On to the next deal...

or deals... we currently have 3 offers out there because it doesn't seem to pay to do one at a time. We put an offer in on a property (Ferber) 2 months ago and the darn thing still hasn't closed!  After we submitted our offer, for some reason, the bank came back w/an even lower price for the house, so we re-wrote the offer and got a few thousand dollars off! Sweet - we'll take it!  Next, the bank was getting sold, the asset manager who had our file left and they lost the file.  Next thing we know, the price on the MLS dropped $10k -- while we had it under contract!!  Good example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing in a large organization.  No problem, we've still got a contract on the property, so well re-write our offer to reflect the discount.  

We've now got a home run deal instead of a single/double hit.  Which, is why after 2 months and we still haven't closed that we will not back out. Had it not been a home run, we would have moved on by now. It is frustrating because I have been off for 4 months and would have liked to have gotten another rehab done, but it now appears that as soon as I go into labor, the bank will finally come back w/the go ahead to close!  Oh, well - what can you do? Currently, the bank has a hold on all pending deals until they figure out which asset management company will be getting the property to handle the disposition. 2 weeks ago, we were told, "any day now!"  I've stopped asking when.

Now, we are making many offers and it will be a race to see which one we can close on.  

London has SOLD!

After 42 days on the market (during Thanksgiving and Xmas), we got an offer on the 2nd showing!  House looked great and we were happy to find a qualified buyer (or so we thought!)  THe buyer needed closing costs paid and down payment assistance. We had marketed the property with closing costs paid for and she had applied for down payment assistance but in the end the assistance fell thru and I thought we were going to lose the buyer, but she was able to borrow the down payment from a family member and we finally closed.  

Lessons learned:

1. Get more showings.  I don't think this property had enough marketing for it or showings.  It worked out, but in the future, I'd like to have a bigger pool of buyers in case 1 falls thru

2: Do a better walk-thru after contractor is done and don't assume everything has been fixed/tested.  The inspection the buyer had found issues that should have been taken care of by the contractor from a quality control perspective.  Doors sticking, outlets not working, smoke detector missing, etc.

3. Not necessary to offer an extra 1% to buyer's agent w/a full price offer in 30 days due to title seasoning requiring you to own property for 90 days before a contract is written.  Stupid rule, but it is what it is.  We had to re-write the contract per this requirement from lender.

4. Although it turned out okay, allowing the potential buyer to move into the property before she closed was not the best idea because it gave them time to find fault w/the property.  Some things are just due to buying an old house and although I was happy to fix any item found w/the inspection prior to them moving in, I did not go back and fix other issues. I told her, "Welcome to home ownership!"

This deal is done though and my wire transfer cleared, so I am very happy!

We're done!!

This house has been totally transformed!! I'm really happy w/the way the paint came out and all the nice upgrades we added. HOpefully someone will pick it up right away!! It goes on the market this wknd at $169,900. Here are the before/after pics:

bathroom tile

lookin' good! painting happens tomorrow and probably over the wknd. The windows are also in. Looking forward to getting it all put back together and back on the market!!

1/2 way there!

Although you can't tell by looking at it! When things are in tear out stage, it looks like you're not making much progress, but so far we've gotten the exterior siding done, painted and some of the windows in. We've also xeriscaped the front yard since it's too late to add grass and we don 't have a sprinkler system anyway. I can't wait to get the inside painted! Went w/a little darker tan for the walls this time so hopefully it will look great!

Here are some work in progress pics:

Day 3 Fix and Flip #2!

We are 3 days into the London Ln. fix and flip and we finally have electricity! Should have water tomorrow. This one was a little more challenging because the gas/water/electric had been off for more than a year, so CS Utilities makes you hire a contractor to pull a permit and get it inspected by regional building and then they'll turn everything back on once they get the okay. Just a way to get more money out of you. Luckily, the neighbor gave us some power for the roofers to get their stuff done. I'm sure they're just excited that the junker next door is getting fixed up. This house will look great once it's done!

Here are some work in progress pics.

On to the Next One!

We have another house in the same neighborhood under contract. It is another HUD home, so it might take longer than 30 days to close, which is a bummer because that puts us trying to market it for resale in November around the Holidays. Ideally, we would close sep 30, finish Oct 30 and start marketing Nov 1. We'll see.

Anyway, here are the pics. The house is similar to Wylie, but slightly differnt layout, only a 1 car garage, but more square footage. I think it's got GREAT potential!!

See more pics at http://eroberts.smugmug.com/gallery/5973178_3M3ue/2/372743317_y2op6#372743581_oHyzi