House 3: Listed!

I got the house listed last night around 10 PM. My agent is leaving town for the weekend, so we scrambled a bit to get this in before she left. She said there were two other active listings in the area, one listed at $215,000 and one at $235,000. She thought that last one was wishful thinking. Anyway, mine is listed at $199,000, so it should attract some attention being the lowest priced house in the neighborhood.If you remember, when I had the...

House 3: So Close, I Can Almost Taste It! (Updated)

The stove was supposed to be delivered this morning between 8 and 11. At 9:30, I got a call from Lowes saying one of their trucks broke down and the delivery will now occur between 10 AM and 3 PM. I'm not going to sit there all day, so they agreed to call me 20 minutes before they show up. That should give me enough time to get there from my office. While I was leaving, the carpet installers showed up. I showed them the location of the lockbox,...

House 3: Finished This Week?

Saturday morning, I received an email from my handyman saying the vinyl flooring was being installed Tuesday and that was the last thing on his list. Good news! I have the carpet installation scheduled for Thursday and the only thing left is a new stove. I tried picking that up Saturday, but the store I was at was too far away from the delivery address for their free delivery, so I have to go to a closer location tomorrow. They say they have next...

Prosper Improves Tools For Lenders

Last week, I received a newsletter from Prosper that detailed some new features they have added to improve the site for lenders. These feature are:Additional credit data, including "current delinquencies" and "adverse public records" to assist lenders in verifying a borrower's stated credit history. This info is only visible to lenders.Special icons identify homeowners and borrowers with verified...

Cashflow Day

It's been a while since I wrote about this, but I'm still receiving checks from four LLCs I've invested in that buy and sell foreclosures in the Bay Area in California. I got another check today from one of them for just over $750. This brings the total return on my investment to 62.5% over 3.5 years, which works out to about 17.9% annually. Not bad.One of my original goals was to get into six of these LLCs. I'm in four now, but am currently rethinking...

Prosper.com Again

Just a quick update on my experience with this site. So far, all of my borrowers are current on their loans. Each has made at least one payment. Of the $500 I've lent out, I've received back $20.73 in principal and $4.81 in interest. Prosper has collected 15 cents in service charges from me, giving me a net interest total of $4.67. My ROI is holding steady at 17.79%.The errors I was seeing on their loan detail screen were resolved a week or two...

House 3: Closing In On Completion

I got an update from the handyman today. The interior painting has been completed and the exterior painting should be finished this week. The flooring contractor was scheduled for this week, but we don't have a date yet on when that will be started. The handyman hopes everything will be done this week, but that will depend on the flooring guy.I sent an email to my insurance agent about the policy cancellation. I informed him of the rehab work and...

House 3: Insurance Cancelled

I received a certified letter from my insurance company yesterday. It contained a refund check and a notice that they were canceling my insurance on this property. The reasons given were: poor roof condition, abandoned car on property, and rotten eaves. The cancellation is effective 5/16/06, so I still have coverage for a month. The car has been removed and the eaves are being repaired this week. The roof looks ok to me and we've had rain recently...

House 3: Another Update

I met with the carpet guy today. He's going to measure the house and fax me a quote. (I didn't want to wait around while he measured.)The painter was there painting away. The handyman wasn't there though.Things are shaping up. The window A/C unit in the converted carport has been replaced, which included building a new support for it. The front door has been replaced. The side gate has been replaced. The kitchen counter and sink have been replaced,...

House 3: Burgled!

I got a call from my handyman this morning with some bad news that could have been worse news. Apparently, the house was broken into last night. The thief or thieves broke in by prying open the bathroom window. All that was taken was the painter's paint sprayer and four 20 gallon buckets of paint. A police report has been filed and the handyman said, according to police, there has been a rash of burglaries in the area. They also indicated the house...

Oops.. Almost Made A Mistake

Thanks to Monarchcrest and Steve for jumping all over my plan to roll my old 401(k) into my new 401(k). I originally planned on doing this so that I could draw a loan against it. However, further examination revealed problems with that. Additionally, I discovered I would only be able to borrow 50% of the value, which wouldn't work for me. Luckily, I have not yet submitted my forms for rolling the money into my new 401(k) and I have aborted that plan.I...

Google Gets Into Real Estate

Google appears to be beta testing a new feature for real estate listings. If you type in "real estate", "homes for sale", or "apartments for rent" in the search box, in addition to search results, you'll get a box that allows you to enter an address and search for homes for sale or rent nearby. The feature is combined with Google Maps. There is a nice blog entry about it here with some good screen shots. A Motley Fool article, which mainly talks...

Gearing Up For The Next Big Investment

After seeing Steve's presentation about multi-unit properties at the Rich Dad Forum Members Get Together (how's that for an awkward title?), my wife and I have become convinced that apartments are the way to go. The good news is that loans for these properties are commercial loans and so the bank doesn't really care about your financial statement - just the property's. The bad news is that they require a higher down payment. So to get ready for moving...