The universe WAS listening!!

Yep, we have an accepted offer on the HUD house so, apparently, the universe was listening. Or was it my positive thinking : ) At any rate, the offer was accepted on Friday. We were not sure about his credit but I just found out his score is a 770 (WOW!) and he is going through a local credit union so seasoning should not be an issue! Our closing date is scheduled for Jan. 4th but the guy would like to close before Christmas. I guess we'll have to see how fast his bank moves. They already have the appriasal set up for this week or next so00... maybe?? If all goes well and we close successfully this will be the biggest payoff for us to date. I am not going to post any numbers until we close.

My husband checked the oil tank and it (drum roll please!) was full of oil. Dumb HVAC company. When I called the co. and told them it had oil the guy said, "oh, maybe there is a plugged line?". Hmmm, did you think of checking that a week ago?!?!?

Two HUD properties went down in price but are currently listed for o/o's. We cannot bid on them until next week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that no one snatches them up. However, I'm bracing myself for the letdown since it's happening quite a bit lately! I'm pretty confident I can get the 1 at the price I need and the other is a condo in an area of high priced condos. So, we'll see.

Still didn't hear back on the other REO's. Yeah, I guess they rejected. I'll keep an eye out. Also watching other properties and going to submit on a few short sales.

I think I'm going to Steve's event in the WI Dells on the 10th. I haven't signed up yet but already took the day off work. It's a little over an hour from my house so it will be a 1 day deal for me.

Updates/HUD House

None of the HUD properties we put offers on last week had another price reduction (even though 2 are past due!).

One of the REO offers we put in accepted another offer. We're still waiting to hear back on the other 3. Since we haven't heard from them I'm assuming they rejected our offer. I'll keep watching.

We have a lot of activity on the HUD home we listed. Again, no contracts but a lot of interest which makes me happy. We are hoping for 3 showings tomorrow which is good since it's the day before a Thanksgiving. At least I think it's good! Sooo, I am trying to get the furnace up and running since it is getting quite cold here in WI. I set up an appt for the oil to be filled last Thursday and an appt for the HVAC guy to go out on Friday. Friday I get a call from the HVAC co. saying the oil tank is empty. After I get that message I call the oil company and they tell me they filled the tank the previous day. I made sure they had the correct address and told them I would look into it. I personally checked it this past Sunday and it looks empty to me (but I am no professional). I called the oil company today and we basically got in to an argument on the phone and she accused me of calling her driver a liar. ha, ha. I told her I was just trying to figure this out b/c I need to get my FURNACE WORKING! Urrrgghhh. How frustrating is that? I think the driver filled the tank of the wrong house even though they have the correct address. Our address is 261 South Monroe and I think they went to North Monroe. Just a guess.... I'm rambling, I know.

I'm hoping to go look at some properties Sunday morning to try and get another property under contract. I WISH we could get some consistancy with this whole flipping thang!!

Still haven't heard about my mls access even though I bring it up about every other day. Are you all getting the same feeling as me... he's changed his mind?

Everyone have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!

Not much going on

As expected we received counters on our HUD offers. None were good enough to accept so we are waiting for another price reduction and hoping no one buys in the meantime! Here are the numbers if anyone is interested (By the way, the 1st list price is true. Do you love it?! 1-2-3-4-5-6 They really thought about that list price!):

Listed Price Our Offer Counter from HUD
$123,456 $65k $98,900 (80%)
$94k $50k $65.8 (70%)
$98k $78.4 $60k (80%)

HUD is great b/c you almost always have an idea of what they will counter with. Not always but most of the time. Sometimes they come in even lower. It seems to me that they follow a formula for when they lower the % they will accept. I have found that a new listing will never go for less than 90%, if a property has a "Price Reduction" they usually take 80%, the 2nd price reduction is 70% and "Significant Price Reduction"(s) usually start at 60% and go down from there. I know other people will argue with me that there is no "formula" and they can get HUD properties for much less than what I am saying. This may be true but from what I've seen these numbers hold true. And, I'm sure the house itself/location makes a big difference.

Anyway, enough of boring everyone. We also got out the 4 REO offers I talked about in my last post. My husband went to look at one and he really liked it which is rare. This is the one in a higher price range. When he and our realtor were looking at it another group came to look at the same time. We're pretty sure we are not going to get that one. As for the other 3 offers, we are about $30k apart on price... heehee. One is actually $40k now that I think about it. There is 1 out of the 4 that may come back with a decent counter but we shall see.

Okay, there have been a few showings on the property we just closed on and a lot of good comments but no contract yet. I'm thinking positive thoughts and telling the universe that we WILL have a contract by next weekend!! Are you listening? ha, ha.

I think that's it for now. Everyone have a great weekend!!

HUD closing yesterday

We closed on the $43k HUD home yesterday. I posted pictures a couple weeks ago. It is in good shape, not much needed. My husband went out there today to replace the locks, meet the plumber and have the water/electric turned on. Apparently the plumber told him we need to replace all the water fixtures in the house, including toilets. This was an expense I was not expecting (is there any other?). My husband is of the mind to sell the properties without having the water turned on and let the next person get things fixed. I agree with this mentality if we were selling to investors. However, since some of our homes are sold to o/o's my thought process is to make the property 'move in ready' to start the cosmetic updates. I have found many people to be uncomfortable buying homes with no utilities on no matter what the price. BUT, since we live in Wisconsin and are going into the winter season freezing pipes cause concern too. At any rate, I am going to get them fixed and hopefully entice buyers even more!

