Here’s a question I got last week:

“What happens if I can’t find an investor to sell
the home to…will I have to pay the seller with
my own money (which I don’t have)?”

Have you wondered that yourself?

Well, here’s the answer I gave to this young man.

One of the required elements of a valid RE
contract is what is called “consideration”.

Now consideration can be anything of value.
Heck it could be a chicken, a sweater
or even an umbrella.

Quite frankly the umbrella might not be such a
bad idea today, as it’s really storming here
in the Pacific Northwest.

But here in the US, it’s pretty well accepted it
will be in the form of long green…. US currency
….money.

Chickens don’t work so well!

So the next question then becomes “How much money?”

But before we get to the amount, let’s talk about
one other factor.

The Earnest Money Deposit could also be called
the “At Risk Money Deposit” as this is the amount
the buyer has “at risk”.

This is the amount the buyer will have to forfeit
if he/she does not fulfill all the obligations of
the contract including closing.

So you can see why when we start to discuss the
amount, the buyer would like for it to be $1
and the seller would like for it to be full sales
price.

The buyer doesn’t want to lose much if they
can’t close and the seller would like a nice
payday if the buyer walks.

So this is when negotiations begin.

But here’s the key element in what the amount
will end up being.

If the seller is confident that you, the buyer, will
be able to close, it’s quite likely they will accept
a very small deposit. And the opposite is also
true; if the seller lacks confidence in your ability to
get the deal done they will insist on a much larger
amount.

Heck, I’ve done six figure deals with a $100 deposit.

So your job is to act like you know what you are doing
until you do.

So, you can breath easy about having to come up with
the full amount of the purchase price if you cannot
find your investor.

All you can lose is your earnest money deposit.

Now you don’t want to lose that of course but its
nice to know that’s all you have at risk.

Sounds good, huh?

Here’s another question for you. How do you learn best?

I’ve said many times that all of us learn differently but
it’s looking to me like visually seeing an example is
what the majority of you folks like.

I think that’s why my DVD series has become the most popular
selling product when it comes to Probate investing.

Would you like to see a short sample?

Here’s a little seven minute video I made for you.

http://BuyProbateProperty.com/special-dvd

When I’m driving in my car, I like to listen
to CD’s that give me good information and
motivation.

However, when I need some laughter, I like to
listen to sports talk radio…..some of these
guys who call in are NUTS! They take sports way
too seriously.

They need to get a life!

Yesterday, I had ESPN on and I heard a
commercial that had the same affect on me
as fingernails on a chalk board.

It was a commercial for a company offering
debt relief! They implied that in this era
of government bailouts, there was something
special available for the little guys like you and me!

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

I sincerely hope that none of you have fallen
for this persuasive commercial.

Why’s that you ask?

Here’s the first thing they do to the poor
person who picks up the phone who calls.

They tell you you need various services that
they provide and ask you to haul out your credit
card(s).

Within 10 minutes they will have you rack up
$5-10 THOUSAND dollars in up front fees.

Now let’s step back for a moment.

You called them because you had too much debt
in the first place and now they want to saddle
you up with MORE debt?????

….that just doesn’t make any sense.

Seems to me like they are looking out for
their own pocket book not yours.

One company even offers to send you a free CD
but once they have you on the phone, watch out!
Their sales people (boiler room) are very, very good.

Here’s the sad part….no one needs their services.

They don’t have a magic wand that can wipe
out your debt….often times they CAN get some of
your debt reduced but it will come at a very steep
price…..your credit score will be severely
impacted. Sort of like the cure being worse
than the disease.

However, if you are truly interested in retiring
your debt, I have an answer for you.

Many of you know I have a friend named Leo Quinn.

Leo lives in upstate New York. I live in Oregon so we
don’t see each other too often but we do talk on the
phone every week or so.

Now Leo’s a pretty smart guy so a couple of years ago
he came up with a system for eliminating personal
debt. Some of the local colleges there in NY heard
about him and asked if he would like to teach this
to their students.

He said he’d be glad to.

So in the late 90′s Leo began teaching his course at the college.

14 years later, he still does.

Then he figured out lot’s of other folks all over
the USA could also benefit so he got himself a
little web site and began to offer his course online.

Still does.

I’m not sure what he charges for his complete system
but last time I checked it was under $75. Not even
close to the thousands is it?

So if you are interested in becoming debt free, I asked
Leo to set up a page for me that I could refer you
to and he has.

Here it is,

http://bit.ly/ckhfQf

Take a look at what he’s got to offer.

He get’s my full recommendation.

http://bit.ly/ckhfQf

Here are some answers to questions I have been
getting lately.

“Can I work off the obituaries?”

My answer to this in the past has always been no.
However, after giving it lots of thought, my
answer now is “maybe”.

First let’s look at the problem.

Obituaries are announcements of a death and normally
are published 3-7 days after the person passes.

If you have ever experienced the death of someone
you loved very much, you know how emotional you
are.

The tears are never far away.

So this is not the time you are ready to talk to
some yahoo like me about selling your loved one’s
home.

Right?

So if I were to call or write you about buying the home,
its very likely you would feel I was being disrespectful.

……and I think you would be right.

It’s also very likely you might give me a very
emotional piece of your mind about my
disrespect.

That’s the reason I have often cautioned you
about using the obituaries vs. the Probate
Notice.

However, here’s how you might use it.

You could record the date the notice was published
and then file that.

You could then pick a time in the future that
you would like to mail my letter to them. Let’s
just say that you decide two months is
sufficient time. That would also give you enough
time to find out if they owned real property.

Then at the end of the two month period, you could mail
your letter. There is still some emotional risk
here but it WOULD provide a solution to those of
you who don’t have time to get to the court house
but still want to pursue my Probate strategy.

So that’s the obituary question.

By the way, do you know my blog has a Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ) link at the top?

Check it out;

http://BuyProbateProperty.com/blog

Another question I have been getting lately
is when will the tracking system be ready.

Well, we are close. I think we have the final
version and we are testing it as I speak.

Anytime you produce a digital product, in this case
it’s a data base, you need to test it, test it,
test it. If you don’t you will be inundated with
support questions about it not working properly.

So we are doing our best to be certain this is
“gremlin proof” before we release it.

For those of you who may not be quite sure
what this system is, about 3 months ago
I began work on a digital product you can load
onto your computer that will keep track of all your
Probate files. This will eliminate all the
the tracking sheets that can pile up very
quickly for you.

So the system in a nut shell will have a series
of boxes that you fill in (we have tried to cover
every possibility) concerning a particular
probate file. Once you enter as much info as you
have, you just save the file and you can pull
it up anytime you want. It’ll all be on your computer.
This system will also personalize your letter for
you and print it out.

This will save you a ton of time.

So we are about 95% there and I really hope
to have it ready for release next week.

And finally some want to know when the promised
recordings of the Probate Mastery Conference I held
here in Portland last month will be ready.

I am supposed to receive my first shipment this
morning.

Once I do, we’ll get them packaged and ready for
sending out.

You’re going to love these because they contain
the entire content of my three day Conference.

And I am planning a huge surprise to go along with
these mp3′s.

Can’t tell you yet what it is but be sure to watch for my
announcement coming next week.

You’re going to be happy, happy, happy!

Need more info about how you can jump start
you new Probate career?

Here’s a place to find out:

http://BuyProbateProperty.com

Enjoy your week!