Here is my first success story and my first deal ever. This is what got me hooked! This was an abandoned property very close to my grandparents. I had been putting in offers all over the area. I couldn't get anything accepted because at the time I was only...

For a time, I was skeptical about those who claimed to be buying houses inexpensively and flipping them for huge profits. I have attended some real estate investing seminars in the past but was always cynical. I have a friend who is very successful in reconditioning...

This is a real estate investing success story form a part-time "oldie" who finally found that little diamond in the rough. The opportunity came from my involvement in tax lien certificates. I found this to be a great way to get my real estate investing fix and still...

I just sold my first house today for all cash. Some people had been living in the house, but moved out before the sale. They were kind enough to lock the door, too, but we didn't have a key. There was a real estate company for sale sign on the property, so my mom...

I just wanted to offer thanks for the information available on this website and tell you about the two real estate investments I've made in the last month that made me $30,000 with no money down! I found the CRE Online website about five weeks ago and read all of the...

Marilyn and I just closed another mobile home deal. We found a "don't-wanter" 1991 16 x 80 Gateway. After having two family members die during the time the lady owned it, she was ready to sell the memories. The trailer booked NADA at around $22,000 and she wanted to...

If you haven't read my first story [Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus], then you don't know that I'm brand new at this stuff. You do now. My friends haven't figured out whether I'm a budding genius or a blooming idiot. I lean towards the former, naturally, but...

On a Thursday, I looked in the paper under "investment property." The ad read: "Great income potential, 3-4 family apartment $18,500, needs work." So I called the number and went to look at it. The apartment did need some work. I went home, punched some numbers, and...

All the Success Stories appear to be written by men, and women only come into it as partners in the deals. I'm not walking out of closings with money-back checks. I'm not doing simultaneous closings and being paid for being in the right place with the right knowledge....

Many people say that you can't make a dollar on every deal, but my very first deal proves them wrong. I was a new real estate investor with nothing but ambition when I found this beautiful new home in an affluent suburb of my county. The home was built by a local...

I am a 25-year-old school teacher in the sunny state of Florida. I always have my hands in something that generates profits on the side. I play a lot of tennis, and thank God, because one night I was in the club house chatting with someone who really knew how to make...

I am about to close on my third "Lonnie Deal" and my yields are improving significantly. My partner and I purchased a 3BR/2 BA, 1983 mobile home in fair condition for $1,400 cash and the two lots for $16,000 with $2,000 down and owner financing for the balance at 7%...

I was a wannabe real estate investor for several years, watching from the sidelines. I finally got the nerve to go out and test the market after many hours of studying and reading. The information and encouragement at CRE Online has been invaluable. I ended up finding...

I remember the night I first found CRE Online. I stayed up until 5:00 am reading all the how-to articles, money-making ideas, and success stories. I was totally blown away with all of the free information available! I knew that one day I would be successful and submit...

Well, I feel like my real estate efforts have come full circle, and I can clearly see my future path ahead of me. On Thursday, I closed on my first apartment building and walked away from closing with an $11,000 check! If you have read my other success stories...

After seeing a recent post on the Main Real Estate Forum, I thought it may be nice to share what I have been able to accomplish as a new investor working the real estate investing arena part time while holding a full-time job in the military. The six deals I will...

This past May, I purchased Deals on Wheels from this site. When it arrived I read it all at once. After reading the book, I decided to refinance two of my rental condos and use the cash to buy some mobile homes. The first deal was a vacant 1981 14' x 60' that I...

Several weeks ago, JP Vaughan entered the chat room, and I promised her that I'd write a success story when I did my first deal. And so, I'm going to write about my deal that I did last week. The numbers wouldn't astound you. But it's not the numbers that count. I'm...

My Background For seventeen years, I was a "company man." But with each passing year, I was becoming more disillusioned with the corporate lifestyle. After watching many friends and family members lose jobs due to plant closings and "right-sizing," I decided that NOW...

After reading posts on CRE Online and after finding motivated sellers then screwing up the deal, I have finally met with some success. After about a year of looking and trying, I landed three deals in three weeks. Here are the deals, the specs, and the current...

