Holding Off On Second Offer

I spoke with the agent for this property again. I told her I noticed that the property was still available and I would like to make another offer on it. She remembered me and said I would have to do "much better" on my offer. I was able to get a bit more information. The listing said the property fell out of escrow and the seller wanted a quick close and had reduced the price $10,000. Based on that, I made the assumption that the owner needed to...

Another Offer Submitted (Updated)

I put in an offer yesterday on a condo that looks like it's in pretty good shape. The listing said the seller needed a quick close, which is what caught my eye. When I talked to the listing agent, I was a bit disappointed to learn that the seller was looking to close around the middle of January. That's almost a month away and not really what I would consider a "quick close." However, I submitted an offer anyway, at about $35,000 under the list...

Another Offer Made And Turned Down

I love it when real estate agents feign surprise or outrage at your offers. I came across a property in the MLS today that had just fallen out of escrow. The description said the seller reduced the price by $10,000 and that the seller wanted a quick sale. The property just came back on the market within the last day or two, so I checked it out and quickly put in an offer that was $40,000 under the asking price, but all cash and "as-is." About two...

Are Banks Reluctant To Foreclose?

This article on slate.com puts forth the notion that banks are afraid to foreclosure on delinquent homeowners. The author makes the argument that foreclosures cause a hit to the bank's balance sheet and create bad PR, so banks would rather let mortgagees miss more and more payments than take their houses back. Lower foreclosures also helps keep the bank's stock price high.I'm not sure I agree with this. As the author states, in Louisiana and other...

Offer Turned Down

I guess the agent was not able to convince his seller to take my offer. I never heard back from him and my offer expired at 4 PM yesterday. If the seller is really strapped for cash, and based on the agent's suggestion of a 7 day escrow and non-refundable deposit, I think he is, I may hear back from them. Then again, it might just be that the agent wants to sell this property more than the seller - he works for "Scottsdale Luxury Properties" and...

Offer Possibly Accepted

Got a call from the agent for Property C. He is going to take my offer to his client and he thinks his client will accept it. He wanted to know if I could close in 7 days. I have no problem with that, but I had to check with my escrow company if they could move that fast. He also wanted to know if I would make my $1,000 earnest money deposit non-refundable upon contract acceptance. I agreed to that. The agent said the guy needs money and this would...

Back Into The Swing Of Things

With the holidays approaching, I felt I really needed to at least get some offers out there. I figure there probably aren't too many people buying houses this time of year, so I'd have a better chance at getting my lowball offers accepted. I've had this thought in the back of my mind since before Thanksgiving, but I just been so busy. Even though I'm still really busy, I managed to make some time for research yesterday..I spent a couple of hours...

Foreclosures Increasing Nationwide

I found a news article on The Creative Investor from RealtyTrac which states nationally, foreclosures were up almost 19% in October over the previous month. At that rate, 1 in every 1,422 households in the nation has entered foreclosure. The states with the largest number of foreclosures were New Jersey, Texas, and New Mexico. Here in Arizona, the foreclosure rate actually dropped by 6.9%.What surprises me is the Arizona statistic. Actually, in looking...

Thoughts On Purchasing Filled Lease Options

Got back into town a couple days ago from a holiday trip and now I'm trying to catch up on everything...I get emails occasionally from people selling properties that have tenants in them with leases with an option to purchase, usually 1 or 2 years out. Many times, the purchase price is fixed, but I have seen some that say the purchase price is the appraised value in 1 or 2 years, or whenever the option runs out. I was just thinking this morning that...

What Is It With Contractors These Days?

It seems no one wants any work! I guess this is what happens when you live in an area that has a mad housing market.I'm getting some work done on my house - we needed some drip irrigation lines installed in the backyard, my fountain is leaking and needs to be fixed, and I'm having a bunch of electrical work done inside the house.I had to call 5 companies to get someone to install the drip lines. Three companies never returned my call and one said...

They Dropped The Price A Bit

I am keeping an eye on the property I talked about earlier in the week. Sure enough, today they dropped the price by about $3,500. Still too slim of a deal for me, but I'll keep watching it...

Visit To A Property

I found a potential property today at buyazforeclosures.com and went over to check it out at lunch. This property caught my eye because they were selling it for about $30,000 under FMV.This property would be a good rental, but I don't think it would work for a flip. As is standard with foreclosures, there was a fair amount of trash and holes in the walls present. The kitchen needs new appliances and new cabinets. In fact, all the cabinets in the...

