Archive for the ‘fixer uppers’ Category

Save Money on Making Fixer-Upper Repairs

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Every person who owns a fixer upper house business ought to learn to make repairs.

Take a look at my new ezinearticle entitled Save Beaucoup Money When Investing in Fixer-Upper Houses! 5 tips on Learning to Make Repairs.

Preview: Tip #1 is Stick to Experts Like Glue

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Refinance now to prepare for next fixer-upper purchase

Friday, August 8th, 2008


Put your financial ship in order and get ready for your next fixer upper investment house purchase.

With interest rates still historically low and sellers beating the bushes to find buyers, now is the time to put your home equity to work by refinancing your principal residence.

If you need further convincing, check out my ezinearticles.com piece Refinance Now to Take Advantage of the Buyer’s Market Perfect Storm.

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Join me on Facebook

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Learn even more about starting a fixer upper house business!

If you are a member of Facebook, I invite you to visit my page at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1224446928.

Líst me as a Facebook friend

Info on Terry’s Book

Press and Media

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Vacation Time

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008


I will be out of town the next couple of weeks. Please tune in again in August.

Keep your eyes open for that next great fixer-upper property!

Remember, you don’t need to know everything to get started. You can learn as you go.

Terry

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A Key Phrase to Get Seller Help with Closing Costs

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008


I have a new fixer upper house article over at ezinearticles.com that shows you how to get the seller to help pay your closing costs when purchasing a house.

Townhouse Purchase Update
The mortgage company has given the green light and we are now waiting for the title company to get the paper work together. We will probably close tomorrow or Friday.

I’m anxious to get started fixing the property. My boys are out of school for the summer and they are chomping at the bit to make a little extra spending money by helping out with the repair work.

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How I got started in the fixer uppers

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Buying fixer upper houses and converting them into rental houses is a great business. And anyone can do it. You don’t need a certificate, you don’t need a degree, and you don’t need anyone’s permission. You just do it!

To view a condensed version of how I got started in the fixer-upper business, check out my article at ezinearticles.com. This is the version with no bells or whistles, and no accompanying three-part harmony.

The townhouse closing may or may not happen today. If not, Angy has to catch a flight out of town tomorrow. In that case, we will have to sign power of attorney over to me so that I can sign for both of us at closing.

Just like the recipe for my famous extra-chewy chocolate chip cookies, the plot thickens!

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Delay on Townhouse Closing

Saturday, July 12th, 2008


We were not able to close on the fixer-upper townhouse on Friday. The underwriter for the loan requested some more documentation. They asked for a monthly utility bill to verify our current residence, a copy of my wife’s driver license to verify her complete legal name, and copies of our social security cards.

If all goes well, we will now close on Monday or Tuesday.

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Review of "One Person – Mulitple Careers"

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

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My review of the book One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life, by Marci Alboher is now on-line over at ezinearticles.com. I think it’s a great book for those of us who are part-time fixer upper house investors with several balls in the air at the same time. One aspect of the book that I particularly enjoyed is that it describes many case studies of people who have chosen this path and tells “why’ and “how” they did it. My review of the book is from the perspective of someone who keeps their day job and does real estate on the side.

I also recommend visiting Marci’s New York Times blog entitled Shifting Careers: Smart Thinking at Work. It regularly provides thoughtful stories of interesting people who approach work to the beat of a different drummer.

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Closing day approaches on fixer-upper townhouse

Monday, July 7th, 2008


The purchase process is winding its way toward a conclusion for the fixer-upper townhouse that I am purchasing. I had the inspection done last Wednesday (naturally, I followed the inspector around so I could see the problems that he saw), the appraisal should have come in today, and we are closing Friday.

The good faith estimate from the mortgage company came in at around $650/month PITI. I plan to charge $775 for the base rent on the new townhouse. We put 20% down on the $105,000 sales price, and the seller cooperated by paying for part of the closing costs out of her proceeds at closing. (I’m going to discuss that in more detail in a future post.)

It’s a property that’s really worth a hoot because it has all the right things wrong with it. It needs paint, needs vinyl tiles replaced, needs wood putty in door holes, a few outlets are cracked, has some oil on the driveway, and it has a few leaky faucets. On the plus side, the A/C is only one year old and the roof is solid. And all the appliances work. It should take about week to get it in ship shape.

The best part about the deal is that my other unit, 3 doors down, rents like hotcakes. As soon as we put the For Rent sign up, we have people knocking on the door. I’ve been waiting for another one these units to open up at a decent price.

On another note,

There’s a good aritcle comparing oil vs. latex paints over at fliprent.com.

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Update on Townhouse Purchase Offer

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

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I offered $100,000 on the $115,000-listed fixer upper townhouse. The owner came back with $110,00. I came back with $105,000, and the owner accepted my offer. More details to come.

It seems that more houses are now being priced to sell. The agent selling the house that I am purchasing told me that she priced the house 10% below what other, similar houses were selling for. Even after that deduction, the owner took 10% less than the lower price. I think there are a lot of motivated sellers out there right now.

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