Yep, it's been an off week for sure. My focus level has been waaaaay down. I am attributing most of this to reading Stephen King's novel "Under the Dome". Has anyone read the 1,074 pages of sheer craziness? I am on page 885... almost done. I need down time to relax and unwind (I love reading fiction) but when I get into a good book it's really, really hard for me to put it down.
With that said I have still been making consistent offers this week and one was accepted late yesterday afternoon. It is a HUD property that needs a bit of work - shocker, I know. I'm having my guy inspect it on Wednesday, I hope, so once all checks out I'll be happy! It was listed at $98k and we got it for $53k. It needs a partial new roof (over back side of house), one room gutted, a new water heater and repaired plumbing. Exterior, carpet, windows, kitchen are all in good shape. In fact, the kitchen looks like it was rehabbed pretty recently. I'll update after inspection. We'll call this the "lake house" since it sits down the street from a lake! I'm clever, right?!
The "auction house" is still set to close September 15th or sooner. Nothing new to report there.
My rental property has absolutely no interested parties whatsoever. Unfortunately for me, the sold prices in the area have dropped considerably since last year. Many, many more foreclosures... Sooo, I'm not sure which direction to take? Here are my thoughts, 1.) Drop the price another $10k and see if it sells in a couple weeks? I would lose money with this scenario. 2.) Put in some money to spruce up the exterior, carpet/paint, "pretty up" the inside and re-list for a break even price - IF it would sell. 3.) Put in some money to "pretty up" the joint, lease/option the property and take it from there. I think I will actually go in that order. Once the tenants move out next week I will list for $79k for 2 weeks. If no offers I will put in some money and list for a higher price with option to have seller L/O property? Urrrghh... I don't know? Something along those lines?
The "A-Hole" house almost had another buyer. Not sure what happened to him since no one tells me anything? I called the brokers "gatekeeper" (as Bob Norton would call her) and left her a msg basically saying I was concerned about selling the property, if there was anything I could do to help, didn't want there to be lack of communication, etc.... and I never got a return call/VM. Nice. The following day I DID get an email from her with a siding estimate attached asking what I thought. What I think?!?! I think I thought this was taken care of 2 MONTHS ago. As a reminder, 2 months ago the broker (co-owner) wanted a meeting to discuss the direction of the house. He wanted me to gather estimates for work that needed to be done so we could discuss. I did as asked and when I laid out my estimates he said he had "people" that would do it cheaper and he would take care of it. Fast forward 2 months and she's STILL gathering estimates?!?!? NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!! So we're having another meeting Wednesday to sort things out. Let's just all hope and pray that we get it sold soon for all our sakes!!!!!!!
These past couple weeks I have also put in some other REO offers that are 120+ DOM with terrible counters. On the 2nd counter they almost always reject. Frustrating. However, there was a property that came back on the market after 4 months of being in pending status. It looks decent but has burst pipes from winter. I put in an offer and they countered $10k lower... finally a decent counter. We're still pretty far off but I'm going to take a look this weekend.
What else? Oh... I re-signed up for Bob's KISS Flipping seminar next month in Utah. Looking forward to it! I'm really hoping I will find what I'm looking for... don't ask me what that is because I'm not really sure : )
'K all... I'll update next week after the inspection!! Have a great weekend everyone!!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The ink has dried!
The closing on the "water house" went smoothly last week while I was on vacation. I don't think anything beats making money while on vacation, right? I would like to do more of that : )
We also closed on the "auction house" last week to purchase. As a reminder I used a private lender to fund this deal. Yesterday we got a signed contract from one of my buyers to purchase this house. The closing date is set for September 15th but he would like to close sooner if possible. I guess it depends on his lender. This guy is pretty solid so if I have to wait until the 15th, that is not a problem. Again, this is not a slam dunk but it's still a decent payday for no work!
The "A-hole" house is being rehabbed - well - more like spruced up. It is being painted, hardwoods refinished, basement waterproofed, new carpet, etc. It's still not back on the market though. If I do not lose money on this deal it will be a miracle. Miracle. That's all I will say here...
The "rental house" is on the market with only 2 showings, which are tonight. Urgh. If I have to rent the place out again I will, or do a lease option, but I do not want to rent or LO if possible. Throughout this past year when I had problems at the house/concerns with my tenants I completely lost focus on submitting offers/keeping up with listings. In other words I either focused completely on my rental or completely on flipping houses. This is one of the major reasons I want to sell! It is not in my makeup to be a landlord (as I have stated a kagillion times in the past) but it is also because of my lack of focus on what is more important to me. We shall see what happens in the next month or two. I must say that I am really curious to hear the comments from the prospective buyers. Hopefully it will give me some insights on what I should do to the place to get it to sell.
