Overview

My name is Dohn Thornton. My company is HB. Funding Inc. I started my career in Orlando as a real estate investor in March of 2002. I had just returned from working in Russia. I had to leave my Russian wife and two children in Moscow with her parents while I traveled to Orlando to try to find something else after all the jobs for foreigners had dried.

I heard about a seminar that was going to take place in Tampa about short sales. The idea intrigued me. Creating equity from thin air by negotiating with a bank on a mortgage in foreclosure seemed like it would be like printing money. I drove down there for the free seminar, only to find that it was designed to just give you a taste – the real meat on the bone was for those who paid $3,000. I barely had $3.00. Out of sheer desperation, I asked the guy running the seminar, what he would do in my place if he didn’t have any money or credit. I’ll never forget what he told me. He said, “If you just knock on all the foreclosure houses in your area and ask people to give you their houses, you’ll be successful. Once you have a house, you can find investors to teach you how to finish it up.”

I made a vow that I would do exactly that. I’ll never forget. I prepared my first list and drove to the first house. I was so scared. I knocked on the door and said, “My name is Dohn Thornton. I’m a real estate investor. I saw that your house just went into foreclosure. I’d like to take it off your hands if you are looking to get out from under it.” To my surprise, he agreed!

Unfortunately, I still didn't know how to actually negotiate the short sales themselves. I had proven to myself that I knew how to get houses. Now, I just needed to take the next step.

I taught myself through trial and error over the next months, how to negotiate with the banks to do a short sale on the houses I had left. On February 17, 2004, I had my first closing. I made $13,214.17. I framed a copy of the check. Two weeks later, I made $25,000. I was on my way. I made over $500,000 in 2004.

So, it’s 2020 and I’m still here. I’m still doing short sales. I’ve survived a boom, a bust of epic proportions, stagnation, a boom, and now we are on our way to another major recession.