It's a Wrap!

Hello everyone! We are so proud & thrilled we have made it thru our 2^nd year as full-time investors! David & I sat down & discussed 2013 – the ups, the downs, the lessons, the experience, the journey – but most importantly, what do we need to change for 2014 to improve our business. What worked? What didn’t work? What would work better??

2013 had its challenges & frustrations as our business grew. We dealt with the ever present contractor issues (excuses for work not performed, theft, early draw requests, guys quitting unexpectedly), money issues (try growing a business in this market & maintain some standard of living at the same time), government shutdowns (don’t get me started!!), closing delays (& by delays, I mean MONTHS), insane buyer requests (I really think most of them live in a dream land where home ownership comes with no responsibility), and agents who create problems instead of resolve them (“Someone stole the front yard sod!” – ummm, no they sure didn’t.)!

Here’s a brief glimpse to explain a bit of what I mean:

Flip #12 closed out with a breeze…wish all closings were this wonderful! This is the silver lining ;) Keep reading.

Flip #13…Wow, where do I begin? This house took 4 months from contract to closing. Yes, you read that right…4 MONTHS. We got it under contract in September, sold it in January. The details of “why” are too much to go into here – just know it was intense & we had no other choice but to hold out…We are just happy to see it go!!

Flip #14 had its own set of issues. The Buyer back out due to a family member creating an issue from a non-issue…So we relisted. A second Buyer came along…they backed out for similar reasons (Can someone please tell me why folks are listening to Grandpa more than an Inspector & any other qualified person?). We had to relist again. Keep in mind, by the time each Buyer backed out, weeks of time was wasted while it was under contract. We have now held this house for 8 months and just got it under contract for a 3^rd time. Fingers crossed we can get to the closing table without an outside party ruining the deal for all involved.

Flip #15 was the biggest blow. Our contractor walked away from the contract & his responsibilities, leaving us in an extremely messed up situation (I will leave it up to your imagination as to how bad it was…Due to legal concerns & potential litigation against him, I’m not getting specific). We are just now getting back on our feet with this house after having to hire another crew to come in & finish the job.

Ending 2013 under these circumstances was a blow to our goal for the year. But, we have learned a ton through each of these experiences that will continue to help shape us into successful real estate investors. It’s definitely a challenge to maintain a positive outlook when you have sequential months of extremely negative impacts on your business – all of which were out of our control. And, at time it feels like you’re doing nothing but putting out fires. But despite all the difficulties, we have grown, learned valuable lessons, & improved along the way – which makes us look forward to all 2014 has to offer.

And, to end on a high note... 

Let me introduce you to Flips #16 & #17!

Flip #16...

 

And, Flip #17! :)

 

 

Hopefully these deals & 2014 will be good to us J Either way, we are ready! Let the new investing adventures begin!