Fix em Up Rent em Out « Terry Sprouse

Posts Tagged ‘Fix em Up Rent em Out’

MP3 of Interveiw with Sam Bushman on All Things Real Estate

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Here is my interview with Sam Bushman, on his great show Real Estate in Focus (KHQN 540 AM, Delta, UT), May 23, 2009.

http://www.arnaudio.com/rif/shows/rif20090523.mp3

Here is the promotional blurb from Sam’s site:

Real Estate In Focus 95
Saturday, May 23, 2009 10:46 AM
5/23/09 – Interview: Terry Sprouse Terry Sprouse buys fix-up houses, repairs them and rents them out in his spare time. He is author of the book “Fix ’em Up, Rent ’em Out: How to Start Your Own House Fix-Up and Rental Business in Your Spare Time.” This blog discusses aspects of buying, repairing and renting out fix-up houses. Practical advice from someone who does it every day. His web site is a how to blog. You can even ask him questions for free.iseswww.fixemuprentemout.com

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Tags:Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses
Posted in All Things Real Estate, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, radio guest, radio interview, radio interviews, Sam Bushman | No Comments »

Breakdown of townhouse purchase costs

Friday, February 13th, 2009

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Here are the final numbers on the rental property that I purchased.

Price: $106,000
Interest rate: 5.125%
Term: 30 years
Down payment: $21,200
Principal & Interest: $457.37
Taxes & Insurance: $128.87
Total monthly payment: $586.24
Estimated rent: $770

The townhouse is 1100 sq.ft., 2 beds & 2 baths, washer, dryer, carport, and small back yard. It has a great central location and should rent easily. I have another property nearby that is very easy to rent.

It needs some cleanup and repair work in the kitchen, fire alarms, blinds in the windows, new toilet sets, etc. There is nothing big that we have to do to it. With my wife and kids pitching in, we should have it ready to go by the end of the weekend.

Here are a few more photos of the kitchen, the living room, and the back yard.

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Tags:Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses, rental houses, townhouse
Posted in buying fixing renting rehabs, buying real estate, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, house repair, house repairs, investing, investing in real estate, investing in your spare time, investment house, investment property, investments, investmet properties, learn repair skills, learn to invest in real estate, learn to make repairs, new purchase, rental house improvements, rental houses, rental properties, rental property, rentals, renting, repair, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs, townhouse | 7 Comments »

Townhouse Offer Details & Presentation to Am. Businesswomen Assoc.

Friday, January 16th, 2009

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Update on Investment Property Purchase Offer

Last week I made an offer of $105,000 on a 1100 sq ft townhouse that was being offered in a range of $115,000 to $125,000.

I asked for sellers to pay 2% of the the value of the house to help with closing cost (about $2,000)(see my previous article about a key phrase to include in your purchase offer to reduce closing costs)

The sellers countered with an offer of $112,000. I sent a note to the sellers saying “in order for this to work for us as a rental property, we have to stay pretty close to our original offer.” And I replied that we wanted to stay at $105,000.

After a little more back-and-forth we finally settled on $106,000 and they paid the 2%.

Other townhouses in the complex rent for $775 and my monthly mortgages payments should come in below $600 per month.

Presentation to American Businesswomen Association

Last Tuesday I made a presentation to the ABA about how I got started in the house fixer upper business. I’m trying to get out a little more to make presentations to various groups to promote my book.

It was really a warm and friendly group. They treated me to dinner and asked a lot good questions about the fixer-upper business, and they purchased many copies of my book.

Info on Terry’s Book

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Tags:american businesswomen association, Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses
Posted in book sales, fixer upper book, fixer upper houses, fixer-upper business, investment property, presentations, purchase offer, speeches, townhouse | 5 Comments »

"Fix em Up, Rent em Out" Featured in Newspaper Article

Friday, December 5th, 2008

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I was recently interviewed by the Arizona Daily Star and responded to a variety of questions related to my house fixer-upper business, such as:

Why did you write the book?;
How did you get into the fixer-upper business?;
Can you give away one secret of success?;

as well as several other questions that inquiring minds want to know the answers to.

Here is the complete interview, entitled “UA researcher fixes up houses on the side, writes about it.”

There is still loan money available for purchasing investment property

Monday, October 27th, 2008

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With all the bad news about Wall Street and the credit market, with banks unwilling to loan money even to each other, what hope is there for the average fixer upper house investor? The situation may not be as bad as you may think!

Here’s why:

1. There is plenty of money available for home mortgage loans, either to purchase or refinance a house. This is because the American home mortgage market has been federalized. Ninety percent of all loans are being made through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), plus Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHA is owned by the federal government and Fannie and Freddie are operating under federal conservatorship, so all three have complete access to global capital at low rates because their borrowings are guaranteed by the Treasury Department.

2. Despite tougher credit standards, you can still get a loan for 3 percent down
with FHA, or 5 percent down on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs.

