And who said for rent signs don’t work?

And who said for rent signs don’t work?
Since I am a young self proclaimed “internet guru” I thought I would have a leg up on other landlords because I can post houses for sale and rent on CraigsList faster than most.  Six months later, all it takes is doing things the good old fashioned way, three signs per...
Read More

January 2010 Goal Summary

January 2010 Goal Summary
Since I am a big believer in written goals and reviewing them often, I am going to start a new monthly review post.  In 2010, I have big goals, so I need to have laser focus to make sure I hit or surpass them. What happened in January? We sold House #17 and House #18. We rented...
Read More

House #33 – Bad News, Frustrated, Edison Pulled the Electric Meter

House #33 – Bad News, Frustrated, Edison Pulled the Electric Meter
I guess I haven’t blogged at all about House #33 yet.  We put it under contract last week after having  the listing agent trying to get our offer accepted for almost 4 weeks.  Neither of us were that excited about the house, no garage, flat root in a mediocre area.  As you...
Read More

Buying a House from a Wholesaler

Buying a House from a Wholesaler
I don’t know how much I have written about it, but we bought House #29 from a wholesaler.  The deal was not stellar, about 70% on the dollar with 3% for repairs, but it came with a buyer that is paying about 95% on the dollar retail.  The wholesaler did not have the money...
Read More

House #18 – Sold!

House #18 – Sold!
We bought House #18 in August and 154 (5 months) days later we closed our sales escrow.  Once again, Christmas and New Years slowed down our sales escrow by 2-3 weeks and we needed a review appraisal which took another 7 days. Our purchase price was 42.3% of the sales price and our...
Read More

House #17 – Is Now Sold!

House #17 – Is Now Sold!
As of yesterday, House #17 is sold.  This one took two escrows and was a bit difficult to make it happen.  We got a cash offer, and right as we finished negotiating the buyer had a stroke, so he had to withdraw the offer.  Later we go a conventional offer, with $150,000 down, from...
Read More

House #26 – Going to Escrow

House #26 – Going to Escrow
House #26 is our most expensive purchase to date, we started the list price kind of high to feel the market out, after feeling things out a bit, we lowered the price a bit and now we have multiple offers on the property.  We made a decision and opened escrow with a buyer, with one...
Read More

Breaking News! FHA 90 Day Rule, Lifted until Feb 1 – 2011

Breaking News! FHA 90 Day Rule, Lifted until Feb 1 – 2011
I do not have all the answers yet, but I do have a copy of the letter, with the Federal Housing Administration lifting the FHA 90 Day seasoning rule for one year. http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/waivpropflip2010.pdf Determinations 1. To help facilitate the return of repaired and...
Read More

I am ready for the weekend!

I am ready for the weekend!
What a busy week in the land of California real estate investing.  I closed on three purchase escrows this week alone and put two more under contract.  If you’re counting that should make 5 purchases for January.  So we are getting a great start to our 2010 goals. Three of...
Read More

Steve the Landlord?

Steve the Landlord?
I’ve been a landlord for almost 5 months now.  I have learned a lot of different things along the way, but so far it has been easier than I thought it would be.  The main part is, since we have a crew of workers, we can easily get stuff fixed for tenants when it is our responsibility...
Read More

« Previous Entries