Millionaire in the Making – Kyle Cook

Ron, Steph and Jon,

This letter is long over due but I guess late is better than never.  I want to thank Ron and the Iannotti’s for the education and mentorship they have given me this year.  Below is a short story of my beginning in real estate thru finding Ron and learning Real Estate the Ron way.

I bought my first rental house in 1995 and everything was great for awhile then I learned what normal tenants are like.  Of course I bought in a war zone like a rookie with no education would.  In 1998 I bought my parents house when they built another one and did a quick flip on it.  I did not do another deal until 2002.

I was first introduced to Ron by Walter and Peggy Baker in the early 2000’s.  I listened to several of Ron’s courses back then but did not take action on them.  Walter was always telling me, “Hey you need to do this Ron’s way,” but I did not listen.  I had a good job and could get loans from the banks very easily back then.  So I was doing one rehab a year spending about 100K on each one and selling them around $500K.  Profits where around $40K on each one but I did hit one homerun for about $100K then 2007 hit and everything changed.  The last two houses I did in 2007 I had to bring money to the closing table to get out to save my credit and that was not a good feeling.  It was 2008 before I closed on those properties and residential real estate had become a four letter word to me.

During 2007 I used money I had made on rehabbing properties to help purchase a 259 unit self storage facility and a building that was being used as a daycare facility.  I think you will like this deal Ron and here is how it went down.  The self storage and building were purchased separate and I was able to get the tenant running the day care facility to buy the building from me for 100K more that I paid for it plus I kept the acre of land between us free and clear.  The 100K went to pay off my private lender that had funded half of my down payment to purchase the properties.  This was my last new real estate deal till I found you again in Jan 2013.

I was always reading about investing and real estate but was not taking any action while I was working a full time job.  Then in Jan of 2013 I kept hearing your commercial on CNBC XM radio and decide to take action and buy your book.  I am pretty sure I bought every up sell you had on the call.  The rest of this letter is about the action I have taken since I was reintroduced to you and your way of Real estate.

Got your book in the mail and read it several times.  Joined the gold club and starting going thru all the training and resources on it several times.  Then I started posting and answer questions on the Gold Club which is an awesome Forum.  People don’t realize what they are missing by not using the forum.  There are lots of great people on the Gold Club and I have several people that I talk to almost every week that I have meet on the Gold Club.

I started marketing and getting leads in and that is were things came to a stop.  I was going to let me listen to this video or read this article again then I will call the sellers back.  I am not sure where the fear comes from because the sellers can’t come thru the phone and get you.  This fear of calling sellers seems to be most people’s biggest hurdle. I know it was mine and still creeps in if I let it.

I knew I needed more help to take my real estate business to the next level so I signed up for mentoring and Quick Start School.  I started mentoring with the Iannotti’s in April the week before I attended Quick Start.  I was like a sponge reading and studying everything of Ron’s and the Iannotti’s.

I was glad that I got paired with Jon and Steph because I wanted to learn how they ran their real estate business in two different cities 1000 miles apart.  I hope to help my brother get his real estate business going where he lives which is 3 hours from me.  Jon and Steph have provided every tool that they have developed over the years for me to use to get my business going.  The weekly calls and weekly reports have helped me be accountable and help me take action to move forward.  I am very much a thinker brain and having a mechanical engineering degree that makes it worse but Jon has helped me not over think the deals I am looking at.

One thing that Jon stresses each week on our call is to get the house under contract even if the terms are not great.  You can’t make money on a deal that you do not do and if you have no risk, as Ron teaches, why not get it under contract?  You can always renegotiate after you find your funder.  I have a perfect example about renegotiating after you find your funder.  I got a house under contract for 20K but the house had to go thru probate before I could close on it.  During the 2-3 months that it took to get the title cleared I was looking for a cash buyer.  I found a funder that was willing to pay 25K for the house.  When the funder looked at the house he pointed out a few repairs that I had missed but was still willing to pay 25K.  So I went to the seller and discussed the repairs that I had missed and told the seller I needed to change my price to 17.5K and she said yes.  Morale of the story is you can always ask and they may say yes.  I made an extra $2,500 just for asking.

Jon and Steph have helped me get my systems in place for my real estate business to run on auto-pilot.  I have VA’s and answering services that run everything except seller follow up calls and looking at houses.  I will say that I am the bottle neck in my business.  It is so easy to do everything else but call sellers.  The only problem is without calling sellers and making offers you have no business.  I should have done about 20 deals so far but have managed to do 5 during my Ron, Jon and Steph mentorship and training.

Here is a recap of the deals that I have done this year under Jon and Steph’s mentoring:

Deal 1) I Purchased a 2br/1ba 1000 sq,ft house for 5K.  The house came with a tenant only paying $250 per month.  I am working with the tenant now to convert them to owner financing for 30K and $450 per month PITI.

Deal 2) I purchased a 4br/3ba 2000 sq.ft house for 35K.  I have done 45K in repairs and fixed foundation.  135K ARV with total rehab and purchase of 80K.  I got the house under contract last week for 125K with a close date of Nov 20, 2013.  This deal was funded with my IRA thru Equity Trust.

Deal 3) I got a 3br/2ba 2,000 sq ft house under contract 20K.  Found a wholesale buyer for 25K and then went back to seller and ask for a discount to 17.5K and she said yes.  I assigned this contract to my buyer for $7,500 fee.  Buyer was happy because the ARV on this house was 75K.

Deal 4) I bought a 3br/3ba 3,000 sqft house subject-to 133K existing mortgage balance with seller paying me 10K to make repairs.  I then sold it to the tenant that was living in the house for 153K with 5K down.  The down payment was $1,500 cash and a 2003 Mitsubishi outlander car ($3,500).  Also the tenant buyer took it as is so I did not have to spend the 10K on repairs.  So I got 15K upfront and will have $15K backend if /when they cash me out.

Deal 5) I Optioned a 3br/2ba 1,800 sq ft for lease purchase at 185K and $1,500 per month.  I am marketing the property for 195K and $1,800 per month with 10K down.  I took two apps today and hope to have sold by next week.

I have the tools, confidence and guidance to make this a life long business thru Ron’s teachings and the Iannotti’s mentoring.  One of my strong suits is desire to keep learning but you have to take action on what you have learned to get where you want to go.  I am in my six month of mentoring and things are really picking up at lighting speed.  Between my VA’s, yellow letters, and online ads, I have about 35 prospects to follow up with.  I hope to bring on a PA within the next two months.

In closing you have to take action to make things happen and calling sellers needs to be something you do everyday.  You make your own luck by TAKING ACTION.

Thanks again for everything Ron, Jon and Steph

Kyle Cook

Jackson, MS