Flip This Wholesaler

So, I ended up getting that deal sold that I talked about in my last last post, although it was a huge pain in the ass, and I’m only making 2k on it.

None of my buyers who I thought would be interested in the deal, were interested , and after marketing for several days and not getting any positive feedback, I finally decided to just dump it.

Like I mentioned in my last post, these piece of crap houses can sometimes be hard to sell, even if they are dirt cheap, and especially if they are frame and have only 2 bedrooms.  The house I have under contract is frame with only 2 bedrooms, plus the 2nd bedroom is really more of a glorified closet, so it’s essentially a 1 bedroom house. Which is kinda hard to move.

When I made the offer on this, I put a 7 day closing in the contract figuring that the bank would send their addenda back with a closing date several weeks out, like they usually do. It turns out that the seller is a private lender with just a few properties to sell, and doesn’t need twelve years to close like most of the big banks do. So, what I’m trying to say is, I didn’t really have a whole lot of time to find an end buyer. The seller is ready to close Monday.

The guy I’m selling it to is a wholesaler/investor who does quite a bit of business, and is one of the buyers I had in mind when I said in my last post that I could probably just dump it for a few grand if I wasn’t able to find another buyer.

The seller wouldn’t agree to close at my title company, but since this was just a regular assignment deal (or so I thought), I figured it would be fine to close somewhere else- I mean what kind of title company doesn’t know what an assignment is?

I’m sure you can probably see where this is going…

So, I went by the seller’s title company Wednesday morning to drop off my EMD and also to let them know that I’d be sending over an assignment contract later in the day as soon as I got it back from my buyer.

You should have seen the look on the lady’s face when I told her I was assigning the contract.  She pulled her glasses down on her nose and did one of these…(seriously, she did)

I totally knew what was coming before she even opened her mouth…

She proceeded to tell me that it’s not legal to do an assignment, because you can’t change the terms of the contract without the seller’s consent.  I then tried to explain to her what an assignment agreement was and that I was not changing the terms of the original contract, but rather assigning my rights in the contract for a 2k fee.  Needless to say, I didn’t get very far with my explanation before she cut me off, shut the little window divider thingy in my face (seriously), and told me she’d have to check with the attorney and see what he had to say about it.

Awesome!

So, she came back a few minutes later and explained to me that yes, I could assign the contract, but I couldn’t assign it for a fee, because that would be changing the terms of the initial contract. Which is illegal.

??

Are you effing kidding me, lady?

At this point, as much as I wanted to sit there and argue with her (and also smack that condescending look off her face), I knew that it was going to be a complete waste of my time and energy to do so, so I just told her I’d be back later once I talked to my end buyer to see what he wanted to do.

My end buyer, thankfully, is as cool as the other side of my pillow and agreed that there was no sense in trying to argue with the morons over at the Law Offices of We Just Make Shit Up As We Go.

So, we wrote up a new assignment contract that says I’m assigning the deal to him for $0, and he’s going to pay me a consulting fee of 2k once the deal closes. There are several other ways we could have structured it, but most of them would involve a second closing, and since my assignment fee is only 2k, a good portion of that would get eaten up in closing costs.  Plus, doing a double closing would mean extra money for the seller’s title company, which would kinda be like rewarding them for being stupid…… “Hi, you’re a dumbass- congratulations, here’s $500!”

I don’t think so.

So anyway, that’s the story. The title is clear and we’re closing on Monday, which is good. There was also some other drama that went on with this deal, but unfortunately I can’t talk about it in public for reasons I can’t talk about in public. I know that’s totally lame, but that’s all I can say about the situation at this point.

In other non-real estate related news, I’ve decided to chop all my hair off again, which I’m doing tomorrow, and am very excited about. (Sorry Mom).

Here’s the picture I’m taking in with me….

I likey.

Alright, then. That’s all I’ve got for today. I’ve got offers to make and miles to run…

Later Alligators!

P.S.
Is dumbass one word or two? I asked on Facebook, but we seem to have a split jury.

P.P.S.
Thanks to all of you who are participating in the 30 Day Challenge with me! Let’s knock ‘em dead this month guys!

