The investor who owns the land that Murphy and I are trying to buy ended up countering our offer of 50k with 52k!

Like I mentioned in my last post, I was expecting a counter offer of 75k, so this obviously makes me very happy.

I’m not crapping my pants just yet, though.

As it turns out, the guy who owns the land bought it at a tax deed sale (which we already knew from looking at the tax records), and never had the title quieted when he bought it.  Now, I’ll just be honest here and tell you I have absolutely no clue about tax deed sales or quiet titles, which is why it’s always good to have a title co/real estate attorney on board who does.

We’re having the title pulled on all 3 parcels of land right now, and hopefully it will all come back A-OK.  According to the attorney who owns the title company we are using, we should be good to go since this guy has owned the properties for 9 yrs and “Generally the rule is that title is marketable after 4 yrs….”

I don’t really know what the hell that means, so I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see what the searches turn up.  If everything looks good, we can close immediately.  Our purchase price will be 52k net, with a sales price of 75k net.  We’ll be doing a simultaneous closing on this one as opposed to an assignment because we don’t want the end buyers to see our profit.  You know, just in case.

Of course, I don’t want to get ahead of myself here.  Murphy and I don’t have the best track record when working deals together, but I think we both have some good Juju coming our way.

We shall see.

I’ll keep you all posted.

Later Alligators!

P.S.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The investor who owns the land told us to email him a contract once we were ready to make an offer, so we sent one over a little bit ago for 50k cash. My ESP tells me that he is going to come back with a counter of 75k. Just a little hunch I have. I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve also got another JV deal that I’m hoping to get locked up tomorrow morning. The buyer is a new guy who recently found me through one of my signs (have I mentioned how much I heart my signs?), and he is buying up all kinds of properties in Tampa. I imagine we will be doing quite a bit of business together this year. Just another hunch of mine.

I have a few other things I’d like to write about, but I’m seconds away from passing out on my keyboard. I’ve been getting up at 5:30 every morning and running 4 miles on the treadmill, and it is really kicking my ass. Also, the whole Spring Forward thing is really messing me up, too.  Not complaining, though- I’m ecstatic that Spring is finally here after the long, crappy, sunshine-less winter we had this year.

Jim is happy to see the sunshine again, too.  He spent the whole day on the patio soaking it all in…..

Lucky dog.

I had one of those weeks where I woke up on Monday morning, blinked, and then next thing I knew it was Friday.  And I’m not even really sure what I did all week- it’s all kind of a blur.

The buyer from NY that I was supposed to meet up with on Monday ended up blowing me off, which made me really happy because I just LOVE having my time wasted.  I probably spent an hour on the phone with the guy talking about the market here and the different neighborhoods, blah, blah, blah.  Then lined up some deals for him to look at while he was here.  And then he just up and blew me off.  Awesome.

What else?

Murphy and I are in the middle of a deal that we thought was in the bag last year, but ended up falling apart at the last minute.  I think I mentioned it in a prior post but didn’t go into much detail…..  He has been working with a buyer from up North that is buying up all of the properties in this tiny little section of Tampa, with the intent of knocking the houses down and putting some sort of commercial property in their place.  They’ve already bought 4 or 5 houses in this area, along with some vacant land, and they are paying WAY more than your average investor would be willing to pay.  This is good for us, obviously.

So anyway, I hunted down one of the investors who owns several pieces of vacant land in the area where this group is buying, and sure enough, he was interested in selling.  We had the deal negotiated last year with us purchasing the lots for 89k, and selling to the out of state guys for 120k.  Weeeee!!!  And then the buyers decided at the last minute that they wanted to hold off, although I can’t remember what their reasoning was.  I think it was probably just to piss me off.  It worked.

As luck would have it, the out of state guys called Murphy a few weeks ago and said they were in buying mode again and asked him to bring them anything he could get his hands on in this little neighborhood.  The guy who we originally negotiated the sale of the land with is still interested in selling, and told us to make an offer.  We are just waiting on the buyers to give us a price so we know where to start.  They are supposed to have an answer  by Monday, so we’ll see.  I’ll crap my pants if it actually works out.

So that’s what I’ve got going on.

