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I am indeed still alive but in a bit of a holding pattern with many things, real estate investing included. I’m honestly pretty burned out on dealing with contractors, tenants, and city officials at the moment, as none seem able to, you know, do their jobs in either an effective or timely matter. I’d hoped that the holidays would be a good chance to rest and recharge, but it didn’t exactly work out that way.

Work on Larry’s House is getting done, but at a less-than-snail’s pace. (What exactly would that be? Slug’s pace? Sloth’s pace? Inanimate object’s pace?) What should have been a two week job as far as the first stage of work is going on 2 months+, and that’s only after an enormous amount of contractor prodding and delay after delay after delay due to city inspections for a 50 sq. ft. laundry room that I’m adding to a 300 sq. ft. house in the ghetto that was previously abandoned and boarded up.  One would think the city’d be happy that a former crack house is being reclaimed and fixed up, instead of going round and round and round about suitable foundations for additions (even massive 50 sq. ft. ones like mine)  and insisting that we had to produce an engineer’s report at once point to continue work.

It’s also looking like I’ll have to evict one of our tenants, too, as he’s now over 2 months behind in rent. He works construction and has had a hard time of it lately, but he’d managed to always pay up even though he was a week or two late pretty much every month. Rent was due Dec. 15th but he swore he’d have it after Christmas, as he was struggling due to the economy/holidays (he’s married, has four kids), people owed him money for work, yada yada yada. Same song and dance right up to Jan. 15th, at which point he was two months behind, and swearing he’d have all the money next week, etc. I gave him until this weekend, but haven’t heard a peep. I have no desire whatsoever to kick a family out but there’s not much else I can do at this point, as I’ve already played the chump for way too long letting it get to this point as far as being so far behind in rent.

On the positive side, things have really been picking up as far as freelance work, and I’ve been digging back into the world of affiliate marketing as far as developing and building new sites. Without house renovation projects sucking up all my time I’ve been able to revive some of my sites from the mothballs they’d be languishing in, and am easing back into the worlds of website flipping and domain flipping. Which is kind of funny, as it’s pretty much the exact some concept as house flipping, as far as buying websites for sale at various webmaster forums, working assorted magic on them, and then re-selling them at a later date for a profit.

Just like with houses, you can find pretty good deals on websites that are already generating income due to the owners simply needing cash, or people selling sites who did some of the work but lost interest, or just didn’t understand how to properly market or monetize them. A lot of my background is in SEO and linkbuilding, so it’s usually not to hard to find people selling sites making a little bit of money, and buy and improve them to the point where they’re making more than a little bit of money, usually without a ton of work involved.

The general rule of thumb is that sites sell for 5x/average monthly income, so it’s not too hard to pick up websites that are making $2-3/month via Google Adsense ads for $10-$20. I spend a few hours optimizing them, a few hours more promoting them and getting backlinks, an hour or two building out the content, and then just let it run. If it’s in a good niche it’s not too hard to get a site like that up to $30-$40/month from Adsense, which you can turn around and sell for $200-$250.  It’s not quit your day job money, but not a bad way to keep busy during slow times with other freelance work.

So that’s pretty much where things stand in my wee little life. I’m still keeping an eye out for potential real estate deals, but there’s little promising on the MLS at the moment, and it’d take something awfully juicy to suck me back in at this point. We’ve still got a good bit of work to do on Larry’s House so there’s no real rush to pick up another project. Hopefully at some point the house flipping fire will burn white hot again in my bosom, but for now it’s kind of refreshing to not be writing huge checks to people and stressing out over any number of sundry things.

As far as what’s next, well, that’s a good question. I did renew the line of credit with the local bank I’ve been working with, as it’s set up as a 12 month product, so I’ve got funds to play with. I’m busy with Larry’s house for the next few months, but aside from that pickings are very slim at the moment on the MLS, as there’s really not anything available at the moment that’s even vaguely tempting, as far as either  a flip or something to keep as a rental.