Alright guys, so we’re more than halfway through 2010 (which I seriously can’t believe) and I think it’s time to kick things into high gear, don’t you agree?  There’s still a full five months left in the year, which is plenty of time to turn things around if you’ve somehow gotten yourself off track.

It’s time to regroup, reload, and GET GOING.  Is what I’m saying.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve decided to get back in the habit of making offers on MLS properties again, and I thought since it’s the beginning of a new month, I’d set a 30 day challenge for myself to make 100 offers before August is over. And also, to run 4 miles 5 days a week this month (M-F), for a grand total of  88 miles.

So that’s my challenge- 100 offers and 88 miles.

I’ve got my work cut out for me, eh?

And since misery loves company (just kidding), I thought I would invite all of you to come up with a 30 day challenge of your own and join me!

What do you say?

You say YES, is what you say!

The challenge doesn’t have to be real estate related- it can be anything at all that you want to accomplish over the next 30 days- whether it be a new habit you want to develop (like getting up an hour earlier every day to exercise), or a certain amount of deals you want to have under contract, or whatever your little heart desires…

The only thing I ask is that you be 100% committed to accomplishing whatever challenge you set for yourself.  No half-assing allowed here!  Think long and hard about what you want your challenge to be, and then commit yourself to following through with it come hell or high water.

You pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down?

If you’d like to join in the challenge, just leave a comment below with your name and what you commit to accomplish in the next 30 days…

We’ll all meet back here on the 31st of this month to tell everyone how we did!

Ready, Set, GO!

Well, hello.

I seem to have pulled another disappearing act on my blog.  Sorry about that.

As usual, I have a good excuse: I was working my ass off.  Also, running my ass off (20 miles this week- woohoo!).

So, last weekend I decided that I was going to hit up the MLS again in full force.  For the last I don’t even know how long, I’ve been selling other people’s deals and only making a half-assed attempt at getting my own.  (Are you wondering how many times I can say “ass” in one blog post, Julie?).  Hehe.

Anyway, so yeah, I decided that it was high time to man up and start going after my own deals again, and since there seems to be a bit more inventory hitting the MLS lately, I figured I might as well give it another run. (As a side note: I think I probably have one more good year of wholesaling in me (maybe), and then I’m probably going to sell all my belongings, take off, and wander the earth vagabond-style. Like this girl).

Seriously.

But that’s a different story for a different blog post.

So anywho, my goal for the week was to make 5 offers every day, which I did.  Actually, I made 26 of them, and it looks like I just landed a deal this afternoon.  It’s kind of funny because this particular house was the last one I offered on yesterday, and I remember sitting there thinking that I shouldn’t even bother making the offer because #1) I was sick of making offers and didn’t feel like it, and #2) I didn’t think there was a chance in hell that it would get accepted.

That’s the thing, though- you just never can tell what the seller is gonna do.

This one was listed in the low 30’s, and my offer was 10k.  Fat chance of that getting accepted, right?

Well, I got a phone call from the listing agent this morning telling me that the seller was countering at 13.5k and that’s the lowest they’d go.

I called two of my good buyers right away to tell them about it (no, I’m not worried about them going around me), but I haven’t heard anything back from them yet. I was going to wait to get a number from them before I countered back, but I ended up just emailing the agent and asking if the sellers could come down to 12k.  I figured I better try and get this thing locked up quickly before he dropped the price to 13.5k in the MLS, in which case I’d be screwed.

So, after sending my email to the listing agent asking if the sellers could come down to 12k, I got an email back from him right away that said the following (and nothing more):

KNOW THEY CAN’T …THAT’S THEIR BOTTOM NUMBER!!

Geeze, dude, I get it.  No need to scream at me.

And then a few seconds later, while I was sitting there at my desk chuckling to myself about the email- my phone rang….

It was the listing agent telling me that the sellers changed their minds right after he hit the send button, and that they would take 12k for the house after all.

HA!

Also, he apologized to me about the rude email, which I thought was a nice gesture.  I told him it was KNOW problem, and not to worry about it.

Hehehehehe.  I crack myself up.

