Action Takers - What Are You Up To?

[Bilgefisher]

April was a very crazy month.

-spent the better part of the month helping family out of foreclosure, bankruptcy, repossessed cars, stacked credit cards etc etc.
-worked on a financial plan with them. They should be entirely debt free in 3 years if they can stay with it. 350k to 0 on 70k a year.
-Bought a 2nd mortgage on a property for 15k, used our line of credit. The property closed yesterday and we made 7k for doing practically nothing.
-acquired the services of a buyers agent.
-walked through around 2 dozen homes, looked over hundreds.
-made a bid on two different properties. One for my personal residence one for rental. Waiting for word on one, got denied on the other. Our terms were good but someone else offered to close in 2 weeks, we offered 3 weeks. Oh well. btw, ATW both properties were around the same area in Denver I previously mentioned. One was 73k other was 87k. Prices are very good right now.
-working with a lender....should be able to pull off 10% down at ~6.85% for the investment prop and no money down on my personal prop (VA loan).


May
-I intend to be under contract on personal prop and investment prop.
-Cleaning up both props.
-Continue to look into deals with our investment partners.
-Learn more about what it takes to be a landlord. (Open ended yes, but I haven't narrowed down what I need to do yet)

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

Glad to hear you are making a move in Denver!

Looking forward to your May report!

 

[CactusWren]

Well, I do want to keep track.

This months' goals ( I have to say I am really tired right now)...
- get new hosting plan
- get SSL cert
- incorporate new merchant account unto website
- get painting and carpet cleaned at vacant unit
- rent out unit that went vacant today (same as above)
- get more inventory (plan needed to ensure availability vs cash flow)
- come up with a solution to a work issue
- spend one hour a day relaxing
- walk 3x a week

We'll see...

 

[zaiteku]

Bought 40 domains (I went nutz)

Working on 3 websites (developing into businesses)

Designing a new product for one of my businesses with my mom, and working on manufacturing a prototype in China soon once that is done. I have made the contact I need in China already.

Trying to find a property I can buy or land I can develop that is in my price range. I'm always 100K short of what I need even though I have around 350K to put down. Sucks trying to invest in Hawaii sometimes...but Im determined to find something!

Learning PHP

Trading stocks here and there, but no time really. Kind of just bought V and sat on it.

 

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[Bilgefisher]

Anyone else inspired by this thread? Anytime I see others working towards their goals, it motivates me to work harder towards mine. Its peer pressure I tell ya!

 

[AroundTheWorld]

Ok Everyone... ITS AUGUST 1ST, 2008

What did you get done in July?
What is your August list?

 

[Runum]

Wow, this thread is exactly one year old. Cool. Working on my web page. Plan to have it up and working in 12 days. Also working on lining up advertisers and promotions for the webpage. Plan to have it fully functional and active before the end of the month.:cheers:

 

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[CardinalsFan]

July:
I bought a ton of domain names
continued working on housing puzzle.com
made a site layout and logo for a new video website called rviral
kept on learning

August
housing puzzle launch
run all events of the entrepreneurship club as new social chair
compete in creative juice competition for NC
start school
drink some beer

 

[TC2]

First of all, I like what aronPeaks's housing puzzle.com has to offer. Brillian idea. It can be easily expend to nation wide. Especially for the party school here near ASU.

I would love to accomplish the following in the near future.

• Do more exercise to keep up the good shape
• Boost my online store business with more Internet Marketing efforts.
• Create a new site that help other rich people selling or buying their properties
• Create a new blog to record my journey to the luxury life style
• Enjoy Life

By the way, I love this thread! Good to see what other people wish for!

 

[rcardin]

Closed on our second rental. Picked up deposit last week from new tenants. Started what will be a long process of building my daughters website. Spent 2 weeks at the coast relaxing.

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

First of all, I like what aronPeaks's housing puzzle.com has to offer. Brillian idea. It can be easily expend to nation wide. Especially for the party school here near ASU.

I would love to accomplish the following in the near future.

• Do more exercise to keep up the good shape
• Boost my online store business with more Internet Marketing efforts.
• Create a new site that help other rich people selling or buying their properties
• Create a new blog to record my journey to the luxury life style
• Enjoy Life

'Near future' .... as in.... What WILL you do in August? Which of these? All of them?

By the way, I love this thread! Good to see what other people wish for!