My quest to become a famous chef is still not going so well.  My latest creation, which I like to call “Olive Oil Overload” (O cubed, for short), quickly made it’s way into the garbage can earlier this afternoon.  I was actually thinking of starting up a cooking blog, but someone stole my domain name: EverythingICookTastesLikeShit.com.   Oh well.

Alrighty then, that’s all I’ve got for today, folks.

Have a great weekend Everybody!

P.S.
Fan me up on Facebook! All the cool people are doing it. Hehe.

P.P.S.
Is anyone else taking the Red Pill? I think it is phenomenal so far.

It’s me, Steph Davis.

Remember me?  The one who used to update her blog regularly and not take off for weeks at a time.  Remember?

Truth is, I decided to go on somewhat of a hiatus last week from Facebook, the Blogosphere, and Gmail.  A social media/internet detox, if you will.

The result of my detox was a thorough ass-kicking of last week: One JV deal in the bag, another one being negotiated as we speak (this one is a non-REO deal that I will tell you about in my next post), and a slew of new buyers added to my buyers list.  One of those buyers just flew in from NY today and I will be meeting up with him tomorrow to see if we can do some business while he is in town.

Needless to say, I’m quite pleased with my progress, and have no intention of slowing down. Although, I do pinky swear promise that I will start updating more frequently.  You can hold me to that.

So anyway, let’s talk about this month’s Flip This Book Club selection (Get Off Your “But” by Sean Stephenson), shall we?

When I bought the book, I had never heard of Sean Stephenson and knew nothing about him or his story.  It wasn’t until I started reading that I learned of his genetic disorder.  For those who didn’t get a chance to read the book, Sean was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta aka Brittle Bones Disorder.  He is 3 feet tall and permanently confined to a wheelchair.  When he was born, the doctors told him it would be easier to count the number of bones that weren’t broken in his body.  By the time he reached the age of 18, he had suffered more than 200 bone fractures.

Despite being faced with these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Sean has gone on to become an internationally known public speaker, a clinical psychotherapist, and a role model and inspiration to millions of people all over the World (including myself).

Aside from telling his remarkable life story, in Get Off Your But, Sean also explains how to conquer insecurities and self doubt, and end the cycles of negativity and self-sabotage once and for all.  It’s kind of hard not to take his advice when you look at all he has achieved in spite of the struggles he has faced in his own life.  Here’s a guy who had every reason in the world to sit around wallowing in self pity, but when given the choice of viewing his condition as either a burden or a gift, he decided to view it as a gift.

Definitely an inspiring read, and one that I will keep handy for the next time I am feeling down in the dumps and throwing myself a pity party.  Sometimes a little perspective is just what the Doctor ordered.

For those who read it, I’d love to hear thoughts…….

Oh, and also- this month’s Flip This Book Club pick is Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk!  I’ve heard all sorts of good stuff about it, and have been dying to read it for the last several months.  Hope you all will join me in reading this one- we’ll meet here on April 5th to discuss.

How’s your weekend shaping up so far?

I had another highly productive Saturday today.  Been up since the crack o’ dawn hustlin away.  Looks like I’m going to be getting a contract signed tomorrow, but I’ll save the details for later since it’s not official yet and I don’t want to jinx myself.

I just whipped up another Reader Mail video for you guys.  I’m pretty sure that Windows Movie Maker is secretly reading my blog, because it didn’t act up even once this time. I guess it doesn’t want to be bashed in the face with a shovel after all. Hehe.

Anywho, hope you like the video.

Have a great weekend!

P.S.
You can subscribe to my YouTube channel by clicking here. Just click on the yellow “subscribe” button at the top once you get there.

P.P.S.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of my eBook yet, you can click here to get it.

P.P.P.S
Flip This Book Club is meeting here on March 8th @ 8pm- hope to see you here!

Sorry I’ve been MIA this week- I went a little overboard with the BDay celebrations on Monday, and ended up spending all day Tuesday sick in bed cursing myself and the 278 bloody marys I drank.  And then I got way behind on everything else, and have been playing catch up yesterday and today, yadda, yadda, yadda….

But ANYWAY, I’m back in the saddle again, and super duper excited to share my very first “Flip This Success Story” interview with you guys!

