Thursday, June 24, 2010

It's been a while

Long time, no talk! Unfortunately I do not have too much to add from my last post. We closed on the "water house" last Friday, thankfully there were no delays. This weekend my buyer is going to repair some busted pipes so we can get the water on/appraiser in for his loan. One step at a time.

STILL no new properties under contract... urghhh!!! I just know something is going to pop soon but it's been a while and I'm starting to get frustrated. Of course I will not stop until I get one (which will be soon) but it is still frustrating!! : ) I've been making offers daily, looking at houses but nothing is solidifying. I know, I'll end up getting 3 under contract at once. That's usually how it works, which is A-OK with me!!

We almost had an "as is" offer on the property I co-own. You know, the "A-hole house"? Unfortunately for us that never happened. The guy was showing all the signs of writing an offer but, for whatever reason, he never did and stopped returning calls/emails. Crap! Oh well, back to sprucing it up a little.

That's really it for real estate related stuff. It's been pretty quiet since my last post.

Insanity update: I took my measurements last weekend and did not lose as much as I thought. It was a total of 4 pounds and 3.5 inches. I'm still working out daily, well this week is off a bit b/c I'm on the early, early shift and getting up at 3:45am to work out is too much for me. I definately can feel/see a change so I'm not stopping until I get to my goal. It is just taking a little longer than I anticipated!! Oh well, I will get there.

Heading back to work.... Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

WHEW... A little overwhelmed!!

The past few days have been a total whirlwind, in a good way. It started Friday night preparing to have a 4th birthday party for my daughter on Saturday. Saturday was crazy finishing things up, having the party. Sunday I set up a couple showings for the "water house". The one guy showed up with everyone he knew, I think. Actually they were the nicest buyers I have had in a looong time. He brought his electrician, plumber, HVAC guy, roofer, etc so they could look at everything. They were all his friends, they all live in town and they all knew what a killer deal it was. This is the buyers first time buying a home so he wasn't as casual as his friends. At any rate he decided he wanted the house, we agreed on price and I told him I would send him an offer to purchase later in the day (this was Sunday).

On Monday I got a brand new offer to purchase from his attorney and I thought the deal might be dead. The attorney lowered the price, asked for concessions, me to pay for gap insurance and a letter from the city regarding the zoning status of the house. I was so frustrated BUT I kept my cool and we worked through every issue to date. I sent off a counter offer yesterday and recieved the signed acceptance today. Yeah. He is getting conventional financing through a local bank and I spoke to the lender yesterday. He assures me seasoning will not be an issue but I lost faith in what bank people tell me. It's unfortunate but true. I've been told the exact same thing before and at the nth hour I'm told seasoning will be an issue. However, I'm taking him at his word for now. I'm a little more at ease because he is a local bank and I am not making a killing.

The next hurdle we will have to cross is the appraisal. I have no doubt it will appraise for what we agreed on BUT the bank wants the water on for the appraisal. We can't turn the water on b/c there are broken pipes. Yikes. Well, during the buyers initial walk-through his plumber told him they were going to do a full re-plumb when he moved in. On Monday the buyer asked me if they could do the full re-plumb for the appraisal instead of wasting money on minor fixes and then tearing it all out anyway. I told him that was fine and his lawyer is drawing something up for that as well. My thought process was that the buyer pay for the fixes and IF (if, if, if) he cannot get financed I have it inspected and then pay for the plumbing. I mean, it needs to eventually get fixed anyway. Side note: I just got a fax from the lawyer regarding the plumbing. It's basically an email in fax form, this guy is old school. He also "gave me permission" to speak to his client. What? I wish he had an email so we could correspond that way... Geez lawyers are a PIA!

Another (little) hurdle.... This buyer is going to want to get in there and pressurize the pipes right away. My closing with HUD is next Friday, we are actually closing 10 days EARLY!! This is an absolute first for me and is perfect for my situation. Well, perfect would have us closing this Friday... see I didn't exactly tell him that I didn't own the house yet. I don't outright lie, I just adjust my words a bit. I find that some people get scared off, think you're doing something illegal, confused, etc. Hopefully I can put him off until next weekend to look at the pipes. He has a LOT of time to get that done since our closing is set for July 21st.

What else? Oh, I am using private funding for the downpayment which is going to be about $23k. The private lender is my mommy : ) The agreed upon return rate is $2k so she will be making that much in a matter of 1 month. Not bad! I just found out yesterday that someone else wants to invest with me. My aunt's "gentleman caller" - heehee - was talking to my husband yesterday when he mentioned that he wanted to start investing with me. I have to give him a call. There are a few properties I am very, very, very close at getting and want to put this money to good use.

Regarding the 'A-hole house'... he wants to have "a meeting" next week to go over bids on the projects we will be doing on the house. That's all I have to say about that!

Non-REI: Still working out consistantly. I can really feel/see a difference in my body and I'm loving it! I actually think I'm going to do the P90x when I'm done with the Insanity program. This Saturday I will be halfway done with the program and I'm going to take measurements. I'm excited to see how I've done. For anyone looking for an at home program

Friday, June 4, 2010

Rolling with the changes...

Is everyone looking forward to the weekend as much as I am?!?! I'm glad today is Friday so this is going to be brief. Last week I mentioned we had the "water house" under contract and inspected. The inspections came out fine, foundation is fine, plumbing needs to be fixed (of course), some electrical, etc, etc. At that time we decided that we were going to rehab this house since the numbers are so nice. Fast forward to yesterday I get the following email:

Morning! Mike wanted me to ask you if you want to buy Dardis from him. He is getting the feeling that some work needs to be done to it and his crews are too busy in this area right now. What are your thoughts? I was going to advertise in the local papers. Maybe do a one day only sale. Then again if the home could get repainted etc. that may make a big difference.

Yep, the house where my realtors broker is holding the note (the one I don't talk about a lot) is not selling. Hmmm, is it because the picture on the mls has a foot of snow in it and no other pictures? No? Hmmm, did you advertise it on CL? No? Hmmm, did you advertise in the paper? No? After he basically took the listing from us, which we allowed b/c he was doing us a favor, did nothing and now wants to give it back to me. I can't buy it back from him since I still can't get financing in that area. I know this probably sounds all confusing but suffice it to say he screwed up, IMO. So instead of rehabbing the "water house" we are going to put some money in this house. The numbers are good here too BUT I have to split the profit with the guy who initially only wanted to give me 20% of the profit. Don't get me wrong, I'm ALL for sharing a profit when it is FAIR but I don't like getting screwed. I'm kind of irritated that he took control, couldn't sell it and now puts it right back in my lap and wants me to "take care of it". Just kind of jerky to me. Whatever... it shows that I have grown because I have not freaked out. Not sure if I'm just more laid back this week or if I've come to a realization that these things will happen. Maybe a little of both?!?!

Because of the short week and these problems I have not submitted any offers. I want to get another property under contract and, hopefully, put some private money to good use!

BTW, I put an ad on CL for the "water house" as a wholesale deal and have had about 10 responses so far. Hopefully it will sell quickly and we can focus on the "a-hole house". Not sure I like that name.

Okay, real quick, I worked out all week but didn't lose a pound. That's okay because last week I fit in to my size 10 jeans that I have not been able to button since my first child was born. WOO HOO! Now, the jeans were tight... very tight BUT I buttoned/zipped up so that's an accomplishment in my eyes. I will complete this goal and continue I'm sure.

Have to run hope everyone has a good weekend!!