AZ Republic Article On Teaching Sellers

Brian over at How To Invest In Real Estate posted a story from the Arizona Republic about how sellers are basically clueless about the current real estate slowdown and are still looking to sell their homes for the inflated prices of the last two years. Realtors are having to educate them on the current market dynamics and find ways to make them realize they may need to lower their price, not once, but several times.But one line in the article really...

Another Prosper.com Update

I've already mentioned I've grown disappointed with Prosper.com and will not be lending any more money through there. I've noticed now that they have added a new feature called "Community Payment" which I'm not sure I like. The concept is simple: if a member of a group is behind on payments, other group members can chip in and make a payment on the overdue loan. This helps keep the group's rating up by cutting down on the number of late loans the...

First Payment From Commercial Project Received

I received my first payment yesterday from the large commercial project in Louisiana I invested in recently. Also had an update on the progress from the property owners. They have hired a new property management company and that company is actually moving into the building, which is a plus. This company managed the building for over a decade before the previous owner took over and had the property at 80% occupancy. They are currently at 40%, but...

Bonus Cash!

I spent the weekend in Las Vegas, where I won about $500. Unfortunately, my wife lost the same amount, so it was a push overall. Still, it's good to come back from Vegas with the same amount of money as when I left!But the bonus cash I am talking about is not from Sin City. It's from Security Union Title Company. When I checked my mail when I got back into town, I had a refund check for $44 from this title company. The accompanying letter says the...

Reverse Merger Arbitrage Works!

Wow.. I just completed a deal that gave me a 2,567% ROI in 212 days. That's an annualized ROI of 4,419%!! And it's perfectly legal! Anyone can do it!I sound like a bad infomercial. I better explain.Thanks to Gualberto over at The Art Of Money blog, I learned about a stock investing technique called reverse merger arbitrage. He's explains the concept here. How it works is you buy shares in a shell company - a company that has no operations and is...

House 3: Lessons Learned

Each project gives you tons of opportunities to learn, so if you can't find at least some new things you've learned, you're doing something wrong. I certainly got lots of opportunities to learn on this project! My lessons:Location, location, location! Of course, this is the cardinal rule of real estate and I thought I knew it. In fact, I do know it. Where I was lacking was my ability to properly judge a neighborhood. I knew when I was investigating...

House 3: Final Results

Here are the final numbers on House 3:Purchase Amount-$138,280Fix Up Costs- $29,443Insurance- $303Utilities- $517 Costs Subtotal - $168,543 Selling Price$195,000 Selling Costs -$18,874 Property Taxes - $491 Income Subtotal $175,635 Misc. LLC Expenses - $400...

House 3: Done Deal!

I spoke with my escrow agent this morning and he confirmed the buyer's loan did fund on Friday and the docs got recorded, so it is now official - the property has sold! (He didn't get back to me on Friday because he had a family emergency and had to leave the office.) He said he was wiring the funds to my account this morning. In fact, I just checked and the funds have already hit my bank!Today, I called the power and gas companies and had them take...

House 3: Signing Complete!

When I showed up at the escrow office this morning, the buyer was still signing her documents. I took the opportunity to give her the keys to the property. Technically, I should wait until the loan has funded and the documents have been recorded, but I don't want to have to make another trip to the property or escrow office. I signed my paperwork and left. They are going to send the docs to the lender by courier in an attempt to get the loan funded...

House 3: Signing Tomorrow!!

Woo-hoo! The title company received the loan docs and we are scheduled to sign tomorrow morning! The buyer is signing at 8 AM and I am signing at 9 AM. The title company will courier the loan docs to the buyer's lender in hopes that they will fund the loan tomorrow afternoon. If not, it'll have to wait until Monday. (Damn - I didn't catch that the closing date was a Friday!) But all is good!As usual, I found one error on the preliminary HUD statement....

House 3: Two Days To Closing

I stopped by the property this morning and was pleased to see it was in the same state as I left it last week. I might get out of this thing without any more vandalism yet!Spoke with the escrow company. They are working on my file now. They do not have loan docs for the buyer, but they have been told they will arrive tomorrow. (Of course, we all know that doesn't mean it will happen.) I was supposed to get the preliminary HUD today to review, but...