteria yourself.  These are the sellers you will call.

.

Located a smaller sized local paper, craigslist, driving for dollars, and/or park managers.  This step involves looking over ads, google mapping park locations, and manually qualifying or disqualifying parks before you ever waste time on the phone with a seller:

Pre-screening the parks: I prefer family parks, children allowed, pets allowed, low lot/pad rents, clean area and preferably close to civilization.

.

Pre-screening the mobiles: As far as the mobile home prescreening goes; I look for pictures if available, over 40 ft long, clean, title in hand, few repairs (if any), sales price below 10k (even though we’ll be buying for much lower), 3 bedrooms & 2 baths preferably, good if you see some signs of desperation in the ads (such as “motivated seller, make offer, or o.b.o”)

.

NOTE: Again this is ALL in the advertisement of the “For Sale by Owner” wherever you see the ad or sign.  I find it easier, faster, and more pleasurable to take a few minutes to gather all this info/prescreening and then make the calls – to ONLY “approved” advertisement.  This way when you call multiple sellers you can stay in “the zone” mentally and make 1 call right after the other.

.

This helps me close more deals and appointments over the phone.  You should find this to be true as well!  You can do it however you like, but I suggest that you take the easy route I have tested “With trial and error” over the past 8 years.

.

NEXT POST IN SERIES:  Qualify Sellers AKA: Easily Talking to the Sellers

.

Happy Investing

.

J. Fed

…5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Blast off!

Have to just do a quick post today!  Everyone have a great new year… Lets “Crush It” in the New Year!  (Crush it stolen from Gary Vaynerchuk new book, Crush it!)

Just wanted everyone to share in my excitement…  I just got accepted to be the Newest (and youngest I think?) contributing writer to the www.biggerpockets.com website!  My specialty of course will be Manufactured and Mobile Homes!!  It’s an amazing opportunity for sure.

If you haven’t checked it out before you need to soon.  It’s a great source for expert Real Estate info, giving mentors, new friends, colleagues, deals and JVs.

“Have NO Fear” I will not stopping writing to YOU here! – “The Truth about Making Easy Money w/ MH’s Must Be Told!”

Enough Business for the Year… Here’s a cool video I found on brain magic!

HEY – add me as a face book friend if you haven’t already!

Giving the “Prospective Buyers” the Home information… anwsering the phone yourself OR… THE EASY WAY?

After getting the same questions over and over and over and over and over and over and over (you get the idea) you may get tired of answering the phone all day.  You can pay an answering service to answer your calls.  I do not find it necessary to hire the pricier service with live operators.

I have a very cheap answering system with a local number and extension that allows me to leave a 3-5 minute detailed message explaining the ins and outs of the mobile home, repairs, application process and address with direction.  At the beginning and end of the message give your phone number; instruct the caller to call you if/when they are in the front yard.

Warning: The following sounds cheesy but it works like a charm! (Use descriptive words, different tones and inflection in your voice.)

Hello, Thank you for calling the _____ (your business) _____________________________________.  You have reached extension number ________ for the property located at _____________________ in the ________________________________ mobile home park.  At the end of this brief message you will be given a number to call for instructions to access the home.  It may be wise to have a pen and paper ready to jot down pertinent information during this message. For your convenience this message will repeat itself once should you miss anything.

We are offing a 1990 doublewide mobile home with 2 car carport and large shed.  This home features 1400 square feet of heated and central cooled living space.  3 large bedrooms and 2 full sized bathrooms with tubs make this home very easy to love.  Kenmore fridge and range stove compliment the large kitchen with breakfast nook.  Carpet, tile and linoleum cover this homes flooring.  Enjoy quite barbeques outside with the family on your rear deck with a stone walk way leading you to the driveway through the amply sized back yard.

A child friendly large playground and club center are for the pleasure of all residents and guests.  Two small pets are allowed in this park.  Park is centrally located near schools, grocery stores, malls and YMCA.

