Investor Carpool Tour

We just finished up the investor carpool tour! There was a great turnout of about 20 people from all walks of life. It was a good networking event where we met some new folks and were able to discuss our properties as well as market my staging! I got a chance to sneak some pics during the tour...

And, THIS guy is our mentor, Dr. Lawrence Roberts. He has walked us through the process of flipping...in a hands-on, practical way that a real estate book or seminar won't. If you are ever interested in flipping, GET A MENTOR! Lawrence guided us in the right direction on each house we bought and prevented us from making mistakes we otherwise wouldn't have known about. We plan on working with him well past our "graduation" from the coaching program. Thank you, Law, for investing your time, knowledge, and experience in us!

Tomorrow we go back to Pocahontas to do some repairs prior to closing. Looking forward to closing in a few weeks for the following reasons:

1. Payday (Hallelujah!)
2. Free up our lender's money so we can jump right into the next deal...5700 Deerwood...aka the house with no front door!

No worries, we happen to love ugly houses...they're cheaper and oh-so-fun to transform ;)

Friday Happenings

The past few days at Demouy have been really productive! I finished up the bulk of exterior painting downstairs and Dave worked his carpentry magic inside (I can't wait to show you the fireplace he's been working on!) Man, I am ECSTATIC I will no longer be on a 12 foot ladder for a very long time! I realized my fear of heights was worse than I thought...which is no bueno when you know that is where you will be working for several weeks!! But, facing your fears is never a bad thing...right??

My perch for way too long...

Anywho, forgive my detour...Back to our productive week! The electricians spent most of the week with us working on all the rewiring (and rewiring, and rewiring, and rewiring...did I mention rewiring?!). All of our custom windows came in too. Quick tip when placing orders with major manufacturers...play them against each other for better prices. We got a quote from Lowe's then took the quote to Home Depot who says they will beat any prices. We took Home Depot's quote back to Lowe's who also guarantees they will beat any prices. We saved $1,200 on our windows by using this method. When you are buying 19 windows like we did for Demouy, any price cut helps! (Oh! Andddd we used that method for our kitchen cabinets...saved a boatload of cash on those too! Try it...it works!)

To end our our productive week, we got Demouy all cleaned up and the last bit of furniture out. The crabby neighbors came out like vultures, trying to inquire into the furniture and "school" us on our rehab. I must say, after spending several months (and filling seven...I repeat SEVEN forty-five foot dumpsters) reviving that carcass of a house just to be scolded on not keeping the original windows (that, mind you, are rotting, broken, and covered in nearly 100 years of gunk), it was hard not to go "cray-cray" (a.k.a crazy) on her ass. Maybe my patience level will increase as a result of dealing with these nosy neighbors...but don't hold your breath!

Moving on...tomorrow Pocahontas and Demouy are being featured on a "rehab carpool tour" which will bring people interested in flipping. David and I went to one 3 years ago when we were aching to get in the biz. Should be fun! Pretty exciting (and odd) that we are now on this side of things and can give advice to people wanting to learn what this flipping business is all about. Dave will do all the talking...did I mention I have a fear of public speaking too??... ;)

Recent Success!

We are thrilled that our 4th flip, Pocahontas Drive, was put under contract in only 13 days on the market! It is so rewarding to see all of our hard work pay off - and in the quick kind of way. This property was a really fun project because David and I renovated it all, only hiring out A/C and electrical work. In the beginning, we put our heads together and came up with the best plan of attack for a property that needed more work than we had repair money...BUT, we believed in our vision for the house and our ability to make it happen on a small budget. So, a few grand, 4 weeks, a dynamic duo, and a lot of determination later, we put that sign in the yard and hoped (and prayed!) for a quick sale...Here are pics of the transformation!

Before:

After:

We are now back working on Flip #5, Demouy Avenue, lovingly nicknamed "The Beast"...a property with a repair budget of over $90,000...insane! With all that we are replacing on this property, we are trying to salvage little treasures here and there...one of which being this cool old brick boiler housing in the kitchen. It's pretty rough around the edges as it sits but it's going to be a neat feature by the time we're done...stay tuned!