I put in 2 very solid non-HUD offers late last week. One came back with a counter that was $500 under list price (which is $65.5k). WTF? My offer was $42k, no contingencies, $4k EMD and 2 wk close. The property has been on the market for 3 months and I'm not really sure why it hasn't sold yet? My counter back was $47k and $5k EMD. That is my highest and best so we'll see what they say? **UPDATE** I just got an email saying they rejected my offer. Wha wha wha... That really bums me out. I thought I had a good shot at this one!! It seems to me that having a cash offer/quick close doesn't mean diddly squat to the banks, at least here in my neck of the woods.
I still haven't heard back from the other offer. Last month I submitted an offer on the house and they flat out rejected the offer. Hrmph. This time I took out the inspection clause and upped the EMD. Again, haven't heard anything...
We also put in a bit on a HUD property that came back on the market. Haven't received my counter yet. There is another property (Fannie Mae) that is priced perfectly (unless the inside is all tore up) but it's only open to o/o's right now. I think I will be able to submit an offer next week if it's not gone?
I need to get another property under contract by the end of the month!! This is why I'm trying to make my offers as strong as they can possibly be!
I need to get going so everyone have a wonderful week!
We also closed on the "auction house" last week to purchase. As a reminder I used a private lender to fund this deal. Yesterday we got a signed contract from one of my buyers to purchase this house. The closing date is set for September 15th but he would like to close sooner if possible. I guess it depends on his lender. This guy is pretty solid so if I have to wait until the 15th, that is not a problem. Again, this is not a slam dunk but it's still a decent payday for no work!
The "A-hole" house is being rehabbed - well - more like spruced up. It is being painted, hardwoods refinished, basement waterproofed, new carpet, etc. It's still not back on the market though. If I do not lose money on this deal it will be a miracle. Miracle. That's all I will say here...
The "rental house" is on the market with only 2 showings, which are tonight. Urgh. If I have to rent the place out again I will, or do a lease option, but I do not want to rent or LO if possible. Throughout this past year when I had problems at the house/concerns with my tenants I completely lost focus on submitting offers/keeping up with listings. In other words I either focused completely on my rental or completely on flipping houses. This is one of the major reasons I want to sell! It is not in my makeup to be a landlord (as I have stated a kagillion times in the past) but it is also because of my lack of focus on what is more important to me. We shall see what happens in the next month or two. I must say that I am really curious to hear the comments from the prospective buyers. Hopefully it will give me some insights on what I should do to the place to get it to sell.
I put in 2 very solid non-HUD offers late last week. One came back with a counter that was $500 under list price (which is $65.5k). WTF? My offer was $42k, no contingencies, $4k EMD and 2 wk close. The property has been on the market for 3 months and I'm not really sure why it hasn't sold yet? My counter back was $47k and $5k EMD. That is my highest and best so we'll see what they say? **UPDATE** I just got an email saying they rejected my offer. Wha wha wha... That really bums me out. I thought I had a good shot at this one!! It seems to me that having a cash offer/quick close doesn't mean diddly squat to the banks, at least here in my neck of the woods.
I still haven't heard back from the other offer. Last month I submitted an offer on the house and they flat out rejected the offer. Hrmph. This time I took out the inspection clause and upped the EMD. Again, haven't heard anything...
We also put in a bit on a HUD property that came back on the market. Haven't received my counter yet. There is another property (Fannie Mae) that is priced perfectly (unless the inside is all tore up) but it's only open to o/o's right now. I think I will be able to submit an offer next week if it's not gone?
I need to get another property under contract by the end of the month!! This is why I'm trying to make my offers as strong as they can possibly be!
I need to get going so everyone have a wonderful week!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Feeling like I'm in a good place
Hello everyone!! How is everyones week so far? My week is great and will get better starting tomorrow when I leave work at noon for a super long weekend! We are going to may parents cottage again to hang with the family (parents/brothers/aunts/uncles/cousins/in laws/etc). My Aunt is in from Portland, OR (my moms twin sister) for a month which she does every year and her daughter is also in with her 3 kids. We saw my cousin and her kids 2 years ago so we don't see them very often. At any rate I'm excited to get over there and visit with everyone. I LOVE summer!!!!!!!!! It makes me sad that we are in August already. AUGUST! I read Steph's post about committing to something by the end of the month. I am committing to getting another house under contract. I need to head on over and post that on her blog. There are a lot of other things I want to do but that is priority right now!
What's going on with my properties? Tomorrow I am closing on the "auction house" where I'm using a private lender. That all worked out very nicely on my end and I think it was pretty painless on her end too! Nice! Do you know what's even nicer?!? I may have a buyer! Last week I sent out an email to my buyers list and 1 guy said he wanted to look at it. He went out Saturday, called me that afternoon saying he was interested but it needed work (really?!). Honestly I did not think he was interested enought to submit a contract so my husband and I made plans to pre-hab the property and put up for sale in 10 days (which we will still do if this guy does not send over the contract). We got just about everything priced and people set up to do the work over the weekend. This morning I get an email from the potential buyer:
Investor:
I took a second look today and have to run some numbers - still have some interest... when do you close? The stuff that I think needs to be done will take some time to get done and lined up so I need to see if it's feasible or not... Let me know when you have a chance.
