Chat With Wendy Ceccherelli

Many of you may remember Wendy from the November 2008 REAPS meeting when she was one of the panelist sharing her latest deal in Leschi.  Lately her smiling face can be found at the monthly REAPS meetings as an ambassador and membership coordinator.

Share a little of your background?

I spent 25 years as a government arts funder.  I got started in real estate when I came to the Northwest and loved it here.  Retirement was coming and I wanted options to be able to live anywhere.

What is your latest project?

I am working on a water front property in Bremerton that has a 4 bed house with waterfront and another tax parcel with garages that could be converted to a house.  I am thinking of selling the waterfront home and develop the tax parcel or get the development started and sell it to a developer.

I own a couple of single family rentals in Oklahoma.  They are located in an university town where my daughter went to school.  I am also a money investor in a duplex, 6-plex, and 7-plex.    I have also started doing some property management for a few clients.

Do you have any wants you are looking for?

Like most investors I am always looking for money and credit partners.  I am also looking for acquisition specialists that I can train to help find deals and become equity partners.

How did you get started with REAPS and volunteering?

When I started getting involved with real estate I joined every group available and did as much volunteering as possible.  I started volunteering for REAPS when I first started attending REAPS.  Of all the groups I signed up with I ended up doing more with REAPS.  It has been a great way to learn and network with other investors.  When I first started I underestimated the learning curve and what I needed to learn to be successful.

What else have you done to improve your knowledge?

In order to learn more I studied and became a licensed agent and continued on and became a Broker.

Another way I jumped started my knowledge and real estate investing was by becoming a personal assistant to a successful real estate investor and he became a mentor.  I did this last year with Greg Pinneo.  I was able to see what kind of systems it took and what needed to happen on a day to day basis.

What have you found to be successful in the last 12 months?

The fundamentals that we hear at the REAPS meetings and from the national speakers never go out of style.  For me it comes down to making offers.  If you are not making offers you are not going to get the deals.

How many offers do you make a month?

Not enough!  This is an area where I am putting attention so I can get more offers or LOIs out.

To help speed up the process of getting offers out I like to call the agents first and ask if their client the seller would consider Seller Financing.  I am surprised how many do not understand what I am talking about.  From the conversation with the agent I am normally able to tell if there is a reason why the Seller would not do Seller Financing such as needs cash to purchase another house or estate sale with 4 heirs that all want their money.  I have found sometimes agents will say the Seller will not consider any financing however when I drill deeper I find out they have never really discussed it with the Seller.

How do you go about finding properties?

I search the MLS looking for properties with a lot of equity and there are a lot of them.

I also use direct marketing in finding sellers.  I like using virtual assistants for doing my direct mailing; it is something new I have been working with.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Time management which comes down to systems and spending too much time on things that need to be done but not the best use of my time.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

Attending REAPS and meeting other investors and hearing what they are doing.  It takes a lot of energy and the faith that if you put in the energy it will pay off.

How do you bounce back after putting a lot of energy into a deal that does not come about?

There is always another.  I do not stress too much over the deals I did not get.  I stress more over deals I have that are not going as planned.  However, I stress about them less now than when I first started because I know more and have more tools giving me more options.

To Your Success,
Mitchy

Tweet This Post