Open House

Had open house today on rehab in Vallejo - the green and white one I posted one picture of about 6 weeks ago. Hard to believe it is the same house.

Here I am holding the cabinet in place a few days before completion!!

Purchased for $70k, spent $40k in rehab and listed it for $185k

Two offers in already, one for list and one for $6k above list. Expected at least 5 more offers based on open house today.

Closed on next reahab on Friday, so getting ready to start rehab on Tuesday. Also had offer accepted on 3/2 in Sacramento, so heading up there tomorrow with lead contractor to sharpen our pencil on rehab numbers.

Wrote about 10 offers this week and 4 more in the works after looking at 7 properties this afternoon following open house.

Whew - looking forward to my 10 day trip to Ireland on 17th!!

Noteworthy Convention 2009

Just got back from the annual Noteworthy Convention. Wanted to educate myself further on note manufacturing, buying and selling paper etc.

Met some great people and learned alot. Noteworthy have a newsletter for anyone who is interested in staying up on what is happening in the business - www.noteworthyusa.com

I am sure everyone agrees that the lack of conventional financing to well qualified buyers is going to dramatically increase the need for private financing.

On the rehabbing side, just about finishing up with one house and have 2 more in escrow to close, rehab and sell.

Also have 2 long term buy and holds that I have private financing on giving the holder an 8.5% return on their money passively, secured by a First Note and Deed of Trust.

To receive updates automatically on what we are doing, please register at www.reiinformation.com

Latest Happenings

Super busy time for me for past 3-4 weeks with the rehabs in progress, partnering with other investors locally and helping them to find tenants/rent to own buyers for their properties (which they will be seller financing to me afterwards!)

Noticing a softening in rental market with longer vacancies and fewer income qualified applicants.

Increased amount of listings in Vallejo this month for the first time in 4-5 months.

Rainstorm sparked a few issues in one rental house with leaking window.

Had one rent to own couple both lose their jobs and gave me notice that they had to move - sad to hear as I really wanted them to own house.

Getting more educated on Self Directed IRAs as this is a great way to go for private financing - I offer an 8% interest rate secured by First Deed on cashflowing property in my own town - can't beat that for passive!

Lots of data, studies, changing rules and regulations in the industry right now - hard to keep track sometimes. Spend alot of time reading emails, newsletters, ezines etc. to keep up!

House in Napa Update

Finished house in Napa in 4 days - love my crew! Got a great deal on fancy insulated carriage doors - ooh la la

Bought for $145k, $15k in rehab and under contract for $225k with $8k credits to VA buyer.

Inspections done, waiting on appraisal (not anticipating any issues due to strong recent comps)

New Rehab Project

Started work on house in Napa today. One of my partners and I closed on it on Friday and started rehab today. Should take about a week - conversion of illegal garage, upgrade wiring, paint/carpet and a few other items.

End buyer in place who will be coming by tomorrow to direct some choices of color etc.

Bruce Norris Event

It's been fairly quiet on real estate front. Making lots of offers and have two more new projects in the works. One in Napa scheduled to close on Friday 18th Sept. and the other the following week.

Both are rehabs and the intention is to rehab and sell them - end buyers lined up on both right now which is great.

Went to Orange County to attend Bruce Norris "I survived Real Estate 2009" Event. Event was also recorded and can be seen on youtube. Great networking and very interesting panel of seven experts in their field. Check it out if you have time.

Rehab Update

So , this property went on MLS last Friday night at $179,900 and we had a full price offer by the following afternoon.

Buyers are moving back to area and have their house in contract for sale. They want to move asap.

Here are the current terms we are looking for - Rent to own for 3 months or less with $40k down and the balance in cash once their other house closes. 3% towards closing if they close in 90 days or less, 1% if they close after 90 days.

We will be posting the final numbers once this deal has closed, but the rough numbers right now are purchase price of $83,000 and Rehab $25,000

Another one in Vacaville just finished and will be on market by tomorrow.

Cash Flow Depot Speakers - Ken Burge

Ken has more energy than an leprauchaun after 10 pints of Guinness!! Seriously, I don't think his brain stops - ever.

Fabulous presentation on amplifying one's presence in the social networking platform (as I am here at 2am tapping away!)

Just for fun, check out the "uberman's sleep schedule" - pretty radical.

Some great hints for outsourcing cheaply (www.odesk.com), free phone and voice mail (google voice), and free software to add visuals to your online conversations (www.jingproject.com)

He has also persuaded me to get an iphone - Thanks Ken as I have not had my blackberry for very long!

Ken is co-author of a book called "Twitter Power" which is available on Amazon.com

His presentation has revolutionized my perception around social media and how to make it work in business.

Check out his website at www.kenburge.com

Cashflow Depot Speakers - Gary Johnston

Gary Johnston is a full time investor from Idaho.

He had a great presentation which included some exercises around defining what success was for each individual, exploring belief patterns, environments etc.

He also had some examples of deals and various ways of structuring them and had us use financial calculators to come up with the differente ROIs etc.

Gary will be doing a 3 day workshop in Santa Clara at the end of this month which I plan on attending. Further info. can be found at www.GaryJohnstonSeminars.com (sign up for his newsletter also!)

