Let’s call him John. A bright and hard worker just trading time for dollars at his regular job. His first house flipping experience could have been a lot better.

John was watching “Property Ladder” on the A&E network one day and got the bright idea to flip a house himself. After all, those people were making money. A complimentary show “Flip This House” confirmed that money could be made, lots of money.

If you haven’t seen Property Ladder, it’s a television show that features first time home flippers. Usually in that show the inexperienced flipper, egged on by Kirsten Kemp, make almost a year’s salary or more by fixing up an old house and selling it. Kirsten Kemp is a veteran of flipping houses and is a bit too pretty to be mistaken for Bob Vila.

John figures that the people featured in these shows are not all that bright and certainly he could do as well. With a bit of nervousness John put a 10% down payment on a home that needed repairs and begin the repair process. Or did he?

The first thing John did was to ponder what really needed to be fixed and if he needed a contractor to do it. Two weeks went by.

After getting several bids, John chose a contractor to come in and totally renovate the property for $11,000. That included paint, carpet, appliances, and a new wall to turn an open area into another bedroom. Once it was agreed, the contactor was to start working. As luck would have it, the contractor had some unfinished jobs and couldn’t start for another two weeks. John was patient, after all it was going to be a great flip and he was going to make money. It was just another $800 for an extra month, no big deal.

Once the contractor started he stared with a bang. Just like on the show “Flip this House” a big yellow dumpster was deposited on the lawn and a crew started ripping out wall paper and junk from the house. That demolition lasted about two days.

The next thing this “go getter” contractor did was to disappear for another two weeks. The excuse: Men had quit and another job was pushing them behind.

To make a long story short, the contract took 8 months to get nearly complete, and then John pulled the plug and fired the contractor.

John paid others to come in a finish what was started. He had now 9 months of house payments into the project, 10% down, and construction costs.

After the house was ready, John listed it with an agent, and it sat another month. John lowered the price a bit with the prompting of the agent, but got cold feet after two weeks and wanted to raise it again. Too late! The house had a full price offer. Good news, sort of.

All said and done John made a little money and got a whole lot of experience. It was a flop, but at least he didn’t lose money.

Let’s review what John, now wiser, could have done differently on his first flip.

Firstly, putting 10% is ok, but not ideal. John should have used private money or have financed the property at 100%. That money could have been used for fix up rather than being tied up in the property.

Second. John waited too long to decide what he was going to do. He should have known before he bought the property what his plan was. This would have saved two weeks at least.

Third. While John got a referral for the contractor, he should have gotten more bids. A deadline for the completion of the job, with penalties, should have been written in the contract.

Fourth. John waited too long to fire the contractor once he knew there was a problem. He was afraid that he would still owe the full amount if he terminated the contractor before the work was done. A proper contract would have prevented that fear.

Sixth. John listed with a realtor too early. The property should have been for sale by owner from day one and John should have tried to market the property himself.

Seventh. The price was set, and then changed too quickly. Better marketing would have netted John with a nicer profit. John should have known the selling price even before buying the property.

A lot of mistakes were made, but John still made a slim profit. All is well that ends well, but you don’t need to make these same mistakes. Learn from John.

Scott Ames is publisher of BirdDogCity.com a website dedicated to those interested in flipping houses for profit, either retail or wholesale. You may visit the site at http://www.birddogcity.com

Tags: flip houses, flipping, investing, Real Estate, real estate investmentflip houses, flipping, investing, Real Estate, real estate investment

Share This

Maybe it has something to do with a childhood home we fondly remember. Many of us long for old homes built with solid construction, quality craftsmanship and beautiful details. We wax poetic and wistfully recall the hand carvings, plaster walls and eyebrow dormers of homes we’ve known. On the other hand, how do the old homes we admire compare with newly minted modelsand what should we consider before deciding which to buy?

Location. Typically, old homes sit on generous plots of land in or near town. The neighborhoods are established and usually more central to schools and shopping. Mature trees and plantings provide shade and beautify the property and neighborhood streets. New homes are generally found in new developments outside of town and homeowners who buy into an early can expect to contend with dust and construction sights and sounds as the remaining phases are being built. Landscaping may be skimpy or nonexistent, but a buyer has the opportunity to design the d

Tags: md real estate, md realtor, neda dabestani, old house vs. new house, Real Estatemd real estate, md realtor, neda dabestani, old house vs. new house, Real Estate

Share This

We all are thinking about it and some of us are actually taking action and getting their hands on real estate investment properties. The longer the NY Stock Exchanges doesn’t produce desirable returns the more people are starting with real estate investments.