Getting Back In The Swing Of Things

I'm starting to get back into routine of looking for new properties. Two days ago, I went through my lists of contacts and emailed people who responded to my post on birddogs. One person responded with a property and I checked it out yesterday at lunch. I don't think this one will work. The guy thinks it will sell for $210,000 to $215,000 when fixed up, but I don't see it. The neighborhood isn't that great and the comps I am pulling show prices in...

Mansion Impossible

This real estate-based game is a fun way to waste some time. Found it on Eric's bl...

Even Arizona Feels Effects Of Katrina And Wilma

Out here in the desert, we remain in the midst of a multi-year drought, yet we still are feeling the effects of the hurricanes hitting the eastern half of the U.S. Gas prices, of course, are the most visible repercussion, but the effects are also turning up in unexpected places. I received a letter yesterday from my carpet supplier informing me of shortages of the raw materials needed to manufacture carpet. Here are some statistics they cite for...

A Bit Of A Breather

I'm sort of in a take-a-break mode now. I've got to take care of filing all the paperwork from the property sale and send off the settlement statement to my CPA to have the data entered into Quickbooks. (That's beyond my accounting skills now, but once I see how she does it, I should be able to do it myself in the future.) I also just got a new computer (courtesy of the profits from this flip), so I've been spending time transferring data from my...

Final Results And Post Mortem For House 11

OK, I haven't been able to get the detail I want out of my analysis, mainly because I'm having trouble entering all the stuff into Quickbooks, so I'll need to get with my CPA on that. (I could do it by hand, but my time is pretty limited right now.)Anyhow, here are the numbers on this property:Purchase Amount- $128,00.00Fix Up Costs- $15,254.87 Costs Subtotal - $143,254.87 Selling Price$181,000.00...

Phoenix Area May Be Peaking

Just spoke with my real estate agent this morning (who is still having a hard time believing we finally closed!) about the general housing outlook in Phoenix. There are currently over 18,000 active listings in the MLS. A few weeks ago, there were 15,000. Time on market is also increasing. In other words, the seller's market is disappearing here, so be careful when buying properties in this area. Also, beware of comps - any high comps you find might...

ESCROW HAS CLOSED!!!!

Escrow has closed!!! We're just waiting for confirmation from the recording office that the documents have been recorded and then the funds will be released! That should happen before 5 PM today!!YAAAAAYYYYY!!!! I'll have final figures tomorrow and will then post the details of the investment - ROI, e...

Should Close Today

Of course, I've said that before.I just got off the phone with the escrow officer and she said the lender had just one last requirement - they wanted a letter of explanation from the buyer about one of his renters or something. I didn't get many details because I don't want to get involved with that, but I was told that the loan officer wrote the letter and is getting the buyer to sign it. He shouldn't have to overnight it to them or anything, so...

This Lender Is Unbelievable!

We were supposed to close Thursday or Friday, but the escrow agent got a call Friday from the lender. Apparently, on one of the loan doc pages, the notary didn't put his stamp in precisely the right place, so the lender wanted that page redone. He also decided he needed a document for the Patriot Act, which is basically a copy of the buyer's driver's license. So a mobile notary was sent to the buyer on Friday and the requested documents were FedEx'd...

I've Been Interviewed!

A short interview with me has been posted at www.reiblog.org. My interview is he...

We Have Docs!

Yesterday, the escrow officer received docs from the lender! If all goes well (and based on how things have been going, that is a mighty big if), the loan should fund on Thursday or Friday.One good thing is that we were able to get the buyer to agree to a $50 a day fee for each day they are past the scheduled close of escrow. I stole this idea from a comment Empty Spaces made on Hespy's Real Estate blog. The fee is retroactive to the day the Cure...

What A Weekend

It was a fairly hectic weekend, in terms of the property. On Friday afternoon, I heard from my agent that escrow still had not closed because the buyer's lender STILL had not provided docs for the buyer to sign. No one at the lender will return the calls of the buyer or the escrow agent. The buyer's real estate agent (who is also his daughter) has gone out of town for two weeks. We tried calling her and got a message telling us to contact her assistant....

Further Explanation Of The Delay

I just spoke with my agent, who spoke with the buyer's agent and I now have a better understanding of the problem. The issue isn't just a misspelled name. Apparently, many years ago, the buyer changed his middle name. The docs showed his former middle name and he signed with his current middle name. Nobody caught it until the lender was doing the final review of the signed documents. Given this information, I can totally understand the lender wanting...

Possible Delay Again

Well, I just got off the phone with the escrow agent and they still do not have funds yet. Apparently the problem now is that the lender is being a jerk. It seems the loan documents the buyer signed had the buyer's name spelled incorrectly and neither the lender nor the escrow agent caught it. The lender was complaining about this and wanted to get new docs, which means the buyer would have to sign docs again. Given the late hour, that would probably...

