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Real People Connecting to the Real World of FlippiReal People Connecting to the Real World of FlippiIdeas, tips and thoughtful observations about the world of real estate investing. FlippingHomes.com is an authentic community all about the real-world people and business of flipping houses. Articles
It’s Not Always About Closing the Deal…
2007-10-01 16:00:00 Over the weekend Shaun copied me on an interesting email. It was a quick response to an exchange between him and Jerry Dalglish, one of our Short Sale Intensive members. Reading it, I was reminded again that there’s more to this busines than just doing the next deal, flipping the next house, or making the next big paycheck. Some of the folks we deal with (motivated sellers) are in dire straits; good people in tough circumstances, or struggling folk, just trying to recover from a string of bad decisions. It’s in these circumstances we’re often presented with the opportunity to make a real, meaninful difference to someone who may very well be licking the bottom of the ashtray of life. (How’s that for imagery?) Not many people get as many opportunities for these kinds of “meaningful touches” as we do. Maybe those in religious or social work. Just think about that for a moment. And while we’re all in the real estate investing busin... More About: Always
It’s Not Always About Closing the Deal…
2007-10-01 16:00:00 Over the weekend Shaun copied me on an interesting email. It was a quick response to an exchange between him and Jerry Dalglish, one of our Short Sale Intensive members. Reading it, I was reminded again that there’s more to this busines than just doing the next deal, flipping the next house, or making the next big paycheck. Some of the folks we deal with (motivated sellers) are in dire straits; good people in tough circumstances, or struggling folk, just trying to recover from a string of bad decisions. It’s in these circumstances we’re often presented with the opportunity to make a real, meaninful difference to someone who may very well be licking the bottom of the ashtray of life. (How’s that for imagery?) Not many people get as many opportunities for these kinds of “meaningful touches” as we do. Maybe those in religious or social work. Just think about that for a moment. And while we’re all in the real estate investing busin... More About: Always
Fix & Flip Video: Texas Ave Rehab (Before)
2007-09-27 02:54:00 If you’ve been a member of the Flip ping Homes community for a while, then you already know how much I love online video - especially “how to” videos of the real estate investing variety. Let’s just say You Tube is my friend. So among the many projects we’ve got in the works are some “how to” videos that document one of Steve’s fix-and-flip deals, step by step. It’s called “Texas Ave. Rehab ” and we caught some really exceptional footage from both the “before” and “after”, inter-spliced with some really neat commentary from Steve and one of his contractors. This is real-world, nitty gritty stuff from the real deals of Steve Cook. So I was diddling with some of the video today and thought I’d go ahead and slap one up for you…just for kicks. So you can watch the clip below. Just press “play” and enjoy. I’ll post more clips from ”Texas Ave Rehab... More About: Video
Fix & Flip Video: Texas Ave Rehab (Before)
2007-09-27 02:54:00 If you’ve been a member of the Flip ping Homes community for a while, then you already know how much I love online video - especially “how to” videos of the real estate investing variety. Let’s just say You Tube is my friend. So among the many projects we’ve got in the works are some “how to” videos that document one of Steve’s fix-and-flip deals, step by step. It’s called “Texas Ave. Rehab ” and we caught some really exceptional footage from both the “before” and “after”, inter-spliced with some really neat commentary from Steve and one of his contractors. This is real-world, nitty gritty stuff from the real deals of Steve Cook. So I was diddling with some of the video today and thought I’d go ahead and slap one up for you…just for kicks. So you can watch the clip below. Just press “play” and enjoy. I’ll post more clips from ”Texas Ave Rehab... More About: Video
Internet Bandit Signs: What To Do?
