Foreclosure Forecast Newsletter

Editors Note: Last month, Coach Mary Kay wrote “When Will You Get Your First Deal?“. This month Daryl asked one of his Coaching Clients’ to answer that question for you and share their first deal success story. When you’re done reading this one, there are plenty more to read about in our close to 900 pages of client testimonials HERE.

Coaches Comment: I was recently asked by Alexis to share the success story of one of my Coaching Clients.  I chose Linda Taylor because of her amazing transformation from “I don’t know if I can do this” to “I’m not giving up until I help this person”.  Linda was persistent and refused to give up on a homeowner who had already giving up on herself.  Because of that, she made a positive difference in a person’s life.

A simple real estate investing book got me started on a path that led me through a number of seminars and boot camps with several “gurus.” I had spent a considerable amount of money with these folks trying to learn how to make money in real estate.  Over and over again, I was told the secret to success was “marketing, marketing, marketing.”

Last summer, I was sending out as many as 1000 mailings a week!  And by the fall, I had nothing to show for it. No deals and no more money to do the mailings.

I thought I was out of business. But I was still searching for answers, when it came to me. On another guru teleconference, by luck someone mentioned ForeclosureS.com.  I spent the rest of the day going through ForeclosureS.com countless free articles. (My mouth dropped with this one about Mailers. You’ve got to read it.

 

Coaches Comment: Prior to coming to the Lab Linda, like many others including myself, WAS desperately looking for a way to get out of the 9 to 5 rat race.  She was spinning her wheels trying to make other guru programs that didn’t work, work.  She was literally spending hundreds of dollars per month on advertising, marketing, websites, mailers, etc.  By the time it was all said and done, she had spent upwards of $30,000 and made nothing in return.  To make matters worse, she was still in the rat race. I know that this is a familiar and painful reality for many of you reading this. This has totally changed for Linda.

I chanced it and signed up for Alexis’ next Conference Call. I told myself I would not spend another dime on any more training. Then the following month, I joined another Alexis Conference Call and this time took a chance with her home study CD course.

I was very excited about her course and after completing all 8 home study CDs I had to schedule myself for her 3 day Lab in her offices.

During my first day at the March 29th Lab I knew my money had not been wasted.  Alexis’ 3 days of training was excellent and was exactly what I needed. She taught me so much about how to deal with the homeowners, and much more than I ever imagined. This was the first time I actually felt like I was given the real inside information, not just a seminar on out of date theories that do not work anymore. She is the real deal.

I am a big believer in Coaching for success in general, but really had not planned to take that extra step. But once I was alone at home, it was clear it was exactly what I needed to propel me in the business. While I am a self starter, actually doing what is necessary to be successful in this business becomes more difficult when there is no one to be accountable to.

I signed up to start coaching with Daryl White on April 17th.  It was another great decision.  Daryl has been an important component in my success.  He has helped me work through many difficult situations over the phone. Especially when talking with difficult people, where I would have just given up for the day, without his prod to make the next call.

Coaches Comment: During my first call with Linda we covered some of the usual items such as default list set-up, filing and follow-up system, and talked about the goal of the Coaching program – to help her overcome her road blocks. 

During that discussion I learned that Linda doubted that she could actually call strangers and get them to answer her questions about their very personal and embarrassing situation.  I remember her asking “why would they talk to me when they don’t know me?”  After that we role played by phone where she was the owner and I was the caller.  She refocused her questions (as taught in the Lab) back to asking the right questions so she would get total strangers to answer her. I knew then that I needed to get Linda to focus what she can do and stop focusing on what she can’t do.

And when I got my first property purchase, he was totally there for me, answering my questions and guiding me every step of the way. He’s awesome, he’s strong, he’s confident and yet calm and sincere. I am so blessed to have found him.

I believe I emulated Daryl as I dealt with my first homeowner deal.  After the deal was done, the homeowner called me her best friend. She told me that it was a combination of my persistence (without being pushy); my calm, sure way of handling things; as well as my consistency when talking with her (rather than changing my story to try to win her over as other investors had done); that caused her to want to sell her property only to me.

I had been trying to contact this homeowner since the middle of April. However, it was not until June 10th, after numerous door knocking attempts, that she finally called me. While that 20 minute call did not get me far with her, I was able to capture her cell phone number.

Our first “real” conversation was in early June, during which she told me she did not want to sell her house.  Because I continued to stay in touch with her (with notes at her door and messages on her phone, but never asking her to sell to me) and always expressed concern about her and her situation – finally when I knocked on her door again (this time just 8 days before the auction) – she invited me in.

Coaches Comment:  This was a major accomplishment for Linda.  She went from not believing she could get owners to talk to her – to being confident enough about herself to keep trying.  She had overcome her fear of dealing with difficult owners and became persistent.  It was that persistence, and showing that she cared enough to come back, that got her in the door.

Her “plan” was to let the house just go to auction and take the overbid! She finally saw the flaw in her plan and agreed to sell me her house 3 days later. We stopped the auction at 9 am the morning of the auction date. I used a hard money loan and my own money to do this deal. We closed escrow about 10 days later.

I am currently rehabbing the house, which is taking up more of my time than I had expected.  However, I feel that after the rehab is done and the house is sold it will not require as much of my personal time on the next one.

Thank goodness for my fabulous Excel spreadsheet from the Lab.  It has helped me tremendously in seeing my true costs (and profit margin) and to make adjustments as I go thru the rehab process.  I love it!

Coaches Comment: The Excel Spreadsheet Alexis covers in the Lab is a great tool but can be bit of a challenge if you’re not used to using Excel.  Linda was pretty familiar with it, so all I needed to do was walk her through the numbers so that they made sense with her specific deal.  Once she got it, the light came on and she was able to negotiate her offer price like a pro.

Right now, I’m talking to the next door neighbor, with my mortgage guy to see if they can swing it to buy the house! Wouldn’t that be great!?

In the meantime, I have made purchase offers on two more houses, no signed contracts yet but I know it’s only a matter of time!

Thank you, Daryl and Alexis – I would not be where I am if I had not found you. Nor could I have done this without you. And, I know now that this is just the beginning.

And I am officially DONE with the Guru Seminar Circuit!

All roads lead to Mecca and I am finally HERE!

Linda Taylor

Laguna Niguel, CA

March 29, 2006 Lab

Final Coaches Comment: So what did Linda do, that you haven’t done?  The answer: she made an investment in herself (and so can you). Linda stepped out of her comfort zone took a chance and decided that failure was not an option. (Read more about this HERE).  Because of that she’s well on her way to a better quality of life.  Linda is a totally different person now. If I had to describe her in two words they would be Linda ‘CAN DO’.