Kinda boring

I don't really have anything new to report but felt the urge to "blog". Christmas was busy but good. The snow here has all melted, we're just waiting on the next round of snow. I'm waiting for January to roll around so we can close on the condos. I'm kicking myself that I didn't counter for the closing date to be sooner. As it sits closing is the end of January. Why didn't I ask for mid-January? That was dumb. Live and learn...

I put offers in on 4 properties early last week, 2 late last week, we're doing another 2 this week and am waiting on a HUD to go "public" next week. We'll see if anything comes of these.

That's about it... my title was right!

To pay or not to pay, that is the question

I got a call from my buyer on Friday (for the condos) b/c he wants to look at another property I have under contract. This is one of my HUD properties. While on the phone I told him we were countering their offer for them to pay closing costs. We discussed the situation and decided to split the closing costs. I decided to keep greed at bay, get a signed contract, close and move on to the next property. What is that saying? A quick nickel is better than a slow dime? Something like that? Anyway, hopefully he'll purchase the other property too and I'll be closing 2 in January. That would be a first for me! Closing 2 properties in 1 month. One day I'll be closing 2 properties in 1 week OR 1 day. Baby steps...

We have another 3 - 5" of snow coming tomorrow. I just love Wisconsin!

Written Offer

We got an offer on the condos from the guys that bought our first set of condos - Yah! We only have one sticking point right now. When I sent out the email 2 nights ago I stated the buyer would be paying closing costs (I paid at the last closing). I did this b/c I paid more for these condos and I know I'm giving a great deal. Anyway, these 2 guys jumped and wrote the offer w/in 24 hrs however they are asking me to pay closing costs. I'm trying not to get too greedy but if they want the properties they should pay closing costs, right? I hate to lose the sale but, really, I'm giving these away. AND, the dingbat of a realtor told MY realtor that if/when I buy the rest of the units in the complex he wants to buy them from me. Cool. This makes me think they will pay closing costs too.

Anyway, there are 2 other pair of condos bank owned (Wachovia & HSBC). Neither is listed yet so I'm in the process of trying to get to the right people at the bank. I can't STAND waiting on hold and am sooo glad I do not do short sales any more. Maaan, that was just not a good fit for me. Anyhoo I need to get back on the horn and see if I can reach the right people at the bank. If anyone reading this good contacts for me please let me know.

Oh yeah, I had to stay home from work today b/c we got a foot of snow and it's expected we'll get another 3-5" tomorrow. We have to drive to IL tomorrow for a Christmas party, should be loads of fun!

Have not heard back on the property where the bank wanted to "negotiate". I know ALL banks want to negotiate but it's just so funny having the listing agent actually verbalize it. Maybe he gets a lot of people walking away from the first counter?

I caved in... Again!

So the whole time I was negotiating on the 2nd set of condos I was planning on holding/renting/L/O/etc. Point being I was going to hold them. Now that we've closed and I just think about holding I get sick to my stomach - ha, ha. No, not that bad but I do become a nervous wreck. I know I feel this way because it is unchartered territory, fear of the unknown, yada, yada, yada. So on my drive home from work last night, which has been up to 2 hours EACH WAY this week b/c of the snow, I told myself I was going to send an email to my buyers list and I did. Immediately I got an email and a VM from someone saying he was interested. I also had another email this morning from the same guy who bought the first set of condos giving me a "tentative offer" but that he needed to talk to his partner (the dingbat of a realtor I spoke about in previous blogs). I would be making waaay less money this way BUT it would still be a good payday and I wouldn't be holding on to the properties for an extended period of time.

When I asked my realtor if she could meet them this weekend she said sure, no problem. She also mentioned that she was going to be there for 1 appt on Sat. and 3 appts on Sunday. We'll see how it all pans out. Wouldn't it be a Christmas miracle to sell to qualified retail buyers?! I'm not counting on it but it would be a great present, that's for sure. Not THAT would be a great payday!

I put an offer on a property for $42k and has a list price of $89k. The bank came back at $86k but, here's the kicker, the listing agent told my agent to not let this discourage me. He told her I should counter again, the bank was ready to negotiate. I'm not sure I'll get the house for $45k (which is what I came up to) but I thought it was funny.

I've been watching a couple more HUD properties and some other REO's. Again, haven't been making many offers b/c of what I have in the pipeline but will be sending them out with a vengence if I get these condos under contract!

Portfolio Loan

I asked my mortgage gal if I can hold a 2nd mortgage on the condos if someone wanted to purchase and she said yes, they would do a portfolio loan. Esentially she doesn't care where the 20% downpayment comes from as long as they are only funding 80% of the loan. That's cool, now I just need to find me some buyers.... ha, ha. Just writing out that last sentence made me laugh.

More condo saga

Our closing on Friday went off without a hitch... weell, not quite but almost. At the last minute we were able to schedule the closing for the 2nd set of condos on the same day. There was some running around that needed to be done but whoever needed to "get it done"... got it done. With that said I didn't see the HUD statement for the 2nd closing until about 1pm on Friday. It showed my downpayment as being 28% of purchase price and the email stated I needed to bring over $4k in certified funds to closing. WTF? No, uh uh. I called my mortgage gal and we got it straightened out. She was questioning it too when I called.

But before all that went down I got an email from the newspaper I was going to place my ad to sell/lease option these things. She told me my ad didn't get in the paper b/c my credit card was declined. What? I had just used my debit card and I had plenty of money in it. Not only that but even if I didn't have any money my bank "fronts" me the money for a fee. So why the hell is it getting declined? I called her to be sure she had the right number. She took the number again and said it would be run that night (by corporate) and she would let me know today. She called me this morning and told me it was declined again. WTF? I used it ALL weekend for Christmas shopping and had no problem! We have to get this figured out before Thursday at 9am or it doesn't get in the paper again. We need to be advertising these things like crazy!

However, it is listed on the mls. I signed a listing agreement with my agent on Friday. She told me then that her broker might have an interested party. We'll see what comes of it. I'm sure nothing b/c he hasn't even gone through the properties yet but she has been telling me about him for 2 weeks : ) Anyway, originally I was planning on holding these but now that they are mine I'm nervous. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a landlord?!?! We'll see how that goes if it comes down to it. Our price is $119k each with the next condo priced at $169,500. Since any buyer would need 20% down (b/c of the non-warrantability "thing") I am thinking I will offer a 6% credit (I think that's the max FHA will accept), make sure the buyer can put down 4% themselves and then carry a note for the remaining balance. If I do this we should still make a pretty penny on each unit. However, I need to confirm that my lender will accept a seller backed note for 10% of the downpayment. I have a call in to her but she hasn't called me back yet. I'm trying to come up with any ideas on how to get the buyer to a 20% downpayment. Any and all suggestions taken.

Now that I've rambled on I am going to run... everyone have a good night!
I feel like I've been rambling on so I am going to run. Nothing else is happening. I've backed off on submitting offers b/c I have the other 2 in the pipeline and not sure I will be able to get rid of them quickly.

If it's not one thing, it's another

The listing agent that was such an ass earlier in the week has cooled his jets. My realtor told me he was much more mellow the next day. He must have found the error in his ways OR my realtor is not telling me the whole truth about his rudeness. Either way I'm content. I don't want to burn bridges with anyone. I may do a GREAT deal with this guy in the future - who knows?!?

We're all set to close on the condos next Friday. I have an ugly feeling that there is going to be some kind of snag but nothing has come up so far. This is the first time I'm closing with these investors and I was told "he doesn't back out of deals". Famous last words, right? There are 2 investors on the contract and one is a realtor. I've been working mainly with the realtor who is a complete dingdong. He's the one making me nervous. The other guy is super laid back and I get a confident vibe from him. The realtor on the other hand... I ofter question how he can run a successful business?! I'll keep everyone posted.