2007-09-26 02:53:00 You may have heard a bit of the fuss surrounding tomorrow’s launch of a new real estate investing course called “Internet Bandit Signs ” Maybe you caught the video clips I emailed about it last week? This is a quick blog post just for anyone else who (like me) has an interest in hearing/seeing more from Mike on this product. Update Wed 9/26: They just opened the doors. You can check it out here if interested… Not what some were thinking… I don’t know about you, but I’m realizing this thing is NOT what some folks were initially conjecturing it probably was. I’d heard from one guy who thought it was probably going to be another subscription service for internet leads - like a “pay per lead” deal or something similar. It’s not. Nor is it a generalized “motivated seller marketing” course. As Mike explained it to me, this is basically a “how to” product for the Average Joe (or... More About: To Do
Creative Deal Strategies: Helping Buyers Earn Down Payments (Ethically)
2007-09-24 20:36:00 I came across this write-up I put together a few years ago for a creative real estate contest I entered. It outlines a creative, ethical way I use from time to time to help my buyers earn their down payments. This is something that will of course enable you to close more deals and make more money flipping homes. Although I’ve been using this strategy for years, I want to emphesize it would still be very effective in helping your flips sell in today’s retail market, so I wanted to share it again for you here. What follows is my original contest entry, for which I’m proud to say I won first place. Earn ing Your Down Payment Program 1st Place in CRE’s money making ideas contest 1999 By Steve Cook As most of us know, one of the toughest things to overcome for our buyers is the down payment. Especially when that down payment needs to be verified. I have on two occasions now successfully overcome this problem both legally and ethically. Here is ex... More About: Creative , Strategies , Deal , Buyers
Local Search: An Untapped Market for Motivated Sellers? (Video)
2007-09-21 21:22:00 A couple of days ago a real estate investor colleague of ours by the name of Mike Collins dropped something in my lap and asked me to take a look at it. It was a short video detailing some tactical experiments he’s been conducting on attracting motivated sellers through local internet search. What I saw in the video lit me up like a Christmas tree. I got word yesterday they’d put out a second video — checked it out — some of the same info, but also an interesting 9-minute clip from a workshop he did in Tampa recently. Listen, here’s briefly what I think about it… Fact: Today, a significant number of folks in your own local hometown will turn on their computers, hop on the internet and search for you…or your competitors… …someone who can step in and help solve their real estate problems the way only a real estate investor can. These folks are in your own backyard. They will find someone. ... More About: Video , Market , Search , Local , Sellers
Flipping Homes Blog: Coming Back to Life
2007-09-21 00:59:00 Hello, friends. It’s been a few weeks since our last post, and for this I humbly apologize. Many of you noticed that our blog seemed to be “on again, off again” - literally. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. And boy, it’s been a challenging (i.e. more than a little teeth-grindingly-frustrating) time. We’ve been troubleshooting it since the problems began, and in the end it seems to have something to do with how well WordPress likes to play (or not) with a Windows-based server -which is what Flipping Homes .com exists on. Yeah, geek speak. Blah, blah, blah. My eyes glaze over too. In case you care, the best solution we could come up with in the end was to move the blog to an entirely new address (http://blog.flippinghomes.com which is actually a subdomain of FH) on an entirely different server - one that WordPress already likes to play nice with. I guess we didn’t really “fix” the problem per se. We moved ar... More About: Life , Blog , Back
Are You Using the “Right” Real Estate Investing Contract?
2007-08-31 07:13:00 While perusing our forums yesterday I stumbled across a question I’ve seen more than once before. It actually seems to pop up in the FH Community every couple of weeks or so… “When flipping houses, how do I know I’m using the right contract? I’ve got plenty of contracts and am not sure which one I’d use.” It’s a fair enough question. So I started typing a reply…but it just kept going. Ok, maybe it’s time to turn it into a full blown article… Deeds and Notes and Contract s…OH MY! If I had to make a list of things that seem most intimidating when you’re first getting started in real estate investing, I believe I’d put “the paperwork” right at (or at least near) the top of the list. I remember all to well what it was like when I got started. The documents involved in even a “plain vanilla” real estate transaction were enough to make me go completely cross-eyed. And here I was trying to get into ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Investing , Investing
Are You Using the “Right” Real Estate Investing Contract?