Wish for? No. We are not wishing. We are

1) Planning and
2) Announcing plans to help with accountability - and to make a running record and finally
3) Implementing

You will not get ANY of those things by wishing!!!

 

[TC2]

Wish for? No. We are not wishing. We are

1) Planning and
2) Announcing plans to help with accountability - and to make a running record and finally
3) Implementing

You will not get ANY of those things by wishing!!!

You are totally right! :smx4:

 

[kimberland]

Well,
I slacked off on book promo in July
and got a solid kick in the pants for it.
My sales dropped like a stone,
dropping Breach Of Trust from my small press publisher's top 5 sales.

My excuse was I had to do a quick turnaround on a novella
(a 2010 release)
but that's just an excuse.
I DID have time to play a few games of solitaire every night.

 

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[royemunson]

July -

My first action taker post.

I did my first bit of outsourcing on one of my affiliate sites for content.
Well worth it!! Got 5x as much done.

Went on a much needed vacation to Hilton Head SC with my 2 year old and wife
what a great week we had. may need to move down there!

started a new project online - going to test a mini-site campaign where
i build mini sites based on content and affiliate promotions in in-demand markets.
goal is to generate cash to perhaps scale those into full content driven sites
that will sell multiple types of products or simply shut down without too much
invested - also going to test some other cool stuff i learned at the warriorforum

read a cool book called 90 minutes in heaven. really good btw

trying to come up with a way to fix our garage as it's falling apart. a trusted
gc said that it would be better to tear down and rebuild. have to solve
that financial problem on top of new windows and other things

got our roof fixed after 6 months. that was a process. luckily we got insurance
to pay for 70% of it!!!! everyting thought i was nuts for going that route
thinking they would never offer a dime.

always brainstorming. after working my stinkin job, i only have so much time
to spend with my family and work on this stuff so everything else goes
on paper until i can get to it. trying to work on that focus thing.

goal is to finish one mini site and roll it out this month with some neat
marketing that has been working well and see what happens through
testing and analysis.

Joe

 

[Russ H]

My first action taker post.

Woop! Woop!

Another DOER!

-Russ H.

 

[royemunson]

Thanks Russ

Also on this:

"Went on a much needed vacation to Hilton Head SC with my 2 year old and wife
what a great week we had. may need to move down there!"

Shot pics and video and took notes/reviews.

May do a authority site or some type of site for vacations to Hilton Head.

The folks in the Midwest and East Coast absolutely love the place - my first
time and I loved it - usually a Florida guy. Wife says I have to get to the West
Coast though.

Beauty was that some will be tax deductible possibly!!!

Love that

Joe

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

July:

Went to Martial Arts Industry Association convention. Tons of new ideas, new strategies, and everything.

Ran my second enrollment drive for the school. Got a whopping 72 new students from this. About 60% of them will continue creating a ton of new income for the business.

Planned my back to school advertising campaign

Learned a lot about investing in commercial real estate, made some new contacts.

August:

I will be rolling out my new cardio kickboxing program at my school, along with my back to school campaign to get the kids off the streets and into training.

My goal is 40 new enrollments.

I want to.. er I mean I WILL start an advertising campaign online. I think myspace, get our web master to fix up our website, face book, you tube, etc.

I will look at 5-10 new commercial real estate properties.

I will increase my sales skills

I will enjoy every freakin minute of life :icon_super:

 

[AroundTheWorld]

July, July. What happened to July??

I honestly have no idea what was accomplished in July...

Ummm...

• Took over operations of a property we own which included:
• • Hiring
  • Firing
  • Writing Operating Manuals
  • Setting up Systems
  • Controls
  • Budgeting
  • Beginnings of some Strategic Marketing Plans
• Also...
  
• Hired a web designer for how to guide
• Went to a Loopholes of the Rich Charity Weekend
• Hired a Personal Assistant
• Wrote 1/2 of first draft for book #2
  

And.... uh.... I think that is about it!

On the plate for August:

• Finish Edit of How to Guide
• Get Web Site Up (Waiting for others) for how to guide
• Finish up Marketing Plan for the property we took over
• Write more of Book #2

 

[AroundTheWorld]

We are only a few days into August - - - not too late to post your goals for the month!