As Lonnie might say, "That's good 'nuff." As John Behle might say, "Better than walking due west 'til your hat floats." As Ed Garcia might say, "Pretty good for a young bull." As Ron LeGrand might say, "Beats swingin' a hammer." As Bronchick might say, "That's 1k for...

I thoroughly enjoy reading about other newcomers' successes and figured I'd share ours. I've read and thought about real estate investing for many years and never took action. My wife and I both work full-time and have two kids under three. We finally decided to get...

A few months ago, I purchased Ron Legrand's, Quick-Turn, Fast-Cash Real Estate, course from this site. I studied it, then tried to apply it. After a short time, I gave up. It wasn't until about a month ago that I gave it another try. This time, I struck gold...

One day while playing with my computer, My wife and I stumbled on to the CRE Online website. We read everything we could on the website and chose to order the book, Deals on Wheels by Lonnie Scruggs. We figured this was a good place to start and couldn't believe how...

Our story starts five years ago when we started a bowling publishing business. At first, the business grew, and did quite well for the first 3-1/2 years. Then the bottom started dropping out. As the industry slowed down, we lost advertisers and, of course, revenue. It...

It all started about a year and a half ago when I decided it was time to own my own home. I did not want to pay a lot. I am a painter by trade and know many people in the other trades. I looked for a while and found a house. I bought it for $27,000. It had vinyl...

First I would like to thank everyone who shares their secrets and ideas on this incredible site. I have found a wealth of info almost every day. A Realtor who laughed at me when I was first getting going in real estate investing (and told me I'd never, never make it)...

As many of you already know, I started my real estate investing venture on June 21, 1998. At that time I had not done one deal. I was going through a very difficult time in my life and went for broke. I quit my job, I had no money, and I had bad (but improving)...

In less than three years, we have gone from nothing to owning 26 mobile homes that are owner financed and a mobile home park with another 25 units. We have done all of this using less than $2500 of our own money. The rest was OPM--other people's money. We also did...

I enjoy reading the Success Stories on CRE Online, and I would like to share this one with the other readers. I track all the bank foreclosures in my area (Baltimore City) of which there are about 350-500 filed every month. Of these, only about 5-7% have enough equity...

January 31, 1999 - I called a manager of a local mobile home park to see if a certain mobile home could stay in the park. I had talked to the owner and he said, "Sure, it can stay." I asked him if he knew of any others that might be for sale. He said the park had one...

After a year of learning from this site, I purchased Bill Bronchick's Big Profits with Lease Options. I just got home from setting up an escrow account, and I am so excited, I had to write you the details. After calling on 121 ads in the paper on "Homes for Sale," I...

I actually completed these deals back in November but just got around to writing them up now. My first success story is, $24,000 Cash, $138,000 Equity and More. This will give you a little more info on my background and experience. As in my first deal, two properties...

I was a cop for almost a decade. I had become burned out, and most days dreaded going to work. I knew there had to be something else for me, but did not have a clue as to what. All I knew my whole adult life was law enforcement. One of my nights off, I was sitting...

My partner Mark and I (I call him legs, he's the young one and does all the running around) have been very active this past year. On January 1st, 1998 we had one three-unit apartment house and two tenants. On January 1st, 1999 we controlled 95 rental units, either...

I decided it was time to submit my success story. In my first few months, I made some costly newbie errors that I feel I should share with other newbies, so they don't make the same mistakes. My story begins in September 1998. I had a dental appointment early in the...

Although I have been employed in real estate maintenance management for many years, I again began investing in my own properties in 1995, having lost my prior investments to divorce. From January 1995 to August 1998, I acquired 11 condominium units and reached a point...

One year ago, my wife and I were living paycheck to paycheck. I was working a job I didn't want to be at while she was attending college. On January 10, 1998 I quit my job (family business) out of frustration. Having no job and no income gave me the motivation I...

[Note: This is Jim's second success story. See Jim's first success story: Over $11,000 Profit on My First Lease Option.] This is a deal that many of you here on Creative Real Estate Online helped me with, so I wanted to submit it as a success story. This deal actually...

I have always wanted to invest in real estate ever since I had to sell my New Hampshire home during a divorce and made $51,000. This past December I bought a $32,000 real estate foreclosure for $17,900 and put a few credit cards in it for a total of $7,250 in fix up....

