My first Real Estate "Mentor"

Hi everybody,

     I'll start this blog by introducing my first real estate mentor.
I was married at age 18, and by the time I was 20, I had one child and another on the way.
We had one junky vehicle that  would barely run and used pawn shops to pay the rent. The house I lived in didn't have carpet or base boards, but it did have roaches and mice, and was located on the "wrong" side of the hi-way.

     My older brother had puchased a Carlton Sheets course, and I had "kind of" read it' and thought, "I can use some of this, and maybe find someone to sell me a house with nothing down." I started looking through the paper and for For Sale by Owner signs.  I believe I found an ad in the classifieds, and called. On the other end of the phone, was a nice sounding older gentleman, and I just talked with him a little while. I found out that this man was a landlord that owned several houses and some duplexes, and by the end of the conversation, he could see that I was someone that wanted better things in my life and was willing to work towards them.

     I haven't spoken with him in years, and If he is still alive, I don't know that he would want his full name in print so I'll just call him "Bob" ( His real first name is Bob by the way.)
   
     Bob and I met at his house that night, and he agreed to sell me a house, (in a much better neighborhood than the one I currently lived), as well as two sets of duplexes!  The duplexes were not so great, but they did have current renters. The way we structured the deal was, that I would pay for my house and both sets of duplexes all in one payment, and knowing that I did not have any cash reserves, if I had a vacancy in my new duplexes, he would help me out by reducing my payment while the unit was vacant. This was GREAT! I now had a better house, in a better neighborhood, I owned it so I didn't have to worry about landlord approval before making improvements to my new property, he didn't have to worry about repairs to the house, and I had some rental properties of my own!
   
     While not being a direct "Mentor" at the time, through this "deal" I learned some very powerful lessons about Real Estate Investing, because you see, Bob was an educated man, a college professor, and was experienced in Real Estate, and I was "Smart" but not experienced, or educated in Real Estate.

     I have nothing negative to say about Bob, because I think he is a good man with good intentions of helping me and getting a good deal for himself. After this deal, I did actually buy another house, with owner financing, in a better part of town, that was a huge piece, if you know what I mean,(that one turned out to be a real investment) BUT BECAUSE of the painful lessons I had learned on my first deal with Bob, I TOOK A LONG BREAK FROM REAL ESTATE INVESTING (I wish now that I hadn't taken that break).
I'll share the details and the lessons I learned, as well as the deals on my second, and real investment in my next blog.....

Have a great week!