What else? Well, I am a nervous wreck having 4 properties under contract! I keep thinking of all the bad things that can happen, listening to the "doom and gloom" on the tv/radio, even the flippinghomes forum has had a few comments. The comments have not been "doom and gloom" but just to be more cautious, which I try to be on all purchases. Anyway, I'm questioning my purchase price, where they are located (one is on a busy street), the level on the others driveway (it's long and steep and we've had a lot of snow), etc... The selling prices will be $30k - $40k below comparable properties and 1 needs zero work. Maybe paint and carpet but definatlely not necessary. The other needs very little work but I'm still nervous. Also, they are HUD properties so I can not show them until after we close. At least I have not found a way to show them before we close. They padlock the doors by me and I would need to get the key from a realtor every time I showed it.

On to the title, "If it's not one thing, it's another"... my husbands car died. The engine seized. Right when I think I'm going to get that damn credit card paid off we need to put the money somewhere else. I hate cars! Urgh... I know the credit cards will get paid off eventually but I NEED to get my debt to income ratio down, especially in this market.

On to something fun.. me and my girls are going downtown Chicago this weekend with my family to see the Christmas windows, see Santa and go ice skating (and maybe have a couple drinks : ) . Looking forward to it!!

Have a good weekend all!

Heeeell No

So I went through the questionable property on Thanksgiving and thought "heeell no" walking through. I don't know what my husband was thinking when he said it was okay?! Last time I send him to go look at a house! ha, ha. I told my realtor we had our contractor out to look and could do no more than $25k. I sent this message on Friday and got this email from her today:

"As far as Lakeshore is concerned, it is getting a little sticky. It is already in their system as an accepted offer due to the first paragraph of the addendum talking about verbal agreement. It is not binding until you sign the addendum but the agent is getting a little edgy and may try to make you stick with the offer. Let me know what you think."

Here is my response:

"That agent can kiss my ass and take me to court. I had an inspection contingecy. The inspection did not go well - end of story. How can he make me "stick to the offer" with a contingency in place? What is the point of contingencies if an agent is going to "force" someone to buy anyway? This really ticks me off. How concerned should I be with this guy?"

Am I wrong here? I have lowered offers/upped offers/backed out because of what my contractor has said. What are contingencies for? Oh well, they never got a check from me so I will not lose my EMD but I may go to court?! I doubt the bank will want to shell out that kind of money for a property being off the market for 4 days.

Urrgh.. off that subject. Yesterday we had 2 HUD properties accepted. They are good prices but they accepted off the bat. I should have offered lower. I hate that feeling. So now we have 4 properties under contract and am getting a little nervous. I guess it's a good nervous but I hope like hell we can move these.

I'll keep ya posted.

Holidays are comin'

This is the first holiday in a long time I have not been completely beside myself with fear on "how are we going to handle the holidays financially?". My husband gets laid off from November through March'ish, it's a yearly thing. Although I enjoy him being home because it takes a lot of pressure off me, it is an obvious strain on the pocket book. And even though we don't have a ton of money in the bank I know we'll make it just fine. Our bills are being paid off slowly and we just are not arguing as much about money. I guess what I'm trying to get at is this real estate "thing" is getting our family where we need to be. As I stated before I still have to do my goals for next year but I've been thinking about them a lot. I'll sit down one day soon and write them out.

Okay, on to business. We are set to close on the condos December 12th. I got a call from my buyers lender and it looks like everything is good to go. I really hope it doesn't fizzle at the last moment. My buyers told me their bank knows EXACTLY what the situation is so I am not expecting any bumps (famous last words).

We got an accepted offer on the 2nd set of condos also. I am paying a bit more per condo ($70k) but the spread is so great I just had to pick them up. With these I am going to do one of two things. But first I am going to talk to my loan officer and see if their bank accepts down payment assistance programs for down payments (i.e. Hart or Nehemiah). If they do I am going to advertise a lease/purchase with 20% down payment assistance. Hopefully this should get my phone ringing. If the bank does NOT accept this form of payment I am going to call around. If I can't find a bank I will just advertise a lease purchase at a lower price. My initial intent with these properties was to lease them anyway to have monthly income. We'll have to see how it goes...

We also got an accpeted offer on another property. I'm not crazy about it and haven't faxed in the addendum. I'm not sure why? The numbers are great and it's in a nice area (the same neighborhood where I had several people wanting to purchase one of my other properties). It has kind of a weird lay out and it is only 2 bedrooms. I'm going to hold off on faxing the addendum until Monday or Tuesday and see what they say. Maybe I'll try to get it cheaper?

The numbers:
ARV: $99k
Repairs: $15k
PP: $40k

It is a Fannie property so I can only resell at $48k. Another reason I am a bit apprehensive is b/c if I cannot find a buyer I'm not sure I'll be able to get a loan with my mortgage gal. She is pretty adament (sp?) about only doing one property at a time.

Oh well, a good problem to have I suppose. I won't know anything until next week.

Soooo, everyone have a great Thanksgiving!!

Condo Offer/Closing

We lowered the price on the condos to $79k/condo due to the association (or lack thereof) issues. The original buyer was still interested and faxed over an offer. I faxed back a counter just clarifying some things so hopefully we'll have a deal. We're set to close with the bank this Friday and our buyers want to close December 12th. Cross the fingers that this goes through. IF we close with them we'll be able to pay off another credit card and that will leave us with just one left! Of course we still have a car loan, a HELOC and our mortgage. I would like to pay them off in that order but we'll see how that goes.

We have an offer on another set of condos in this complex. Usually the bank comes back the next day with a yes/no answer but we've been waiting about a week for an answer. Weird? I kinda think the listing agent is up to something. Maybe he knows the buyer or he's trying to push through their contract? Don't know but I want these b/c I want to keep them for rentals. Hopefully we'll find out soon.

I've been putting a bunch of other offers in but nothing has come through yet. Banks in my neck of the woods are not discounting anywhere near the amount of Steph's properties. BUT, we'll keep at it until we get a more consistant flow of properties.

In the next couple of weeks I need to sit down and write out my goals for next year. This year my goal was 4 properties and I think I am at 6. I would like to get one more under contract before the end of the year. Initially my goal for next year was 6 but I am going to up that to 8 properties.

More glitches

It doesn't look like re-zoning the condo to a zero lot line duplex is possible. I sent an email out to my buyers list updating them of the "issues" and an original interested party said they were no longer interested. The other buyer said he was still interested but would get back to me - who knows. I was thinking of backing out and losing my EMD but have changed my mind. I am definately closing and may even hold these on land contract or something. They should cash flow nicely. Initially I was worried about having to hold on to the high interest down payment LOC. Then I thought about refinancing but apparently Fannie and Freddie changed the rules to 1 year seasoning for refi. So I called my gal at the bank and she told me they would do a HELOC (4%) on one of the units to pay off the high interest LOC - sold!

We'll see what happens. I have not really been making too many offers but have been watching daily. The same reo's are still out there and have not been reduced recently.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

Condos - the good, the bad, the ugly...

So I mentioned in the last post that we had 2 condos under contract. The appraisals came back at $129k each and the loan is good to go. I sent an email out to my buyers list and had a contract in 2 days for full asking price ($89.9k/condo). However, they did not enter an amount for earnest money. Yeah, I'm going to put a property under contract with no EMD?! What the hell?! Anyway, we're submitting a counter offer changing terms.

