Hi,
I bought an old mobile home on private land and had it moved to a nearby park. Unfortunately, the seller did not have legal title (Long story). I am in California and the County is very strict about permitting. The County agency wants me to move it, as does the park.
I am discouraged and ready to throw in the towel on Lonnie Deals in general. Has anyone else had a bad start like me, but learned how to make money with LD’s?
Thanks!
Sure we have made mistakes, life is full of small and big mistakes. How we handle them is what defines us.
To tell you the truth, you did not make a mistake doing a lonnie deal. This is nothing like a lonnie deal. You did what many of us have done. You took Lonnie’s book, read it and then went out and did your own thing.
Lonnie always encourages folks NOT to move homes.
Once you moved it, it was no longer a Lonnie deal in my opinion. Lonnie’s system protects your from many of the hazards you let in the door when you started doing things your own way.
When we start doing things are own way we often find out that in hindsight, we did not know what we did not know. You now know.
This is not the end of the world or your career but the best advice we can give for your next deal is to stick to the blue print.
Sorry you had to learn the hard way but rest assured you are not alone.
Tony
Well, find out how you can get legal title and do it. There has to be a way, it may be costly and time consuming but what is your alternative? Move it to a neighboring state? If is just a failure of someone to sign off you may Just have to pay them to sign. If it an institutional problem it will be way more difficult. Did seller defraud you, can you sue or threaten to sue to get him to help you out.
You are now entering the 3rd stage in this game called investing. Tony is “spot on” in his advice and if cash flow investing is going to be your thing you are almost 1/2 way home! Tony mentions the part of the learning curve you now find yourself in - you did not know what you did not know. You now know.
Think of the learning a new trade or skill in this light:
When one first takes on a new skill we all start not knowing what we do not know. Stage one is thus called Unconscious Incompetent. This is actually the least scary part of learning a new skill since we are not even aware of our incompetence.
Once we start down this road we start having experiences quickly (or sometimes not so quickly) realize that: We know that we do not know. This stage is called Conscious Incompetent and it is the scariest part of the learning curve since our brain (and sometimes our ego) feels the pain of our incompetence. (This is the stage you are leaving by posting your questions on this board!)
The goal now is to LEARN to turn our incompetence into competence which should provide a reward (investing is after all about managing risk for a reward). This stage begins the downhill part of the curve and it’s called Conscious Competence. Things, decisions, actions, reactions become consciously more clear each experience after experience - but we still struggle to keep our mind on our business.
Finally many uncertainties start to fade away as our experiences provide us with reinforcing good results and our mind converts these good experiences into memory (like muscle memory if you are an athlete). Our actions and reactions become automatic and the outcome becomes more predictable (remember none of us ever bats 100% and that’s OK). The final stage of our LONG FOUND skill is finally upon us and its called: Unconscious Competence. All top professionals enjoy this - athletes, business people, teachers, pastors, laborers, it does not matter the vocation; when you are a pro you don’t have to think in order to have above average results.
So to recap:
Unconscious Incompetence - you do not know what you do not know.
Conscious Incompetence - you know that you do not know.
Conscious Competence - you know what to do if you do not know and you also know what you did to have success but still have to think about every step.
Unconscious Competence - you know what to do and you do not need to consciously think about the steps needed to succeed.
A final footnote - great investors, business people, athletes, parents, (insert anything here) are always bouncing around these 4 levels of learning. No one makes it to #4 and quits - Tiger woods is possibly the greatest athlete on earth right now in his sport but he still practices consciously because he admits the journey is never ending. So when you run into a problem - give yourself a break and realize you are simply leaving stage 1 and entering stage 2. Take some time to congratulate yourself for where you are today. Get back to studying and keep trying new things. And most importantly - enjoy the ride!
Karl
Karl,
Thanks for taking the time to post this. I’ve been trying to remember the fourth point (unconscious competence) for some time now, ever since I heard you explain this at the early 2007 MOM hosted at your park.
It’s ironic that the stage I could not remember, is the one I have not yet achieved! Maybe that’s what was holding me back!
Jeff
Hi Everybody,
Thanks for the encouragement. I can’t tell you how much it helps to know I am not the only one who had a rough start.
Thanks again! I am so thankful for this community. Peter
Peter,
I’ve made tons of mistakes in this business. I still make plenty of mistakes but they are different ones now and generally fewer. Fortunately, this is a forgiving business for the most part.
Depending on where you are in CA, there may be someone on this board who can partner with you. Perhaps you and/or a partner can buy a piece of land to put this thing on.
Perhaps there are several other options, like Don-NY says.
If the person you bought it from promised a title and none is to be had, how 'bout eating the cost of moving it back to his property and suing him for your money back or placing a lien on the deed to his property?
Can you place an ad on Craig’s list and sell it quickly to a land owner who doesn’t care if it has a title?
Keep at it, Peter. That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Steve
Sorry, what you did was really stupid, how much did it cost you to move it . When did you find out about the title. What are you going to do now? You are right, get out of the business.
nt
Never mistakes just lessons. Gotta love what Tony said= You Never Know What You Dont Know. You also never know when you know enough to get started in any business, becaue the real lessons come to you when the action starts.
Where is the home? How big is it? I own a lot in Paso Robles Ca. that is zoned for mobiles or pre mananufactured homes. It might make a great rental. The title could still be an issue though, because of the permiting guildlines. Let me know if I can help
Best of Luck. This is a great business dont get out of the business adjust your plan and fire again.
Rick Ewens
Garry,
If your goal on this forum is to tear down and demean others who post on here then I must say bravo as you are doing an excellent job of that.
