All Posts for Category:

Sep

30

Back to Making Offers

September 30, 2008 | 1 Comment

With things so busy the past few weeks, and with being so caught up in the rehab part of the business, I’ve been slacking on the acquisition side of things. Now that I have my brother working for me full-time (wow, he’s awesome), I can start to focus some more time on finding new […]

Sep

29

House #2: Final Concessions

September 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The Bulge House has been under contract for about 10 days now, and the due diligence period has just ended. This means that, while the buyer can still back out of the transaction if she wishes to, she would lose her deposit if she did. So, I’m hopeful that this contract will stick, […]

Sep

25

House #3: Demo is Underway

September 25, 2008 | 4 Comments

(Since you’re all here for the pictures anyway, you might as well start with them)
We kicked off the rehab on The Second Chance House the other day, and are already making great progress.
The key to this project is the redesign of the shared living space in the house, including the kitchen, dining room, […]

Sep

24

House #3: Rehab Estimates

September 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

We finally got The Second Chance House underway yesterday (no comment on whether we actually own it or not), and I’m really looking forward to this project. I expect that house will turn out to be one of the nicest in its 200 property subdivision, and hopefully it will be able to attract some […]

Sep

24

House #1: Financial Update

September 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

It’s been about 5 weeks since rehab began on my first house (The Corn House), and we’re starting to near the finish line. Appliances, hardwood floor installation, some back-splash tiling, and a bunch of exterior work are all that stands between present condition and completion, and for the first time in several weeks, the […]

Sep

23

What Are Banks Thinking?

September 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

I wrote a nice little congratulatory post to myself last Friday about finally closing on The Second Chance House…unfortunately, it appears that my post was a bit premature. While I showed up to the closing, signed a bunch of papers, ensured that my funds were deposited in escrow, and smiled pleasantly for over an […]

Sep

22

Update for 9/22/2008

September 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment

With so much going on these days, I thought I would just post another general update on everything going on…
House #1: The Corn House
The Corn House is coming along nicely, after 5 weeks of rehab work. While technically the rehab was scheduled to finish this past Friday, I had pulled the contractors off […]

Sep

19

House #3: Finally Closed

September 19, 2008 | 1 Comment

It’s taken nearly five weeks, but I was finally able to close on The Second Chance House today. Closing has been pushed back several times — it was originally scheduled for August 29 — and all parties involved have been getting a little frustrated. But, I’m meeting my GC first thing Monday morning, […]

Sep

18

Lessons Learned (Part 1)

September 18, 2008 | 1 Comment

I was asked in a comment what were some of the lessons learned on The Bulge House rehab. As my goal is to scale my business to the point where I can do several houses at once, it’s important that I reflect on my day-to-day efforts (and business strategies) to determine how to optimize, […]

Sep

17

House #2: Under Contract

September 17, 2008 | 2 Comments

Well, I didn’t think I’d be writing this post so soon after yesterday’s post (about The Bulge House getting listed on the MLS), but as of about 8 hours after the listing went live, the house was under contract! The potential buyer was looking at another property listed by my agent, but when it […]

Sep

16

House #2: Purchase/Rehab Costs

September 16, 2008 | 3 Comments

Now that The Bulge House is officially on the market, I decided to do my final accounting to determine how much I’ve spent to both purchase and rehab this property (which I can then use to model my profit based on my holding and selling costs). While I didn’t define a formal budget for […]

Sep

15

House #2: Staged for Listing

September 15, 2008 | 1 Comment

My wife — the amazing woman she is — spent the entire weekend staging The Bulge House in preparation for it going on the market today. This was quite a feat, considering that four days ago, we didn’t have any staging furniture, accessories or materials. But amazingly, it all came together in about […]

Sep

12

Staging Properties

September 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Now that I’m in the process of getting my first house ready to put on the market, I’m starting to think about the types of things that will likely make the difference between selling quickly and not selling quickly (or at all), and the things that will make the difference in how much I can […]

Sep

11

House #2: The Last 10%

September 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Everyone in this business has reminded me that the last 10% of any project is the hardest (and takes the longest). Now that I’m down to the last 10% of The Bulge House, I’m really starting to understand that. Part of the problem on this house is that I was originally planning to […]

Sep

10

House #3: Going to Closing

September 10, 2008 | 2 Comments

It’s a week and a half past the contractual closing date on The Second Chance House, and the bank finally got clear title and the go-ahead to close. In the past two weeks, two other things have happened:

It appears someone came in and stole the air conditioning unit from the property. While my […]

Sep

9

Rehab Tip: Types of Contractors

September 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment

As part of my blog, I’d like to start relaying tips and tricks I’m learning for those who are house flippers or those who are interested in getting into house flipping. This will be the first in that series of blog posts, and if you have any feedback (or want me to cover any […]

Sep

8

House #2: Almost “After” Pics

September 8, 2008 | 4 Comments

I was hoping to post the AFTER pictures of The Bulge House today, but a lot has happened over the past 48 hours (both good and bad), and it appears the house isn’t completely “after” just yet…
Here are the almost after pics…
And here are the before pics, to refresh your memory…
There are still a […]

Sep

5

House #2: Down to the Wire

September 5, 2008 | 1 Comment

Unfortunately, for the first time since the beginning of May, I missed posting an entry on my blog on a weekday (I’m sure you noticed that there was no posting on Thursday ;). While I certainly have plenty to write about, the past three days have been the busiest in recent memory; and it’s […]

Sep

3

A New Team Member

September 3, 2008 | 2 Comments

I mentioned in a previous post that The Bulge House had an upcoming tenant, and that the tenant was a member of my family. The rest of the story is that my brother will be moving down to Atlanta from Baltimore (with his girlfriend), will be renting The Bulge House, and will be consulting […]

Sep

2

Pro or No?

September 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment

One of the decisions I need to make this year is whether or not I plan to file taxes as a “Real Estate Professional.” For those not familiar, let me take a minute to explain the advantages of claiming professional status:
If you invest in real estate part time (not a professional), you may be […]

Sep

1

Investor Financing Options

September 1, 2008 | 1 Comment

Now that I’ve spent many dozens of hours talking to lenders and potential financiers of my deals, I’m starting to gain some insight into the different types of loans and equity financing available to real estate investors, and the benefits and drawbacks of each. Of course, given today’s credit situation, options are not only […]