This beautiful mobile home needs minor cosmetics inside including; paint inside 2 bedrooms, a few small holes in the drywall, and minor cleanup of junk and toys scattered around the home.  It is for this reason and a fast sale we are selling this home for a discounted price.

Stop throwing your monthly payments away every month.  The home is for sale on our “Rent to Own” program.  (Be and sound sincere!) Now, you are able to own your own home with no bank approval.  We make it the simple and easy to finally own a home of your own.   Starting day one you will own this home and be paying on a small note and mortgage.  We do all the financing in house and you never need to go anywhere else to own this lovely home.

We are asking $2,500 down and $473 plus lot rent per month.  Lot rent to the park, which includes trash, sewer and water is only $250 a month.  Your “out of pocket” per month to own this beautiful mobile home is only $732 dollars.

If you wish to have lowered monthly payments or do not have the full $2,500 to put down for this home we may be able to work out a specific deal depending our your unique situation.  If for example you would like a reduced monthly payment, a larger down payment can be arranged.  If you don’t have the full amount down but could afford to pay more monthly, we may be able to arrange a possible financing option for you.  We are not a bank and therefore can be slightly flexible with your payments and down payment.

The total sales price is 15k amortized over 10 years.

If you are standing in front of the home and don’t want to waste another minute please call XXX-XXX-XXXX, again that number is please call XXX-XXX-XXXX.  You will then be given the access code for the lockbox on the front door.  Inside the lockbox is a key to the front door.

The address to the home is _________________ again that address is _________________________.  Directions from 275s south are _____________________________________________.  Once in front of the home please call XXX-XXX-XXXX.   We will give you the code for the lock box on the front door.  Once inside the home please notice all improvements made and repairs needed.  If you like the home the next step is to take an application to gain approval at the park office.  Please fill out and submit an application provided for you on the counter top.  If none are available please go to the front office.  The office hours are Monday through Friday ten to four.  The application fee is $25 a family.  Once you are approved we will give you a call an arrange all details.

To discuss the terms of the home further please call XXX-XXX-XXXX.  Remember nobody make it easier to own your next home than ________( business name)_______.

Get Amped and Excited!!!

Morning everyone,

I did almost nothing this weekend!  Not 1 productive thing… it was everything I thought it could be.  I haven’t had a “sit back and do nothing” weekend in months.  Between quickly closing 2 deals in 3 days, training my new property manager, moving to TX, and finishing everything up on MobilehomeMadness I’ve been running around non-stop.

We’ll it’s defiantly all paid off!

I want to write a quick post about the anxiety of starting a new deal.  Whether starting your first deal or 10^th!   The anxiety for some can be nerve racking and stomach turning.

“How much time should I donate to learning real estate before I do my first deal?”  This question concerned me when I just started learning real estate investing.  I was reading books, courses, going to local REIA meetings, ect.  The more I learned the more I seemingly realized I didn’t know a damn thing! Or so I believed…

My rationalizing 2 weeks into learning about RE (from knowing nothing):

If I wait longer and study more than I should have a higher closing ratio plus I will feel more confident. (PLUS, by delaying talking to sellers I delay the pain of taking action now!!!)   BUT, if I start today with what I know it should be enough to get my foot in the door, but then what… “I mean, what if the sellers actually said YES to me?  Then what would I do?! ”

What I did! Before I ever picked up my first book I gave myself a 3 month plan.  At the end of this 3 month learning period I was going to put up signs and start my marketing to buy investment homes and make a quick million!

Funny story:  I made this promise in mid December 2001.  Three months later was right after the spring break time for college kids.  I was enrolled part time in a local community college at the time and wasin my very early 20s and wanted to party too!  So coincidentally the last week of my 3 months learning period was “spring break” week. …

Yada, yada, yada (I had a fun time) At my first real estate meeting I showed up with the number “106” shaved into the back of my head (lol, this was the room number of the hotel we were staying in over break and we all thought it was a fun idea it we do this.  I got off lucky; my other friends got it way worse!)

