Man… last couple of days I’ve been jumping all over place… book, no book, partial book, crazy ideas, comeback stories, getting swayed by different people… I’m being too impulsive again!
I think I need to come back down to reality and give you some updates:
My last facing foreclosure property in Modesto, CA:
Short sale approved by first lender. Waiting on second to approve. Buyer is ready to close once we get approval. I hope it gets approved and closes quick…
Sacramento-area homes after foreclosure:
Larchmont property that I lost to foreclosure is now bank-owed and was put back on the market for $199K. Amazing! They could have taken a short sale at $220K AND I was willing to sign a $50K note on top of that! Oh well, their loss.
Burdett property that I lost to foreclosure is back on the market for $236,900. Again, they should have taken the $240,000 short sale offer. Yeah, with the seller concessions the offer was more like $200,000. But hey, if you’re the bank, wouldn’t you rather take $200K rather than take your chances on a declining market? I don’t understand it.
Mr. Banker. Short sale, GOOD. Taking property back, BAD. Oh well, just give it a little time. Lenders will be giving houses away soon. Get your credit lines ready to buy at the bottom!
Timing the Real Estate Market: 
Speaking of bubbles. I was at Sacramento Real Estate Investors Associations tonight (Thursday) and I saw Robert Campbell the author of Timing the Real Estate Market. It was the second time I saw him speak. Last time was back in summer of 2005. Everything he predicted is coming true.
He actually recognized me from all the media and bubble blogs. That was kind of cool. Robert happens to be a fan of the HousingPanic blog. I told him that blog was pretty much what put me on the map. We talked about how I’m the “poster boy” for everything he talks about in his book.
I suggested he make a video and post it on YouTube or something. Robert’s system for predicting the direction of the RE market is awesome and he is a very dynamic speaker. The timing is right for people to actually accept his message (though it’s a little too late). I think he is seriously under-utilizing his marketing potential.
Letsee, what other open loops are there… oh yeah…
Called the old lender, new lender and escrow company servicing the payments. Explained everything again. It appears that the title company or the agents screwed up at the creation of the wrap. The loan was one payment behind from the close of escrow. Meaning, there was not enough money brought to the table to completely catchup my underlying mortgage.
The title company also screwed up because the note says the loan is now due because the 6 month balloon was up in February. However, the purchase contract states we have a one year balloon. That’s why I suspect they also screwed up on getting the correct pay-off amount from the lender.
I’m kind of tired of trying to strengthen this deal out. Can’t I just ignore it? What can one missing payment do? The buyers have the property back on the market and stand to make a pretty penny. Maybe I should just call them and explain what’s going on and see if they would be willing to eat the cost. Or I guess I can try to argue with the title company about it and see if they are truly the ones to blame. If I have to.
This doesn’t seem like a good use of my time or the right task for me. I’m not the detail guy, I’m the ideas and connections guy, remember?
My Book:
I think the “It’s Official” post created some unnecessary speculation and was misleading. I don’t actually have a book deal from a publisher, yet. I am talking to a well-known publisher via a book agent and they seem very interested in doing something with me, including doing an advance of some kind. Too early to tell though.
At the same time, I’m talking to a group that specializes in internet marketing, ebooks, info-products and self-published books. The team is in place to do something and I have some sources of funding for upfront expenses. We’re still talking though.
With that post, I just wanted to officially announce that I want to do a book of some kind. Then I got worked up by some of you haters trying to shoot down my credibility of writing a book. Hence the last post about doing a comeback story.
Yes a crazy comeback story where I miraculously pay off my debt would be very cool and a big blessing. But at the same time I need to be realistic. Monetizing the blog by helping people with foreclosure is probably a better long-term strategy for getting back to financial solvency. Writing some kind of a book or coming out with some info products to help people in foreclosure is a very good idea. I have a lot of lessons to share regardless of how many foreclosures I avoided.
Maybe I can still do some crazy unrelated comeback idea at the same time. As an entrepreneur you gotta “throw mud at the wall” sometimes to find what sticks, right? The power of intention and law of attraction is an amazing thing.
As always, stuff is up in the air. Sorry for all the confusion. I tend to think out-loud. If you haven’t noticed by now.
Oh and…
GSPG stock:
Hey guys, some of you enjoyed my sense of humor with my April Fool’s post where I bought 1.3 Million Shares of GoldSpring (GSPG) stock. Some of you didn’t. Some of you are dying to know.
What is more important is what are YOU doing to invest your money wisely with the dollar going down, the real estate crashing and the war about to break out? You tell me.
Keep your eyes on GSPG and MYNG and gold/silver in general. Man, I wish I had some cash right now.
