Flip This Wholesaler

3/17/2009

Well, I'm off to Baltimore tomorrow.

I was going to make some more offers today, but got caught up doing some other stuff, and never got around to it.

Of the 10 offers I made yesterday, 3 already had accepted offers, 1 was rejected without a counter (love those), one wasn't looking at offers below 50k (my offer was 40k), and then I got one seemingly good counter. This property just came back on the market after being under contract for 40 days. It's listed at 65.9k. I offered 40k, and they came back with a counter of 45k. This is one that I did not look at before I made the offer because I thought it would be a slam dunk deal at 40k. It's a 3/2, concrete block house, that, from the pictures and the description, appears to be in move-in condition. So, I got all excited when I got the counter, and flew over to the house to check it out, thinking that I had a great deal on my hands...... And, this place would be a FANTASTIC deal, if only I could pick it up and move it one block to the East or the West, or North or South. Unfortunately, it is the only single family house on this particular street, and is swimming in a sea of duplexes and multi families. Long story short..... not a good deal at 40k. This is why I don't like to make blind offers anymore...

I have a few other deals that I'm working on with wholesaler friends, but nothing in writing yet. I've got investors hounding me for properties, so I'm going to keep making offers like a lunatic..

The other deal that I'm working with Lee is actually going to close early. SHOCKING! It was scheduled to close on the 31st of this month, but is now going to close a week from today. So that's good news.

That's about all I've got for today. Heading out to Baltimore early tomorrow, and will be back in action Friday afternoon.

Later alligators.

P.S.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!



P.P.S.
Congrats to Nate for paying off 110k in debt- you rock, Nate!

3/12/2009

The bank sent over the closing docs yesterday afternoon, but we are still missing their title commitment (which my title company needs). Also, the buyers want to have their attorney review all of the paperwork, but he thought the deal wasn't closing until Friday, so we are waiting on him to approve everything. I went in and signed all of my docs yesterday, and hopefully the buyers are going to go in this morning to sign their docs so we can get the wire sent out today. I should be getting a frantic phone call or email any minute now from the bank's title company asking where the wire is. I will just go ahead and ignore them, much like they have been ignoring me all week. That is my very favorite thing to do, especially when I am out of contract with the bank and it is their title company's fault. And especially when they have been blowing off my calls and emails all week. Hehe. Meanwhile, the listing agent has NO CLUE what is going on, which makes it even more fun. Good times.

No bites yet on my offers. A lot of multiple offer situations, though. Everybody and their Grandma is going after REOs, so there's quite a bit of competition. Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but there's been a noticeable decrease in the amount of REOs on the market lately. Not sure if it's because of the moratorium or what, but there's definitely a lot less to choose from. I check the amount of lis pendens filed in my county every month, and that has pretty much stayed the same (roughly 2000/month). I've heard from a few different sources (REO agents) that there is a huge wave of REOs headed our way. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

That's all I've got for today. Busy day ahead of me..

Adios!

3/10/09

Well, I'm supposed to have a closing today, but the bank's title company, of course, is not ready. Apparently the lien search is not in yet, which is what happens when you don't start working on a file until 2 days before closing. Who knew?

So, today my job is to harass the ever-loving shit out of them until they get so sick of hearing my voice that they do whatever is necessary to get the search done and the docs sent out. You might think this is being excessive, but if you don't stay on top of the closer, your file will just sit and collect dust with all of the others. I also told them that I am going out of the country on Thursday (not Friday- if you tell them Friday, they won't have it ready until Monday. If you're lucky).

There's a small chance that it might close today, if they get the search back early enough. My title company is ready to go (I heart Peer Title), and Lee's buyers are ready to go. we're just waiting on the bank...

I've got a whole mess of offers out there right now, and should be getting some counters back today. I've been staying consistent with making 3 offers/day. I try to get out and look at 3 houses first thing in the morning (after traffic dies down), then come back home and write the offers up. My goal is to look at 3 houses, make 3 offers, and run 3.5 miles by noon every day. I feel like a rock star when I do this.

That's all I've got for today.

Happy Tuesday, Blogosphere!

2/12/2009

Been a busy week so far.

The duplex deal with Murphy closed yesterday, so our curse has officially been lifted! It's about time.

I've been making a lot of offers lately, and have been getting counters back almost every day, which has been keeping me busy.