In January 1997, I found myself on the streets without a job and very disillusioned with the prospect of going back to work in corporate America. I had become accustomed to my life as a road warrior sales guy tipping the income scales at about $95,000 per year with...

I promised JP Vaughan I would share my first deal, so here it is. I started visiting this website about three weeks ago and learned everything about doing this deal from the people on this site. I didn't have any money to buy a course, so I just lived on this site and...

After getting engaged two months ago, I realized that I would like to buy a house some time in the future for my new family. I have had terrible credit for a few years now due to poor money management and reacting poorly to situations that life has given me despite...

My father was surfing on the net around the first part of 1997, and he ran across this website. He thought Lonnie Scruggs had some good ideas and bought Deals On Wheels. In June of 1998, we bought two mobile homes in a park that were side by side. One was a 1974...

While flipping through a real estate ad a few years ago, I noticed a repo for sale in just the neighborhood I wanted. I immediately called my broker and we set off to see it. We couldn't get in. His key wouldn't work. Apparently the locks were not modified yet, and...

While fellow CRE Onliner, John Holt, and I have graduated from college, we thought this title was appropriate since we both went to the same college, graduated at the same time, and even roamed the halls of the same science building. However, we never met until CRE...

I found a nice 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 2 car garage ranch house in a nice neighborhood that was going into bank foreclosure. For the last four or five months I had been sending the owner postcards and letters. I called him and even knocked on his door a couple of times,...

I would like to take the opportunity to share my first success story with my fellow investors. It is a story of how I did a lease option with a military transfer. Having been in the military myself for the last fourteen years, It didn't take long for me to believe the...

I can't believe the deal that fell into my lap a couple of months back. I was helping my parents sell their home "for sale by owner." At the open house, an interested buyer said he was interested in the larger home, but they needed to sell their house first. I asked...

After reading Lonnie's two books three times [Deals on Wheels and Making Money with Mobile Homes], I was really anxious to try my first "Lonnie Deal." I traveled around a couple of mobile home parks in May, and finally spotted a run down, overgrown 1968 12 X 56...

I called on an ad in the "for rent" section and believed to have a motivated seller on the other end. I went to see the house, which was located in a nice area. The home was a three-bedroom/one-bathroom that need some updating. The owner had another home and was...

I have been lurking on this site for five or six weeks. I executed a couple of mobile home deals as per the numerous postings here, with good results. Then I read Ben Innes-Ker's $5 Option/$30,000 Profit Success Story last week and decided to run an ad in our local...

I set up all of my single family home rentals on a lease option to purchase basis. Columbus, Ohio is a great market, so typically, a three-day ad is all I need to rent a place. I'll receive an average of 35 to 40 calls per day while the ad is running. I make it a...

"Lonnie Deals" seemed to be the hot topic on the Creative Real Estate Online Main Real Estate Forum, so I thought I would order Lonnie Scruggs' book Deals On Wheels and check out mobile home investing. For just $35, what did I have to lose? While waiting for the book,...

I have completed my first creative real estate investment, and I am very grateful to all of you as I have learned so much from the site. Here is the outline of the deal...I bought a 4-unit building in Northern New Hampshire. It was fully occupied, and the agreed sale...

Several months ago, I was talking to an owner facing a foreclosure on his home that had considerable equity. He was hoping to refinance and get cash out. However, he was self-employed and could not substantiate any income, so refinance was just not possible.Of course,...

I received a call one afternoon from a woman named Leanne. She was married with three grown children. She wanted to sell their house, so I went through the process of screening the call and getting the relevant information about the house, the mortgage balances, and...

This isn't a rags to riches story. This isn't to sell books or courses I've written. This isn't to impress you. It isn't even to feel better about myself or what we've accomplished. This is fact, nothing more. JP has requested my story a couple times already, and I've...

To everyone who asked me about bank REOs (real estate owned), this is an answer to all. How do I get REOs? Three ways:1) Most banks in my area sell the REOs through real estate agents. My loyal agent for seven years checks the hot sheet everyday and brings me deals...

Thanks to Lonnie Scruggs, Ernest Tew, Bill Bronchick, Terry Vaughan, and lots of others for an education I couldn't have bought in school. I've been using ideas from all of you for several deals. Here are a couple examples of how I'm making money with mobile homes...

