I never even realized it.  I’ve sent out letters before, even gotten calls.  There was no way I was afraid.  It’s been two weeks since I wrote about sending the probate letters to my lead list and I had yet to do it.  Why?  To me it seemed like I had good reasons…

1. Needed to put up crown molding in the office
2. Thanksgiving
3. Family
4. Didn’t have the envelopes
5. Didn’t have stamps
6. Dentist appointment

These are valid reasons right?  I was going to send out the letters the first chance I got.  That chance had just not come and I still was planning to send out the letters.  I wasn’t afraid to send them out, I just hadn’t gotten around to doing it yet. right?

Most people would agree with me, and find those above reasons to be valid.  That is why most people don’t ever become successful.  I was lucky enough to have met some great friends through this blog and one in particular called me out this past Monday.   In case you didn’t read his comment…

Scott, when are you going to stop making excuses and start taking action?

Enough of the ‘Getting ready to get ready’ stuff. Get them mailed out and quit being afraid that they’re going to call you ya big baby I’ve bookmarked your site to keep up on whats going on but I still don’t see that you’ve done something so simple and easy like, “Mail out probate letters”

C’mon Scottie, step up to the plate and come hang with the ‘Go Getters’ we’ve got kool-aid and the grass is really greener on this side

To be honest my first reaction was a defensive one, my mind quickly started listing those “reasons” I listed above.   I then took a deep breath and stepped back for a second.   Was I afraid?

Looking back at the last two weeks, I was able to identify many opportunities when I had time to pick up the needed supplies and get those letters out.  I was amazed that fear may have sneaked up into me.

When I got home on Monday night,  after getting lost trying to find my new real estate brokerage to pick up some papers (I laughed when I got lost, cause I thought of Steph), I ran to Staples to pick up envelopes and stamps.  The rest of the night I printed out the letters, addressed the envelopes, seal and stamped them.  It took me longer then expected because the letters printed out in a different order then the addressed envelopes argh!!  The following morning I placed them in the mail.

A funny thing occurred as I sat in my car, in front of the post office mailbox, ready to put the letters in…The Fear Surfaced and become very apparent.  My stomach got a little queasy and I paused, I WAS AFRAID after all.   At this moment this part of Nick’s comment popped into my head..

…C’mon Scottie, step up to the plate and come hang with the ‘Go Getters’…

It seriously did!  I then proceeded to drop the 75 envelopes into the mailbox.  I now feel great, but a little nervous about the calls that are gonna come….haha

thanks for the push Nick!

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I’ve met with all the potential brokers and I think I’ve made my decision on which one to hang my license with.  I was looking for a broker that would allow me to be free to do as I wish (to a point).   The most important factors in making my decision were…

1. Not have to work as a salesperson for the broker unless I volunteered to
2. No desk time
3. No monthly fees
4. No class requirements, but they offered training if I needed it
5. Referral compensation
6. Investor Friendly
7. Investors on board
8. close proximity to where I live (within 20 minute drive)

I was able to find this with two brokerages and took the weekend to think about which one worked best for me.

Break down of the candidates

Candidate #1: Exit Realty

They have a high tech environment that understands what an investor does.  The broker-of-record was a nice guy and was willing to work with me and help me out.  I had the feeling that if I didn’t attend the training sessions or the “required” monthly meetings it was going to be a problem.  Quite a few of their Sales Agents also invested some, but none were full time investors.

Candidate #2:  Realty Executives

I contacted these guys from a Craigslist ad.  It looked to be a very well run company and had everything an agent would need to be successful.  There was one other investor who was just starting to do deals with them in the same fashion as I wanted, which was good.   The broker understood what I wanted to do and was very willing to have me aboard and help out any way possible.  He even offered to sign me up as a referral only agent and let me use his MLS access when ever I needed it.  Very tempting and by far the cheapest way I could go.

Candidate #3: Millenium Realty

This is the smallest brokerage that I interviewed.  In fact it was a one man shop that just got started in June.   His man source of leads are from a group of investors that have hooked up with him.  He will sign up clients who have responded to these investors, but didn’t meet the their criteria.   My investor friend, Jarred, works for the investors (Homevestors actuall).  I had a great conversation with the broker and I love the fact that he works directly with a group of investors.

My Decision…

Well, I’ve eliminated Exit Realty from the equation as I think we just didn’t totally agree upon what I would be doing.  So that leaves me with a choice between Realty Executives and Millenium and I can’t really decide.  They both meet all my criteria but each has their advantages, so let me break those down and maybe you guys can help me decide.

Realty Executives

Advantages:

• Use of their staff for selling properties, creating flyers, postcards and other forms of advertising.
• 70/30 split
• 20% referal (of 70%)
• Works with 1 investor that is doing what I want to do

Millenium

Advantages

• Works with Jarred and Homevestors exclusively
• Small shop that deals with the types of leads that I’m looking for
• Motivated Broker willing to help me out, so I help him get more leads
• 50/50 split
• 25% referral commission

I’m leaning towards Millenium becuase of the direct connection with the investor group that I could be able to leverage.  What do you all think,  right choice?

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Over the last few days I’ve been writing some new articles for my site and trying to just make it a more valuable resource for people to find information regarding probate in New Jersey.   I created a page that listed all the county surrogate websites and I will also be creating a section for lawyers as well.  I plan on using the lawyers section as a possible “I scratch your back, you scratch mine” type of deal with probate lawyers in NJ.  I’ll list their contact information on my site if they send me motivated seller leads.  It might work, it might not, but it’s worth a try.

I also got my first lead off of my NewJerseyProbate.org site yesterday!  This is what the guy had to say…

Lead Info
Name: Cornelius Garay
City: Elizabeth
Notes: need to sell asap

Looking this property up on google maps, it’s an apartment and definitely not in a town I’m looking to do business in.  For those wholesalers out there, when you get leads in towns you don’t do business in what do you do with them?   I was thinking about passing it along to someone else, but would that require me to get more information about this place?  just curious.

On another note, I have a meeting with the broker from Exit today at 5:30.  I’ll probably be signing up with them, I just hope the initial costs aren’t that much.   Look for an update tomorrow to see how it went.

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Good news, Good news!  I took the real estate license test last night and I….

PASSED!

I went into the test feeling a bit nervous cause I never really studied after finishing the class last week.  I brushed up on a few laws and definitions, but that was about it.   The test was a bit of a challenge, there were quite a few questions on topics we barely went over in the class like Project Management.  The testing providers are a master at making a simple question difficult that is for sure.

Next step is to contact Exit Realty Gold and see if they are still interested in having me aboard.  I will let you know how that goes in the next few days.

-Scott Costello, Licensed Real Estate Agent!

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