We also found out that there is no association. The idiot that built the complex never put by-laws in place and never formed an association. This is throwing a wrench into the whole process. Having no association in place makes the complex/units non-warrantable. I don't know the exact definition but it would make it very difficult for people to get a mortgage without 20% down. Who the hell has 20% to put down on a property!? Okay, so we create by-laws to get things going, right? Well, who is going to be on the board? Not me. Is a new owner going to want to be the only board member or part of a board at all? For arguments sake let's say they would consider being on the board, here is the other problem. All but 2 units (out of 12) are going into foreclosure. In order to get a warrantable loan, 80% of the units need to be owner occupied. Because almost all are going into foreclosure they are obviously not owner occupied so we still have the same problem. My loan officer told me to check into changing the condo in to a 'zero lot line duplex'. We would alleviate the condo association/by laws AND the owner occupy problem.

All of this just came up yesterday so we haven't fully looked into the 'zero lot line duplex' possibility but I hope we get something in place soon. If this is a true issue my buyer will back out and understandably so. I would like to get this done and closed (which would be mid-December) and have another credit card paid off. I can't WAIT to be able to put some cash in the bank. We're gettin' there! AND, as I said before, there are 2 more units up for sale with another 2 coming down the pipe. I want to have a resolution on place so if/when we get the next 2 we'll know what to do.

Gotta run...

Back to work...

Yesterday was my first day back to work. It was okay. Actually it's more relaxing here than at home with the 3 little ones- ha, ha. I'm just lucky that it has been pretty slow, I haven't been running my ass off. A good way to get back in to the swing of things!

Okay, our closing went smoothly this past Friday. No hiccups, yeah! We're going to clear about $11k. We've had the property since May so it certainly was no slam dunk but I'm out of it and can move on.

We had our offer on the 2 condos accepted. In ends up they accepted $134k for both units ($67k/condo for us slow at math). My realtor wanted to initially market them for $109k but my thought was $99k (I like to always be under $100k). The cheapest condo in the whole county is $99.9k and the cheapest one in this town is $174k. However, there are 2 more units up for grabs and if I take less on these 2 I can submit offers on the other 2. Sooo, I'm thinking of starting them at $89k?! I would probably clear about $10k/condo. But if I wanted to hold on to them a little longer I may clear $15k/condo. I don't know, I'll see what she says.

Anyhoo, as I've said before, this will be my first condo flip so I hope I'm not getting into anything horrendous. It's all about buying them right and I think these are a phenomenal deal (4 years old with zero work?).

I called the local bank I used before and she said the same thing, "just send me over a signed contract and we'll get things moving. We already have everything on file". Again, how cool is that? I haven't asked her how many I can do at one time? I'll have to find that out b/c I'm still eyeing that HUD property that needs to be reduced one more time before I can buy.

I'll keep you posted!

Closing

We are set to close this Friday at 10am for the Jefferson Street house. Rural development was given the money so everything should be ready to go. I never think it's a "done deal" until the deal is actually done! ha, ha. But, this is a good sign!

The offer for $35k was rejected so we submitted a $40k offer as best and final. Still haven't heard back but while waiting I have been rethinking this purchase. We'll see what they say and then decide.

We got a counter on the condos but not close enough to accept. The listing agent told my agent if we came up a little the bank would probably take close to $140k. I love these kind of listing agents. Just tell me where I need to come in. If it works for me we have a deal, if not no deal. Ya know?! So we countered back yesterday and still haven't heard.

I submitted 2 other offers. One the listing agent called my mortgage guy asking for an updated pre-approval. Isn't that weird? Wouldn't he normally go through my agent for an updated letter? No biggie, my mortgage guy sent it to him but I thought it a bit weird. Whatever...

I think that's it for now. I go back to work Monday... can you believe this?! I have mentally prepared myself though so I'm not dreading it AS MUCH. I'm meeting friends from work Friday for a few cocktails and am a little nervous : ) I haven't been out in a loooong time BUT I'm looking forward to it.

I put in 4 more offers this week. The property I talked about in the last post was reduced $20k to $54.9k. I guess the bank took to heart what we said about structural issues. So we resubmitted an offer of $35k. We'll see what they say. They came down $20k when it was sitting at $74k so maybe they'll do that again?! ha, ha.

There are a bunch of condos in foreclosure that the bank is giving away 2 for 1 according to my realtor. Each is assessed at $173k and they are selling both for $159k. They are 4 years old and need ZERO work on the inside. The only thing needed on the outside is landscaping and some driveway work. Seems too good to be true but we submitted an offer of $135k for both units. We'll see what happens. If we get them my realtor wants to start them out at $109k for each unit. The cheapest condo in this area is currently $174k so the price is right! There are 2 more ready for sale but I do not want to take too much on right now. IF I get these and IF they sell like my realtor thinks I will bid on the other ones.

I put an offer on a HUD property in IL that is in my old condo subdivision. It is a sought after complex so we'll see.

We are tentatively scheduled to close on my prehab next week. My buyers are going through the government rural program and they are waiting for funding (the rural program). Who funds them? The government... crap. They SAY they are getting the money for sure it is just a matter of time. Who knows though with everything going on today. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Nope... no deal

The bank declined our offer of $33k. They said the best they could do "right now" was $51k (which was my original offer). I sent them pictures of the structural problems too but I guess they are going to wait for an uneducated buyer? They should disclose the problem now but... who knows? So I'm back to waiting until the price is dropped. At least I know my lending bank is on board! Hopefully they'll drop the price soon so we can get in another offer.

I submitted 2 offers so far this week. Each is on a property where the price came down $10k. We'll see what they say.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Accepted Offer?

I was looking through the REO's earlier this week and I saw one that I hadn't put an offer on. I saw it listed and even inquired about it with my realtor but never put an offer on it. Weird? So I told her to put in an offer of $51k. It is listed at $75k and ARV is $120k. Two days later we got a counter from the bank for $53k - SWEET! I thought, "Finally!". Today I went out with my contractor and there are some issues - CRAP! The house needs to be jacked up to replace some rotting wood in the basement. He seemed to think it wasn't that big an issue, $5k - $7k but it would definately need repair. The bathroom also sags so reinforcement is needed there too. We did not see this stuff when we went through yesterday (me and my realtor) so I'm glad I have him check out all my houses. This is the first big thing he's seen in all the properties we've gone through - worth the money to me!

So I had my realtor submit a counter at $33k. My contractor thinks the major repair will be about $20k (max) and I think the cosmetic/interior work will be about $20k (max) so there is my offer. I do not think they will take this offer but I can't afford to sit on a property with structural issues. Either way the bank will now have to disclose this issue and fix OR come down drastically in price.

Nothin' else happenin'... All my other offers were rejected : ) I still have that auction next week to look forward to - ha, ha.

Oh yeah, for the above property the bank is requiring proof of financing 7 days from acceptance. I wasn't sure I would be able to submit this BUT I called the lady from the local bank I used for the last flip and she said no problem. They still have our information from before. How cool is that?!?! She said as long as it wasn't falling over it wouldn't be a problem!

Somthing comical... I put an offer on a property a long time ago for $51k, the bank rejected. Since then the bank has lowered THREE times and each time I submitted an offer. This past time their counter was close but not close enough. Today it was relisted for $54,900 - ha, ha! I'm surprised the listing agent didn't call my agent to see if I was still interested?! Anyway, we're submitting another offer at $40k just for shits and giggles. The listing agent told my agent they would probably reject... whatever. Screw 'em.

That's it for now, everyone have a good weekend!!

We went to look at 3 houses last week. Two were the HUD homes and the other was a bank REO that wanted a 'best and final'. All 3 properties were actually pretty nice and I would love to get all 3, if possible. However, right now the HUD homes are still too high, they will not come down any more at this time. I have to wait until they are reduced again. If they are still available I will submit another offer. The 3rd we're still waiting on a response but I don't think they are accepting.