I know there are quite a few people who read this blog who have doubts as to whether this stuff really works, or maybe you think it works in some cities or towns, but not yours. Or maybe you think you’re too young or too old, or live in too small of a town, or too big of a town with too much competition.  I know how it is, because I used to think the exact same way.

Now that I’ve proven to myself that this stuff really does work, and now that I know a whole bunch of other people who are out there in various markets kicking butt, I thought it would be an awesome idea to start interviewing some of these people so you guys can listen to their success stories, and hopefully get some inspiration and motivation from them…

For my very first call, I was lucky enough to get Eileen Meyer (pronounced like the hot dog) to take some time out of her Saturday to chat with me about her business, and talk about the HUD property that she just flipped for a cool $18,000!  For those who haven’t been following Eileen’s blog- she is a mother of 3, working a full time job, and still manages to find the time to kick some serious butt flipping REOs up there in Wisconsin!!

Please give a warm welcome to Eileen, Everybody……..(*****Applause and Cheers!****)

The interview is about an hour long, and you can click here to listen in.

Enjoy!

P.S.
Try not to pay attention to the the minor technical difficulties we had in the beginning of the interview.  I don’t know how to edit audio recordings yet (shocking!), so I had to leave it in there. Also, I have never interviewed anyone before, so if I sound like an idiot, have mercy.  I will get better.

P.P.S.
If anyone else would like to share one of their recent wholesale deals with the community, I’d love to get you on the phone for an interview.  Shoot me an email to reosteph @ gmail. com or send me a msg on Facebook so we can set something up!

P.P.P.S.
Thanks for sharing with us, Eileen, and KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!

P.P.P.P.S.
I just spent 2 hours and 40 minutes (no joke) trying to figure out how to upload the call to this blog post.  Good times.  Thankfully, Shae was able to help me out before I hit the self-destruct button. Thanks, Shae!

I was up at 5:30 am, worked all day, went for a 3.75 mile run, interviewed Eileen for my  brand-spanking-new Flip This Success Story series that I’ve been procrastinating doing for the last, oh, 3 months or so, and then I decided to cap the day off with a Reader Mail video for you guys.

I’m beat.

Speaking of beat- I hate to beat a dead horse, but I seriously want to bash Windows Movie Maker in the face as hard as I can with a shovel.   We are officially broken up and I will be seeking a replacement ASAP.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy the Reader Mail.  You can kind of tell I’m a wee bit tired when I totally lose my train of thought and forget what I’m talking about in the first few seconds of the video.  Hehe.

Enjoy your weekend Everybody.

How’s Everyone’s week going so far?

Things are off to a great start here (minus the weather).  Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

It  looks like I may be putting another deal together with one of my wholesaling compadres.  This particular property hit the market at the end of last week at a ridiculously low price.  I thought about making an offer on it, since one of my new buyers is looking for deals in this neighborhood.  I sold her a similar property towards the end of last year, and she just called me a few days ago asking if I had anything else.

So, anyway, I thought about making an offer on the property until I saw who the listing agent was. I’m sure I’ve probably mentioned this before, but a good majority of the REO agents around these parts are in bed with some of the wholesalers (not literally, that I know of), and this particular agent is in bed with one of my wholesaler buddies, so I didn’t even bother to make an offer on it, because I don’t like wasting my time.

Anywho, my buddy who is in bed with the listing agent knows that I have buyers in the neighborhood where this particular house is located, so he called me yesterday to tell me he’s getting the deal and to ask if I have someone for it. The contract price with the bank is 22k, and I think I can get 30k-ish from my buyer, so we’ll see.  I’ll call her first thing in the morning and have her check it out.

I’ve also got one other buyer who is always looking for properties in this neighborhood, but I hate dealing with him because he is a cheap bastard.  I seriously could call him up tomorrow and tell him I am selling a 4/2 2000 sf home that was built in 2009, needs no work, and is worth 200k, and offer it to him for five dollars, and he would try to get it for $3 with me paying all closing costs. He drives me up the freaking wall.  I have learned to jack my prices up between 8-10k when I bring him a deal because he LOVES to beat me up on price.

