Multi #1 Monthly Update

The monthly update for the Houston apartment complex arrived today. Things continue to go well. Occupancy has increased to 96%, making this the fourth straight month of increases. Occupancy has gone up every month since we took over the property and I don't expect it to rise any further.The damage caused by Hurricane Ike came in at around $25,000, which is less than the insurance deductible, so we will not be making an insurance claim. Payments will...

Hard Money #3 Finished

As expected, my hard money loan #3 was paid off today. The funds were wired by the escrow company today and my check will be in the mail tomorrow. The investment only lasted three months and I got the promised 10% annualized ROI. I'm on the lookout for the next investment n...

REI App For The iPhone

A week ago today, I got an iPhone. I don't know how I lived without this thing before! It is far more than just a phone. There are hundreds of applications out there, many of which are free, that provide useful functionality, good entertainment, or both.One free app I found is called Buy That Duplex Lite, or BTD Lite for short. This is a simple little investment property analyzer. You input the property price, down payment amount, loan interest rate,...

Early Loan Payoff?

Got word yesterday that a title company has requested a payoff amount for hard money loan #3. This was a 1 year loan that paid me 10% interest. The loan has only been open for 3 months, so this will be paid off real early if the sale of the collateral property actually goes through. I'm a bit disappointed because I was looking forward to several more months of payments. However, this just means I'll get my principle back and can start looking for...

"Official" Vigilantism

I came across this story on CNN.com today. In a nutshell, there is a sheriff in Chicago who thinks there are too many foreclosures and will stop evicting "innocent" renters from properties. I can surely empathize with him. It would not be fun to evict people for no fault of their own. But enforcing the law sometimes means doing things that are not pleasant.I agree that the tenants are not to blame for the foreclosure - in most cases. It's the landlord,...

Home Sells on eBay for $1.75

Now this could be a sweet deal. A woman bought an abandoned home for $1.75 on eBay. She'll have to pay an additional $850 in taxes and yard cleanup costs. From the looks of the place, she's probably also got some serious rehab work to do. Still, I think she's got a good chance at making some money on this one. If this truly was a bank-owned property, I wonder which bank is selling their inventory on eB...