Live & Flip

Tree times no more

Well, I am officially no longer under contract on the Tree Times house. A sad situation arose out of backing out of the deal. The sellers agent, who has been pleasant to work with so far, turned ugly. My agent called to tell her the deal fell through. The lender simply did not come in high enough on the appraisal. She proceeded to cuss my agent out and accuse him and me of doing this intentionally. (Yeah, I love giving up $1000 earnest money, just for fun) She also threatened to turn him i...

Inspections

I am currently working through the process for closing on my first property. I want to give a shout out to JScott at 123flip.com. He has an excellent education page on his blog. I am using the property acquisition checklist from that page. Its given me peace of mind that I am getting the proper steps done to close this property. I had the inspection yesterday. It's the same guy who inspected my personal home. He remembered me and did a very complete job. He also gave me a discount and ...

No new personal home (+Late Update)

Just got off the phone with my Realtor. They gave the nod to the other bidder on the short sale property we were hoping to make our next home. Were not discouraged though, the next home is around the corner. I will say that I am very disappointed with the seller Realtor. His communications were very poor, he made promises he didn't keep and overall did not give a good name for his profession. He told us he would not take more offers once ours was in, since it was the first offer in weeks....

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...

Refi Madness

I got a call from my mortgage broker this week. He's one of those guys you love to have on your team. He'll make something work that 10 others didn't. I've have an opportunity to refi on all three of my properties (my house included) and reduce my mortgage payments by $328/mo. I've been trying to take advantage of these rates for months. I have one loan through his office (he underwrites his own loans). He is able to refi this one with minimal costs. Paul wisely takes the conservative a...

Busy 3 weeks

I let 3 weeks with no post slip by and did not even realize it. Crazy. I have been doing my coaching items whenever I can fit them in. Life simply took hold and did not give me any free time what so ever. With the help from my folks and brother-in-law I completely redid the landscaping on our yard. Its almost done. Bought 2 dozen plants and 3 tons of mulch. Added a new brick border wall up front, removed those three bushes, removed several trash cans of trash and rose bushes, had the ...

Self-Analysis part 1

I have listened to the book "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill 3 times now and I'm about to start reading it. This book is a must for every investor and should be a stable in any business library. One topic mentioned in the book is an annual self analysis. I feel this is important and I am about to do my first true self analysis. Kinda scary to think I have spent nearly 1/3 of a century on this planet and never once stopped to take a true accounting of myself. 2010 is a golden year for ...

Short Update

Its amazing how life can get hectic.  Ive been accomplishing quite a bit lately, but never as much as I want too.  Seems like the to do list grows faster then the accomplished list.  Ah well.  I will add an 09 review and my goals for 2010 soon.  I think this is very important to do every year. I'm still getting letters in.  I've got a way to go to catch up to Scott's 150+  I'm at a mere 26.   So be it.  Its always good to shoot for the stars.  I was finally able to get a list for De...

Probate progress

In the past few weeks, I have gotten quite a bit done. -I figured out mail merge for envelopes and letters saving me countless hours down the road. -Spruced up my letter a bit with the help of my fiance.  She sends out letters quite often and has to polish them up. -Contacted my buyers agent and setup a deal for submitting offers on properties.  I should also be able to tap into his very large buyers list. -Sent out 8 letters so far.  I know its not many, but its a great start. ...

House Repipe

Apparently repipe is not a word according to Microsoft word, but that’s essentially what just happened at my house yesterday.  I mentioned previously that much of the 55 year old piping had corroded to the point it could not be removed or added to very easily.  I decided to do a complete house repipe.  I talked the contractor down to a very good price of $1800.  While that may seem ridiculously low, I should explain a few things. First he used a new pipe http://www.pexinfo.com/.  Its bee...