The main point of that story is, “I did it!!!”  I set a goal and busted my but to learn everything I possibly could in 3 months.  Then after my time off learning and goofing around was up I started marketing for sellers and before my hair could completely grow back I had a contract signed.”  A pimply faced kid, in a beat down car, part of his head shaved and looking like I should be in high school right now had a signed contract for a great deal.  (A mobile home on land, way undervalue, owner financing, nothing down, and no payment to the seller until I resell the home… (Not bad))

Stop asking how and why and just do it!  The best place to learn is in the ring…

Let me tell you, driving up to that house was very hard…  I was so scared and negatively sabotaging myself all the way.  I had a motivational cassette blasting in the car on the whole trip up tip the property (was about an hour away).  2 miles from the house I pulled over and got sick.

“But I was doing it… I was actually doing what I said I was going to do and felt great about myself!”  That was the start of my FINANCIAL FREEDOM journey. Haven’t looked back since!

What’s stopping you? As far as marketing and getting started the answer can be as simple as going to home depot and get some blank plastic signs to hang around town that say “We Buy Homes”.  (You probably have heard many ideas to attract sellers (that’s step 2).  You are already on step 1 by learning more about the RE business. Congrats…

So what is really holding you back?  Is it what to say when they call?  Is it what to offer?  How to fill out a contract?  What happens if I make a mistake?  What happens if I don’t make a mistake? …

You will make a mistake, you will say silly things, you will over promise… it happens and it is expected.

What are your TOP 3 “speed bumps to getting started”?  Pick your top 3 questions and find the answers.  Then stop what you are doing and go out and take action (but never stop learning).

You CAN do it!  And remember, you always have “weasel clauses” in all of your contracts, plus you should know you have a slam-dunk deal BEFORE you buy it!  So there is no money to worry about, we can always back out if prior to closing if we discover a dud.  Try to have a buyer lined up before you purchase or close on any home.

On that note, we can have a property inspector walk through to verify our fist check for repairs.

So you don’t have to worry about money loss, or repairs.

Whether dealing with mobile homes or traditional homes the key is to.  KEEP PRESSING FORWARD! As long as you have a middle school back ground and can communicate words rationally you can find a motivated seller to sell you something so you can make a profit!

One other thing, some people are critical of “seminar junkies” or people that never seem to do any deals.  If this describes you then I would just like to say you have started your investing career.  If you never do a deal it won’t have made you much money but RE has none the less has made an impact on your life by sitting in meeting rather than going to the beach or movies.

START investing today and START making money.  Set small goals for yourself for everyday!  Little tasks day after day add up to a lot of mullah.

Wasn’t as quick of a post as I thought!

Happy Investing & take Action!

- John

P.s. The top objection I from newbies is “What if I don’t know the answer to a question asked?”  If I don’t know the answer to any question I simply say, “That’s a great question!  I’ll get back to you asap?” and more on.  You’re not supposed to know the answer to everything.

P.s.s – It’s hard to say the wrong to a VERY MOTIVATED seller.  So find motivated seller and confirm you have a great deal by running it past a local REIA group or this forum.

“While 1 person hesitates because he is afraid of being inferior, the other is out making mistakes and become superior!”

Decks, Fees and Code Enforcement

Hello investors,

This is my first test to see if I can manage all the properties from 1200 miles across the country.  I spoke yesterday with one of my favorite park managers; she has turned me onto quite a few deals since she started in this particular park.

Anyway, she told me the county “code enforcement worker” will be driving out sometime next week to site all the homes that have completed decks above 30 inches off the ground.  In this park I have 2 homes that fit that description.  Even better the home weren’t permitted when they were built!!  One was built before I even started investing (it’s really old).  And the other I simply did not pull permits (it took the previous TB (tenant-buyer) 6 months to build the deck in full view of the road and public and no red tags were ever issued).  A red tag means stop construction on what you are doing because you have not pulled permits.

I think it is such BS that this is retroactive (I’ve never had this problem; the county just want more money, my opinion).  I will call the number on the letter and talk with “Al” at the permit office on Monday to find out my options.  My trustee still lives local so I probably won’t have to fly back to Tampa.