In the meantime, I have been submitting more offers. Oh yeah, I'm going to my first auction on the 16th. There is a property we looked at a couple of weeks ago but the bank decided to list it with an auction house. The first auction resulted in no sale and this will be the 2nd auction. My dad is going with me and I told him I can only go up to $50k. We'll see what happens...

My realtor told me that on 2 offers I submitted the listing agent was trying to "push through" the sale. Apparently they thought the offers were fair but the hard headed banks were not willing to listen. They'll just wait long enough for my offer to go even further down so they can make less money. Whatever... they're stupidity is my reward.

Otherwise, nothing else yet. I've met my goal of 4 properties this year but I told myself I would like to get 2 more done. I'm workin' on it...

Nothing coming my way

Okay every one of my offers was either rejected or countered for a whopping $3k - $5k discount. Well, with the exception of one HUD property. I thought they would discount at a 60% NET of asking price but they countered at 70% NET asking price. We're going to look at the house tomorrow but I think that is still too high for me. That sucks b/c I've been watching this property for a looooong time and it will probably sell to an o/o. This is in a neighborhood that sells but my price would not have a big enough discount even for an o/o. I guess I'll find out tomorrow what the property is really like?

I just feel like things have stalled. I know something will come up eventually but I want something now, of course!

Enough of the venting...

Life and more offers

I'm looking out the window today with a beautiful sleeping baby in my arms thinking, "this is the life". I looked around and have a completely messy house (the 2 and 3 year olds are not happy unless there is crap thrown around everywhere), the kids were feeding the dog their lunches and I have a mound of laundry. BUT, I still thought I would love to have the option of staying home. I know I sound like a broken record but this is WHY I continue with REI. My main focus is my family. Without them I don't know if I would have been successful, not that I am all that successful now but I'm doing it! Don't get me wrong, some days I wonder how I will make it through the day without killing someone but I STILL do not want to go back to work. I guess I should be lucky that I have a job to go back to with everything that is going on with the economy. I will try not to complain too much, some people have nothing.

On to the offers - I made 7 offers this week. The 2 HUD properties I've been watching FINALLY went down in price. One was a 1st "Significant Price Reduction" and the other was a 2nd "Significant price reduction". So I offered accordingly. I'll find out next week if they were accepted or rejected. Another property I put an offer on went to auction yesterday. I haven't heard whether it was bought at auction or if they will counter my offer. I imagine I'll hear some stuff Monday. I hope something pops soon because we're broke again. With all the work we've been doing on the house and having to get the mini-van, all our reserves are gone... again. This sucks! I can't wait to be somewhat in the clear of debt. It is a terrible thing!!

Gonna go give the kiddies a snack.

Almost........

So a property came on the market in a good town for $59k, I put in an offer of $55k right away (sight unseen) to get something going. They accepted the offer but I had to go see it and I had an inspection contingency in my offer. Well, the property was WAAY worse than it appeared in pictures so I lowered my offer to $20k (I know, you can all laugh). They came back with an offer of $50k. I told my realtor the highest I would go is $25k, cash. I wasn't crazy about the property and truly didn't want it but lo and behold they accepted my offer of $25k. Woo hoo! This was Friday.... Monday morning rolls around and I get a call from my realtor saying someone else put a higher offer on the property over the weekend so they're taking that one. CRAP! The acceptance was verbal and only I had signed the counter offer of $25k as of Friday.

This would have been a great deal! Urrgh. I am looking to put 2 more under contract before the year is out. I'm submitting 4 more offers this week, maybe 6 we'll see.

I only have 4.5 more weeks at home and then have to go back to work. I'm going to go cry now... Oh yeah, I actually did 2 chapters in my real estate course today. I only have 2 left. Now I have to sign up for the test. Not sure I'll pass but I can take it again - ha, ha!

Closing yesterday & offer

We closed on the 2nd HUD property yesterday. Glad that one is done. We sold to an o/o who needed to be handheld through the process. She used a local bank so that made seasoning a non-issue. From the time we closed ourselves to finding a buyer to closing with that buyer was about 3 weeks. I thought we were going to make more on the property but ending up netting about $5k. I was a little bumbed it wasn't what I was initially thinking but that is my fault, I screwed up the numbers. Hey $5k is better than a sharp stick in the eye AND for 3 weeks worth of "work", it's not too bad.

We have an offer on our Jefferson Street property too. They are first time homebuyers so I hope their financing doesn't fall through... They came in about $8k lower than list price but we're taking it. We do NOT want to sit on it through winter and would rather sell with a lower profit than do some type of owner financing (if possible). With this one we should net $8k - $9k. Still sucks for the time we've had it (4 months now) but we should make a profit instead of a loss. Again, better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Nothing in the pipeline but looking/watching/making offers every day.

I'm off to a crying baby... 5 weeks left at home. Even more of a reason to bust my butt so I can be home in 2 - 3 years!

Closing and offers

I'm not sure how to move pictures and do not have time to figure it out right now so the top is my 2 girls, the baby and my 2 dogs.

So it's been a while since I posted but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to set aside time these days to blog. Every time I turn around something is happening in the house. The girls are fighting, crying, hungry, etc... the baby is crying, hungry, wet, etc.... Good times!

We're on point to close next week on the 2nd HUD property (to sell it). YEAH! We'll have a bit more money coming in. I was planning on paying down a credit card BUT we need to get a mini van. So, 1/2 of it is going to a down payment for the van and we're still going to have a hefty payment. It's always friggin' something, ya know?! I know you all know that! With that said at least we'll have a down payment and some cashola in the bank. Not a lot but some. It will come in handy. We have to fix the roof on our personal residence (we had some water damage over the summer) and replace the roof on the garage.

I put in an offer on a 3rd HUD property but it was rejected. I'm watching 2 others as well. I have to wait for each to be reduced again and then place offers.

We put in 5 other offers this week too. Nothing to mention though. One we're pretty close but it appears to have more damage and less bathroom (.75) than I expected. We'll see if it gets accepted and take it from there.

There are 2 other properties that were reduced by $10k so we're resubmitting offers on those too.

I haven't done anything for the RE classes but plan on starting up on that next week (hopefully). I would like to finish before going back to work.

Okay, gotta run.

It's a BOY! Closings and more....

Well, I finally have a few minutes to tell anyone reading this that we had a boy! His name is Aidan David, born on 8/18/08 and was 9 lbs, 12 oz (ouch!) and 22 inches. We have 2 little girls so getting a boy was a thrill. We didn't know what we were having but both my husband and I thought 'girl'. Anyway, everyone is doing good.

This past Tuesday we closed on the 2nd HUD home. There were some glitches but it ended up closing fine. When I was in the hospital I put 2 ads in the paper to sell the property "as is" instead of rehabbing. Since we're STILL holding on to the Jefferson Street property we were getting nervous about having to sit on 2 properties (as I stated in previous posts). Anyway, we received about 30 calls in the first week and about 10 calls this week so far. This morning a gal called who is already pre-approved so I told her we would be at the property at 11:30. She met us there, she liked the property and we signed a contract. She was headed to her bank to give them the signed contract and I think she wants to close within 2 weeks. Let's hope it goes through. She is using a local credit union so seasoning shouldn't be an issue. What might be an issue though is the fact that the bank I used for financing didn't know I was going to "flip" this property. I wasn't planning on it initially but we ended up going that route. Do banks get mad at this? She didn't seem too pleased when I told her I may have interested parties. I hope she doesn't get too mad as I wanted to build a solid relationship with this bank!!! We'll see how it all goes and I'll keep ya posted.