Another 1 Day Delay

I got a voicemail from my agent this afternoon and she told me the buyer signed his loan docs today - which means the loan will not fund until tomorrow, since the docs have to be overnighted back to the bank. But she was also told the bank has ordered the wire for the funds, so it should be all set to close tomorrow. I went ahead and gave them a one day delay. It sounds like things have finally progressed.Another reason I let the buyer have another...

Found the HUD error!

As I said before, there is always a mistake on the HUD settlement form - it's just a question of finding it. I originally thought this time was a rare exception, but it turns out I was wrong. There is a mistake.A friend brought to my attention the fact that the $26 for four days of property taxes figure I gave seemed a bit high. Turns out, he was right and I made a calculation error. The actual amount is about $12 for four days. But in reviewing...

Update On Closing

I got a voicemail from the escrow agent and she told me she received my Cure Notice and has notified the buyer. She also spoke with the lender and he told her the delay was because the buyer's use of the property has changed. Now, I was told he was buying two houses and one was going to be an investment property and the other was to be his residence. He supposedly liked my property the best, so that was going to be his residence. The message the...

Entering The "Cure Period"

Back when I listed this property, my agent told me Arizona Realtors have a new sales contract they use and it is very pro-buyer. Yesterday, I ran into one of those pro-buyer clauses.At the end of the day, I still had not heard back from my agent or the escrow officer, so I called the escrow officer and spoke with her. She had still not received any loan docs. I told her as far as I was concerned, the buyer was now in breach of contract and has lost...

Delayed Again

Apparently, this house was not meant to be sold quickly. Everything I have attempted to do with it has been delayed.Escrow was supposed to close today and this morning, I called the escrow officer. She said the buyer's lender had spoken with her and told her she would have the docs "very soon." The day went by and I got a call from her this afternoon at 5:00 PM. She still didn't have the docs. The lender said she would have them tomorrow. This is...

Closing Has Been Delayed

The buyer's lender did not get stuff done in time. The loan is still going to go through, but it is "in line for funding," whatever that means, instead of "funded." So our new closing date is Tuesday, although it could close as early as Monday.The buyer had his final inspection and everything was ok except for no hot water. The house has an electric water heater and I know for a fact the circuit breaker for that is turned off. I don't know why it...

Escrow Closes Today - Theoretically

I just spoke with the escrow officer and she emailed me a copy of my HUD settlement statement. Everything looks OK, which is pretty shocking given that there are usually always errors on these things. The statement only reflects a 70% investor discount on the title charges, but she is waiting to hear back from the company I purchased title insurance from when I bought the property. Once they confirm my old policy, the discount will go up to 80%.Her...

Rejected For Office Depot Card

Yesterday I received another rejection notice, this time from the Office Depot credit card I was trying to get. Again, I'm not too concerned about this, since I won't really be needing credit anyway. I still have not heard back from the cashback credit card offer I sent in a while ago. I'm thinking I'll get it because I believe I had to offer a personal guarantee of financial responsibility on that one. These other two cards I did not (but I was...

The Handyman Returns

When I was going over the work that needed to be done on the property, my handyman told me he had an assistant who was going to work on replacing the dry rot on the patio enclosure. He gave me his number and last night I called him, in an attempt to find out the status of the job. When I initially talked to him, he wasn't sure who I was, but he did tell me that my handyman had returned from vacation Monday night. So I called and left another message...

Where Is The Handyman?

Escrow is supposed to close on Friday. I met with my handyman two weeks ago to go over the work that needed to be done. He told me it would take 1 day and that he could start the following day. He did mention he would be on vacation last week, but that still left him a full week before his vacation to get the job done.I've called him Sunday, Monday, and today. All I get is his voicemail and he hasn't returned my messages. I haven't had a chance to...

Escrow On Track

I called my escrow agent yesterday to make sure things were on track for our closing a week from today, since I haven't heard anything yet. She said she had everything she needed from me, short of my signature on the closing documents. She is just waiting for some loan paperwork from the buyer's bank and then we'll be good to go. She said I could go ahead and come down and sign everything, but I said I'd wait until the buyer's docs arrive. No point...

New Rat Race Job

I accepted a job offer today at a new company and gave my two weeks notice to my current employer. I'm still in the rat race, but at least I'll be making a bit more money and have better benefits - plus the coolness factor will greatly increase since I'll be working at a company that makes video games. The raise will allow me to save more towards passive income investments, which puts me one step closer to leaving the rat race. It will be very tempting...