3. Interest rates are still at historic lows.

4. Home prices, dragged down by foreclosures and short sales, are at 2003 and 2004
prices.

For more details see Kenneth Harney’s article Crises Aside, Would-be Buyers Can Still Get Reasonably Price Loans.

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Tags:Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses, loan money, loans for fixer upper houses
Posted in fix up houses, fixing rental houses, home loans, housing market, investing in real estate, investment house, investment property, investments, investmet properties, loan documentation, loans, mortgage rates, mortgages, mortgages and real estate, new purchase, real estate principles, refinance, refinancing, rental properties, rental property, rentals, renting | 4 Comments »

"Fix em Up, Rent em Out" wins USA Book Finalist Award

Monday, October 20th, 2008

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I’m pleased to announce that my book, “Fix em Up Rent em Out,” is an Award-Winning Finalist in the Real Estate category of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News.

Top 50 Amazon Reviewer D. Blankenship says,

What this work does give you is ideas and an outline, that through hard work, common sense, and a bit of luck, you can do quite well for yourself and have a bit of fun while you do it. The author is quick to point out the down side of every aspect of this business and points out ways, if there are any, to avoid them. On the other hand, the author does a wonderful job of pointing out the positive. He not only emphasizes the financial aspects, but does a very nice job of drawing attention to the many side benefits involved, and there are many of these! I like the way that the author directs your attention to the fact that a job well done is a wonderful feeling. The author has listed given us a great list of other books and resources to turn to which I find most helpful. Actually, his list of places to go for information is almost worth the price of the book alone.

A complete list of winners and finalists in each category can be found at:
http://www.usabooknews.com/bestbooksawards2008.html.

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Tags:best book awards, Fix em Up Rent em Out, USA Book News
Posted in book award, buy rental property using refinance home, buying fixing renting rehabs, buying foreclosures, buying real estate, career changes, excellent real estate books, Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper book, fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, how I got started in fixer uppers, How to start your own house fix up and rental busines, invest real estate repai and sell or rent, investing book, investing in real estate, investing in your spare time, investment property, investmet properties, learn to invest in real estate, learn to make repairs, real estat investing, real estate books, safe ways to invest in real estate | 1 Comment »

Book Review of "Fix ’em Up, Rent ’em Out" at LocoMono REI Bolg

Monday, May 5th, 2008

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There is an excellent chapter-by-chapter review of my book Fix ’em Up, Rent ’em Out: How to Start Your Own House Fix-up and Rental Business in Your Spare Time at the ever-insightful LocoMono REI Blog.

The first chapter of the book is reviewed under the title Energy and Life Focus. More chapter reviews are set to follow.

Buying in a Down Market, and Finding Ideal Tenents

Monday, April 14th, 2008

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Related to the business of investing in fixer upper houses, I’d like to share with you a couple of good articles I came across recently.

5 Tips for Buying a Home in a Down Market
by Bankaholic.com

The subprime mortgage bust has scared a lot of people away from the shaky housing market. The nightly news is filled with images and stories of everyday Americans who are losing their homes because they made greedy and uninformed decisions, they were taken advantage of by predatory brokers, or a combination of these situations. However, the news isn’t all bad. This decline in the market has dropped prices and made housing affordable to many fiscally responsible renters who never considered home ownership to be an option.

If you find yourself house-hunting, make sure that you follow these five simple steps to take advantage of this downturn in the market; if you don’t, you could be the next sad story on your local news. Click here for full article.

What Makes an Ideal Tenant?
by Resty Malia

Who are the Folks That Makes an Ideal Tenant?

Finding the right tenant is a common challenge that most property managers encounters at one point or another in their life. The following bits and pieces of information in this article will allow you to have a better idea in picking the right or ideal tenant.

Searching for the right tenant can be simple or even a challenge sometime, but having an idea of the different types of America’s work force qualities as tenants could help you decide and screen the right and ideal tenant for your property.

So you have done your credit check with your prospective tenant ( you done it, right?) and now you’re probably wondering what part of the demographics would make an ideal tenant.

Generally there are Four (4) Population Strata or Groups where your prospective tenants will be coming from. Click here for full article.

Info on Terry’s Book

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Tags:buying home in a down market, finding tenants, Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses
Posted in down market, finding real estate, finding tenants, house buying, landlording, rental management, rental properties, rental property, rentals, renting, tenants | 1 Comment »

Fix em Up, Rent em Out reviewed on Moolanomy.com

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

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Moolanomy.com has a review of my book “Fix ’em Up, Rent ’em Out,” and in the same article is an insightful analysis of the pros and cons of real estate investing.

The article is entitled Meandering into Real Estate.

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Tags:Fix em Up Rent em Out, moolanomy on fixer upper houses
Posted in Fix em Up Rent em Out, fix up houses, fixer upper book, fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, Moolanomy.com, real estate books, real estate investing | No Comments »