Aside from being a bit burnt out in general, I’m also increasingly worried about where the larger economy is heading the next few years, along with the real estate market. Looks like we’ve staved off outright financial doom, which is good, but when even the government starts warning that 10%+ unemployment is here for years to stay, well, that’s not exactly a solid foundation for a rebound in the broader economy or the housing market, especially with plenty of REOs (and REOs to be) waiting to come barreling down the pipeline, and with the tax credit shifting some potential home sales forward but not exactly spurring on tons of people to buy who might have otherwise continued to rent.

I have been kicking around the idea of getting serious about building very small homes, as I do think there’s potential there, both as rental properties and as owner financed deals. Our tenant in the Wee House couldn’t be happier with the house, and I’ve talked to her a good bit (she is definitely an ear-talker-offer) about the house, my plans for Larry’s house next door, etc. She’s single, makes decent money as a nurse, but has no desire to be a homeowner again now that she’s older and her kids are grown, yet she also has absolutely no desire to live in an apartment building. So for her a 600 sq. ft. house is perfect, easy to clean, she has a yard and no loud neighbors above or below her, etc. Her rent is about the same as what she’d pay for an apartment, so in her eyes it’s a great deal.

Assuming there are plenty of people like her (and I think there are), I think there’d definitely be a market for simple little 1-1 homes, around 400-500  sq. ft. Something like this, from one of the Katrina Cottage plans:

If I could build something like that $20,000-$25,000 (which seems crazy at first but is doable if you keep it very simple), you might have a nice little revenue generator. I could rent a house like that in a heartbeat for $400-$450, so it’d cash flow if you kept it as a rental, but it’d also be something I could potentially owner-finance as well, as you wouldn’t have a ton of capital tied up in them, so I wouldn’t be pressured to get my capital back out of it quickly. Owner financing wouldn’t be my first choice, but again, I think there’s a potential market there, as I do think that the type of person who’d be willing to pay $35,000 for a house like that (single person with a decent job but not great credit; older person with some savings on a fixed income; young couple with income but bad credit) are increasingly going to have a hard time getting a loan the traditional way to buy even a small, inexpensive home such as that.

The biggest obstacle is the land cost, as far as a lot to build on, as that quickly becomes disproportionate to the size of the house and the overall budget. There are a few very small lots in town for sale which would work (one listed for $8,000 and another for $6,000, but both have been on the market for 2+ years, so likely some wriggle room in the price) but I also need to talk with the city about the possibility of subdividing standard lots into very small parcels for wee houses, etc.

So yeah, still scheming, but no immediate plans to tackle another big project in the near future. Larry’s House should keep me busy for a few months, which’ll also buy me some time to explore the small house idea a bit more, and put together some actual plans, get bids for various pieces of it, and see just what I could actually build them for.

I’ve been dragging my feet on the whole before/after photo production, but below are some collages I threw together, to give an idea of what went on. I tried to include the before after photos of corresponding areas of the house, but in some cases it’s not a perfect match:

The front and back of the house. The fridge on the deck we added in the back just hadn’t gotten moved yet, so no, the deck doest come with it’s own dedicated beer fridge. We also had to add a railing on the deck, as the city wuldn’t pass it without one because of the height.

Little more detail of the front of the house, and the back corner where we added the master bathroom, removing the door on that corner that accessed a laundry room and the kitchen.

The big living room where you enter from the front door. Pretty happy with how the original hardwood floors turned out after refinishing and staining, and the beadboard on the walls and ceiling was actually original as well, hiding under the carpet and sheetrock in the before photos. We added the interior French doors and the yellow bedroom for the 3rd bedroom (which is pretty tiny, but still technically a bedroom), as well as the French doors that lead from the yellow bedroom out ono the back deck.)

The other side of the living room that leads back into the main part of the house, as well as the French doors leading to the deck from the 3rd bedroom.

The master bedroom, plus the sitting nook and desk nook we added. We also added the French doors and transoms, leading to the back deck. The master bathroom is off to the left, which was all new as well, as the house previously just had one bathroom.