The deal that I'm losing money on is closing tomorrow. Watson Title has been a slow piece of inefficient garbage on every other deal that I have ever worked on with them, and of course, the one time when I could benefit from their suck-assery, they end up being Johnny on the Spot and have everything ready to go on time. Sons of bitches.. I'll be losing about $800 on this deal, and although it SUCKS to lose my hard earned money, I'm kind of glad this happened, because I learned a lesson.... my deals need to have way more wiggle room in them, and so , I have been making my offers a lot lower. I'm talking, ridiculously, embarrassingly, low. I don't expect many of them to get accepted, but all I need is one/month, (as opposed to 3 or 4 smaller deals), and with the amount of offers I'm making, this is a very attainable goal.

I've been kicking some serious ass in the gym lately. I can almost see a six pack again. Woohoo! Working out is kind of like real estate investing... It's hard as hell in the beginning, but once you get some momentum going, it's a great feeling. Very empowering.

That's about all I've got for now.

Roger Dodger, 10-4, Over and Out.

P.S.
Richard, here's a picture of the mason ladder I use to make stakes for my signs....



P.P.S.
Countdown to Costa Rica: 10 days!

1/10/2009

Would you guys believe me if I told you I got another offer accepted on Friday?

How 'bout two?

Well, that's what happened, and I ended up selling one of them in less than 30 minutes!

I don't know what the hell is going on, but it seems to me that the banks are finally waking up and smelling the sweet, putrid scent of looming disaster. I'm not kidding- it's like a free for all over here!

One of the houses was listed for 43.9k (which is already a pretty decent price, but not quite good enough). Anyway, I offered 30k on it right before the end of the year, and the bank only came down to 42k. I told the realtor 31.5 was the best I could do, and told her to call me back if they decide to drop the price. Well, she called me Friday morning and said, "You're not going to believe this, but the bank is willing to take your offer of 31.5k.... are you still interested?'' Hehehe.

The second deal, I am splitting with another wholesaler friend of mine. He called me early Friday and told me he had some inside info on a duplex that was about to have a drastic price reduction. He knows I have buyers in this area, so he asked if I wanted to joint venture on the deal, which, of course, I did... This deal was an absolute no-brainer, and I knew I could sell it to sans-ID buyer in a heartbeat, which I did. We ended up getting the duplex (it's concrete block, with 2, 2/1 units), for $21, 500! Even in the hood, this is a smokin' deal! We sold it for 29.5k, and everyone is happy. That's what I call easy money!!

So, now I have two houses to get rid of.

I still haven't sold the one that California Guy was supposed to buy, but I have an emergency back-up plan just in case.... One of my wholesaler friends has a buyer who will take it for 1k over what I have it under contract for. I will make almost nothing if I have to sell to him, but it is better than having to close on it myself, or worse yet- backing out of the deal. I haven't even really tried that hard to sell it, so I'm not too worried about it. Yet.

I put out 40 handwritten signs today (which was a huge pain in my ass), marketing the house that I just got under contract Friday. Tomorrow I will put out 40 more in the neighborhood where the house is that CG was supposed to buy.

The only calls I've had so far from the 40 I put out today were from people who, either: (A) couldn't speak English, or (B) Just got finished reading a Carelton Sheets course. That's the way it goes, though.... Sometimes you have to go through 50 annoying calls before you get to a gem...

Have a great rest of the weekend, y'all. Go make some offers!!

P.S.
I was having technical blog difficulties earlier. Sorry to those who were locked out.

P.P.S.
Me and the guy who are working the duplex deal are convinced that we are cursed when trying to do deals together- we've worked on about 5 deals over the last year and a half, and they have all crashed and burned for one reason or another. So, we decided that if this one actually closes, we are bringing a bottle of bubbly to the closing table to celebrate! Hehe.

P.P.P.S
No offense to any Carelton Sheets grads. That's how I got started, too. Seriously.

12/21/2008

Well, I ended up closing deal #4 Friday afternoon. I called my wholesaler friend Dave shortly thereafter to see if he wanted to meet me for lunch/cocktails/tequila shots, at Estella's on Davis island. We have both been doing really well these past few months, so we decided to meet up and celebrate. While we were enjoying our cocktails on the patio, I got a call from the bank's title company about the deal where I was waiting for the bank to sign the deed package.....the lady said she finally got everything she needs from the bank, so I should be able to pick my check up tomorrow (Monday). So, that's a good thing.