I’ll keep everyone posted!

The Permitting Process In A Nut Shell

A few example of things you may need a permit for (check your area); replacing windows, painting, reroofing, residing, inside remodeling, demo, building a fence, septic issues, almost any outside add-ons to a home.  Even putting up a shed is sometime needed to be permitted.**

1. The owner (You, your Trustee, your corporation) or a licensed contractor head down to the local permitting office in your city or county.  Fill out the typically single page form, bring your MH title and identification.  The form will ask you a bunch of questions regarding what will be built, repaired or replaced.  Sometimes you may have to submit a drawing to the office to explain what you are doing.

Example:  I was adding a carport to a mobile home and needed to have a blueprint of my intentions.  (Dimensions of the carport, the relation to the mobile home, and a mounting description)  At the permitting office I have never once had a problem with rude workers, in fact the few times I’ve had to go it was somewhat pleasurable (for a gov’t business).  The workers all seemed to take their time and help out; I stayed there with the manager and drew up a blueprint on scrap paper.  It didn’t look professional but it was good enough to continue the permitting process.  TIP:  IF YOU NEED HELP, ASK FOR SPECIFIC HELP!!!  You may or may not need any drawings, just ask.

2. Once the form is filled out you will pay your fee get a permit to hang on the property door (for the whole world to see!).  You also get a phone number to your inspector.

3. If you are working with a licensed contractor, electrician or plumber they will know the codes for your area.  If you are working with a less skilled handy-man to save costs and still get the job done, call the inspector to ask him/her what he is exactly expecting when he comes out to inspect and give an “APPROVED” status.  If he asks if you will be working on the home yourself, it is wise to say YES – not the handy person.

4. Once all repairs are made, call the code office to make an appointment for him to come out to inspect.  If you didn’t properly repair something it will be another fee for him to come back out and inspect ($20-$60).  Call the inspector directly again and clear up what he in expecting to the “T”.

5. Once he approves you, you’re all set!

Example:  I bought a home that had a bad power pole in the back leading energy to the home.  I had to go thru the whole permitting process to get the pole fixed by my handyman and once I got the “approved” the electric company was then able to turn the power on!

I certainly believe in permits but I have to admit I do not see the benefit to some.  (I mean really!? Changing windows, putting up a shed, where does it end?)  A tip I learned early… It’s always easier to ask forgiveness than permission!

**It is the law that you get these permits.  A common tactic to get around these code enforcement rules is: what the code enforcement workers who drive around don’t see wont hurt them.  AKA I’ve seen investors darken windows, do outside repairs on the weekend (when gov’t workers don’t work), construct temporary walls to block what going on.  Long story short if you replace a roof knowone will know unless they see you doing it.  I OF COURSE ALWAYS FOLLOW ALL LAWS AND WOULD NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING THIS!

Happy investing,

-          John

PS – My next post I want to address the benefits of “Analysis of Paralysis”… and how to quickly and logically overcome it to start making more money!!!

We made it!

Hi Ya’ll,

Just wanted to give everyone a update… Texas is quite a huge state.  Driving from Florida once we crossed the border into Texas I got a little homesick for FL, but  excited we were almost there because the drive was sooo long; only to discover we had another 5 hours of driving.  ROR (ROR is the Asian way to say laugh out loud)

A friend and I moved into a large house overlooking downtown Austin!  The weather has been rainy, we had 1 nice sunny day so far.

My new trend of waking early to run and reading has so far been a success.  I have been wanting to start a running routine for months now and was going to wait til new years resolution time, but I decided to bite the bullet and start with the new move!  My calendar is filled with check marks 6  days in a row.  I heard it takes 21 days to make any new daily activity a core habit in your daily routine.  I hope it gets easier soon.  (Getting up at 5:30am to Run is quite a feat, sleeping in is one of my favorite past times!)

Later today Im checking out the Austin Mobile Home scene!  LETS GET READY TO RRRUUMMMBBBLLLLLEEEE!!  ror

Happy Investing

-John