First you attack Greg Meade, who has done nothing but give to and give to so many people that you probably cannot imagine. A man who pays out of his own pocket and valuable time to help hundreds of people for no other reason than he cares. A business man who finds himself in a situation that ANY of us could run into and is now doing his best to rectify it…
… and now you attack this person who has come here to ask for advice for a mistake which he realizes he made. No viable advice or help just an outright attack. Stupid is someone who nevers tries something new, not someone who tries and fails.
I know that you will not listen but maybe it is best that you refrain from posting unless you can add something that is valuable and constructive to the conversation. Funny thing is the person you attacked is the moderator here and can easily make you disapear if he wants, but knowing Greg he will not do that just for attacks against him. Of course keep attacking others and we will see…
To Calgoldenbears,
First off congratulations on actually having the courage and drive to go out an do a deal. That alone is more than most people will ever do. Now that you have done that just figure out what you did wrong, fix it, learn from it and go at it again with this knowledge. The advice given above (with the exception of Garrys) is some of the best you could ask for and I also thank you for posting this and soliciting this advice as I know it will help me and others as well.
Jad
Hey I am sorry. Moving a mobile home with no title to a park which wants you out is not stupid. You guys go on and on about reading and following Lonnies book. Then someone out of the blue does everything possible wrong, either he did not read the book (what would you call that)or he read the book and did about everything the book says not to do (what would you call that). Can you learn from mistakes , of course but if I bought a 2008 new car with no title and had it in my garage what would you call me? I know you guys are being nice and trying to motivate but Garry calls them as he sees them.
In regards to Rick lee and Greg and that mess all I can say is here are the facts as far as I can piece them together
Rick, Greg and TJ are partners in.
2 Rick catches an employee of the other 2 partners , call him because the thief knows that Greg will cover for him because they are in on it. So Greg waits til the park owner verifies that he did not give James permission to steal.
Then the poor guy story over shadows the fact someone has robbed the place blind.
Can Rick possibly make any money on this deal I do not think so.
Ryans post about being responsible is certainly true but I bet you Rick Lee will lose money on the deal due to the theft that no one seems to know about. Any experienced toter, that works area knows that a/c units and unattended mobiles are going to get stolen eventually. Ask Rick why no Big alarm bells went off in his head when the theft started.
I aplogize for being curt and hope you (expecially Rick Lee) the very best.
Oh nevermind. grin
To everyone,
I value your observations, and comments. I also value your freedom to speak your mind, without being told what to say, or how to say it.
I acknowlege that some sharp things were said, and an apology has been brought forth. Now let’s all try to play nice.
That censorsip thing is sooo ugly, I totaly disagree with it. So many men and women have given their life to protect our liberties, censorship, in some ways diminishes that sacrifice for someone to presume to tell another not to speak, or what can or cannot be said.
I may not agree with what was said, but I will put my back against yours to fight beside you for your right to say it.
A while back a thread on a forum that I post on, was locked & then deleted. It was most disturbing, and disappointing, even though I had not participated on it, it was very active, & many participated, I was following it, & it was like something was stolen.
It would be nice, if I had only made such a small mistake in my life, with the resulting small loss, if any.
Plus moving a mobile home twice can leave a very valuable impression on do’s & don’t’s, right Ryan?
If you never make any mistakes, you need to get off of the couch.
Blessings to all,
Rick
Post Edited (02-17-08 13:39)
is making mistakes. What you do with these challenges will probably define how you will do in this business.
You have had some expert advice tendered to you, Worse case scenario, you lose a home and cost of move. I like the idea of craigslist and try to resell with no title…maybe sell as a storage building?
As jad points out, you took the step to do a deal…will this be your best deal? Probably not. But I bet you never make THIS mistake again. Maybe stick a little closer to Lonnies model on the next one.
Ironic really, three years ago, Karl Warner flew to Ocala to look at a L/H package I was doing on a lake. I told him I did a straight cash sale for the land, and if I had been thinking, I would have bought using SDRIRA for Option and been able tostick some cash into Roth on sale. He said, “This is one deal Greg”. Sometimes we lose sight of the big pic, but it is the truth. This is one deal Peter, you will get much better at this after some experience.
Good luck with this and thank you Steve for bringing in one of my favs from Nietzsche.
I’ve never censored a post here…I believe in freedom of speech and I believe you need to do a few more deals before making a decision to leave this business…Someday you might laugh about this. Probably not today.
Regards,
Greg
Karl,
I just read your post. It sounds like something I learned in Landmark. Have you taken the Wisdom class?
Sandi
I just freed up a title in a similar deal to what you discribe. I bought a mobile with a promise of a title, it didn’t need to be moved but, was secured with a landlord lien. If anyone tells you “landlord liens are simple,” they lie!
It turns out the park owner was unable to get the title for the original mobile I purchased. In return for my NOT pursuing fraud charges, we settled on another mobile in the park which had a title.
The part that got me the most was when I went to reread the chapter on titles. Lonnie writes that you should see a title and ID before purchasing. I kicked myself the whole night.
I know that I won’t be doing any more deals without seeing a title and ID. Trust is a fine thing, but in these deals paperwork is a must. Be careful about moving this mobile or doing anything to it, remember, it’s not legally yours and you could be exposing yourself to unnecessary liability.
WAmobiles??? Haven’t seen you here before - where’re you at?
Hi Sandi,
No. Not familiar with the Wisdom Class. I learned it early into my 10 years of Sales and Sales Management with Toshiba. Unfortunately I do not remember the origin.
Karl
My wife and I belong to another group forum for our other business and when something is post on it everyone starts calling everyone a liar and that can’t happen you must be doing something wrong ect… No one wants to help anyone out, but on this site it is refreshing that everyone is so willing to help someone out. KEEP IT EVERYONE IT HELPS WHEN YOU ARE NEW ! Hopefully one day we can do the same.