I wanted to let you know about my first deal. It started when I spotted an ad in the Sunday paper with the words "Land Contract." I called the owner and asked if he would do a lease option rather than the land contract, and he said: "Yes." So I made an appointment to...

On Christmas Eve, I did my first lease option deal on a beautiful single family that I will be living in myself. I gave them Bill Bronchick's contract, and they signed it, no problem. They were actually happy that I saved them the attorneys' fees! The deal worked out...

A few weeks ago, I ordered William Bronchick's Big Profits with Lease Options that JP Vaughan had recommended. Well, here is the story:Two years ago I dropped out of the corporate world and started flipping houses. As frequently happens, we had one house that just...

It's been a while since I have visited the site, and it looks great...I have been busy working my full-time (and then some) job while always hunting for good real estate investments here in the Houston area. Well, for the past few years my wife and I have been living...

I would just like to thank Lonnie Scruggs for the inspiring seminar I went to several months ago. I met a lot of great people, and I am starting to see what a little bit of education and work can do for your lifestyle. Here are some of the mobile home deals I did in...

Susan and I recently attended Bill Bronchick's Big Profits wtih Lease Options Workshop. I thought you might like to have an update on what we've done in the few months since these workshops. We've done five deals so far: Four single family homes and one condo, all...

I went to a local real estate auction where about 30 mobile homes were being auctioned off. Before the auction, I previewed 27 of the 30 mobiles. Some were dogs, but many were very nice. This was an absolute auction. The mobile home that I got at this auction was a...

Just had to send another "thank you" for all the assistance I've gotten from this site. I have a purchase contract and a sell contract signed and escrow was opened today on another deal. Had a friend tell me about a property that was WAY behind on taxes, and the...

I read JP Vaughan's How-To Article, How To Create Your Own Mortgage several times to really understand what she was saying. Found a Property: 1. Checked on value of the property by comparisons of same or close to the same properties that have sold in the last six...

About two months ago, I was on this site re-reading many of the How-To Articles and course descriptions. My wife happened to look over my shoulder while I was on JP Vaughan's article How to Buy Real Estate for 1/2 Price. So, the next time she had to meet with my...

I live in a rural area in north central Missouri. The typical town here is about 6,000 to 15,000 people, and they're all about 15 to 20 miles apart. Each town seems to have it's own little newspaper. I put a black-bordered display ad in about six of those little...

Several weeks ago, I was stopped at a red light when I noticed the driver next to me motioning me to pull over. When I did, she told me that she saw my "I BUY HOUSES" sign on my car and asked if I would follow her to her house which she wanted to sell. Since it wasn't...

I purchased tax certificates in Waterloo and Harlan County, Iowa, and the profit margin was substantial. I must state here that I am not an accountant nor a bookkeeper, so I can't give you exact percentages and figures. But in Harlan, Iowa, I invested about $2,600 and...

You gotta love bank foreclosures! Recently, my partner and I purchased a two-family home from a bank, post-foreclosure. Prior to the foreclosure, the bank was trying to sell the property for $133,000 (the outstanding mortgage). No offers. They then took the property...

I wrote you before about a success story that made me over $20K in 30 days and I had to share another one with you. [See $23,000 Profit in Less Than 30 Days.] I purchased a two-family house at the local tax auction for $6,500 last month. Fourteen days later, I sold it...

I made a lot of mistakes on this deal, but still ended up with $16,000 in equity and a $300 monthly cash flow. I purchased a 4-bedroom fixer from FNMA for $34,500. My first mistake was I spent too much on repairs to the tune of $20,000. So now I was into the property...

I got a call from another member of our REIA [Real Estate Investment Association] group in another county, and he said someone had just called him wanting to sell their house and 1.5 acres for $15,000--quick sale! As soon as I hung up the phone, I called the sellers...

I've been following this website for about six months now, and you're to be congratulated. This is a great site and service. Thank you. I finally got the nerve to do my first deal, which I think went very well. I searched high and low for months and made a few offers...

Thanks to all who have contributed positive and thought-provoking information to this site. I did a deal about two months ago (and was content), but my continued visits to CRE Online pretty much forced me to go beyond my comfort zone and scrounge around for another...

