Live & Flip

How’s that New Year’s resolution holding up?

How many folks out there are still working on their goals they set for the year? In our field I'd venture to say better than average, but still not 100%. With 1/3 of the year complete, its a good time to dust off those New Year's goals and see how far you strayed from the path you have set for yourself. My goal this year was to create positive habits. So far I have created 2 habits. Paying down debt like a hawk each paycheck and making my daily to do list. The debt part was easy, but...

Refocus

I had a great mastermind call with my coach last week. He could tell I had the wind knocked out of my sails a bit. I was so ready to do my first solo flip, that I almost took down a bad deal. Still, my nature absolutely hates losing. The good news is I would have lost far more had I done the deal. For you baseball fans out there, think of it as a pop fly to advance the runner. Yes I took an out, but it wasn't a double play. I am still at bat and this inning aint over. Moving forward I...

Bittersweet Symphony

Good news and bad news.  The good news is, the short sale personal property 2nd lien holder(say that 6 times fast) approved for 6k.  We are under contract and set to close on October 5th.  The 2nd will have to be paid for with cash.  Our total closing costs will be at about 10k counting that 2nd.  Not to bad for this property.  Hopefully we can get back into the property in the upcoming week and get a better repair estimate.  This should make a really nice house for us for the next 4-6 ye...

Pins and Needles

Quick update on our future home bid. The property is a short sale that requires both the sellers approval to move forward. Unfortunately the short sale is due to a divorce and job loss. The sellers are difficult to get together to make a decision. I have no news at the moment, which has me on pins and needles. No news in Real Estate is generally bad news. In this case we have been in touch with the selling agent. The sellers agreed to make a decision tonight. My buyers agent and I had to...

New Home, Maybe!

Gonna make a bid tonight on a possible new home. Its a SS that needs around 30k worth of work. Its in a southern neighborhood of my farm. Has everything were looking for. No other bids yet and I'm going to offer 12k less than asking. The BPO will take place on Thursday. If we happen to get that property, my current one will become our third rental. My current property will rent for $1000/mo. The mortgage will be $585. I'm looking at positive cash flow of $50-$100/mo. My combined cas...

You have a map, now drive!

Had a great coaching call tonight. My coach more or less helped me get things in gear. He noticed I'm getting a ton done. I have worked to get access to properties via my Realtor. I will be working with him so I prep and send out the offers. Ive zeroed in and looked at properties on the mls. I have 40+ letters in the mail to distressed properties. Yet in all that effort I have managed to find my car, check the tire pressure, check the oil, the mirrors, check the gas and start the car. I ...

Back from Napa

We got back last night from Napa Valley. We had a great time. Tried dozens of wines, cheeses and I even got to try some local beers. We ended up purchasing 15 bottles of wine before the week was up. Several were a bit above our price range, but will make great special occasion wines. We stayed at the Old World Inn bed and breakfast. It was my first experience at a B&B. If your staying in Napa its the way to go. Breakfast was great every morning, complimentary wine all day, cheese in the ...

Mush!

Ive been driving my neighborhoods for sometime now. I'm getting a much better feel for street qualities and areas with problems. I'm finding vacant properties and I'm recording the addresses. I'm looking up the owners of those homes. For some reason, I haven't gotten a letter out. Fear is a damned thing. I'm not afraid of phone calls, making offers, buying or selling houses. Its a fear of not knowing every bend in front of me. I am a very analytical person. I need to know all the fa...

Coaches and Probates

I have been making calls to my coach every two weeks. In that time, I have gotten MLS access, narrowed my farm area, determined my buying criteria and set my deadline to start making offers. My goal is to make an offer by 5/19. I'd say the coaching has gone well so far. To add to that, one of the coaches I ruled out is now leaving real estate. I wish that coach the best of luck. He did extremely well in real estate and is now pursuing his life's mission. Good for him. Very reassuring for...