I’m pretty sure I can sell this pile of crap for 19k, which is what I’m asking for it right now, but it’s kind of a crap shoot (no pun intended), with these junker houses.  I’ve got a couple guys who I know will take it for 13k or 14k if I’m not able to get a higher price, so that’s my plan B.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that while I was over at the property today taking pictures, the lady who rents the house next door came over and told me that her landlord was interested in buying the house (the one I have under contract).  So she gave me his # which I called a little while ago, and he’s going to drive out and look at it on Monday (he lives about an hour away).  He paid 13.9k for the house next door a few months ago, so maybe we’ll be able to work something out.

We shall see…

Oh, and before I sign off, because I know you all have been just dying to find out what Chef Steph has been up to in the kitchen, here are some pics of the tomato, onion, and feta salad that I made last weekend.  It was so delicious, I thought I’d died and gone to Heaven.  Seriously- it was that good.  And healthy, too.  (Minus the entire loaf of Italian bread that I ate with it. Oops).

Behold- delicious tomato, onion, and feta salad:

That bottle in the background is garlic flavored red wine vinegar.  Yum!

This isn’t really a good pic of the finished product, but I wanted to show off
my favorite orange bowl.  Isn’t it cute?

Alrighty, then.

That’s all I’ve got for today.  Gotta get my hustle on and get this piece o’ crap house sold!

Roger Dodger, 10-4, over and out….

P.S.
Just an FYI- it seriously took me 45 minutes to upload those 3 photos.  Because WordPress is a dirty whore.

P.P.S.
Speaking of technical difficulties….. last week, I interviewed two REO wholesalers that are absolutely crushing it in the Detroit market (Steve Mills and Erik Stark).  I had planned on posting the interview here for you guys, but the recording got messed up (SHOCKING), so I’m going to see if they’d be willing to do another one with me.  Sorry about that.

P.P.P.S.
Make sure to check back here Monday morning- I’m gonna be starting a 30 day challenge, and I want you guys to join me!

I was talking with my friend Shae a few days ago about how I need to start taking a day off every now and again to just hang out and enjoy life.

So, yesterday when I woke up I decided that it would be a good day to pack a cooler and head to the beach for some R&R.

I had the best time ever.  (Minus the sunburn).

I saw dolphins and a sting ray (or some kind of ray), and also made friends with a seagull named Burt.

It was awesome.

I took pictures while I was there….

en route

I heart this picture

The water was gorgeous.

Beach essentials: Trashy magazine- check. Jumbo Corona- check. Flip flops- check.

Burt makes his first appearance

Can I have one of your chips, lady?

Thanks, lady- you totally rock!

Shiver me timbers- a pirate ship on the horizon! Arrrrrrr, matey.

I’ve seen dolphins many times before at the beach, but normally only their dorsal fin comes out of the water. This time, there were two dolphins who jumped completely out of the water Sea World style like five times. It was a spectacular sight (I got goose bumps), and everyone on the beach was standing up and applauding! By the time I got my camera out it was too late, although I was able to get a shot of the splash made from their last jump.

Did I mention my sunburn?

In the water

Beachy

The Lone Flower (I double heart this picture)

The End.

Have a great weekend, everybody- and don’t forget to stop and smell the roses while you’re at it!

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Greetings, blogosphere!

Well, I had intended on posting this video last night as a Saturday Night Reader Mail, but then when I went to upload it to YouTube it was too long (13 minutes), so I had to go back and try to edit out 3 minutes of the video (YouTube’s time limit is 10 minutes), which didn’t work out so well. Then I decided to just re-record the whole thing, but I kept going over the time limit by like 20 seconds or so. This went on for about 2 hours, and at 2am I finally gave up and went to bed, where I had sweet dreams of what my life would be like if I wasn’t always fighting with technology. Or techmology, as Ali-G calls it.

Anyway….I started from scratch this afternoon, and managed to get ‘er done (with 15 seconds to spare- woohoo!)

In this video, I explain how to fill out (and when to use) the assignment contract as well as the option to purchase contract that I’m giving away up there in the right corner of my blog.

I hope you likey.

Got questions about the video?

Feel free to leave them below, and I’ll be happy to answer.

Over and out.

P.S.
I have something very exciting coming to blogosphere this October. You’re going to crap your pants when you see it. (In a good way, though).