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The $34 book cannot be printed- you gotta read it off the screen, which is not something I enjoy. It explains the basics, but not very much more. Not much info in my opinion.
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WeiHi Felicity,
In my opinion, is pointless to place an ad in the classifieds, because if they can’t afford to buy a house they won’t be looking there in the first place. We placed a HUGE 2 column ad in the classifieds, and response wasn’t anywhere near what we expected. This paper is similar to the one you’ve advertised in I believe- 3 or 4 for sale or for rent ads, no more.
Then, we decided to advertise in the middle of the news articles, where almost everyone reading the paper will stumble across the ad. The biggest surprise was that the same sized ad was actually 40% cheaper! Response hasn’t been fantastic either, but I think it will reach out to a lot more people. Just my 2 cents worth…
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WeiHey great start Andrew! 2 out of the 3 calls are potential prospects? Our ads have generated 5-6 calls maybe, but none of them qualified. Most are pensioners, or do not have a sufficient deposit. On another note, I’d like to share a story with you all.
I’ve visited every agent in the town where we intend to wrap in, & some of them (the younger ones) have not heard of the concept. However, one was very sceptical, and said it’ll be illegal soon. He claimed to be a witness in a lawsuit between some consumer affairs group & a Doncaster (Melbourne) based company who wrapped to people who simply did not have the capacity to pay, and proceeded to repossess the properties. He did not want to disclose the name though.
A 2nd agent told me a similar story regarding bad press in the area surrounding the concept; he said a company was wrapping in the cheaper towns surrounding the area, buying houses for $25k & wrapping them for $50k. He told me the name of the company, and I suspect both agents are referring to the same mob.
Anyway, fast foward to Friday. One guy responded to my ad. “I’ve got a house I bought on vendor finance, and I want to refinance.” I was a bit surprised, but upon further chatting, he revealed that he did indeed buy a property from the same group that agent #2 told me about. “I bought the house off them for $35k, and recently found out that they only paid $9k for it!” That totally blew me away. And I thought putting a 20% margin on my purchase price was ripping them off!
To a certain extent, I guess we can argue that the company was unethical in their transactions, legal issues aside. However, if you think about it, there’s no way it’s gonna be worth their time if they placed a 20-30% margin on a $9k house! Bottomline though- the bad press may be a big enough reason for the poor response from our ads. Anyone has any further thoughts/stories?
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WeiHi Andrew,
I’ve got both the printed & the audio versions. The audio consists of 20 tapes, but I’ve yet to listen to it. I believe it’s a live recording of his bootcamp in the US. Based on his other audio products, I must say I’m incredibly disappointed by the quality of the recording. At times, you’d be struggling to hear what he’s saying, even if you have the stereo at full volume. Another problem is that since the recordings are made from his microphone, the questions asked by the audience are almost always too soft to be heard.
I also have “How to Make Fortunes in Foreclosures”, which consists of 4 audio tapes & a manual. If you have this, don’t waste your money buying the printed version of Blueprint for Success- there is simply too much overlap & repetition. You’ll also realise that some of the stuff is covered in his book (Money Secrets of the Rich). Of course, I’ve yet to listen to the audio version of the same product, so I can’t comment on the quality of the information presented.
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WeiP/S: Mail me at [email protected] if you want more info.
Thanx Bruce! Yeah the seminar was great; so was your audio interview with Steve!
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WeiThanx for the support guys! I guess the REAL question I had was whether it was worth it going out to setup a structure now, as our funds are quite limited. Just had another talk to yet another broker an hour ago- he was basically sitting on the fence on this issue; he has done some “creative” stuff, but is also mindful not to get into too much trouble.
I’ve advertised and personally delivered 700 mail drops in the past 2 days- the results are not particularly encouraging, but I WILL get there eventually… [
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WeiDon’t remember that bit, but I think this is similar to what they call a sandwiched or mirror deal- the vendor makes their cut, and you make yours. Everyone makes money. Yay!
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WeiHey Matthew,
Didn’t manage to get your contact details at the seminar. Mind posting them here? Would be great to meet up with you for a longer chat when the opportunity does present itself. By the way when’s the big day?
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WeiDarren, nothing personal, no offence taken! Comments & criticisms on my posts/activities are always welcome.
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WeiOK I know I’ve over-reacted. But I guess posting the name was more of a warning to people who are operating in the region, nothing more. Yes I agree it’s not a win-win outcome in this case, due to the fact that he had his own agenda. Maybe I was naive enough to think that achieving the full asking price would have been his top priority, since it means the maximum commission will be paid.
Darren, I don’t think I was being unprofessional or getting behind the agent’s back. It’s not something I’d do. In terms of burning bridges, I already have, I guess. I’m actually moving out of the area, but this last deal seemed too attractive, hence I decided to give it a final shot.
What I’ve been doing so far is talk to the agents about what I intend to do and then getting their co-operation. Some have been indiffernt, but most have been supportive because to them, a sale is a sale! In fact I talked to the guy’s wife about 2 weeks ago & she has been incredibly helpful.
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WeiI’ve heard the same thing before- the theory is that if you make repairs in the 1st year they will be treated as a capital cost, & hence you can only depreciate the cost versus claiming it outright as an expense. I guess the theory is that you’ve purchased it “broken”, and that’s reflected in the purchase price. I can be very wrong on this issue though.
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WeiI guess the most important bit I learnt from the seminar was the 10 minutes I spent harassing Steve in person. I was looking only at wrapping, & discounting everything else. Matthew’s made a good point here- if you can’t make it cash flow using one method, try another!
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WeiGreat event Steve, plenty of interesting/knowledgeable people that I was able to talk to! It was also good to be able to finally put some faces to the names- Fergus & Matthew, amongst others. It was great meeting you people!
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WeiThank you all for replying to this post. This is one of those from which I’ve learnt heaps, and triggered a lot of thinking. I’ve just thought of something that I’d like to share with you all. Instead of getting the buyer to find THE property they wanna live in, ask them to go look for 3-5 that they would like to own equally as much. That way you can just pick the one that you can buy for the most value, and wrap that one to them. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this one?
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