Cash Flow Depot Speaker - Jim Ingersoll

Jim and his wife Cheryl live in Richmond, Virginia. Jim started out very aggressively doing wholesale deals and made alot of money very quickly.

He and his wife (and one of his daughters who is just 17) now do a combination of selling and keeping for long term rentals.

Jim describes himself as a wheeler-dealer (much like myself!)

Jim shared some great information on how to find motivated sellers, wholesale buyers and how a wholesale transaction works.

He also shared a couple of recent deals he did which was very helpful for everyone. His website can be found at www.cheaprichmondhomes.com

Cash Flow Depot Speaker - Danny & Ann Williams

Danny & his wife Ann (obviously not in this picture!) live in Fayetteville, GA

Danny used to work full time for Delta before making the transition to real estate full time. While he was working full time builing their RE portfolio, his wife Ann was the main breadwinner until such time as she could quit her job.

Great tips on goal setting, partnering ideas and more from these two. You can see their testimonial on cashflowdepot.com

Cash Flow Depot Speaker - JB Banning

I am fortunate to have JB as both a personal friend and mentor. JB is mainly a "paper" guy and lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

He has been a follower of some of the great teachers such as Jack Miller, Peter Fortunato, John Schaub, David Tilney and others for many years and frequently brainstorms with Peter on deals and scenarios.

JB shared both mindset and technical strategies that were helpful to him on his path to success - again, he was very forthcoming with some of the personal and business adversities he encountered along the way.

Cash Flow Depot Speakers - David & Kandace Phelps

David and Kandace Phelps live in Rockwall, Texas.

They shared their story with us, and provided some great advice and insight, in addition to sharing some of the adversities (both business and personal) that they encountered along the way.

Their website is www.sellerfinancesolutions.com

Weekend Happenings

Just came back from a 3 day event in Las Vegas put on by Jackie Lange of Cash Flow Depot. Excellent weekend with lots of great speakers, content and attendees.

Check out Jackie's website at http://www.cashflowdepot.com/ Met some of the people who give testimonials on website, and they have been following her training succesfully for years. For $97/year, you can have access to alot of training materials from some of the masters, including Jack Miller (his son, Chris, runs cashflowdepot with Jackie) Well worth the investment.

Finished Product in record time

Here is the final product (took pictures before microwave installed over stove)

Looks great - listing it tomorrow and having open house on Sunday.

Rehab Finishing Stages

Very excited that last stages of rehab are in progress. Hope to advertise it by Monday - not a bad turn around time - quite impressed myself!!

Pictures include master bathroom (new tiled floor, new window, refinished shower, sink and toilet)

Next are the new mirrored closet doors in the master bedroom (other bedrooms the same)

Third is new custom window in living room, and finally the installation of new kitchen cabinets and granite counter tops.

Final pictures on Monday!

Andy Heller Workshop

Spent Saturday in San Francisco at Andy Heller's workshop. Andy is the author of "Buy Low, Rent Smart, Sell High" among other publications.

Andy specializes in Rent to Own, or Lease Options, which is my chosen exit strategy also.

Great workshop, lots of good info. Highly recommend his material for anyone wanting to pursue rent to own business.

Andy's website is www.regularriches.com

My Day Today

Just thought I would expand on my day today as it was quite busy.

Was in Vacaville at 8am this morning to get a roofing crew started, only to discover the former homeowner had not completed her move out having been given an extra week.

Ended up taking her to Uhaul (for the second time) to get the rest of her stuff loaded and moved out - in addition to paying $1000 of her security deposit on her new place.

However, still cheaper than her original plan of sledge hammering the house before leaving!

Then onto house in Suisun City at 10am to meet haul out crew to do a clean out on a house that tenant left a bunch of stuff behind - including their cat and 2 kittens who were starving - of course I went to the store, bought cat food and fed them. Going back tomorrow to pick up and take to humane society.

Same house had carpet cleaners at 12.30 and janitorial crew at 4pm. All ready for new tenant to begin moving in tomorrow morning (I will be there to meet her for inspection at 8am tomorrow before proceeding onward to inspect roof progress in Vacaville).

At 2pm, spend 2 hours looking at some new prospective properties, some for Joint Venture deals and some for just finders fee. Then went by to check on rehab here in American Canyon - looks great - will be posting more pics tomorrow.

Made offer on one tonight on one of the properties from today.

Alot of other admin type tasks - printing out agreements, emails, faxing docs etc.

Just finishing up now - as I said, long day today!!

Rehab Update

Here are some pictures from last Saturday where house was painted on outside and prepped on inside. Alot of other detail items done also.

Rehab Day 2 - July 09

On Saturday, new windows and doors were installed. Walls were being skimmed, some more demo work etc.

From Purchase to Flip Day One

This is a 3/2 property that was purchased from the MLS at a price of $89,000. Property is a 3 bed 2 bath 1400 sq ft Single Family Residence.

Closed on property on Wednesday, started the demo on Thursday, and above are some pictures of the property today. We are currently expected to spend $22,000 on the rehab which includes new kitchen, new furnace, some new windows, carpet, paint etc.

Current comparable sales are in the $150-$165k range.