Friday evening, my friend Jeff surprised me with tickets to the Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker. It was awesome. I took ballet from when I was 4 years old all the way up until high school. I still have my first pair of ballet slippers, and also my firefly costume from my first recital. They are so tiny. I can't remember why I quit (probably because I was too busy chasing boys and getting into trouble), but it is one of the decisions in my life that I really regret making. I felt envious watching the ballerinas on stage.

After the show, we went to the legendary Bern's Steakhouse for dinner (my first time).... Holy crap- I have never seen a wine list like that before. We ended up closing the place down, and then our server (who was the best server I have ever had in my entire life, by far) gave us a tour of the wine cellar, which was absolutely unbelievable...

I didn't get much accomplished yesterday (too much wine the night before), but today I went on a sign mission, and ended up finding yet another cash buyer- the kind of buyer that is going to make me a shit-ton of money in the very near future... This makes me quite happy.

I still have not done my Christmas shopping, and I am leaving Tuesday morning at 6am. I do this every year. I hate myself for waiting until the last minute, but I am a last minute kind of girl, so I guess I just need to accept it and endure the consequences of my severe procrastination.

Tomorrow is going to be hellish.

10-4, over and out.

12/15/2008

Well, I had one closing this morning (yay!), and am supposed to have another one sometime this afternoon, but not sure if that's going to happen. This is the one where I'm using my buyer's title company because the buyer doesn't have an ID, and also, the bank is using a title company in Tampa which is a new one for me. I sense impending doom with this deal. I'm just waiting for the phone call any minute now. The attorney from my title company told me this morning to give him a call if I ran into problems, so that's always good.

The other 2 are supposed to close Friday, but I doubt they will. Would be nice, but I just don't see it happening. I'm leaving early next Tuesday to freeze my ass off in St. Louis for five days, so if the other 2 don't get closed by Monday, we'll have to wait until after the holidays, which is going to piss me off, but what can you do?

My buyer from the closing this morning told me he is ready for more. That is a good thing. I've got several other investors looking for more houses, too, so I'll be making offers like a mad woman this week and hopefully will get one more deal in before the end of the year (well, not closed, but at least under contract).

I still have to do a little Christmas shopping, and I can't think of anything I'd rather not do than set foot in a mall the week before Christmas. I don't know if I can do it. Maybe I will have a bottle of wine first and then take a cab to the mall. That should dull the pain a little bit...

Offers to make- gotta run..

11/17/2008

Well, guess what? I got another one under contract today! I put the offer in on this one 10 days ago, and they finally got back to me today. My offer was 20k, and they countered at $23,500, which I accepted. This house is a 3/1 that needs no work at all (except the air condenser has been stolen), and will rent for $750-ish. Can you believe that? I actually don't have a buyer lined up for once, but I have 30 days to close (I offered to close in 7 days knowing full well that there's no chance in hell of that happening, but it makes my offer look better, so that's what I do sometimes. Hehe. Tricks of the trade).

I spent the weekend looking at houses and making offers. I have 12 offers in right now, and have a feeling I'm going to get at least one of them accepted. I found this buyer who likes the really crappy stuff that needs a lot of work, so I offered on a bunch of crap that I normally don't go after. I don't have a lot of competition on houses like this (everyone wants concrete block houses that don't need a lot of work), so I think I have a shot at getting one of these pieces of junk. I'm also offering 2k deposits, no contingencies, and a 7 day close, so that helps. :) You're probably thinking, "But what happens if they all get accepted?" Well, if they all get accepted, I will be jumping up and down, because I am offering so low that there's no way I wouldn't be able to sell them for a tidy little profit. It would be kind of stressful, but I'm used to that by now. ...I'm told that fortune favors the bold. Sign me up, please.

What else?

I'm going to be doing some traveling next month..... The Flip Vips mentoring group that I belong to is having a retreat in Phoenix the first weekend of December, which I'm really looking forward to. All of the members of the group picked a goal to achieve by the time of the retreat, and then the rest of the group picked the consequence if the goal is not reached. I guess I better get my ass in gear, or I am going to be doing a lot of walking when I get back... My consequence for not achieving my goal is that I have to donate my car to charity. Thanks guys. I guess it's better than having to walk around in a Speedo that's two sizes to small. (Yes, that is one of the consequences). Heeeheehee.