John and I have been expanding our real estate investing business into foreclosure homes. This is the best deal we have done since we started: We had a guy call us about two months ago. He was in foreclosure, and his wife didn't know about it (and he wanted to keep it...

My name is Frank, and I am from Charlotte, NC. I just had to drop you all a note and tell you about the events of the last seven days in my life. First let me say I have no real estate investing experience, whatsoever. I came across Creative Real Estate Online by...

In January, I saw an ad in the paper for a 4-family house that read: 4-FAMILY. MUST SELL. $15,000 CASH!! I called the out-of-state number and asked a lot of probing questions and found out they owned the house free and clear, were in desperate need of fast cash, and...

I have been reading everything posted on this site for several months. Last month my wife became upset because I was not doing anything with all the information that I was getting off the site. She said she wanted to have another child! I said not until we do our...

Once again, Creative Real Estate Online has provided the knowledge and information to help us make a very nice profit. Here is a copy of the e-mail I sent to Frank Bucholtz yesterday. Hi Frank, Hope you're doing well in PA. We're all doing great down here in Texas and...

I am pleased to announce that I just landed another one! I think your website has done me good--much good. It has given me that old enthusiasm again knowing that if I have a question or just want to chat with fellow CRE Onliners, I can come here. My wife enjoys the...

I always wanted to invest in real estate. I started reading books in the 1980s. I bought my first rental property in November 1996. I bought two more real estate investments in December 1996. My renters are buying my properties for me. Since then my partner and I have...

About 30 days ago I paid $159 for Terry Vaughan's Cashing In course. Every instinct in me said this is going to be a waste of money. You see with all my years' experience and training in real estate and mortgage brokerage, dealing in mobile homes (trailers) was...

I purchased two mobile homes for $3,200. One seller gave me the mobile home, but I had to pay $1,200 in back rent to the park. I purchased the other for $2,000. I did some minor cosmetic work and advertised the two mobile homes as "owner financing with $1,500 down."...

When I moved out west after my mom died, I fell into quite a depression. My girlfriend and I were broke and living in a cruddy basement apartment with a shared kitchen and bathroom. Ick! I was about to turn 25 and finally decided I could not cope with a corporate job...

In December, 1994 I was literally on the brink of bankruptcy. I had $25,000 in credit card debt, plus I was working a job that I hated. I was able to scrape together the money to take Claude Diamond's one-on-one lease purchase mentoring program.But just three days...

Peter and I have just recently started investing in real estate and have learned so much from Creative Real Estate Online. Just thought I'd share what we've been up to... March... Signed agreement to assume VA loan with no money down. One-year-old home assumed at...

I would like to share one of my personal favorites. I didn't retire on this real estate investment, but it was very satisfying. It was winter of 1990 during the Iraq conflict when a Realtor showed me a starter home on four acres. It had been on the market for only two...

I thought that maybe I could tell you about the first deal I did (that actually made money) around about the time I discovered this website, which I think was shortly after it was created. Because I get so much from this site, I feel a little guilty for not...

As I wrote about my story, I came to a realization that I want to share with you because--it is my failure story. People learn from their successes AND their failures. I am guilty of having made some successful real estate investments and then stopping. Just plain...

It has been my total pleasure reading and digesting all of the solid material at Creative Real Estate Online. A few years back I got started in this whole real estate investing ball game through the Carleton Sheets No Money Down program. My wife and I were renting at...

I just wanted to thank Terry Vaughan for a great idea I got from his Paper Into Gold course. Although I purchased this course a couple of years ago, I hadn't really tried all the ideas and strategies that the course contains. But the ideas I have tried have proven...

I began following this website about three months ago and became interested in the mobile home deals Lonnie Scruggs was talking about. I purchased his book, Deals on Wheels and noticed an ad in the paper a few days later for a $1,000 manufactured home. In the book, it...

It took almost three weeks to complete the deal, but my first Lonnie Deal worked out just fine. I know that those of you who are thinking about investing in mobile homes have lots of questions (like I did and still do...) about how to do this "start to finish." I'll...

I was an out-of-work welder. I had some real estate investing experience. I had started learning with Ed Beckley years ago and attended several seminars. I like to learn, and I find creative real estate interesting. I found out about mobile homes at a real estate...