Well, I can finally say it’s over.  We closed our first pre-90 day FHA flip.  House #32 turned out looking great, we got over 10 offers and picked a buyer that was willing to use our lender.

From there the process did not go smooth at all:

1. The Underwriter Wanted a Copy of Home Inspection Report

I’ve never had this happen before, but they where really anal that we fix some minor things called out on the home inspection report.  A sprinkler-head was leaking and they wanted full contractor approval.  It turned out to be a major pain.

2. The Underwriter Added a bunch of Conditions once we go Docs Signed

I always ask for a list of the conditional approval so I have an idea what it’s going to take to close.    Once the client signed Loan Docs the underwriter added all these Home Inspection conditions.

3. The Escrow Took 55 Days to Close

Due to all the stuff involved the escrow took a really long time to close.

4. Five out of Six Lenders Said they couldn’t do the Loan

I still have not found a lender that I am 100% happy with, I called a lot of them I have worked with in the past.  Everyone except one said they could not touch the loan at all.

5. The Borrower got Charged Extra

Like I said, only one bank would do the loan and they charged the borrower a half point extra to do the loan.

The good news is we got the loan closed and are ready for the next one.

I just finished listing House #32 on the MLS.  The rehab went smooth, we ended up framing in a fourth bedroom and it turned out really spacious.  Next time I’m out that way I will take a video of it.

The kitchen turned out great and overall, I like the house a lot.  Great neighborhood with a spacious layout, but I am a bit bias.

Front – Before

Front – After

Before – Porch

After – Porch

Before – Kitchen

After – Kitchen

Before – Fireplace

After – Fireplace

Before – Bathroom

After – Bathroom

Before – Hall

After – Hall

Update on House #30

We rented House #30 to some great tenants on Monday.  We broke down and put it in the MLS and got a ton of interest and phone calls, but at the end of the day we ended up renting it to someone who called from the sign.  They gave a full deposit, plus a non-refundable pet fee.

Escrow for House #16

House #16 is by far the oldest non-rental house we own.  The buyer has approval and the bank is drawing docs and going to send them to escrow.  So it should be closed by the end of the week.  That will make House #32 our most recent house in “work in progress.”  That is great we are happy with how lean we are running on inventory right now.

Update on Acquisitions

We have been making offers like crazy lately.  In the last couple of weeks we put three in escrow, two are firm and one is a short-sale and we are waiting on the bank to approve the HUD.  I think it looks good.  They’re all pretty great deals, but we are shopping very hard for about three more.  I have a 10 day vacation for April so I want to make sure we get a head start.

Happy buying!  Wish us luck.

After many delays, we finally closed escrow for House #32.  It is a great house, but it sure doesn’t have a lot of curb appeal.  This house has a weird front entrance, bad colors and ugly roof line, but that’s how you make money right!

This house was built in 1978 and is a solid neigbhorhood and just over 1,500 sq feet.  It currently is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom, but we are going to turn it into a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom.

We debated for a little while about putting this house into our rental pool, but flipping it won.  As you can probably tell if you follow the blog we have been keeping about 50% of the properties we have been purchasing so we need to make sure we get some rehab checks coming in.

The kitchen is going to get gutted.

Green carpet?

Because our crews are looking for work, we are probably going to have this house done in three weeks.  Most likely it is going to end up going FHA, so we are going to need to wait 90 days.