Preston Ely Rocks The House

If you haven’t seen the reality style show that Preston Ely and Pete The Ninja published for the upcoming Freedomsoft Launch, I encourage you to check it out.

The video shows them negotiating with sellers, Preston getting his hair done, fighting with other local investors and more.  It’s entertaining and you’ll learn some cool stuff too…

Check it out here Read more

House Flipping Tips

Sometimes, when dealing with contractors I want to pull my hair out.

It’s one aspect of the business that I absolutely hate, but it’s a necesary evil if you’re fixing up and flipping houses.

This past week, I’m talking with a guy named Phil that finishes hardwood floors for my latest rehab and I tell him where the house is.

He responds -”I know where it’s at… I did the roof on that house about 5 years ago.”

We agree to meet the following day to let him give me a quote.

I arrive around 15 minutes early to find a leak dripping in 3 places.

Irony at its best….

I walk outside to cut him off so that he doesn’t see the leak just yet and I said – “Is this the house you put the roof on?” He responds “yes”.

Then, I opened the door and said well take a look at this leak.

(HEHE – I’m thinking I just busted this guy’s bubble).

This guy starts telling me about the hail damage that had been done to the roof and that is why the roof is leaking and that “unfortunately” his warranty is only good for 3 years…

(To sum it up, he was shooting me a line of bull shit for a half assed job done to the roof)

Now, keep in mind, he’s there to give me a quote about refinishing hardwood floors – not a roof.

While, he’s figuring a quote – he starts asking questions about my business.

Then proceeds to say…

“Well, you’ll make $20K -$30K on this house”

Excuse me- did I tell you what I paid for it?

uhh No.

I proceeded to inform him that the one thing that pisses me off about contractors is some are more worried about what I make than doing the job right in a timely fashion.

Sorry – but I’ll not be using Phil.

And there are guys just like Phil in your market.

So here some rules for dealing with contractors when you’re fixing up to flip a house -

Don’t let’em shoot you a line of bs.

Don’t believe everything they say.

Get a second opinion. Ask for referalls at your local investment club, from other investors, from other contractors, and from the home improvement stores.

Ask to see 5 jobs they’ve done in the past year and if you can contact the owners for a reference.

And keep a good list of the contractors that work out.

This list will be a continued work in progress.

Start small.  Use your new contacts for small jobs to see how they do before handing them a big project.

Don’t tell anyone who you’re using or else word will get out and then it’ll be harder to have them work jobs in.

And never, ever reveal what you paid for the house to any contractor or else they try to gouge you.

And lastly, don’t be afraid to let ‘em go.

There’s more to come as time permits…

Derek

Buying Homes At Foreclosure

Just read a really cool article in the Wall Street Journal about flipping properties.

It’s something you don’t typically see in the media – someone actually using the market conditions to make money-

Take a peak here

You mean this stuff actually works?

The fact is there’s still plenty of opportunity – actually more in this market than ever before, however you don’t use the same methods that worked back in the 90’s where you could buy a house and watch the market value double in value in 5 – 10 years.

And the truth is  – in my market I’ve never seen this kind of appreciation.  From day one of buying my first house over 8 years ago, I’ve yet to be involved with an appreciating market.  It’s all been stagnant or depreciating in value.

So, you could say we’re a little used to this right now

There’s more seller leads right now, more banks discounting, and more of the real investors scooping up deals.

Learn to put these three together and you’ve got a recipe for a booming business.

Here’s the link again for the article