Rejected For Lowe's Card

As part of my efforts to build credit in my company's name, I applied for credit cards at Lowe's and Office Depot, as well as the 3% cash back credit card offer I got in the mail last week. Today I received a letter from Lowe's (actually, from GE Capital Financial, who runs the Lowe's credit card program) saying my application was rejected because my company did not have a Dunn and Bradstreet credit file. Lowe's was supposed to be an easy card to...

Just As I Thought

When my handyman told me fixing the items on the buyer's Inspection Report would take 1 day and that he could start Tuesday, I knew there was no way that would happen and I figured it would really take him three days. Sure enough, late yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), I got a call from him saying he hadn't started yet, but he was going over there now to start. He asked again when escrow was closing and I told him a week from Friday, which is the...

Old Neighbor in Preforeclosure

This is interesting! Last night, I was going through some preforeclosure listings and came across an address that seemed very familiar: it is across the street and about 2 or 3 houses down from the house I used to live in about 2 years ago! I never met the guy living there, but I know the neighborhood and the houses and they are both pretty nice.From what I can tell, this property is not yet listed in the MLS, so the owner may not have an agent yet....

Buyer's Inspection Notice

On Friday afternoon, I received the Buyer's Inspection Notice. They had the property inspected and this notice is a list of things they'd like me to fix. I went out to the property Sunday to verify the items and to meet with my handyman and go over which ones I am willing to fix. Here's the list with my responses: Fascia boards and trim have wood rot / deterioration on northwest corner of patio cover. I will fix this. There is about a 6 inch section...

Article On Why RE Agents Aren't Getting Rich

There's a good article on Slate.com about why real estate agents aren't getting rich from the current housing boom. I love the last line ...

Building My Company's Credit part 2

Following some of the advice from the site in Steve's comment, I went to Dun and Bradstreet to request a D&B number. They have a section where you can check to see if you already have one because 1 out of 2 companies requesting a number already do. It turns out, my company does! So I requested it online. A short while later, I got an email saying they couldn't email me anything because the information I provided didn't match what they had in...

Building My Company's Credit

I'd like to get to the point where my company can apply for bank loans and other financial instruments without a personal guarantee from me, but few banks will lend to a company without some legal recourse against a person should the business fail. To show the business is solid, it needs to have a good credit history. Today, I took the first step towards establishing that credit history.I received an application in the mail from Chase Bank for a...

Meta: A New Record!

Yesterday, this blog had the highest single day hit count in its history: 611! The previous record was somewhere around 400 and I was waiting for the day we broke 500. Turns out, we shattered 500! Thanks to all you readers for making this blog a succe...

Yard Violation Cleared Up

I called the city inspector to verify he got my message from yesterday stating the yard was cleaned and could be re-inspected. He said he did and had checked out the place and it looks good, so that violation is now cleared ...

Meta: Comment Spam

I've been hit with a bunch of comment spam lately. Deleting it is annoying and time consuming so, in an attempt to limit it, I've enable Word Verification for comments. What this means is in order to leave a comment, you will now be asked to type in a series of random letters shown in a graphic in order for your comment to be posted. This prevents automated programs from leaving spam commen...

Now The Paperwork Begins!

Now that escrow is opened, the paperwork begins in earnest!Today, I received a fax from my agent of the earnest money deposit receipt. I also received a contract addendum that changes the name of the buyer from agent's name and nominees to the name of the agent's father, the actual buyer. This is functionally equivalent to assigning the contract but was done via a contract addendum rather than a separate assignment document. My agent also said she...

Yard Is Clean!

Wow! I stopped by the property this morning to check out the work the yard maintenance company did and I am completely impressed! I had told the company about the violation notice I received from the city and that I had to cut the weeds down to no higher than 6 inches and trim a tree that was overhanging the sidewalk. That was what I expected them to do - cut the weeds down. What they actually did was pull them all! There is no evidence of weeds...

Psychology Of MLS Listings

As I wrote about before, I wanted to get this property listed in the MLS using the key words identified in Freakonomics that correlate to a higher sales price. Here is the text of my MLS listing:YOU MUST SEE THIS NEWLY REMODELED HOME... THIS 3 BEDROOM 2 BATH HOME BOASTS NEW PAINT AND CARPET THROUGHOUT.. NEW OAK KITCHEN CABINETS.. NEW COUNTERTOPS.. NEW RANGE/OVEN.. NEW DISHWASHER.. NEW GARBAGE DISPOSAL.. NEW SINKS.. NEW BATHROOM VANITIES.. GREAT FOR...

Moving Forward With Sale

My agent confirmed escrow was opened yesterday. As soon as she gets a copy of the earnest money payment, she'll fax it to me.The next step is providing all the paperwork the contract states I will provide to the buyer: the lead based paint disclosure, the SPDS (seller property disclosure statement), and a list of any insurance claims against the property.I faxed over the lead based paint disclosure this morning.I have requested and received a CLUE...

