Live & Flip

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 ...

2 Properties, 1 Day

I heard back on my offer on the bank owned (formally short sale) property. They accepted the other offer. I really did think I had a great chance at the property. I set the property file aside. Normally I put the files into a collective passed property folder. I decided to keep this one out. A little voice in the back of my head said, "Keep this file together, if the other offer doesn't go through, I would likely get it." Well, the other buyer backed out and I received a counter offer tod...

Wanted:Property Manager

Property Manager wanted for the Denver area. Job requirements are simple, do your job and respond to my calls within 48 hours not 168+. If you haven't guessed I am have some serious property management issues at the moment. My pm has been pretty good up until about 1 month ago. She really started dropping the ball. I have one property that is still missing the Government portion of Sec 8 rents. The other property went vacant last weekend 4 months prior to lease being up with barely a wor...

Good Networking

I finished my refi on Friday. Took about an hour. I had to sign three sets of loan documents. You can guess what my signature looked like at the end. I brought in bagels for the loan office and you would have thought I brought in lost puppies. They were a huge hit. Doesn't anyone do those type of things anymore? Over my Asiago Cheese bagel my broker and I had a great chat. We discussed purchasing properties like my first two rentals. Only this time, I'm in control of the transaction. ...

Final refi numbers

Assuming I close on Friday, the final refi numbers are as follows. Rental 1 $250 back at closing, $3222 added to principle and payment reduction of $183 Rental 2 $0 back at closing, $1530 added to principle and payment reduction of $59 My home $168 back at closing, $1763 added to principle and payment reduced $127 Total $6515 added to principle - $418 back at closing minus $2235 saved in no mortgage payment for Aug. $369 dollars a month in reduced mortgage costs. $3862 Total Cost/$369 ...

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...

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...

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...

First Lead Follow Up Call

I called the first lead back with information on what she can do with the property still inside the house. There are several options available and a combination of those options. First, some companies buy household goods in bulk. I opted out searching for those just yet. They are usually smaller and I want to have a referral from someone I trust before I recommend anyone. Second, I informed her about estate auctions. Essentially a company will auction off your goods and take anywhere from...

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. ...