Many people who own notes “think” they are note investors! But many note investors are not “REAL” note investors. True note investors have uncanny skills, wisdom and talent. Several “real” note investors helped me in putting together the following “real note investor” quiz to help you determine if YOU are a REAL note investor or not.
Are you curious to see if you might be a “real” note investor? Take a moment now to do the following quiz. Put a check next to each of the following statements that you can identify with, then add them all up. Answer honestly, no cheating to bump your “real” score.
I would dare to say a REAL note investor should be able to “pass the quiz” or identify with at least 20 of the following statements. Keep in mind that this is not an all-inclusive list, I had to take a bunch out to keep the article at an acceptable length, and there are probably more. Feel free to email me any that you think of. With that said, are you ready? Good luck!
You might be a note investor if…
___ 1 – You have ever heard, “the check is in the mail, they screwed up my social security, I’ll make it up next week.”
___ 2 – You have ever heard, “there is a hole in the roof, can I deduct the cost of the repair from the monthly payment?”
___ 3 – You know the difference between a Mortgage, Deed of Trust and Land Contract.
___ 4 – You can write an initial Mortgage Purchase Agreement from scratch.
___ 5 – You ordered a property inspection on a defaulted note and found out the payor had vacated the property.
___ 6 – You are on a first name basis with your Servicer(s).
___ 7 – Your appraisal and title vendors call you by your first name.
___ 8 – The printed classified ad papers have your credit card on file and wants to know if this is an old ad or a new ad you are running.
___ 9 – You buy your financial calculator batteries in bulk.
___ 10 – You can spot a person bending the truth over the phone.
___ 11 – You habitually carry your financial calculator everywhere and/or have the app on your phone.
___ 12 – You check online arrest records and obituaries for payors who are behind in their payments and you haven’t heard from them.
___ 13 – When you look at a payors credit report with 5 collections and say, “hey, this one is not too bad.”
___ 14 – You can give an initial quote on a note in 10 minutes or less from anywhere.
___ 15 – You have a title attorney, real estate attorney and accountant on speed dial.
___ 16 – You don’t get nervous talking to attorneys anymore.
___ 17 – You can estimate a payor’s credit score by looking at the terms of the note and sale.
___ 18 – Your brain instantly shuts off when you hear a note holder say “I won’t take anything less than the balance.”
___ 19 – You’re talking to a fellow note investor and one or the other mentions having “normal” note payors.
___ 20 – You’ve spent late nights working on the closing documents to get them out quickly and they never send them back.
___ 21 – No matter how messed up title commitment is you don’t skip a beat and dive right in to get it cleared up.
___ 22 – Your friends come over and see your bookshelf is full of books 25 years old with titles and authors like Think and Grow Rich, The Monopoly Game, The Monk and the Merchant, The Richest Man in Babylon, How to Grow a Money Tree, How to Turn $10K into $1M, Security Analysis, The Intelligent Investor, Wade Cook, George Coats, Carlton Sheets, Robert Allen, Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins.
___ 23 – You have spare calculators laying around.
___ 24 – You pride yourself on how quickly you can send an initial quote back…kind of like a tire changer in NASCAR.
___ 25 – You have a stack of blank ready to go pre-printed worksheets on your desk.
___ 26 – Your pocket, purse or phone has a financial calculator in it.
___ 27 – Your friends and family call YOU anytime they have a question about getting a loan and how much their payment would be with such and such interest rate.
___ 28 – The next time your kids’ adult friends mentions they lost their job, you immediately ask how they’re going to pay their mortgage payment.
___ 29 – At a party, you start “screening” the stranger you are talking to.
___ 30 – Your feet have flip flop tan lines because you rarely put on shoes.
___ 31 – When talking to neighbors or bankers, real estate pricing and sales info always seem to come up.
___ 32 – That mental checklist of items needed from a note holder can be recited at will with great detail – at the drop of a hat.
___ 33 – You keep an eye on online classifieds for people selling their properties with Seller Financing.
___ 34 – You cringe if the phone rings and it’s one of your servicers.
___ 35 – You can fill out a note submission worksheet with your eyes closed.
___ 36 – You spend a weekend or holiday morning cleaning up your email box.
___ 37 – A date consists of driving by a property you might buy a note on or already have a note on.
___ 38 – You are tempted to whip out your calculator to verify the details to help a friend when they say they are getting a great deal on a new loan.
___ 39 – Your phone skills are so good that you can do 20+ follow up calls in an hour.
___ 40 – Your kids declare that they will never in a million years be note investors but you know they will.
Now the verdict, add up the total number of statements that you have honestly checked and could identify with. Are you a “real” note investor? Did you have a score of at least 20? 30? Or more? If so then congratulations my friend, you might be a “real” note investor. The bigger your score the more of a “real” note investor you are.
Hope you had fun with this and it gave you a chuckle. We all need to laugh a little every now and then. Be kind, keep safe and stay healthy. Remember success demands action, keep on marketing, it’s going to work! TWITA! (That’s What I’m Talkin’ About!)
Jeff Armstrong of Armstrong Capital has been a note investor and broker specializing in the performing seller financed note industry since 1991. For more updated and current information on how he can help you with your note business, note investments, note appraisals or to request pricing options on a note visit www.armstrongcapital.com to email him and subscribe to Jeff’s Weekly Training & Tips Newsletter.
I probably have more calls with attorneys than with anyone else!
#20 – LOL. You rush to type closing docs and the deal doesn’t close.