Master bathroom, which is all new from scratch and was previously an unfinished laundry room. Jacuzzi tub, tiled walk-in shower, and his and her vessel sinks. Struggled to get a good photo of it but I was really happy how this turned out, as it wasn’t a huge space but we managed to pack a lot in.

Not the greatest photos here, either, but this is the big dining room and the kitchen. We completely opened up the wall between the two areas, and added a laundry room area in the back of the kitchen. All new hickory cabinets and appliances, sink, and granite tile. It’s hard to see the detail in this photo, but we tried something a little different with the dining room, as far as using clear-coated birch plywood on the walls, broken up in a staggered pattern that I use for tile. Wasn’t quite sure how it’d turn out but everyone seemed to like it.

The second bedroom at top, which we did almost nothing to other than new closets, and more details of the kitchen and the dining room walls.

And some miscellaneous photos of various areas already touched on, as well as the existing bathroom in the top left after it got  a complete makeover.

As far as the “important” stuff, I’ll show a final profit of between $15,000-$17,500 when it’s all said and done, after commissions, taxes, etc. Which is good, and very welcome, don’t get me wrong. But man, if I had to assign myself a grade on this one, it’d probably be a D-. And that’s quite possibly being a little generous.

This project took a lot out of me, as evidenced by the decreasing number of posts and updates here. Physically, mentally, you name it. I had a lot tied up in this one, as I was hoping it’d be my ticket out of the day job grind, but in the end it turned out to be not so much an escape but just more hard work, stress, and headaches. Not even really sure where to start, but a lot of boiled down to issues with my contractor. I thought we were at a decent place as far as him understanding the long-term potential of our relationship and treating me right, without a lot of supervision and whip-cracking, but no, not so much. I very nearly let him go at the tail end of the project, as it became pretty clear that he was absolutely milking me for all he could. Not in a dramatic or even criminal fashion, but in a constantly-doing-just-enough-to-show-a-good-effort-but-really-dragging-it-out for as long as possible sort of way.

And yeah, I know, big shock. Welcome to the world of contractors. But I thought 2+ years of working together had gotten us past that point, to where I could trust him and not have to be on site constantly to make sure shit got done. Turns out not so much, and he ended up way over budget on his side of things, which meant that I ended up doing far more work myself than I’d hoped. While I was working 60+ hours a week between my day job and freelance work, just to pay the bills, as my wife quit her job a few months into the project and still hasn’t found gainful employment. Add to that the fact that my day job somehow has managed to become even more depressing and frustrating, and yeah, I’ve been kind of depressed and not gung-ho about anything for the last 2-3 months, just trying to keep the trains rolling and get this house done and sold.

The real frustration is that if I’d been able to just work on this project full-time and manage the job, the house would have been sold months ago for a profit of $30,000-$35,000. No doubt in my mind at all, as this really was a project with that much potential, which I manage to half-ass pretty thoroughly, with too many balls to juggle, ending up with a nice profit in the end (which I’m grateful for), but one that really doesn’t change the equation, as far as the need for a day job, etc. Plus I feel like I’m back to square one with contractors, without anyone I can trust to run a job on budget unless I’m constantly there. Which I can’t be, because of the day job, which I can’t even think about leaving due to the economy and my wife being out of work, etc.

And so it goes. Not really sure where this leaves things, as far as my REI plottings. I don’t really feel like I’m able to tackle another major project like the Creek House, at least not now, and that leaves pretty slim pickings on the MLS. I’ve thought about getting more serious about marketing for deals off the MLS, but again, just not a lot of spare time floating around, and I almost feel like it’s pointless as a great deal could pop up but if it involves a major rehab, well, I don’t know that I could pursue it. And just to be clear, the current contractor I’m working with is the fourth contractor I’ve tried, here in small town USA, so I do realize that there are lotf of better contractors in the world, especially ones that respond well if you treat them right and can potentially offer a ton of work over time.  I just haven’t been able to find one yet.