 

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[AroundTheWorld]

On the plate for August:

• Finish Edit of How to Guide 1/2 done
• Get Web Site Up (Waiting for others) for how to guide nope. grr. frustrating having to depend on other's for this.
• Finish up Marketing Plan for the property we took over check
• Write more of Book #2 check

Also in August:

• Joined 30 Day Challenge (Thanks Dana) So, I Found some key words - set up some sites - workin on the rest
• Went to Vancouver Island Area for some R and R
• Put in a buy sell on a property - it was accepted.

On the plate for September:

• revise and optimize motel website
• start travel blog
• implement online reservations
• Due diligence on the property we have a buy-sell on
• Design expansion plan for property we have a buy-sell on
• Email my web designer daily until my site is done
• Get revised edition of book #1 out to beta readers
• Write more of book #2
• Start our more structured learnin time w/ kids

Okay - Everybody. Why are we on these boards? Is it to read and lurk and read some more or is it to take what we learn and get out there and change our lives?

What are you up to? What did you get done in August? What is on the plate for September?

 

[Russ H]

September-

-Continue work on Cottage #2 (a vacation rental that will hopefully be converted into a B&B)
-Continue work on the 10,000 square ft historic bldg we're converting into a B&B
-Submit landscape plans to the Planning Dept for B&B project
(the design of this has taken WAAAAY more time than I ever imagined!)
-Work on increasing occupancy for Sept 1-15 (we've been taking more and more aggressive steps)
-Continue monitoring occupancy and maximizing yield.
-Work w/City on water supply for newly installed fire sprinkler system in Cottage 2
-Work w/sprinkler installers on schedule for installing sprinklers in 10Kft2 bldg
-Get all taxes for all entities filed (we have at least 8 separate returns)
-Start talking tax strategy for 2008/9
-Enjoy the fall/grape harvest season (my favorite time of year, besides spring)
-Perhaps take a stab at a new organizing system/book I've been reading
-Standard maintenance on the B&B
(always a few emergencies during the busy season- last week was a new water heater)
-Contribute to the Fastlane
-Contribute to TripAdvisor
-Work on the redo of our Inn's website

******

-Russ H.

 

[andviv]

August:

Retracted three purchase offers due to financing issues (couldn't get the loans I wanted to buy them). Should be getting my deposit back in two weeks.

Delivered the equipment to a Caribbean country and learned a lot about the customs procss over there (took loooonger than expected)

Met with engineers and county officials to discuss potential development on 5 acres (I control 7.4 acres, could be developing 5 of them and keep the other 2 plus the house that sits on it).

Discussed with partner potential plans B and C for the same property.


September:

Will be working on defining the next phases for more equipment for the same buyer, and started talks to more potential buyers. Negotiations just started.

More meetings with county officials, lenders, lawyers and engineers to define if the development plan will work.


********
ATW: when you say buy - sell you meant you will be doing a double-closing to buy and sell the property right away? or is it more like a swap of properties?

 

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[Runum]

August:
Joined 30DC(thanks Dana) and learned a lot about internet marketing.
Began 2 blogs.
Went live with events website.
Planned mass marketing campaign for events website.
Began promotion of all websites
Had a great month with rental properties(collected all moneys owed)

September:
Activating marketing plan.
Make my first dollar from internet business from either sales or advertising.
Draw up a hard copy of overall internet marketing strategy.
Search for more topics for more webspace real estate.

 

[andviv]

oh, that's right, the rentals... still struggling with one of the units... it just doesn't rent. The offers I get are for way lower rents and the renters have no solid background at all, so I decided to rather keep it empty rather than damaged or abandoned, as last time (renter moved out before paying the rent and let the windows open during a huge storm).

 

[AroundTheWorld]

ATW: when you say buy - sell you meant you will be doing a double-closing to buy and sell the property right away? or is it more like a swap of properties?

Opps... should have clarified. In Montana, a purchase agreement is called a buy-sell agreement.

We have had absolutely NO LUCK in getting anything exchanged. Lots of looky-loos and we actually had someone make an offer on one of our properties. They had NO MONEY for a down. NO FINANCING. But, would we please carry 100% of the property for them? Had it been a residential we may have considered it, but this was on a commercial prop. No thanks.

Anyway - this deal is just a straight purchase.

So, your equipment thing went through, finally! Good news! Glad to hear you are moving forward to phase II on that. Terminated three deals, huh? It is an interesting time in real estate - particularly because of the credit market.