So anyway, I’m pretty sure I can get one of those two to take it, even though it is a piece of crap property in the hood.

It’s all good in the hood, ya know?

Ima sell me a house in the hood.  Teehee.

In other, non-real estate related-news…… check out what my Mom got for me:

PINK POTS AND PANS!!!!

Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen in your entire life?  This is actually the very first set of pots and pans I’ve ever owned in my 30 some years of life on this planet.  I feel all grown up now. (THANKS MOM! XOXO)

I’d like to say that my first attempt at cooking in them was a great success, but then I would be lying.  This is the recipe I tried, which, thankfully didn’t turn out as bad as the Great Scallop Disaster of 2010, but was nothing to write home about either.  I’d give it 3.5 stars out of 10.  It photographed well, though, which is almost as important….

Looks just like the picture in the recipe, doesn’t it?  Too bad it tasted like spicy cardboard (I went a little overboard with the crushed red pepper again).

Alrighty then folks, that’s about all I’ve got for now.  Hope you all have a great week!

10-4, Over and out.

P.S.
I had no reason for naming my post what I did, other than the fact that I have had that song stuck in my head ALL DAY, and I was hoping you all would join me in my misery. You’re welcome.

P.P.S.
“We don’t need no water let the mo*#er fu$#*r burn…..”

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend.  I also hope you didn’t forget my Valentine’s Day present for tomorrow…

My gift to you is this Reader Mail video that I just threw together.  And when I say “threw together” what I really mean is that it took me 4.5 hours to make because Windows Movie Maker hates my guts.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it!

Later Alligators!

P.S.
If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel yet, you can do so by clicking here, then clicking on the yellow “subscribe” button above the video.

How was your week?  Everybody making lots of offers and lots of money?

All is well over here in Tampa, minus the fact that I haven’t seen the sun in about 4 days, and also, I’m FREEZING MY ASS OFF.  I know many of you are buried under seven hundred feet of snow and are without electricity and you probably want to crawl through the computer and strangle me when I complain about it being fourty effing degrees here, but I can’t help it.  THIS WEATHER BLOWS. It’s no accident that I live in the Sunshine State, so I feel entitled to complain.

Anywho, enough about the weather- let’s talk real estate, shall we?

I thought I was going to be writing a post today about a new REO deal that I just got under contract, but that ain’t happening, apparently.  I’ve actually been negotiating with the bank on this particular deal since last week and thought it was in the bag.  The house has been on the market on and off  for over two years.  Two. Years. Seriously.  It’s currently listed for $25,000 and my initial offer was $12.2k.  The house is a piece of crap located on Piece Of Crap Street, but I’ve got a buyer who happens to like this little area and he’s looking for something in the el cheapo price range, and this dump fits the bill…

So, anyway, I offered 12.2k, all cash, no contingencies, with a 3 day closing.  The bank came down from $25k to 16k on their first counter, which was quite shocking, in a good way.  Nine times out of ten when they come off their list price that much right out of the gate, they will come down more.  So, I countered back at 13.5k last week and have been waiting and waiting for a response.  I already ran the deal past my buyer, who said he would be interested at 20k-ish.

I finally got a call back from the agent yesterday letting me know that they got a full price offer and asking  if I was interested in coming up any more.  HAHAHAHAHA!  Yeah, no thanks.

I figured it was a wholesaler who put it under contract, so I checked Craigslist a few hours later, and sure enough, the property was listed with a nice little 7k markup.  There’s no way in hell anyone is going to pay that much for that property, so I expect to see it hit the market again in the next 3-10 days, depending on how long the inspection period is.  I already let the agent know that I’m still interested, and I’ll be checking in with her every couple of days so she doesn’t forget…

Aside from that, I’ve got a few other deals I’m working on with my wholesaler buddies, but nothing under contract at the moment.  I’ve also got a few out of state buyers that are looking for deals in Tampa, as well as some of my local buyers who have been calling me looking for houses.

And that’s about all I’ve got for now, folks.  Gotta run- time to make the doughnuts.

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

P.S.
Things are not going so well for Chef Steph. My Scallops Parmesan turned out disastrous and had to be thrown away. Seriously, it was that bad.

Ewwwww.  I can barely look without gagging a little bit.