My response:
I close tomorrow but will need to know by tomorrow morning whether you want to purchase (sorry!). I have lined up some people to start working on it and want them to start asap. If you want it though I'll sell it to you. IMO, it's a great deal.
Investor:
We have interest in the property and are willing to write an offer (not sure if you still have Michelle doing those for you or not?) If so, let me know - haven't heard back from my lender yet, but probably could close in a month. If you accept, I would like to get in there ASAP to start doing improvements/work... let me know if that'll be an issue as well.
I will not bore you with the rest but I told him I needed my full asking price and he asked about what offer to purchase contract to use, etc. So, I guess I should know tomorrow morning. Part of me wants him to buy it and part of me wants to do the pre-hab. Of course I would make more money (hopefully) with a pre-hab but getting just under $7k for doing nothing is nice too!
What else? Tomorrow I am pre-signing for the "water house" close. The actual closing is Thursday unless the attny delays it. He is a pain in the butt. A nice pain in the butt but a pain nontheless. This has already been delayed several times so I just want it CLOSED!!!!!!
My agent asked me today where I wanted to re-list the A-Hole house. I'm going to set aside my comments on this until a future date.
I found out a couple weeks ago (not sure I mentioned it here) that my renters are moving at the end of the month. Crap. My husband and I decided to sell the property if we can. I overpaid for the property as it has a lot of problems that I did not take into account for re-sale. This totally sucks. We shall see what happens but this house is a thorn in my side. First and foremost I HATE being a landlord. Some people are great at it but not me. Our renters were fantastic but this side of the real estate game is something that puts a pit in my stomach. I'll have to figure out another way to make income. I'll keep you posted!
This post is getting very long so I'm going to end it by saying I got my RE License in the mail over the weekend. Once I'm in the system I need to start making offers directly through the listing agent so they can double dip (a KISS flipping tactic). I need to tell my realtor I will not be using her for these types of transactions and I am TERRIBLE at this type of thing. Any suggestions would be fantastic.
Okay, I need to run. Have a great rest of the week/weekend!!
What's going on with my properties? Tomorrow I am closing on the "auction house" where I'm using a private lender. That all worked out very nicely on my end and I think it was pretty painless on her end too! Nice! Do you know what's even nicer?!? I may have a buyer! Last week I sent out an email to my buyers list and 1 guy said he wanted to look at it. He went out Saturday, called me that afternoon saying he was interested but it needed work (really?!). Honestly I did not think he was interested enought to submit a contract so my husband and I made plans to pre-hab the property and put up for sale in 10 days (which we will still do if this guy does not send over the contract). We got just about everything priced and people set up to do the work over the weekend. This morning I get an email from the potential buyer:
Investor:
I took a second look today and have to run some numbers - still have some interest... when do you close? The stuff that I think needs to be done will take some time to get done and lined up so I need to see if it's feasible or not... Let me know when you have a chance.
My response:
I close tomorrow but will need to know by tomorrow morning whether you want to purchase (sorry!). I have lined up some people to start working on it and want them to start asap. If you want it though I'll sell it to you. IMO, it's a great deal.
Investor:
We have interest in the property and are willing to write an offer (not sure if you still have Michelle doing those for you or not?) If so, let me know - haven't heard back from my lender yet, but probably could close in a month. If you accept, I would like to get in there ASAP to start doing improvements/work... let me know if that'll be an issue as well.
I will not bore you with the rest but I told him I needed my full asking price and he asked about what offer to purchase contract to use, etc. So, I guess I should know tomorrow morning. Part of me wants him to buy it and part of me wants to do the pre-hab. Of course I would make more money (hopefully) with a pre-hab but getting just under $7k for doing nothing is nice too!
What else? Tomorrow I am pre-signing for the "water house" close. The actual closing is Thursday unless the attny delays it. He is a pain in the butt. A nice pain in the butt but a pain nontheless. This has already been delayed several times so I just want it CLOSED!!!!!!
My agent asked me today where I wanted to re-list the A-Hole house. I'm going to set aside my comments on this until a future date.
I found out a couple weeks ago (not sure I mentioned it here) that my renters are moving at the end of the month. Crap. My husband and I decided to sell the property if we can. I overpaid for the property as it has a lot of problems that I did not take into account for re-sale. This totally sucks. We shall see what happens but this house is a thorn in my side. First and foremost I HATE being a landlord. Some people are great at it but not me. Our renters were fantastic but this side of the real estate game is something that puts a pit in my stomach. I'll have to figure out another way to make income. I'll keep you posted!
This post is getting very long so I'm going to end it by saying I got my RE License in the mail over the weekend. Once I'm in the system I need to start making offers directly through the listing agent so they can double dip (a KISS flipping tactic). I need to tell my realtor I will not be using her for these types of transactions and I am TERRIBLE at this type of thing. Any suggestions would be fantastic.
Okay, I need to run. Have a great rest of the week/weekend!!
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