 

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[Yankees338]

For September:

• Send out ALL college applications
• Continue preparing to retake SAT/ACT (finally have a tutor now)
• Get off to a good start to my senior year
• Get 1st website off the ground and started
• Look into 2nd website idea (posted in Level 2 of the Speedway)
• Dominate my fall baseball league
• Continue contributing on the Fastlane
• Maybe get a job for some spending money...

 

[Russ H]

Yankees-

Not sure if I ever mentioned in on these forums, but I did a pretty pathetic job on the PSAT.

Studied for my first SATs, and got a much better score.

Since I was gunning for a special program that only accepted 50 students worldwide, I studied even harder and took them again (cramming so much that I was memorizing a couple of vocab words as we were sitting down and waiting for the test to begin!).

My scores on the PSAT were the equiv of around 1035 (out of 1600 possible) for the SAT.

My first SAT was, I think, around 600 verbal and 680 math (1280 combined, out of 1600 possible)

My second SAT was 700 verbal and 770 math, and I got the equiv of 800 math on the ACT.

(this was back in the day when there was no writing portion, just math and verbal, so two parts, 800 ea).

So it really does pay to study for these things-- provided you study the right stuff. I did it w/books and took a lot of practice exams. The exams really helped reduce my overall level of anxiety-- I learned different tactics that worked better for me.

-Russ H.

 

[Yankees338]

Yankees-

Not sure if I ever mentioned in on these forums, but I did a pretty pathetic job on the PSAT.

Studied for my first SATs, and got a much better score.

Since I was gunning for a special program that only accepted 50 students worldwide, I studied even harder and took them again (cramming so much that I was memorizing a couple of vocab words as we were sitting down and waiting for the test to begin!).

My scores on the PSAT were the equiv of around 1035 (out of 1600 possible) for the SAT.

My first SAT was, I think, around 600 verbal and 680 math (1280 combined, out of 1600 possible)

My second SAT was 700 verbal and 770 math, and I got the equiv of 800 math on the ACT.

(this was back in the day when there was no writing portion, just math and verbal, so two parts, 800 ea).

So it really does pay to study for these things-- provided you study the right stuff. I did it w/books and took a lot of practice exams. The exams really helped reduce my overall level of anxiety-- I learned different tactics that worked better for me.

-Russ H.

Thanks for the tips and info, Russ!

I took the PSAT my Freshman and Sophomore years and got a 1690 and 1850, respectively. Without the writing section, I don't remember what I got the first time, but I think it was about a 1250 the second time.

I got an 1820/2400 on the real SAT the first time (1270/1600). My writing section was by far my worst, which was weird because I'm usually a good writer. I've been getting 700s and 800s on the writing sections that I've taken with my tutor now, though, so hopefully those scores will improve.

 

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[djs13]

I had the same problem you had with the writing section. I got straight A's all three years in High School English and bombed the writing section of the SATs. It was weird.

 

[andviv]

Opps... should have clarified. In Montana, a purchase agreement is called a buy-sell agreement.

Thanks. I had no clue about that... interesting.

We have had absolutely NO LUCK in getting anything exchanged. Lots of looky-loos and we actually had someone make an offer on one of our properties. They had NO MONEY for a down. NO FINANCING. But, would we please carry 100% of the property for them? Had it been a residential we may have considered it, but this was on a commercial prop. No thanks.

Anyway - this deal is just a straight purchase.

Can't say I blame the person making that 100% carry offer. Given the current market I can even see myself asking the same if I get the slightest belief the seller is more than motivated.

So, your equipment thing went through, finally! Good news! Glad to hear you are moving forward to phase II on that. Terminated three deals, huh? It is an interesting time in real estate - particularly because of the credit market.

Yes, the payment should finally make it to my account this week. Wow, what a learning experience. And right now we are re-negotiating the terms for phase II. This time I'm requesting advance payment (between 30-50% of estimated price) before moving forward... too much work and then having to finance the whole process for the 2-3 months it takes? no, thanks, not again if I can avoid it.

Yes, terminated the three deals I had out there. I already have 4 mortgages so banks want me to put 20% down instead of the 10%, and the interest rate offered was closer to 9% instead of 7% as expected. Banks are running around like crazy trying to figure out what to do. The sad part is, I spent the last three months sending one or two pieces of weird documentation (do they really need to see my statements again, for the third month in a row?) so all that effort was wasted.