For the moment, though, it’s a bit of a moot point, as once we sell the Creek House I can get serious about rehabbing Larry’s House, which I got at the tax deed sale and have been working on a bit here and there, as far as demoing it out, prepping the exterior for paint, etc. I’m trying to do the whole rehab in cash, so I’ve been holding off on the major expenses like electrical and plumbing, but hopefully I can be done with the whole rehab by Christmas, once I have a little money to play with. It’s a complete gut rehab but it’s only about 300 sq. ft. (no, really, it is) so it shouldn’t be too painful. Famous last words. Ha.

]]> http://www.flipthyhouse.com/2009/10/25/creek-house-very-nearly-sold/feed/ http://www.flipthyhouse.com/2009/09/01/and-he-emerges-finally-from-distant-circles-of-house-flipping-hell/ http://www.flipthyhouse.com/2009/09/01/and-he-emerges-finally-from-distant-circles-of-house-flipping-hell/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:20:33 +0000 Seth http://www.flipthyhouse.com/?p=272 So, umm, yeah. Hi.

I’d apologize for the pages here going dark for so long, but sometimes you get what you pay for. Ditto to not responding to snarky, gleeful emails about my implied demise or demands for updates about the progress of the Creek House, etc. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

My own snark aside, man, it’s been a rough few months. I finally finished up the Creek House yesterday, with only a few tiny odds and ends left, and signed all the paperwork with our realtor to list it and hopefully get the damn thing sold.

As far as catching up on where I’ve been the last few months and what happened with the project, well, it’d take a novel, but the short version is that I had to pull our contractor off the job when I got back from Vegas July 15th and basically finish all the remaining work myself. I’d expected to come back from Vegas to a finished house but the reality couldn’t be further from that, as not only did my contractor try to bill be basically three times what he should have, but tons of work was still unfinished.

Pretty disappointing, and demoralizing in many ways, as the budget was already about 10% over what I’d hoped for, so not only were juicy profits swirling down the drain, but I was suddenly faced with absolutely busting my butt over the next month and change to get it finished myself, as that was the only way I could hope to still show any sort of profit on the job.

So that’s basically what I did, and where I’ve been the last few months. Add to all of that the fact that I’m basically working two other full-time jobs at the moment, and free time and motivation to update these pages was pretty lacking.

But I managed to get through it, and I’m still here, and will get a post up shortly with before and after photos of the Creek House as well as all the gory details about blown budgets and potential profits (ha) and all that good stuff.

And, against every fiber of my being that wants to never own a house again, I’m starting work on the Larry House, as the redemption period from the tax deed sale has expired, so it’s all mine to start messing with.

On the bright side, at least the kitchen of the Larry House is in perfect, move-in condition:

No, seriously, that really is the kitchen sink in Larry’s House, and not the most disgusting image I could find on Google Images.

I’m here in Vegas from June 30th to July 15th, working my annual freelance gig updating the bwin poker blog for the fine folks at bwin. It’s the third year I’ve been out here for the Main Event working for them as a blogger-type for what’s a pretty sweet gig (especially since I play a lot of poker myself), as we’re staying at the Palazzo this year, so the accommodations are, umm, pretty nice.

My only mixed feelings are that I had to leave the Creek House about a week or so from being finished, and the last few weeks on that project have been pretty hellish. I’ve been killing myself the last few weeks trying to finish it up before I had to leave, and, despite all efforts, it just didn’t get done. Pretty frustrated with my contractor at the moment, as he started strong on this project but just completely dropped the ball the last month or so. I’d go into all the gory details, but, for the next few weeks, I’m just going to let that stuff go and enjoy myself in Vegas, as there’s not a damn thing I can do about it and I did everything I humanly could (plus some) the last 3 weeks or so to wrap that project up.

Even with the delays and being way over budget, I am pretty happy with how the Creek House has turned out. A potential huge profit has dwindled to a potential big profit to a potential decent profit, but I’m pretty confident that it’ll move quickly when it’s finally listed, as it really is head and shoulders above comparable stuff on the market, and I at least bought right when picking it up, so I’ll still likely make some money when it’s all said and done.

But yeah, major changes in the future if I continue to work with our contractor, as this current project went way over the line as far as what I can accept and deal with as part of doing business with small town contractors. I’ll bend over backwards more than your average monkey in an attempt to keep things friendly and smooth, but even I’ve got a breaking point.

