Hi Steve,
Thanks for
the email with success stories. It reminded me that I wanted to write
you about ours.
A little
over a year ago, my spouse and I were utterly without income. An old
friend who now lives in New York came to visit us in Oregon. She
described to us a venture that she and her spouse had taken on, and it
was called flipping homes. When our friend told us how successful she
had been, it inspired us to give it a try. We found your website,
ordered your book, and began the process.
We followed
your directions to the max. We wrote you for clarifications and you
answered. We did everything you suggested, yet it seems that the
Portland market is dry where it comes to flipping homes. Still, we
didn't give up hope, just adjusted our focus a bit and started again,
this time seeking rehab opportunities.
Due to our
having outstanding credit, several credit card companies were sending us
huge checks at 0%. In the past, we ignored these, but now, we saw
opportunity. We cashed them and had intended to use them as down payment
on our first fixer, and use a mortgage loan to buy the property. Suffice
to say that we picked a bummer broker, and the loan fell through at the
last minute. If we didn't buy the home, we were going to lose our
earnest money and other costs, and be fined daily until the home closed.
We dug into our remaining credit cards and came up with the rest of the
$90,000 needed to purchase the home outright. No closing costs, but some
23% interest fees!
We
remodeled the home in 21 days, and because of inexperience took 4
months to sell it; but ultimately walked away free and clear with
$7,000. Here's the breakdown: $90,000 purchase price + $6,000 rehab
costs + $3,000 interest costs = $99,000. We sold the home for a net (after
real estate fees, etc.) of $122,000. So, that's $122,000 - $99,000
= $23,000. Now consider that we lived for 5 months on borrowed
money to the tune of about $16,000 (which included loan payments). We
paid that back and ended up with $7,000 in our pocket.
BUT WAIT!!!
When we finally got earnest money on that home, we immediately went out
and found another home to rehab. So instead of paying back all the loans
we had out, we did some creative balance transfers and got rid of the
high interest loans, and used the money we received on the first home to
buy the second home for $99,000. We now had $23,000 to use for rehab.
This home took us 2 months to rehab., but we sold the home before we
even finished it. We sold this one for $125,000 and netted $17,000. By
the time it was finished, we had found the 3rd home to rehab. We paid
off one of the original loans of $32,000 and still had enough to
purchase the 3rd home for $102,000. This one will be rehabbed in
less than 3 weeks, and will be sold for about $125,000. The way homes
are selling here, we should have it sold quickly for that amount.
We began
this process in July 2002. We bought our first home in October 2002. It
is now August 2003, so we have successfully rehabbed 3 homes in less
than a year, and made $50,000 after expenses. Our cruise leaves
September 4th for a week of duly deserved vacation time. We love our
life today, and love rehabbing homes.
Now for the
real kicker: That friend of ours who first told us about all her success
and inspired us to do this? She was lying to us the whole time! She hadn't
even bought one home, let alone the 7 she claimed. Ain't God a hoot!
Thanks,
Steve. Hope this inspires others to take you seriously and take action.
(Just in case you're interested, I wrote a book years ago called
"Ready, Willing and Terrified...a Coward's Guide to
Risk-Taking." I'd be glad to gift you a copy. Let me know.)
Sincerely,
Casey
Moffett-Chaney
To learn how to do what Casey did to make $50,000 take a look at "Rehabbing for Big Cash". Click here for more information!