We have not submitted any new offers and the ones we submitted a while ago the banks would not come down enough to even warrant looking at the property. I am, however, still watching other properties to see when they will drop in price.

Okay, that's all for now... going to take a nap : )

2nd showing last night

We had a 2nd showing on the property last night and both sets of parents apparently did not like the basement... What?! Okay, the house is about 90 years old with a stone basement. What do you think you're getting? A finished basement with full bar and large screen TV. Oh yeah, and it's also $25k under value? Maybe I'm off on my numbers, I don't think so but the more I'm getting these comments the more I have to wonder! We still have the other 2nd showing with the guy that wants to see the garage. He hasn't gone through again and the garage is what needs the MOST work - crap. At the end of this month there will be a change. Either the price will go down OR we will make more changes to the house.

I decided I'm going to market the 2nd HUD home "as is" at $69k for a few weeks before putting any more money into it. I placed ads in the paper today and have called a couple people to see if they are interested. I have a couple more people to call but I will not be able to get into the property until after closing so I don't want to say, "yeah, we can't get into the property just yet". I bought for $62,740 so this would not be a huge pay day but if I can sell for a few grand that would be just fine in my book. Wish me luck on this one too! The other property is just pissing me off!!!!

I think the property I put an offer on yesterday has an accepted offer. It is no longer listed as for sale. I'll have to ask my realtor. Another property I put an offer on (that was declined immediately) came down in price by almost $10k. We're still about $23k apart but maybe they will at least look at my offer this time. We're resubmitting.

Still going through my pre-license DVD classes and I've fallen asleep twice. woops. I have learned a couple interesting things but for the most part VERY boring. Especially since I know this is not for a "real" real estate job but rather my personal interests. Anyway I'm a little more than 1/2 way done. I'm not really sure how I'm going to remember everything for the test since it will most likely be done in the next 2 months (before I go back to work - SOB : ( ). I'll figure something out even if I have to take it a couple times!

Still no baby but we did get our loan!

I posted on the forum that we did get the "in house" loan from our local bank. The only things we had to submit were a copy of our DL's, 1 pay stub from each of us, our signed contract and that's it. The downside, as I stated on the forum, is that we need to put down 20%. I'm not all that happy about this but I want to establish a relationship with this bank to hopefully do many, many more deals going forward. Ultimate goal is to establish a LOC to access when making offers!

We had 2 second showings on the Jefferson Str property this week. I think one showing was last night and the other... well I'm not sure if he went back yet. He wanted to go through the garage/work area. When my lovely husband put on the new lock he did not leave a key in the lockbox and proceeded to lose the key. So, we had to go out this weekend and cut the lock off. There goes $18 down the toilet : ) I'll just add it to our all ready growing holding costs. My fingers are getting achey from having them crossed until we sell this place. I would be ecstatic if we had a contract before the 25th which is our second closing.

I am putting an offer in on a HUGE victorian that needs a lot of work today. I haven't been putting in offers because of everything I have going on but this one I couldn't pass up!! It was just reduced to $34k and I submitted a $21k cash offer w/ inspection contingency.

Well Friday is my actual due date but I'm going to see the dr. tomorrow and we're setting up an induction appt. I hope we don't have to go that route but... whatever it takes, I guess.

That's it for now. Talk to everyone soon!!!

No baby yet... oh yeah, maybe no new loans for me either!?!

Yeah, no baby. I am hot, tired and crabby dammit I don't know how I'll be able to survive another 2 weeks?!?! I guess, just like everything else, I'll just muddle through.

So, my mortgage guy tells me I no longer qualify for the loan that I got to close the last HUD property. Of course I find this out 2 weeks before I'm supposed to close on the 2nd HUD property. Nice, huh? I guess it has to do with the new FHA guidelines and my debt to income ratio is too high. Since my husband has sucky credit I've been doing this on my credit alone and we DO have a lot of credit of which I'm trying to pay off with the profit from our houses. It will take us a LONG time to get out of debt. We're doing it little by little though.... At any rate, I started calling around to small, local banks like everyone says to do (I'm a slow learner) and have connected with a gal who is trying to get me an "in house" loan through their commercial department to get this done. We have to file an extension for closing by Friday if we're going to go through with this so she'll have to let me know if it will work for them. They are concerned we're holding the other property with no offers and my debt to income, of course. She did mention if we could clean up my husbands credit a bit than maybe a LOC would be a better option for use - what?! that would be AWESOME! So possibly the profit from the next house will go to cleaning up his credit if we could get the LOC.

Otherwise with all this crap I may have to put my dad on the loans. He offered up his credit but I've been trying to avoid that for many reasons. If we get declined from this bank, we'll most likely lose our EMD, back out of the deal and I'll have to talk to my dad about it again.

I have to say I feel like I'm starting all over again. Calling banks/brokers to see if I qualify for a loan even though I know I do not. Also, the hard money guys that I had as a "fall back" are not loaning any more. I am very frustrated and am starting to lose focus. I KNOW the losing focus has to do with the baby coming too but the getting declined now doesn't help either!! Urrrrghh.

There was an open house this weekend at the house and it went well I was told. A lot of people went through and a few went through after the open house and another one tonight. My realtor seems to think we'll have something by the end of the month. I like her positive attitude but I really hate getting my hopes up and then having it fall apart. If we don't have anything at the end of the month we're going to have to either update more of the house OR drop the price.... I'll have to talk to Dave about that, I suppose

Is anyone else sick of hearing about Brett Favre or is it just me b/c I'm in WI?!!? Who cares already!!??!?

Baby?

So I thought I was going into the early stages of labor yesterday... no such luck. I'm not due for another 2 weeks BUT I was a week early with my 2nd and expect to be early with this one too. With that said I'll probably go past my due date! The good thing is I am not working any more and, can I tell you how much I LOVE not having to rush, rush, rush anywhere. Well, I did have to "rush" to my pedicure this morning : ) Yep, I can live without a 9 - 5 job.

Okay, we have two somewhat serious people looking at the Jefferson Str. property. One likes it a LOT but isn't pre-approved. They are working on that now before they submit the offer (so my realtor says). The other is pre-approved and is looking at putting a lot down but is going through tomorrow. We'll see what happens. I'm glad people are actually saying the like it!!!!

Nothing happened on the offers I submitted. One had an accepted offer already, one came back at asking price, one came down $3k and the other was flat out rejected - heehee. We are going to submit another offer on a short sale property. I asked my realtor to get the BPO, which she did, and now I'm submitting my offer. I put the offer in at 72% so we had some wiggle room but should be a pretty good deal if we could start negotiations!!

I started my RE license training yesterday (DVD's). It's enough to bore someone to tears... agency, sub-agent, broker, co-broker, single agency, blah, blah, blah. Oh well, have to muddle through and get back to work........

Finally making more offers

We are submitting 4 offers this week - finally! I have been watching properties to bid on but never had my realtor submit. Not sure why? I think I'm a little gun shy since we already have the 2 under contract. Sooo, I'm submitting very low offers. Offers that will be "laughed at", I'm sure. But that's the kind we're supposed to make, right? Not expecting any to get accepted BUT I just need to get "back on the horse" and DO something.

Had a couple more people go through our property but no offers. I guess I'll have to settle for not having an offer on the house in the first week : ) Still stressful but we're working our way through it.

I think I will need to buy the other property with a HML and then get refinanced out of it. My problem will be getting refi'd out of it, I think. I will have to do the same thing as everyone else and find a small bank to do it for me. Even that will be difficult I think. Then I will try to market for sale for a couple months then do O/F if it doesn't sell (which I don't think it will). In fact, I'm still having second thoughts about it. I'm thinking I should have the mortgage guy get me out of it. I feel like I made a commitment and need to follow through but on the other hand my gut is telling me it's not a great deal. Follow my gut, right?!

