REACTS/CATS - What Am I Talking About?
A week ago I traveled all the way to Fort Myers Florida for a 4 day training on Real Estate Investing. Professional investors, Jon & Stephanie Iannotti trained a select group of people on their latest program, REACTS/CATS. Jon & Stephanie are the original creators of the Agreeable Contracts & Terms (ACTS) even though Ron LeGrand takes the credit!
Before I tell you all about the bootcamp, let me tell you about Florida. It was good 6 1/2 hour flight to Tampa Bay. I usually get sick as a dog on anything besides my two-feet. Fortunately being on the massive 737 did not get to me as bad as I thought. I suppose the excessive amounts of ginger ale may have helped.
We finally landed, leaving me abruptly waking up covered in my own drool. Wonderful... We managed to make it to our off site Fox Car Rental. After the car rental we were starving! So where did we stop? We stopped at my favorite out of town breakfast spot, Waffle House (leave your favorite food at waffle house in the comments for a prize). I personally had some pork chops, hashbrowns, eggs, sausage, bacon, and man was I full!
After a 2 hour long drive Steve Love and I got to the hotel. Straight to bed we went... Wide awake we were... Unfortunately it still felt super early for us but we had no choice but force ourselves to sleep. For the next 4 days we would be getting up at a Pacific 5am and working until 7pm east coast time.
Let's fast forward a bit - What did we learn?
I got to learn the ins and outs of how to accept "No" leads and lock them up. The goal? Get an agreement to purchase. If you are reading this blog for the "techy" aspects then you may want to skip ahead. I am sure learning top quality financial techniques that will help you retire years sooner than your current direction will allow has no interest for you.
What does getting the agreement mean? Getting the agreement is simply speaking with a seller and coming to terms on you purchasing the house from them. Then they sign the dotted line agreeing to said terms. You can purchase with all cash, the seller wants $400,000 but the house needs paint, roofing, carpet, and a new water heater. You make the offer (or write an agreement to purchase) at $300,000. this leaves you with some profit and the ability to do what is called "FixNFlip" or "Rehab".
If you listen to Peter Fortunato, the most creative man on the planet, he would say that you are clinically insane if you pay all cash for any property. Another way to purchase would be through a creatively structured deal. You can offer debt relief to the seller, maybe a house that's worth $100,000, you offer $5,000 then ask them to carry a note at $95,000 dollars. Why would any one do this? There is an infinite amount of reasons why someone may accept this offer which you will have to read about in future blogs! P.S. Creative financing is one of the best ways to own a house and retire early.
So we went a bit off track here... The Iannottis. Let us assume that the above example of a house being sold all cash at $400,000 was non negotiable. The seller REFUSES to drop the price, he does not care in any shape or form why you need to offer lower. He sees a nice new roof even though its in shambles, he see's beautiful carpet even though it's covered in cat piss. The seller may even see nice white clean walls even though they are covered in yellow tint from years of cigarette smoke. What ever the reason the seller won't negotiate. MOST investors would throw the lead out at this point, as taught by Ron LeGrand. The Iannottis however taught us to simply lock up the agreement then reverse engineer the deals.
After learning about reverse engineering deals (find out more here) for an entire day Steve Love and I went and got Stone Crabs, Alligator, and some other really awesome sea food at Skip One 41. We did attempt to search for Alligators but we were unsuccessful as we were told by the Fort Myers natives that they have been hit with a rather unusual drought. Even though there was a weather drought there was definitely a fountain of knowledge to still drink from.
To summarize, we learned about marketing, Virtual Assistants (VA's), and also about ways to protect your money through IRA's with Midland Financial. Midland also taught us about the benefits of 1031's. If this is all random jargon to you, then you may want to learn more. Why? Do you really want to spend 40 more years of your life working in a cubicle? Or 40 more years of your life bound to a job that may provide but still keeps you from paying off your student loans? Some of the financial techniques, or real estate vehicles can help you get out of the rat race. Even if real estate is not your thing, learning about VA's and automation of your chosen company can greatly increase your wealth and decrease the demand of time that most jobs require.
My trip had so much more to it. More than I can ever put into words. Stay up on my upcoming blog posts to here more! Below are some good books to read: