Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Lightbulb?

I think I have an idea as to why I'm getting so frustrated/"lost" with my REI lately. First let me say that I'm trying to make monthly goals ala Steph's blog. I don't think I consciously thought about this months goal but it just kind of came to be while I was trying to work through my "lost" feeling. My goal is to just take a step back, relax and try to pinpoint my problem areas. I know this sounds like a lot but it's really not. It is just me trying to take a breather. So anyway, one of the reasons I think I'm getting frustrated is because I have not done a flip since April. It's been 2 MONTHS!! It's not that I haven't been doing REI at all b/c I've been renting out my condos, getting a new rental under contract and trying to sell my 2/1 (thanks Shae for pointing this out to me!). However what I have not been doing is getting properties under contract to flip. Of course it's not for lack of trying but we just haven't gotten a good deal yet. So when I get frustrated it's because I have nothing to flip and nothing on the horizon. I just have to keep reminding myself that we are moving forward in the long-term department and have to just keep submitting offers for the quick flip department! It will happen. I'm impatient and I want deals to happen faster than they do. I need to learn patience!

4 comments:

Shae said...

You've got the right idea! The fact that you're doing some long term cashflow things is really good! As long as you are doing flips you have to be constantly active in your REI efforts. If you can get enough passive cash flow, you're good to go! Seems to me that you have a great balanced approach here. Quick cash and long term cash flow. Keep up the great work!

I too have been baffled by the fact that we're yet to get another place under contract. But nevertheless, gotta keep plugging. The only way to lose is to stop.

Eileen-WI said...

Hey Shae,

Thanks for your words of encouragement! I truely appreciate them but just don't take enough time to post my thoughts!

Have you guys looked at the HUD homes in your county? I seem to have the BEST luck with them. The property I just posted about was listed for $102k so they took a 50% discount. I just don't seem to find that with regular REO's. Not to say people have not gotten those deals, just not me. Maybe it's my area?

It will come for you .... GOOD LUCK!!

Shae said...

Hey Eileen, at any given time I can find about 10-15 HUD properties on the market. The issue for me is that its harder to sell the condos around here and 90% of the HUD properties are condos. There will usually be 1 or 2 SF homes. But hey I should try bidding on those! Thanks for the suggestion :-)

Have you cracked open the Dave Ramsey book yet? I'm so excited that we'll have all of our personal debt outside of the mortgage paid off in July! Then its time to get that emergency fund going. We've cut down our dining out to once a week instead of twice and those savings are adding up and helping us rid the debt faster. I suppose we could also be sacrificing other things but this is working well for us now.

Eileen-WI said...

Yeah, condos are much harder to sell! We had a lot of activity on our condos but financing was our sticking point. You know the whole non-warrantable "thing". You never know with the other 1 or 2 single families though!!

Yes, I read the first 2 chapters. I like his candidness and his ability to acknowledge his own mistakes/shortcomings. But I have to read on... At this point our "flipping money" goes to paying off our debt. We don't have any extra money and I mean NO extra money. I'll read on and get it paid. Gotta go to work.