By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 11/24/2010 1:40 PM

This article is dealing with the topic of when to proceed with a deal and when it’s better just to step away from it.  I had a recent situation that inspired this article and I decided to put it on paper because it involves an important topic concerning this business of real estate and something that many other investors ask me about: what is a motivated seller and how can you tell the difference between someone who is motivated and someone who is not?  From the question, it would seem obvious but you must remember that you must first define in your own mind what it means to be motivated.
 
For my purposes, a motivated seller is someone who is absolutely ready to do business and is craving for me to help them.  It’s not someone who wants to have multiple conversations to get to know me, followed by me coming out to snap some pictures of the house, followed by another week or two of them having an attorney look at the documents, followed b ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 11/18/2010 12:29 PM

I recently spent about an hour and a half on the phone with one of the individuals that I am mentoring in the real estate business and we were going over about 30 different phone calls that he had received over the past two weeks due to our marketing campaign.  With each phone call, he would summarize how the conversation went with the potential client and what the end result was of the call.  As I began to listen to his summarization of the calls, I would ask him questions regarding what I thought were absolutely essential pieces of information but he had not acquired from the seller.  What I’m getting at here is that it is impossible to determine whether or not a deal could have been made unless you know what the FULL scenario may have been.  I ask questions of a potential client or in this case, a home seller, that help me to paint an entire mental picture of exactly what is going through his mind at this point in his life.  I deal in the business of fi ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 11/8/2010 5:36 AM

Hi,

Are you still struggling to implement your marketing? Feeling overwhelmed? The lifestyle you so desire still eluding you? …Before I go on, this is not another ‘product’ pitch… what I want to share with you is a ‘Done For You’ solution you need to seriously know about.

By now you know to be successful on the internet, in fact in any business, you HAVE to know how to leverage other people’s time, skills and efforts. You need to know how to leverage the global workforce. More importantly you need to know how to outsource your marketing and list building.

I want to introduce you to my friend Daven Michaels, CEO of 123Employee. Daven and his team have been helping entrepreneurs just like you for over 6 years, they work with many internet marketers, speakers, authors, marketing and business consultants, in fact business owners from all over the world!

123Employee is the premier US managed outsour ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 11/8/2010 5:33 AM

Hi,
 
This is just a short message to those of you who strive to get better either at real estate investing, outsourcing your life or just living in general.  Those are a few of the things that get me out of bed everyday (although not always that early haha).
 
This past summer, I went from shooting over 100 on the golf course to shaving 15 strokes off my game to be shooting in the mid 80's and it reminded me of when I first started improving as a real estate investor and things finally became easier - you know, when I had a handle on how things were supposed to go and there weren't as many surprises.  A few of the things that I had to master in order to make real estate investing much easier were the following:
 
1. Communication skills (not only with others but myself)
2. Letting go of control
3. Enjoying the feeling of things not being guaranteed Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 11/8/2010 5:31 AM

I’m currently mentoring a couple of investors who are really excited about the business of real estate investing.  I like to feed off of their excitement and I enjoy listening to them when they talk about something new that they’ve learned and want to use in the business.
 
However, this also brings up the very tricky subject matter of what deals to take on and which ones to leave for a later time.  As with my last article, the experienced investor may read this and say, “Yes, I get it, I went through that period of my career where I looked at every deal with rose colored glasses but I’m smarter now.”  To that investor I would say that yes, you probably are smarter now but we must constantly be taking our own temperature (so to speak) to determine really where we are at that moment in our real estate business.  Even though you may have bought and sold 100 or 200 properties and you have years of experience, there are always going ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 10/13/2010 10:44 PM

Any time that you become involved in doing a short sale and flipping the property onto another buyer, you may be asked about what you are getting out of the deal. Typically, you might be aiming to walk away with about $20,000, depending on the way the financials work out.
 
You will find that some sellers and some lenders will want to question the value of dealing with you, as they perceive that this money will increase the deficiency that the seller has to the lender. Some lenders will pursue the seller after the house has sold for this deficiency, and some will not, and will just forgive the outstanding debt. However, either the lender or the seller may feel that they are losing out by going along with your proposal.
 
If you come across this objection, you should be quite clear that your involvement in the short sale does not necessarily increase the deficiency, and may even reduce it. Given the current state of the housing ma ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 10/13/2010 12:19 AM

Hi,

Jeff Adams is a well known name in the world of real estate investing and someone I've had the pleasure to spend a lot of time with.  He's also done something that most of
you will love...

He's put one of his most lucrative REO strategies on paper... outlined it like a blueprint... and then produced a DVD to walk you through the process!

And the exciting part is that I've arranged for these "blueprints" to be flat-out GIVEN to you, without charging you a cent...

...IF you click on the link and download it in the next 72 hours. Because after that, it's going to be taken down.
 
Click here:  https://lrmarketing.infusionsoft.com/go/RRFBP/a494/
 
So you can get (at no cost) in less than an hour, wha ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 10/7/2010 10:07 PM

Now that you are looking to make money from short sales, you need to be aware of one potential problem. If the short sale deal that you're considering is not for your personal investment, but you want to sell it on quickly to a willing buyer, you may have a problem with something called “title seasoning”. If you did not know about it, you could be caught out at closing, with the bank refusing to fund your buyer.
 
The problem is that some of the larger lenders have a requirement that the seller is recorded on a title for at least three months before they will approve their buyer to purchase the home. If you're intending to sell on quickly, sometimes called flipping the property, the chain of ownership with an option contract would mean that you have the title to the property for only minutes or hours at the most.
 
Strictly, title seasoning is not needed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, to whom most lenders sell their loans, but even ... Read More »

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 9/23/2010 1:48 PM

Hi,
 
Hope you had a chance to be a part of my friend Tim's pursuit of the Guinness Book of World Records (see my last email from Sunday and how it could help you close your first real estate deal)
 
By the way, I mentioned that I was hanging out at the Jersey Shore this summer and I took a short video live from the boardwalk where I won my Lebron James jersey and where they happen to shoot the reality show, 'Jersey Shore.'
 
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4ElCt1m7HM
 
Also, take a minute to subscribe to my youtube channel while you're there.
 
Your favorite investor,
 
David

By David "The Diamond" Oswald on 9/23/2010 1:45 PM

Going on to explain the process to the homeowner, you would point out that the contract that you would present would give you the option to negotiate without having to refer back to the homeowner for any changes of price. As it is an option contract, there is always a chance that the bank will not agree to an acceptable price, in which case the foreclosure would continue. However, the worst that would happen to the homeowner is that this would possibly delay the foreclosure process.
 
In fact, as the lenders are inundated with mortgages that are going into default, it can take a few months before they will commit one way or the other, and while the amount owed will continue to increase if the mortgage is not paid, at least this provides a longer period for the homeowner to make other arrangements.
 
The bank will be very clear about the negotiation. There is no possibility that the homeowner can buy the house back as a result of t ... Read More »