Family Business

One of the many rewards of owning a business, is family. In our Real Estate management and investing business, we have several family members help us in a variety of ways. One thing we know for sure, is that our family is always there for us, which is wonderful.
Our daughter-in-laws and daughter, are helping us design a brochure and power point presentation. Rachel is the photographer. Crystal, Tamara and Rachel are our models. We don't have to go very far to find beautiful, smart women, they are right here in our family!

Than Merrill Webinar Today, Cash Buyers

During the Than Merrill webinar today, they emphasized cash buyers as a preference. As most people know, banks are very slow to loan money right now. John and Laura totally agree with the benefits of using cash to buy real estate. Great discounts are many times available to those who have cash, plus a cash offer will many times be accepted over traditional financing.
A statement made during the webinar, "... opportunity costs...," means, having a cash buyer is an opportunity that is at hand, and waiting for a buyer to get financing can take 30-90 days and sometimes longer, plus the financing can fall through at any time.
The way it was said years ago is,

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Another phrase used during the webinar was, reverse selling, meaning you are starting out with your buyer, finding out what they want, then find the property they want and selling it to them.
They said, "... it's like being your buyer's personal shopper."

John Is Interested in Buying and Selling Mobile Homes and a Mobile Home Park

John Holbrook attended a Robert Allen seminar in Portland Oregon on November 6 and 7th (he missed the last day, Sunday). He was most excited about Friday's presentation on mobile homes and mobile home parks, something he's been wanting to invest in for some time now. He will be on the look out for mobile homes that he can purchase and re-sell to a new buyer using owner financing. (John will carry the contract.) This will enable people who otherwise could not qualify for a home because of the difficulty in getting bank financing, to get into a home.
Please contact John to find out more information: 541-466-5150 or holbrookproperties@gmail.com

3 New lots

John and Laura just divided 3 new lots off of 2 exsisting ones (now there's 5).

What changes follow the creation of new lots?

1. Property taxes for the new lots.
2. Utilities need to be brought to the lots, and eventually we will build duplexes on the new lots. John has been working with the City of Sweet Home Oregon to get approval for the division long before it was done.
The city is putting a new sewer line in soon, and has told us that we have a limited amount of time of installing a manhole and pipes while the old road is still there. The city does not want people to cut into the new road they will be putting in ... so ... it takes money to have the job done ($7,000 bid).

They are wondering if that's a good use of money in this economy.

Any comments about this project?

Just finished day 4,the final day, of Dave Lindahl's seminary in San Diego CA. We met lots of new people and connected with some people we were already friends with. What did we learn, more than I can even share, but I will as time goes on, and we begin to implement techniques.
John and I want to buy more apartments in Austin Texas, since we already own real estate there, we have apartments (check out our pictures of them in one of the blog posts), it makes sense to add to them. We have our apartment manager, Manny there and a dependable maintenance man, Gustavo, and legal team in place in Austin.
Of course we love Oregon, where we live, and will continue to purchase real estate there.