For most of us the obvious choice of properties are single family homes. Although you can invest in real estate without owning a home, most people follow the experience they made while purchasing their own home. This is familiar ground and the learning curve for doing a real estate deal of this type is pretty slim.

Of course there’s a drawback with this approach. The competition is fierce and there are markets where investors are artificially driving up the cost of the properties while completely discouraging first time home buyers. If this is the case, the burst of the real estate bubble is just a matter of time.

How do you avoid these situations and still successfully invest in real estate? How do you get ahead of the competition and be prepared for bad times in real estate investments as well? The only answer I have is commercial real estate.

Why commercial real estate you might ask? Commercial real estate is a solid investment in good and bad times of the local real estate market. The commercial real estate I’m referring to are multi unit apartment buildings.

Yes you will become a landlord and No you don’t have to do the work by yourself. You are the owner and not the manager of the apartment building. The cost of owning and managing the building is part of your expenses and will be covered by the rent income.

Apartment buildings are considered commercial real estate if there are 5 or more units. To make the numbers work you should consider to either own multiple small apartment buildings or you should opt for bigger buildings. This will keep the expense to income ratio at a positive cash flow. Owning rental properties is all about positive cash flow.

With investing in single family homes it is easy to achieve positive cash flow. Even if your rent income doesn’t cover your expenses 100%, the appreciation of the house will contribute to the positive cash flow. With commercial real estate the rules are different.

While single family homes are appraised by the value of recent sales of similar homes in your neighborhood, commercial real estate doesn’t care about the value appreciation of other buildings. The value of the property is solely based on the rent income. To increase the value of a commercial real estate you need to find a way to increase the rent income. The formula on how this is calculated would be too much for this short article. I listed a few very helpful books where you can find all the details.

What’s another advantage to invest in commercial real estate? Commercial real estate financing is completely different than financing a single family home. While financing a single family home you are at the mercy of lenders who want to make sure that you are in the position to pay for the house with your personal income. Commercial real estate financing is based in the properties ability to produce positive cash flow and to cover the financing cost.

After reading all these information about commercial real estate you want to go out there and dive into the deals. Not so fast. First, you need to learn as much about real estate as possible. In commercial real estate you’re dealing with professionals. If you come across too much as a newbie you will waste these guys’s time and your commercial real estate career ended before it actually started. Second, no commercial real estate lender will lend you any money if you can’t show at least a little bit of real estate investment experience.

What’s the solution to this? Go out there and do one or two single family home deals yourself. It doesn’t matter if you make huge profits to start off with. Most newbie investors are loosing money on their first deal anyway. If you can manage to show positive cash flow with your single family home deals you are ahead of the pack.

My advice, buy a small single family home in a decent neighborhood and rent it immediately. This will keep your out of the pocket expenses at a minimum and you will have rent income to cover for your monthly expenses. Bonus, you gain experience as an investor and as a landlord.

Here’s another observation I made during my real estate investment career. Most people like to analyze, learn, discuss and analyze some more. They never actually got to do a real estate deal. They love to talk about real estate investments, but never did it themselves.

My approach to real estate investment was simple.

- I bought some books about real estate investment.

- I read every single one of them.

- I put together a simple plan on how I want to get started.

- I started looking for properties.

- I bought my first investment property 30 days after I started reading my first book.

- I made positive cash flow with all of my properties so far.

What is my point? You have to go out there and practice what you’ve learned. The only valid credential in the real estate business is practical experience. Having a couple of deals under your belt, you can go out there and start looking at commercial real estate and even impress seasoned investors with your knowledge. Because you made this experience by yourself and you know what you’re talking about.

Book reference for commercial real estate investments:

Gary W. Eldred, PhD: “Make Money with Small Income Properties”

Jack Cummings: “Real Estate Financing and Investment Manual”

You will find these books and many more on my real estate investment website at http://www.suncoastrenttoown.com/author_directory.htm

Sincerely,
Peter Dobler

Peter Dobler is a 20+ year veteran in the IT business. He is an active Real Estate Investor and a successful Internet business owner.
Learn more about real estate investments at http://www.doblerproperties.com or send a blank email to mailto:suncoastrenttoown@getresponse.com

Tags: commercial real estate, Real Estate, real estate investment, rental incomecommercial real estate, Real Estate, real estate investment, rental income

Share This