Although it is giving me a little devious pleasure, as the delay is about to cause the plumber’s head to explode. I’m happy enough with the work the plumber and his son have done, but his general behavior has managed to rub me the wrong way, and our contractor is pretty fed up with it as well. Nothing huge or major, but the plumber pitched a hissy fit when he started the job (three days late, mind you, when he swore he’d be there three days earlier), as far as showing up, interrupting our contractor when he was talking to another sub to demand his check (1/3rd of the total cost of his bid to get started), then made a huge production out of stomping off and leaving when the check wasn’t immediately there waiting for him.

And he’s pulling more of the same dramatic entrances and exits the last few days as the electricians finish up, as he doesn’t get his second draw until the rough inspection is done, so he’s stopping by the house 5 or 6 times a day, loudly talking about how broke he is, how he’d wish these damn electricians would hurry up so he can get paid, etc.

I try to let it amuse me more than annoy me, as it is kind of humorous to see a fifty year old man act like a five year old. Especially when he works in a trade where less scrupulous people than myself routinely drag out paying people like him for weeks and/or months at a time. Not that I’m unsympathetic to that, as I am, but until I personally do him dirty on a job, well, you know, please to be shutting the hell up and stop pissing off the people on the job trying to get things finished up.

We just got back the county property appraisals for 2009 for all our properties and it was good news, across the board. I’d been sweating it a little as our county appraisal district is apparently under pressure from the state to jack up property values across the board, after it was deemed that our county was well below par. But any worry was for naught, as our primary residence was the only one that showed any real increase in value, with two of the investment properties exactly the same as 2008, and the Wee House went up a whopping $100, to go from an appraised value of $4,500 to $4,600.

I must be failing mightily at this REI thing, purchasing and renovating a house at a cost of ~$32,000 that is appraised by the county at just $4,600. :) I’m obviously not complaining, but it does kind of baffle me as to why they bother at all, as they don’t seem to ever actually visit the properties, flag ones that have had building permits submitted, or anything like that.

In other completely random news, my wife quit her job about a month ago, so we’ve been experiencing the joys of being a single income household for the last month or so. It’s a temporary thing, as she was sick of her job and had been taking certification classes to become a teacher (and is looking for part time/full time work in the meantime as well until she’s actually teaching), but it’s actually been good as far as giving us a nudge in other areas.

It wasn’t great timing as far as the money I’m sinking into the renovation of the Creek house, so I finally got my butt in gear as far as cutting some expenses that needed cutting, the biggest of which has been cooking meals at home and taking my lunch to work. It’s pretty amazing, really, as far as how much money we’ve been saving by not both stopping for breakfast tacos on the way to work, both eating out at lunch, eating out/fast food for dinner, rinse and repeat, over and over and over. Not to mention that we’ve been eating infinitely more healthy, as I tend to cook pretty simple meals heavy on the chicken and steamed vegetables, pasta, etc.

In a backwards way, it’s actually encouraging as far as giving the REI thing a shot as my full-time job in the not-too-distant future, as it hasn’t been too painful getting by on just one traditional salary, so hopefully once my wife is gainfully employed again I can get more serious about ditching the day job.

I gave into curiosity last week and bought one of these, which arrived yesterday:

I’d read about the resurgence of manual push reel mowers somewhere or other online, with devotees claiming that the newer models did a great job, but I definitely had my doubts. The model I got is a Scott’s 20″ reel mower, which I found for $120 (shipping included) on ebay, and I have to admit I was pretty dang impressed. The thing only weighs about 30 pounds and takes all of ten minutes to assemble (just bolting the handle together) and you’re ready to roll. It won’t cut super close so if you’re into the immaculate ultra-short putting green look you’ll be disappointed, but I was suprisingly pleased with how close and evenly it cut, without a ton of pushing effort. I don’t know that I’ll use it regularly on our pretty huge yard, but the portability factor of it is pretty awesome, and I can definitely see myself using it to keep the front yard of an investment property nice and tidy.