2007-08-31 07:13:00 While perusing our forums yesterday I stumbled across a question I’ve seen more than once before. It actually seems to pop up in the FH Community every couple of weeks or so… “When flipping houses, how do I know I’m using the right contract? I’ve got plenty of contracts and am not sure which one I’d use.” It’s a fair enough question. So I started typing a reply…but it just kept going. Ok, maybe it’s time to turn it into a full blown article… Deeds and Notes and Contract s…OH MY! If I had to make a list of things that seem most intimidating when you’re first getting started in real estate investing, I believe I’d put “the paperwork” right at (or at least near) the top of the list. I remember all to well what it was like when I got started. The documents involved in even a “plain vanilla” real estate transaction were enough to make me go completely cross-eyed. And here I was trying to get into ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Investing , Investing
A Unique Program for Managing Debt (Just Put It On Your Credit Card! ;-)
2007-08-16 07:06:00 Confession: It’s 11:59pm and I just snorted out a laugh so hard I woke up little Kelsey (our 3 month old). Woops! Here’s what made me do it… A hat tip goes to The Real Estate Bloggers for serving it up to me tonight. Nice one, Tom! Hey, anyone can make fun of infomercials - but how about knocking on basically everyone in the nation as well? I love it! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (without the baby-waking-up part) What do you think? Comment below? debt control, debt management, getting out of debt, LOL : D, snl, steve martin, VideosShare This More About: Card , Credit , Debt , Unique , Credit Card
A Unique Program for Managing Debt (Just Put It On Your Credit Card! ;-)
2007-08-16 07:06:00 Confession: It’s 11:59pm and I just snorted out a laugh so hard I woke up little Kelsey (our 3 month old). Woops! Here’s what made me do it… A hat tip goes to The Real Estate Bloggers for serving it up to me tonight. Nice one, Tom! Hey, anyone can make fun of infomercials - but how about knocking on basically everyone in the nation as well? I love it! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did (without the baby-waking-up part) What do you think? Comment below? debt control, debt management, getting out of debt, LOL : D, snl, steve martin, VideosShare This More About: Card , Credit , Debt , Unique , Credit Card
Online Marketplace for Real Estate Co-Ownership Emerges…Intriguing Implic
2007-08-15 21:01:00 Today my inbox gifted me an intriguing piece of news from Springwise (a guilty pleasure for my daily fix of entrepreneurial ideas). It was a brief bulletin reviewing an innovative, new marketplace for real estate co-ownership that’s just been born on the net. And after taking a little closer look, I’m struck by some interesting implications and possibilities for some home buyers and real estate investors. Home Equity Share is a match-up service, conceived by attorney and real estate broker Marilyn Sullivan, that brings together potential home buyers and investors - specifically investors who want to put some money into a deal with minimal hassles and no monthly payments to make. An 80% Loan With Only 3% Down? (No, Not Like You Think)… For potential buyers, the service matches them with “real estate partners” who put up the majority of the down payment in return for a portion of ownership. The primary buyer retains most of the ongoing ownership responsibilities, but ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Online , Real , Marketplace
Online Marketplace for Real Estate Co-Ownership Emerges…Intriguing Implic
2007-08-15 21:01:00 Today my inbox gifted me an intriguing piece of news from Springwise (a guilty pleasure for my daily fix of entrepreneurial ideas). It was a brief bulletin reviewing an innovative, new marketplace for real estate co-ownership that’s just been born on the net. And after taking a little closer look, I’m struck by some interesting implications and possibilities for some home buyers and real estate investors. Home Equity Share is a match-up service, conceived by attorney and real estate broker Marilyn Sullivan, that brings together potential home buyers and investors - specifically investors who want to put some money into a deal with minimal hassles and no monthly payments to make. An 80% Loan With Only 3% Down? (No, Not Like You Think)… For potential buyers, the service matches them with “real estate partners” who put up the majority of the down payment in return for a portion of ownership. The primary buyer retains most of the ongoing ownership responsibili... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Online , Real , Marketplace
Flip This…What?
2007-08-14 06:41:00 While perusing the blogosphere over the weekend, I stumbled upon an interesting bit from JohnChow.com - a fascinating write-up about a “flip” transaction he’s just been a part of - but not with the kind of real estate you and I are used to dealing with. Now you may not know John Chow, but in the world of professional bloggers you could say he’s considered one of the “big dogs”. His blog is a top online watering hole for folks who want to learn about blogging and how to hone their craft to a fine art. Last week John posted his dissatisfaction with a recent drop in revenue from one of his website’s ad blocks. The Google “pay-per-click” ads he’s been using have apparently turned lackluster in their performance, prompting him to put the ad spot up for sale to the masses for a flat thousand bucks. That’s how it all started…. Now there’s something you should understand about John Chow&r... More About: Flip
How to Coldcock Failure - Lessons From a Stupid-Looking Italian (VIDEO)