2 out of the 5 showings

According to my realtor both showings went well, however:

1st showing: The buyer did not like the cabinet placement in the bathroom. Okay... change it. I know, it's the market we're in. Everyone wants something for nothing for houses these days (including me!). My husband keeps saying, "it's $25k under value what do these people want?". A perfect house!

2nd showing: Divorced woman who just started looking. She's not going to buy anything yet...

I know it's only been on the market a week but I wanted to see some action! ACTION baby! Of course, me being me, I'm a nervous wreck about selling - IF I'll sell, WHEN I'll sell, IF we'll have to take a big cut in price, etc, etc. I guess we're going to wait a month and then lower the price. Urgh too much stress for me! I'm like a roller coaster of emotions - happy, excited or bitchy and freaked out. My poor husband!

My biggest concern is holding both properties at once.... Last night my husband and I talked about the 2nd property b/c there isn't as much spread as the first property. We decided to "go for it" and see what happens. Right now even a small profit is better than no profit.

I need a little luck on my side these days. It only takes one buyer....

5 more showings....

Well, the girl never came back through with her dad. Not sure if they just haven't found the time OR just not interested. According to the realtors she really liked the house?! We are need to hear the truth about what people like/don't like about the house so we can tweak here and there.

At any rate, my realtor told me yesterday there are 5 showings this week. Let's hope something comes of one.

I'm going to the 2nd HUD property tonight to view and make sure there is no water damage. Shouldn't be...

I haven't been putting in offers lately just because, well not really sure why? There are a few I would like to submit on but I think my mind has been on other things. One being I can't stand my job and the thought of coming back in 3 months (after maternity leave) is killing me already! My boss, as I've stated before, is an ass - just a spineless ass. I guess I should be lucky I have a job though, right? It gets the bills paid, for now. I am going to look through properties by end of week and submit offers either by EOW or early next week. I HAVE to get something in the pipeline.

Nothing else new for now...

First Showing

Day #18

We had a showing on the house last night - the girl who has been waiting to go through. At least that is what my realtor tells me. Apparently she liked what she saw b/c she is going back through this weekend with her dad. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I am in no way, shape or form getting my hopes up but you never know!!

We also signed a contract last night to list the property for 3 months. If it doesn't sell within 3 months, we'll have to rent or o/f. Don't really want to do that b/c I've got a lot of money out with downpayment and repairs.

I went to look at a property in the same town as mine that is listed for $97k. This is the REO where they countered with the same price? Well, we looked last night and it is a piece of shit! LOTS of repairs needed. Now, the realtors need to take buyers through that one first and THEN take them through mine! ha, ha, ha.

I am going tomorrow night or Saturday to clean a bit. It needs to be sparkling or the best I can get. I'm really not looking forward to it since I am friggin' 9 months pregnant! Damn... I can honestly tell you that I despise cleaning anyway, even my own house. In fact, when I sell this one I am going to get someone to come into my house once a month to clean. My 2 big ass dogs keep it nice and dirty for me (Norman, my St. Bernard and Pabst, my choclate lab). I will have to get pictures up here! They're so damn cute! I'll also try to post some pictures of the house...

Updates...

Day #17

The hardwoods are done, the minor roofing issues are complete, new stairs coming into the front door are done, carpet is going in as we speak (I hope), power washing is happening tomorrow, trim is going in around the front door Saturday morning, the "painter" is coming back tomorrow to fix his fuck ups (excuse the language) and then it will be going on the market Saturday at $99k (ARV is $125k). The house still needs some updating but it is definately "move in ready" now and they can make updates as time goes on. At least that's how I see it... we'll see how buyers react. We're offering bonuses to both agents and a 3% credit to a buyer also. Anything to get the house under contract ASAP!!

The buyer for the 2nd HUD property is not writing. He is upping his offer for the short sale property with First Horizon. I just do not know what this guy is thinking?! Even if I didn't have the other property I wanted him to buy, I would still think he was an idiot for upping his offer. Again, the ARV for the ss is about $150k and repairs are between $35k - $50k depending on foundation issues. His current offer (that the bank declined) is $110k - already too high in my book. Now he is upping the offer?! I think he's nutso. Too many other good deals out there. He will be using the house for a rental but still, how will it cash flow? Inquiring minds want to know!!

I printed out the fax for the new short sale I will be working. You know, the one I really don't want to do. BUT, I figure I have some time on my hands so I'll just submit and see what happens.

Not happy...

Day #15

Why in the world did I think we should "prehab" this property?!? I soooo do not know what I am doing! Yes, I am definately learning the right and WRONG way to do things but there seem to be too many wrong ways! ha, ha. And, the budget has gone up another $1k - of course. Now we are looking at $7k. There were some roofing issues that I didn't know existed until late last week... urgh! Next one will go smoother, right!?!??!?!

Okay, so we went to the house on Saturday and I was not happy with the paint job at all. He did a really crappy job on the lower level. He started with the 2nd floor and that looks okay but he must have been in a rush to get the first floor done and it doesn't look good. I told my husband it looks like an REO I would look at and say, "new paint job". We had a friend do it... I know... I don't even want to go there! 'Nother lesson learned. Anyway, we are refinishing the hardwoods on the first floor and doing carpet on the stairs/2nd level. I'm hoping beyond all hope that once this is done it will change the "look" of the house. Also, we're getting the outside power washed so, again, I'm hoping it will look "prettier" on the outside. I'm becoming a nervouse wreck!!

I actually got a fax from First Horizon re: the ss I've been working on since December '07. Yep, 7 months later and they still declined the offer. Seriously they have their heads up their butts! Remember I am only working this for the LM fee and the realtor has a buyer (the guy I was hoping would buy my 2nd HUD). Depending on whether the buyer will up his price by $20k, he just may buy my HUD after all. Either way it doesn't matter to me, I'll be making about the same on either deal. Just so long as one goes through, I suppose.

The 2nd offer I put in last week was countered at list price, list price! Why not just decline my offer? I'm still going to look at it on Saturday b/c I'm going to be in the area. What the hell.

So that's it about now. I need to find another wholesale property to quick flip like I did a couple months ago, we're running low on funds - AGAIN. I can't wait until that is not longer an issue. Does it ever go away!?!?!?

Change of plans...

Well, Home Depot completely pissed me off so we are no longer going with them. All over $159! Long story short they neglected to tell me about the extra charge ($159), just put it on the bill and asked me to sign. When I questioned the one girl said she would talk to mgmt. I never got a call back from her so I called again. This lady told me I needed to call back at 0730 the next morning. When I told her the other lady was going to talk to mgmt she said, "You need to call back tomorrow morning at 0730!". I hung up on her... I was soo pissed. THEN my realtor said her husband works for a flooring co. and maybe he could match their price (why she didn't offer his services before?!). Anyway, he was on the same page price-wise as Home Depot so he went out to measure. The whole bottom level (except the kitchen) has hard wood floors so he suggested we refinish the whole downstairs hardwoods and just carpet the stairs/upstairs. My husband and I discussed this but it seemed like it would cost too much. At any rate, by refinishing the hardwoods downstairs we'll add another $500 to our budget. I think I am going to be roughly $1k over budget. I wanted to be somewhere around $5k but it's probably going to be closer to $6k. My realtor has someone that's been waiting to go through after everything is in and wants to see it on Tuesday. My husband and I have been running our rears off trying to get everything done by then BUT if we re-do the hardwoods I do not think that is going to happen. She can wait another day or 2, right?! Wouldn't it be "perfect" if she bought the place!?!? Wishful thinking, I know. I want to do an open house in 2 weeks if she doesn't write.