Let's see... I put in 4 HUD offers yesterday. I'm expecting them all to be countered, not accepted. I want to know where they stand on price. This is one reason why I love submitting on HUD properties. I'm also going to get another 4 offers out on regular REO properties. We are VERY far apart on numbers so I'm not expecting any positive results but I need to just get some offers out there.

There is one interesting property that I would like to look at soon (those words seem to be the kiss of death for me these days, it has probably already sold!). This property is a bit different though in the sense that it is in a higher price range than I usually go after. It's ARV is a conservative $189k and it is priced at $124k. Of course I have not idea of repairs at this point but want to take a look.

My son threw my phone in the toilet this weekend - good times! So I'm phoneless, it's weird but I have to get another one sometime this week.

Friday the 13th - not having a great week.

The $50k HUD property I was 99% sure we were going to get was sold to someone else. They actually bid $62k when it was listed at $50k. I guess the wanted the house... bad?! I'm still watching to see if it comes back on the market, for some reason a lot of them pop back up. However, I hate to say I'm pretty sure this one is solid. Urrgh. In my neck of the woods HUD homes sit for a while but not this one!

We were set to look at another HUD tonight that's been on the market for a looong time. I looked this morning and it is sold. What the F*$K?!?!?! Frustration sets in.

My meeting with Michelle's broker did not go as I had hoped. I AM getting mls access, I think but I'm sure I'll still have to push for it. He left me a little more confused rather than anyting else. Unfortunately I don't have the time to go into details now.

We were set to show the single mom the HUD property we're closing on Monday, Tuesday night but now she is going out of town. So we cannot show this (to her) until next week. There is someone else rather eager to get in and we can't show her until next weekend. What's another week, right? Anyway, I got 2 ads going in the papers and I think I'm going to list with my realtor for $69k. We'll see how it goes.

What else? We are just coming SOOO CLOSE to getting properties under contract but nothing has been solidifying! Next year I really want to focus on getting 1 property under contract a month and selling 1 per month. This was my goal this year but unfortunately we did not successfully complete that goal. I believe we are going to have to make some tweaks to our processes in order to accomplish this goal. Maybe put in some offers on short sales? We will not be doing another letter campaign in the near future though. The short sale offers would be through my realtor. The one thing I KNOW I have to do, and soon, is organize myself. I'm very, very, very bad and getting and staying organinzed. My office is embarrassingly unorganized. It's a wonder I can flip one house, let alone have a goal of 1/month!

Anyway, I have to go. Everyone have a good weekend and keep making those offers!!

Real quick...

The HUD home for $50k that we looked at over the weekend was nice. Well, as nice as a HUD home can be : ) No work on the outside, nice deck with nice fenced in yard that has a view of the lake (it kind of sits on a hill). The roof/siding were in good shape too. The inside was as expected needing carpet, paint, appliances, etc. It is listed as only a 2/1 at 984 sq ft but the basement is studded out/insulated just waiting to be finished. It also has a 1/2 bath that has plumbing and electric already done including a new toilet and sink. The basement just needs drywall, tape/mud, paint, carpet and some finishing. This would add another 300 sq. ft and a 1/2 bath. Not really another bedroom though unless you made the whole thing your bedroom? It also has a framed out bar for those who like to entertain - ha, ha. Anyway, I think this is a good deal so we are putting in an offer of $48k total so I'm expecting to get an accepted offer tomorrow unless someone bids $50k (which would still be a good deal). Hopefully we'll get this one under contract.

There are also 3 other HUD properties we are watching and waiting to come down one more time to make them good deals. I'll keep you posted.

The HUD home we are closing on Monday may have a buyer. We do not have a contract BUT I think she really wants the house. She is newly divorced single mom looking for cheap housing. Oh, I think I mentioned her in a previous post... her mortgage would be WAAY cheaper than rent. Anyway, she told me today she would be getting a USDA loan which I think could cause seasoning issues. I really don't want to hold the house 3 months if necessary but I think this house would be a great fit for her! IF she really wants to put an offer in I may talk to my lender and see what he can do. I want to help her out if I can.........

I have to go back to work. Later!

The Comback House Came Back & My husband was right...

We FINALLY closed on the Comeback House (and successfully I might add). The closing was Tuesday afternoon but I have not had a chance to post since. We lost more money than I originally anticipated but as I said before I've come to terms with it. Hopefully the next house (closing with HUD 11/16) will cover that loss. I had a buyer who was biting at the bit to get inside. She is pre-approved, she rents at $1,000/mo and is looking to buy in this neighborhood. At the price I'm selling she would be looking at $650/mo (w/ taxes & ins). Anyhoo my realtor said she would take her through and then backed out at the last minute. Of course, I shouldn't have expected anything less. Soooo, to make a long story short, we have a meeting set up with her broker to see if I can become her assistant, get access to mls, lockboxes, HUD KEYS!, etc... If we cannot work out an agreement I told her I was getting licensed. Period. End of story.

On to the $43k house... we went out with our inspector and it seems the property does not sit on a foundation. It was sitting on concrete bricks. Nice. We obviously could not continue with the deal, no one will be able to rehab the house without putting in a foundation and the house is not worth saving so it would be a knock down/rebuild.

There are a few more HUD properties we are looking at. One came on the market this week in a nice area (we sold a home there earlier in the year) at $50k. It is a nice size 2/1 with a 1 car garage. Unless it is crap on the inside we could probably list for $69k. However, the HUD condition report did not state anything that bad but we will see. We are also going to look at a few other properties.

For those who would like emails sent to them when I enter a new post, please send me your email and I will mark you down as wanting updates. My email is eobrien15@yahoo.com.

I think that's it for now. Will update with our findings this weekend.