2007-08-11 01:53:00 Ok, so when I started this blog, I really wasn’t planning to post nearly every day. Really. In fact I’ve been planning all along on a pace of maybe once or twice weekly once I get used to it – as long as there’s something relevant and worth sharing with the real estate community of course. And yet here I am yet again, posting for the fourth time this week. But hey, these juicy morsels just keep popping up in front of me, and the wannabe-writer in me can hardly stand it if I don’t find some way to share ‘em. And so share I must. Today it’s because of an email I received – a golden nugget that surfaced in an inbox full of mostly spammy rubble. (Anyone else in the 250+ spams/day club? Sheesh. Thank goodness for my spam killer…) Anyway this email, from Cris Chico of Absentee Owner Profits. It wasn’t long and drawn out – just a few simple words and a link to a short YouTube video. I’m a sucker for online video, so I followed the li... More About: Video , Stupid , Italian , Failure , Lessons
Real Estate Investing Case Study: “BPO Bob” Spills the Beans for Short
2007-08-09 05:43:00 If you’ve spent any quality time carousing with us in the Flipping Homes Community as of late, then you may recall resident short sale guy Shaun McCloskey recently posting his intentions to conduct a private phone interview with an as-yet-unnamed, full-time BPO agent. He also invited you to submit your own questions for the interview – anything you might want to ask a BPO agent if you had him under your spotlight, truth serum in hand. For investors who do preforeclosure/short sale deals, the BPO valuation is probably the single most important aspect in determining whether or not your offer to the bank will be approved. Imagine the edge you’d have over other short sale investors if you really understood BPOs, inside out. So I said to Shaun… “Sounds like a phenomenal idea…make it so.” And so he did. Announcing… Now while most of our case studies focus on specific real estate deals, this one digs deep into the mind of a tru... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Investing , Study , Beans
Real Estate Investing Guru Goes to Prison
2007-08-07 19:45:00 I wasn’t going to post another blog entry today - I really wasn’t. But a bit from the Inman News Blog (a well known online watering hole for the real estate industry) just grabbed me today. Spotting a brief article posted today outlining the details of real estate guru Wade Cook’s recent federal conviction, I feel compelled to throw a thought or two out for you to chew on here as well - especially after yesterday’s integrity-related mortgage fraud post. Wade Cook has been in the hot seat a while now for allegedly filing false tax returns and obstructing the investigation, and according to Inman guest blogger Marlow Harris of 360 Digest, apparently was convicted last Thursday on seven counts and sentenced to almost seven and a half years in federal prison. Ouch! So what happened? What when wrong? Was it a slow spiral down a slippery slope, or was this cab driver turned real estate flipper and seminar teacher a bad seed from the start? We all love to ... More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Investing , Investing , Prison
Flipping Houses = Mortgage Fraud?
2007-08-07 02:06:00 While enjoying a bite for lunch today I was perusing the Flipping Homes community discussion forum for a bite of real estate investing banter, when I stumbled across a quick post from “FosterCA” referencing a Realty Times news piece today entitled, “Illegal Flipping in Beverly Hills?” (thanks, FosterCA!) Hmmmmm, interesting. Laying my chicken wrap and Mr. Pibb aside, I dug a little deeper. A glimpse at the seedy underbelly of real estate investing… Apparently a couple of “highly successful” Beverly Hills real estate agents and two licensed appraisers allegedly schemed to purchase houses at market value while asking the sellers to keep hush-hush about the actual purchase price. Then they’d inflate the purchase contracts to make it look like they paid hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of dollars more than they actually did… By inflating the purchase prices and showing fake appraisals to justify them, they could of course borrow a heck of a lot mor... More About: Fraud , Mortgage Fraud , Houses , Mortgage
Short Sales Case Study: Deals Outside the Box
2007-08-03 03:46:00 Ok, friends - it’s time for another Flipping Homes case study interview. This is the one I briefly touched on in email a couple of days ago for our Flip Tips Newsletter subscribers… So we finally got that thing finished up for you…and it’s awesome! In this revealing case study interview… …short sale experts Barbara Klaput (MD) and our own Shaun McCloskey (MO) give you a fascinating peak behind the curtain on some new, innovative ways they’ve been approaching some of their short sale deals lately. The result has been finding some handsome profits where teh “rules of thumb” would typically make most investors pass altogether (even those who do short sales regularly). How to “force” the seller’s loan into loss mitigation (even when the seller isn’t behind very much) How to get past the bank’s “gatekeeper” and talk to someone who can actually make a decision (even when the... More About: Study , Sales , Case , Short
Hello, World!
More articles from this author:2007-08-01 10:50:00 Dear friends and colleagues from the Flipping Homes community, It’s been a long time coming. But after investing some sizeable portions of energy and more than a few caffiene-enlightened late nights, we’d like to take this opportunity to proudly announce our next step in the ongoing evolution of Flipping Homes 2.0… The Flipping Homes blog is born! ……and the crowd goes wild! (at least in my head) Ok, well at least some of you are excited. …………..Ok, well at least I’m pretty excited. :) Frankly I’ve been working my tail off in the last few months and weeks to bring this thing to life, so it really does sort of feel like we just gave birth to a baby……eh……som e kind of weird blog baby……I guess…… Ok, enough wierd imagry. So what’s this blog thing all about? In its ... More About: World , Hello World 1, 2, 3 |
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