Not sure if the landlord is going to buy my other HUD property. I haven't heard from him in 2 days and he's the type of guy who would email the same day, if possible. Soooo, I'm thinking of just fixing the one room and either trying to sell or do a lease/option. These damn HUD properties are very, very hard to show prior to closing!! That's the one bad thing about them!!

I put in another offer this week on a property in the same town as we're doing the pre-hab. I hope they at least counter, it's in a nice area!

Well I'm heading out and will be running around this weekend for the house, I'm sure!

Day #10

The carpet is ordered, measured and should be installed by EOW or beginning of next week. Yes, I'm already off schedule. I also forgot I need to get the front stairs repaired. Not a big deal but trying to get someone on the phone is ridiculous! One out of 4 people answered today and he said he'd give me a call back in 30 minutes... that was 2.5 hours ago. Niiice. Oh well, it's going on the market once the carpet is done and we'll just say the stairs will be done b/4 closing.

Apparently there are birds/water getting in to the attic from a broken eave (we think) so my husband needs to get out there and repair it asap?! I put off the power washer so we don't soak things. AND we're starting to get more rain here. Even pre-habs are a pain!!

The guy who wants to do the short sale faxed me his info. 2 days ago. Hmmm, what's it been? 2 or 3 weeks? I just don't know what to do with that? Do I want to take it on? No, not really. Haven't decided yet. Suggestions are welcome (and no, I do not know other short salers around here to refer the deal).

The other offers I put in were rejected. I put in another offer yesterday, we'll see. I've been watching some HUD properties but they have not gone down yet. Nothing in the pipeline...

I sent an email to the guy who was interested in my other HUD property for sale (the one I haven't closed on yet). I just want to know if he is going to write or not. If he doesn't write than I need to start the ball rolling on my end.

That's about it, nothing new unfortunately!

Day #4

Almost all the painting is done in the house. The painter ran out of paint so we gave him something very similar that we had at home. It was a little darker so he mixed with white paint but it's still darker. Oh well, one room a little darker than the others shouldn't be a big issue?! I have NOT ordered the carpet but have been comparing prices all week. I would love to use a local carpet store but they are so much more expensive than the big stores (i.e. Home Depot). I've compared 3 places and Home Depot seems to be the best route as far as price and convenience. I am going on Sunday to order.

The plumber has got everything in working order so that's done.

There is one window that is missing the glass pane we'll need to replace. Didn't notice it before but should not be too expensive to replace.

I want to get a used refrigerator and stove.

We have a guy coming out to power wash the exterior next week.

I also didn't notice that the washer and dryer sit in the kitchen. This is very concerning to me as I would never buy a house (personal residence) where the washer and dryer are in the kitchen. Now, my only saving grace is that I will be selling the property $25k - $30k under value. Hopefully this helps people "overlook" this OR decide they can move to the basement?!

I think that's it for the pre-hab....

On to our 2nd HUD... We did get the "official paperwork" back today. I sent an email to the interested buyer and he's going through with his realtor. I am SOOO crossing my fingers that he writes! At the price I'm selling to him we would only make about $4k but that's enough to cover our expenses during my maternity leave which is what I'm most concerned about now.

I am also getting my realtors license this year. I was planning on doing it at a live seminar during my maternity leave but am thinking that may be WAAY too hard (I always think I can do more after the babies!!). I think I'm going to do the DVD's not the live session. It is recorded classroom sessions. My last day at work is the end of July and I'm due August 15th. This way I have 2 wks to do the DVD's and, hopefully, take the test prior to baby being born. Jeez, just typing that it seems like a difficult task. That's my plan, we'll see if it comes to fruition!

I'm going to the lake for the weekend am looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll relax a little bit!! Hope everyone else has a great holiday weekend!!

Day #1 of PreHab

Okay, so we have officially started the work on the 1st HUD property. Carpet should have come out today and floors bleached. Not sure if the painting has begun but for sure tomorrow. I have to get to Home Depot or Lowes to pick out carpet THIS week and set a date for installation. I want the house listed by mid-July. The electric and water were turned on and a plumber came out today to make sure we were not leaking in a million areas. Buying "as is" can be a little scary.... Oh Yeah, I'm also getting 3 estimates for power washing the outside of the house. Dave said our power washer was too small and would take him forever and a day to get it done. And, since he is working 6 days/week, 10 - 15 hrs./day I didn't want to eat up another one of his days. Sooo, I had a nightmare last night that when we got the property today the roof was leaking everywhere and there was flooding in the house! Thank goodness it was just a dream!! : )

Remember the guy I went to meet a couple weeks ago to start a short sale deal? He never called me back or sent me the paperwork. Figures. This is why I hate them so much! I didn't call him either b/c I am not going out of my way to get them to sign on just to back out later on down the road!

The ss I'm working on with First Horizon ordered a 2nd BPO.... It came back HIGHER than the first. I am soo done with this one too. The bank ordered it without called me OR the listing agent so I'm assuming it was just a drive by. Now, if a bank is ordering a 2nd BPO based on contractors estimate, Home inspection, CMA's, etc. wouldn't you think the bank would insist on an interior BPO? I just don't get their thinking? Anyway, I gave the listing agent the phone number to the Loss Mitigator and she hasn't heard anything either (I don't think... I'm going to email her now!).

I put in an offer last week that was declined. They accepted another offer. I'm watching another HUD property to see when it comes down again in price. This next price reduction should be a "significant price reduction" so I'm going to put in my offer. I drove by it b/c I was in the area over the weekend and it looks nice, actually. The only obvious problems are that it is on a busy street and is facing a bus company.

No buyer

So, the person I really thought would buy the HUD property wasn't interested. His reasoning? He didn't like the basement and there was a boiler, i.e. no duct work to put in central air. BTW, I told him it was a boiler about 3 weeks ago?! Whatever. The people never called to have their contractor go through either. Whatta ya gonna do? So, we have someone coming to paint in a week and we're hoping it will take a week to paint. He is also going to rip up the carpet, bleach the floors and power wash the siding. After the painting is all done we're going to have the carpet guys out. I'm hoping to have it on the market in 3 weeks. Has anyone ever put a home on the market before it was complete?! Probably. So, once the carpet is out and the floors are bleached (smell is gone), maybe we'll list. We're going to list it at $89k, I think. It has an ARV of $125k so someone is still getting a good deal!

Our offer was declined for the Whitewater property. I'm actually kind of relieved! I was stressing a little about having too many properties under contract. I KNOW it's a good thing but if I have to close on them myself, it would be too hard. I don't have enough buyers to push my properties.

I do, however, have an interested party on the 2nd HUD property that I have under contract. We're going to show him before we close which is a big NO NO for HUD but we're going to try and keep it on the down low. My starting price with him was for $74k and I just lowered it today to $69k. We have it under contract for $62.7k. I won't be making a killing but I really just want this one gone. If I wasn't sitting on the 1st HUD property I wouldn't be as stressed but, hey, if I can make $5k I'll be content!

Off to put the kiddies to bed!

Today's Closing

We closed on the HUD property today. It seems like forever since we put the offer in but it's now officially ours for good or bad?! Of the 3 people that looked at it tonight only 1 was mildly interested... not good. His estimate was already at $20k and he was still counting. My contractor and myself were thinking in the neighborhood of $15k - $20k, depending on what you wanted to do. They may be bringing their contractor through this week but we'll see? Soooooo, I guess I'm going to be setting up carpet/painters for the next week and get estimates. I need this one OFF the books before August. I'm sure I'll get an ulcer if we still have it and I'm delivering the baby!!!

