Testimonials

Success Stories

The following success stories are indicative of Real Estate for LIFE principles in two ways:

1. They demonstrate that it doesn't require a lot of money to make money;

2. They teach the value of flexibility and creativity not only at the beginning of a transaction, but throughout the "deal"

These stories also demonstrate the important facts that real estate investment isn't just about "instant cash", though it can be, and that successful "real estate" can be a single good deal, a part-time avocation, or a full-time career.

A truly good coaching program teaches breadth as well as depth. We begin with a quality evaluation of where the client is now, what his or her resources (time, energy, money, background skills, talents, etc.) are, and what the client's goals are both short-term and long-term. Our guarantee is that every client will make money on at least one deal, but our goal is much larger - to guide the client into self-sufficient success as a lifetime real estate investor.

HO NGUYEN

Ho Nguyen was looking for a place to rent. He called saying he had heard from a friend that I had a reasonably priced duplex unit available, and he wanted to see it. (I have never had to run an ad in a newspaper to gain new tenants and keep my units at 100% occupancy.) I met Ho at the unit, and sized him up. He was about 24, obviously a laborer who couldn't afford much more than the lower middle class 2 bedroom unit I was showing him. He spoke English fairly well, but with a thick Vietnamese accent; his smiling wife spoke no English, and his infant daughter was cleanly dressed and freshly diapered. Their car wasn't full of trash and they didn't smell of smoke. He told me they'd been living with a sponsor family about 50 miles north for the past several months, since emigrating to the U.S.A., but now needed to get a place in town to accommodate his new job. He couldn't afford a full deposit, but I decided to take a chance; finding good tenants is more of a skilled art than a financial science, and somehow I know Ho was a good risk.

A few months I stopped by to see how things were going, and Ho surprised me by asking if I could train him in how to do real estate investment. His wife was pregnant, now, with their second child, and he wanted to begin to improve their fortunes beyond what his blue-collar job could do for them. I said, "Yes, I'd be happy to," provided he would do what I asked him to do for a twelve month period. The commitment I made was that if he followed by advice, both he and I would be in a position where he could buy the duplex he was living in from me at a healthy discount (I had done very well in my purchase of the property 1 year prior), and would show him how to leverage the duplex into the type of home he wanted.

To make a long story short, I taught Ho the secrets of building a successful lease/sublease business. He had many contacts within the Vietnamese community, and became a tremendous bargainer on behalf of his friends, negotiating new residential and commercial leases in his name that he then passed on, at a slight premium, to them. Within six months, Ho was ready to make a small down payment to me and purchased, on contract, the duplex he lived in. He continued to build his lease/sublease business, employing a couple of his tenants part time as his property managers. Another three months went by and Ho's new daughter was born. Ho began to market the duplex, and three months later bought out my contract and sold the duplex for $15,000 profit. Along with the income he now showed from his successful real estate contract business, he more than qualified for his new $180,000, 4-bedroom home!

The last time I talked to Ho he had a new son, and was a respected and honored member of his community for all the good he had done in providing housing and commercial space for his friends. He was expanding his business vision to include lease-option strategies and had equitable title in several properties.

   

Joseph had always wanted to real estate investment. So when he asked if I would teach him, I suggested that he partner with me on a couple of projects and learn the ropes. Our first deal was a nice single family home on 1/4 acre. We bought the home at 85% of appraised value using 100% financing. Following escrow the seller executed with us a 10% carry back note with a two-year balloon, meaning that we put nothing down, and had money in our pockets.

The money was used for a carefully designed remodel project that added about 20% to the value of the home, nearly doubling our equity. We found some quality tenants who really wanted to purchase, but who didn't have the money to buy the home outright, and offered them a lease with option to purchase the property in five years or less, provided they agreed to pay us 90% of the appraised market value at the time they chose to exercise the option. They gave us a few thousand dollars earnest money and agreed to maintain and improve the property during the two years of their lease option; their rent covered our mortgage and insurance costs, so Joseph and I were still just building equity for free.

During the first two years Joseph and I watched as the tenants painted, improved the landscaping and most significantly plumbed in a nice new bathroom and kitchen into the basement, creating a nice mother-in-law apartment. At the end of the two years, when the balloon payment was due, the tenants were still not in a position to purchase the property, though they were now fully committed emotionally. Joseph called and wanted to know what we were going to do. He received his next lesson - we refinanced the home with a new lower (adjustable mortgage) rate and pulled out enough cash to pay off the balloon payment that was now due on the seller's note. Our new payment, even with the extra cash pulled out, was still less than our original mortgage.

Since then another year has gone by. The home now appraises for $100,000 more than our original purchase price, and $83,000 more than is owed against it. Joseph and I haven't put a single nickel into the property - and Joseph has learned the value of allowing a good deal on a good property to properly "age".

Oh, and by the way, Joseph has also continued on his own and using the principles he has learned, he has "flipped" four additional properties in the past two years.   

P.K. had never been involved in real estate investment. But looking around, she could see the potential! In fact, as a 50-year old who had decided she needed to start a new career, she had begun investigating real estate investment training programs, some of which wanted to charge her up to $12,000 for training that wouldn't guarantee results.

Working with one of our directors, P.K. was able to work out a funding program and invested $5,000 to begin working in Mr. Vaughn Milliron's Real Estate for LIFE coaching program eight weeks ago. It only took 4 weeks for P.K. and her partner to get their first deal off the ground!

Already a success, P.K. is targeting $50,000 in income in her first year of her brand new career!