I'm also heading to St. Louis for Christmas to see my sis. It will be my nephew's first Christmas, and I don't want to miss it.

So, that's what I've got cookin'.

Adiós

P.S.
This is what you can get for 23.5k in the Tampa market nowadays...

11/4/2008

Well, people, I am on a serious roll here!

The closing I had on Friday went off without a hitch, and then I closed another yesterday. I sent the listing agent an email yesterday after the closing to let him know everything was signed and funded, and he sent an email back saying, "Let's do more!" Yay! Music to my ears. This is deal #5 that I've closed with this particular agent, and I think it's safe to say he likes me. Can't say I blame him. Teeheehee.

I got another one under contract today. Well, actually it's a deal a friend of mine has, and one of my buyers is going to buy it, so we're splitting the deal 50/50. I have another one like this that is supposed to close later this month. I also have the two that I sold to California Guy that are supposed to close this month. That makes 4, but I'm just going to go ahead and assume that all of them will blow up, and I'm just going to continue to make offers and do deals and make more offers and do more deals....

I put out 25 signs over the weekend and found a new cash buyer. I'm telling you guys, there are buyers coming out of the woodwork looking to buy cheap houses in this market. I'm getting deals in the teens and twenties, and they cash flow all day long. One of the buyers I just found who called on one of my signs (the guy who is buying the house from my friend), said that he has been waiting on a buying opportunity like this since 1992, which is when he went on his last spending spree, and was able to pick up homes in the teens and twenties. He has called me once a day, every day since I first spoke with him (2 weekends ago), and he is chomping at the bit to buy up some bargains.

This market is like a dream come true for me. I'm not kidding. My competition is thinning as the days go by, and the deals just keep getting better and better. I hope it stays this way for the next two years, because I am going to go full speed ahead and make some serious cashola. Once I do that, if the market is still in the dumpster (which I hope it is), I'd like to buy a few dirt cheap homes for cash, and then rent them out. It wouldn't take me too many free and clear homes to be able to pay my monthly expenses. I never thought I'd hear myself say that I wanted to own a rental again, but if I can pick them up for 10-15k (or less), and I have the cash to do it, I think I would be stupid not to.

So, that's the plan for now, anyway.

Adios, Amigos!



P.S.

I'd really like to throw in a political jab or two, but I've decided to spare you. I think we've all had enough.

You're welcome. ;o)

10/7/2008

Well, apparently, sending an addendum to the bank telling them you want 5k off the purchase price because you are tired of waiting on their slow-ass title company...is quite effective. Not so much effective in the way of actually getting a 5k discount, but effective in the way of getting the title company to FINALLY get everything wrapped up and ready to go. Amazing, isn't it? Also amazing, is the fact that I sent the addendum over to the listing agent on Friday afternoon, and then, like magic, they had the deed package at the title company on Monday morning. No joke. Usually it takes Litton at least five and a half years to get the deed signed and back to the title company once they get clear title. Seriously- it's like pulling teeth. So, anyway, after close to 3 months, I got the call from "Stacy" this afternoon telling me she finally got all of the documentation she needed, and we are now clear to close. I have not heard back yet as to whether the buyer will be ready to go Friday (that's when the bank wants to close), but he should be. I will worry about that tomorrow. For now, I'm just happy we have clear title and don't have to wait on "Stacy" any longer. Also, if the buyer's lender is not ready, I have access to the cash (not mine) to close this, so I am not really that worried about it. Well, I kind of am, but then I worry about pretty much everything.

I am still waiting to hear back about one of the offers I made last week and got a counter on. The bank is at 36k and I'm at 32k, and I'm not going any higher. At this point, I'm pretty sure that the agent is playing games with me and is just waiting around for more offers, but I'm not positive of that. I think I already have a buyer at 39k (maybe), so it would be nice to get this locked up tomorrow.

That's about all for now.

Peace out, homeys.

P.S.
"Stacy" is actually a really nice lady, and I take back calling her an asshole last week.

P.P.S.
Leigh, if you're reading this, thanks for listening to me vent. I appreciate it, and I took your advice, and you were right- things are looking up. Knock on wood...