One Down, one to go!!

Last night was the successful closing of our last two condos! WOO HOO! They will definately be profitable for the current owners going forward, especially since they are getting the condo association formed. BUT, when you do not have a lot of cash flow (as I'm assuming these guys do) you're kind of limited. We'll get there one day. We broke even on these units and may have lost a little with all the fixes we needed to put into the one unit but all's good.

Monday I am going to pre-sign for the Comeback house. It is scheduled to close Tuesday morning. Yeah, a pretty big loss here BUT over the past few months I have come to terms with it. It is what it is and we will move on! We may even make an extra couple hundred dollars b/c the previous owners left a refrigerator, window A/C unit and an antique dryer. We've been told the dryer is worthless but it's pretty cool looking.

Halloween this weekend - FUN! We're just doing kids stuff but I love seeing them have such a great time! We are also going to the $43k house with the guy that does our inspections. I'm going to see if this is, in fact, the deal I think it is OR if my dear ole hubby is right. I'll keep you posted!

Inspections/Appraisals

The inspection and appraisal are being done tomorrow on the Comeback house. It's GO TIME! This is when we will know for sure whether closing will take place. As of today, closing is still set for next Tuesday. I have no idea whether that will happen or not but I think I'll have a better idea first thing Wednesday.

I took my husband out to see the $43k property and he thought it was a complete gut job. I think he's nuts! For sure it needs work but a gut job?! Urrgh... not sure what to do. I mean it definately needs work. Let's see it needs windows, garage roof replaced, new bath, kitchen counters/sink, paint, carpet, appliances and a bit of landscaping. He said he thought $30k for repairs but I think that's a bit high. However, I've been wrong before (see comeback house : ) ) I'm thinking of sending it out to my buyers list, put an ad in the paper and see what kind of activity I get. I also might get a cleaner in there prior to showing (prior to closing too... sssshhhhh). There are cobwebs with an inch of dust on them in some rooms. Nice!

There is another property I submitted an offer on a while back at $60k, they countered at $72k (original list price $74.5k), I countered at $62k best and final. They passed. The house is now listed at $64k and I resubmitted at $50k with basement mold inspection. Hmmm, we'll see what they say.

Condos are still on schedule to close this Thursday. Hope all goes well!

I think that's it for now.

Has the Comeback house... Come back?!?!

That remains to be seen. We DO have an offer on the table that we have been countering since the end of last week but nothing signed yet. Of course, once signed we need to get through the inspection/financing contingencies! This will be an FHA loan also so that can throw a wrench into closing. I have a good feeling about it whether that be "wishful thinking" or "third time is a charm" syndrome but I'm still keeping good/positive thoughts. She had closing as Nov. 3rd on her original offer so we would close mid-November which makes me happy too. Please keep you fingers crossed to get this one off our books!

We are set to close on our condos next Friday. Looking forward to getting rid of those!

We are also set to close on our next HUD property Nov. 16th. Still not sure whether we will put a little work in to the house (carpet/paint/refrigerator) and sell at $89k or just sell as is for $59k (our PP is $43k)? Here are a couple pictures...

Let's see, what else? My realtor moved agencies and she is even busier now than before. There were 3 properties I wanted to put offers on but never got the written offers from her. Well they all sold. Urgh. There is another property I've been trying to get a written offer on since 10/1 and she STILL has not written it up and faxed it to me! This is even AFTER I've told her about those other 3 properties selling. I know, I know, it's my fault. I was going to talk to her about me getting licensed last weekend when I met her but my husband threw a fit and told me to wait until after the condos closed (he wants them gone as badly as I do). I know she wouldn't cause problems b/c I DO still want to work with her but I guess you just never know? At any rate, the new brokerage is investor friendly and the owner also does rehabs which is good for me. After we sell the condos I'm going to talk to her about becoming her "assistant" so I can submit offers/access mls/etc when she is too busy. I'm also going to ask if I can talk to her new broker about it. As you can see, I'm trying to avoid getting licensed at all costs but counting on just my realtor to get things done is not working in my favor. Okay, enough about that.

Finally an REO came on the market last weekend for $43k. It is in a desirable area, near town, lakes, restaurants, large lot, etc but it was only a 2/1. I have a bad taste in my mouth for 2/1's but b/c of the price I asked to go take a look. Well, this is the first time I've gone into a property where the listing description was WRONG. I know Steph has talked about this but I've never seen it. This listing agent (who is a total B~ BTW) must have never gone in the house. Don't get me wrong, it's not huge by any means BUT it does have 3 BR's, a LR, Family room, porch and kitchen. You can tell it had an addition put on but must not have been re-assessed/updated in system. The garage is marked as a 1 car garage but it also has a HUGE work area so it could easily be made in to a 2 car garage OR you could store a boat or something in there. Anyhoo, I came in at $38k and still haven't heard anything. It doesn't sound like there are other offers out there so not sure why the bank hasn't countered yet? We're only $5k away on price. Hopefully this one will pan out.

Okay, gotta run.

No new contracts

I thought we were going to have another house under contract this week but, no can do. The one I really wanted is in a neighborhood where I have an investor looking, the bank is at $75k and I offered $60k. We were not that far apart. After a couple of counters I went highest and best at $62k and they rejected (they were at $70k). This listing agent said there were no other offers on the table. Oh well, I'll keep watching and waiting. Maybe I'll get it even lower. There was another property in good shape, same neighborhood that came on the market at $82k, I offered $62k. This one is not bank owned but a probate. Anyway, they completely rejected. Not sure if they will sell it for $82k b/c the basement is 1/2 dirt. People do not like that much around here.

Okay, so I just read the post over on flippinghome.com http://www.flippinghomes.com/forum/replies.aspx?tp=1&tr=164355#m179198. This has me a little confused/frightened. Did I misread this or is Steve Cook actually saying to hold vs. rehab/wholesale? I've determined that we are not landlord material NOR do we have the money to put in to rentals. I can't wrap my mind around laying off REI during this time b/c it would SEEM to be the best time to buy. But if people won't be buying??!!?! Okay, someone make me feel better about this....

Unsure of what to do next............

Update on the Comback House and more

So I've received about a dozen calls on the "Comeback house" and not ONE person has called back to take a walk through. OUCH! Did I misread this property or WHAT?! I'm so mad at myself but I digress. Anyhoo, last night I got a call from the buyer who's financing fell through a couple months ago (remember, I thought I was going to puke?). He saw my ad/number and wanted to know if I would be interested in doing a rent to own, which I mentioned to him before but then got the other offer. At the time his financing fell through I mentioned the rent to own to my husband and he was against the idea. We talked about it again last night and we think we are going to go that route. I am going to call him back letting him know how it works. I will need $1k in non-refundable deposit for the house that will be applied to his downpayment and 1 months rent. I will also be crediting him $100/month for downpayment when we close. My selling price will be $79k. He was going to be paying $72k but since we're holding another year I'm upping the price. He will also be responsible for everything in the house. I'm going to talk to him about all this today and send out an application to get things rolling! We'll see what happens. If all goes well I would like to have him in the house no later than November 1st... maybe even mid-October!

I got 2 counters today. Nothing great but no rejections.

We're putting out 2 more offers in the next day or two. One is in the town of West Bend where I had people banging down my door to get the property, the other is in a town near me.

That's all for updates!