House Is Sold!

My counter offer to the previous offer was rejected. The buyer did not want to come up with the extra cash or to make the earnest money non-refundable. His agent said she's been trying to get him a house for a couple months, so I guess he's pretty picky. Could be a good thing he backed out.Yesterday afternoon, my agent received a rather strange offer: it was from a family-run real estate agency here in the Valley which is rather large and whose members...

Need New Cabinets In Phoenix?

Ok, I met up with Keith yesterday to settle up our bill. After working with him on this project, I have to say he is a fantastic person to do business with. He has fantastic attention to detail and is considerate of my time. For example, we agreed to meet yesterday at my work to wrap things up. We had not agreed to a specific time - he was going to call when he was on the way. I got a call about 10 minutes to 3 PM saying he was just getting off the...

Offer Fell Through, But New One Received

Now the fun stuff begins - offers and counter-offers!The buyers did not want to agree to my counter offer to make the earnest money non-refundable after the inspection period, so that deal is gone. My agent says this, along with the use of an FHA loan (which is usually used by people with poor credit), indicated a weak buyer.But we've got another offer on the table. This one is for $185,000, which is $5,000 more than the list price. However, the...

Offer For House!

A couple hours before I got the call from my cabinet guy with his cost for fixing the cabinet fiasco, I got a call from my agent telling me she had received an offer for the property! The offer was for full price ($180,000). The buyer was putting 3% down with $1,000 earnest money. It was an FHA loan. They did not want a home warranty. They will pay the appraisal fee. I am to pay a maximum of $410 towards the buyer's closing costs.It sounds like a...

Cabinet Costs

I got a call from Keith last night to discuss the bill for getting the cabinets installed. I had mentally figured around $2,000, which is what the other guy charged me for the job. It turns out to be a bit more than that... The total cost is going to be around $5,200! Keith had about 25 hours of his time in the job, plus his assistant had 25 hours. His rate is $40 - $45 an hour. There was a little more than $1,000 in parts costs and the countertops...

Yardwork Revisited

Well, it seems like I'll have to get the weeds cut down anyway. When I came home from work this afternoon, I had a letter from the city stating I was in violation of city codes. They say the weeds must be cut down to less than 6 inches and a tree on the south side yard must be trimmed so that its branches are at least 7 feet above the sidewalk and 12 feet above the street. I have until August 31st to comply and I will need to have the city inspector...

Cabinet Photos

Here are some pictures of the long awaited cabinets. I have previously posted photos of the old cabinets. Click the pictures for a larger vi...

The $13,000 Phone Call

I was just leaving for lunch when my agent called me. She checked out some active listings in the area and she thinks I can get more than $167,000 for the place. She suggested $180,000. There are 3 active listings in the subdivision and, even at $180,000, mine would still be the lowest priced one. I was a bit concerned because, although I did do a lot to improve the place, the bathroom showers are still a bit, well, not the best. But one house in...

House Is Listed!! (Updated)

Or it will be, as soon as my agent checks her email.I went to the property this morning and everything looks good! The cabinets are finished!! Finally!!! I spent about 45 minutes cleaning up the place. There was a bunch of sawdust from the cabinet install to vacuum up, plus all the boxes for the cabinet doors had to be thrown out. I installed the bathroom light cover and the sink hole plug. The old kitchen countertop was on the back patio. It's too...

Guess What?

The cabinet are not done!Now, I know that probably comes as a surprise to many people. After all, this is just a simple little cabinet job. I mean, how long can it take, right? And the guy told me he would be done yesterday...Ah. Nothing like some sarcasm to start the day off right. I ventured out to the house this morning and discovered the remaining two cabinet doors were still not installed. I was pissed and proceeded to give my lungs and vocal...

Third Time's The Charm For The Hinges?

Keith called me just now and said he's picked up yet a third type of hinge for the corner cabinet doors. Man, I guess Joe didn't have a clue how to make the cabinets and must have done something really strange. Anyway, Keith said he'd get over there tonight after dinner to install them. I told him I was planning on stopping by tomorrow morning before work to check out the job. He said fine. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this will be done. If it...

Turns Out, It's More Than A One Day Delay

Why did I expect things to be done on time? I got a message from Keith on Thursday saying the cabinets would be done on Friday. So I went out to the property on Sunday afternoon and nothing was done. The parts that still need to be installed were there - the veneer and toekicks and such, but they weren't installed yet. The stove was still not put back in place either. So this morning I called Keith and asked what was up. He said his guy was out there...