I put in my best and final offer on the Whitewater house for $55k and $3k EMD. I should find out tomorrow if it was accepted. The house was on a HUGE lot and it looked okay on the inside. There was some water damage/mold in the laundry room but didn't seem too bad. If they accept I'll have my contractor go take a look as the front room sloped. If I get this one I really need to simo close it b/c, as I said before, getting 2 loans probably is not in the cards for me. AND, I still have that other HUD home under contract. I may need to back out of that one, we'll see? IF I were able to show before closing it wouldn't be too bad but since I have to wait for closing it gets too hard. Of course, I'm starting to get nervous that no one will want the property.

Here we go again, cross those fingers for me!!

Closing and counter

I emailed my mortgage guy last night to find out where the prelim. HUD was so I could get my downpayment in a certified check over the weekend. He calls me today at work saying I need to get to my bank asap b/c HUD is requiring I wire the funds by 12 noon. Well, I work an hour from my bank and couldn't leave even if I wanted to. So of course, rush, rush, rush and got the funds wired in time. I'm not sure if it's just me but it always seems so feast or famine. When we get close to closings it seems like I work off adreneline. There is SO much going on. This one isn't too bad but the last one where I did the simo close was crazy!! It's all good as long as I keep the deals going, pay off my debt and work to become full time - my ultimate goal!!! Each deal gets me one step closer!

We got a counter offer on the property that I offered $47k for and it's listed at $59k - the Whitewater house. They came back at $56k and a $2k EMD. Update: My realtor just received a multiple counter offer and we need best and final by Monday at 9am. I am going to look at the property tomorrow. I know I should remove all contingencies and up my EMD to $3k or something but I am so uncomfortable not having something to fall back on. As I've stated before, my biggest fear is foundation issues. I don't think I'll be able to get anyone out there to look over the weekend - maybe? Here is the picture of the house. I'm assuming someone was rehabbing it b/c it was built in 1885 but looks like new construction from the outside. I'm so curious to see the inside! Maybe during the rehab they F'kd some things up? I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

HUD Property #1

We're set to close the first HUD property this Monday, June 23rd. I'm sure you've heard, the midwest has had terrible flooding and it has affected the neighborhood I'm buying the house, unfortunately. My realtor has gone out to look and so far so good BUT we're going to take another look on Sunday just to be sure the river has not found it's way to my house. So far I have 4 people who are going to look at the house - 2 are cash buyers and the other 2 I'm not sure about. I'm hoping one will sign a contract. However, if they do not I'm going to put in paint and carpet and sell for a bit more money. Homes in the $85k range in this area (pre-flood) were selling very quickly. I think I could list the house for that price after minor updates and sell fast - I hope. I'd rather do a wholesale deal but I'm not sitting on this one like I did the duplex. I'm going to set up appointments with painters/carpet people next week.

I saw another house that I put an offer on a while ago back on the market. There was an offer that apparently fell through. This was months ago, I can't believe it has taken this long to get back on the market? Whatever... we're going to put an offer in tomorrow. It's listed for $59k and my offer is for $47k just to see what they say. The ARV would be around $125k. Unless there is something majorly wrong with the house, it is another great deal -- even at the $59k. I just cannot offer full price though. We'll see what the counter is, if any. Actually, IF they did accept this offer (or something close) it would be really hard for me to come up with funds to close since I have the other 2 properties under contract. I guess I'll cross that bridge if/when I come to it.

I'm going to meet the pre-foreclosure guy tonight at his house. I'm dreading it so bad. I just know he's going to back out or not be interested or whatever. Anything to waste my time. Boy, have I gotten sour on homeowners?!

Think that's it for now......

HUD Property

We looked at the HUD property last night and it seems to be in pretty good shape. Nothing needs to be done to the kitchen/bath/bedrooms except paint, maybe new linoleum in the kitchen. Also, the kitchen does not have appliances. The living room (an add on) needs new sub-flooring in one area and then carpet. This room wouldn't even need paint. The roof needs some work and the siding was not done properly but nothing major. We were a little concerned of the add on and how it was built but neither my dad nor my contactor could get in in the crawl to take a look. This is the one area I'm a little nervous about. My contractor didn't think it was too big a deal which makes me feel a little better. But, since it's a HUD I will not be able to show the property until after closing. This part SUCKS! Since I'm getting a loan for the HUD property next week I don't know how difficult it will be to get another loan. My ideal would be to have the 1st HUD property sold by the time the 2nd HUD property closes! We'll see if that happens...

I'm still going to submit offers but I'm going to make them waay LOWER. Up until now I have been submitting offers using Steve's 70% formula, which is great. But, since I have 2 going now I don't want to get overwhelmed - as much as I would like to be. I can't get "stuck" with a house. If I do get "stuck" I have a back up plan (rent) but I can't do that with more than one house, at least at this point in time.

I still have a lot of debt to pay off and a baby due in August so I can't get too ahead of myself!

Next week I am going to call a couple local banks to see if they will work with me in getting my loans OR some type of LOC. My mortgage guy is great but his cc fees are in the area of $2.5 - $3k for a loan of $58k. More like a HML if you ask me.... he gets it done for me and that's what matters for now. I just need to see if a local bank would be better. My credit is good but my debt to income is SUPER high and I can't use my husbands credit - it sucks.

The worst thing they can say is no and I've heard that a lot!

New Start

This is the start of a new blog here BUT I have been blogging over at www.FlippingHomes.com for over a year now. The FH site rocks! I probably would not have done anything close to what I am doing now without this site. I'm serious. If you haven't checked it out go now... www.FlippingHomes.com. I'm going to post a link to my blog from last year so others can read it and see what I've done:

http://www.flippinghomes.com/blogs/viewblog.aspx?b=89

The above blog started last year March through today, June 11th, 2008 (my daughter's 2nd birthday!). I've closed 3 deals successfully, have another one closing June 23rd and just got another one accepted today.

So here's the deal... the property I got accepted today is another HUD owned property. As stated in a previous post (see above link) my mortgage guy told me that if a HUD property sits for a certain amount of time, they will take a net of 50% of list price. This home is not in my target area but I thought I would test his theory. It had a "significant price reduction" label so I thought, "What the hell". My initial offer was rejected but they gave me the net price they were looking for, which was 60% of list price - still a good deal all day long. We are going to see the property/sign contracts tomorrow night. According to the HUD inspection report it sounds like there isn't too much wrong, at least nothing major. The list price is for $96k, it has an as-is value of $128k (which is a bunch of bs, that is most likely the ARV) and my offer is for $62,700. I'm hoping no more than $10 - 15k in work.

The property we went to see this weekend was a piece of crap. I kept my offer at $55k but I'm sure the homeowners will decline. This is not a bank owned property. The RE agent needs to re-think his list price!

I had an offer on an REO duplex a while ago that needed a lot of work and had water damage. The bank declined over and over. I just got a note from my realtor saying they will accept my offer now. It's my turn to now say - "Declined"! I don't know what I would pay for it but it certainly wouldn't be $55k! We've had terrible rain the past week and the basement in this property probably has water to the ceiling. Not to mention the water damage in both units.

I had to re-schedule my appointment for tonight with the pre-foreclosure guy. I forgot it was my daughters birthday. How bad a mother am I?!?! We're rescheduling for next week Wednesday at 5pm. Just throwing that in in case I forget the time : )

I have not contacted First Horizon regarding the SS I needed an answer on by Friday, June 6th. The buyer wants me to keep trying but I thought I would lay off for a week and see if they (FH) got back to me. By the way, I did add him to my buyers list. He's buying up properties for rentals so I hope I can find him something soon!

Gotta run...