We’re about 2/3rds of the way done with the Creek House, with most of the heavy lifting done, shifting into sheetrock/paint/tile mode. I’m hoping to be done by June 5th, which will take a little hustle but is still very much doable.

The budget is still on track, and it’s looking like we’ll come in at about $45,000 for the entire renovation. I was initially hoping to keep it at just under $40,000, but the plumbing gods had different things in mind. We eventually got a bid of $5,400 for the HVAC installation that we went with (which was close enough to the $5,000 I budgeted for that), but the best plumbing bid we got was for $4,400, way off the $2,000-$2,500 I was hoping for. (And that one turned into closer to $5,000 when they discovered that the waste line tying into the city sewer had to be completely replaced and re-routed, with two new cleanouts added.)

Overall, though, this job has been clicking right along, and I’ve been much happier with our contractor on this job, as he’s hired on some more guys and we’ve been able to do better with scheduling both work and materials arriving, so we haven’t had as many wasted days as on the last project.

Recent sales activity and comps are also pretty encouraging. The market is far from going gangbusters, but what is moving most are 3-2s in the $115,000-$130,000 range, and those are almost all generic, boring starter homes, 1200-1300 sq. ft., builders-grade fixtures, smallish lots, cookie-cutter construction, etc. The Creek House will come in at 3-2, 1,600 sq. ft. on a half acre lot, and pretty much blow everything else away as far as upgrades (12 foot ceilings, backyard deck, French doors, and all that good stuff) and should be a quick, easy sell at $129,500. I’ll be at around $85,000 as far as total invested in the property, so anything in the mid 120s would make me pretty happy.

I’m heading out to Vegas for another poker freelance gig from June 30th-July 15th, so I’m not sure what immediate REI plans are going to be, once we finish up the Creek House. Unless something too juicy to pass up falls into my lap, I may take a break after the Creek House, and knock out some more work on our personal home, as well as prepping Larry’s House for renovation in August/September, when the redemption period expires.

We’ve been getting more plumbing and HVAC bids, and I had to share the plumbing bid we just received. We’d hoped to use the plumber from the last job but his bid (all the plumbing bids are labor only as I’m supply all the fixtures and materials) was for $2,800, and I was pretty sure we could get it done for at least $2,000, maybe even slightly less, so we’ve been getting more bids.

To briefly outline the situation, the existing plumbing was upgraded 2 years ago, as far as all the plumbing in the existing bathroom, connections to the hot water heater, and the waste lines from the kitchen and bath, all the way to the street. All that stuff is good to go, inspected, signed off on, done and done.

We’re adding a master bath (toilet, double vanity, walk-in shower, Jacuzzi tub), and the plumber will need to run supply lines to the existing kitchen sink (the previous owners didn’t get that far, for some reason, as that sink is plumbed only for the waste line), add lines for a dishwasher, and add the necessary connections for a washer/dryer.

One important thing to note is that due to the layout of the house, all the plumbing work is highly concentrated. The existing bath and new master bath we’re adding share a common wall, and both share a common wall with the water heater and where the new washer/dryer will go. Except for supply lines for the kitchen sink, all of the plumbing work required is in a highly concentrated area, literally all within a 10′ arc. And there’s also a ton of space both in the attic and under the house (pier and beam foundation with a ton of room), with very easy access on both fronts as far as running vents and lines underneath the house.

So yes, indeed, there’s some plumbing work to be done here. But on the grand scale of plumbing work, this isn’t a ginormous job, and it couldn’t be laid out more conveniently, as far as location and access. For a general yardstick of what work runs around here, I had one of our rental houses (3-1, 1300 sq. ft.) completely re-plumbed (replacing galvanized with PVC/CPVC) for $1,900, and had a flip property (4-2, 2000 sq. ft.) 75% re-plumbed (with a new bathroom addition on a concrete foundation that had to be cut/jackhammered out) for $4,500.

So what was the bid (labor only) that I just got back for the Creek house?

$11,100.

I nearly spit out my coffee when our contractor called to tell me that. I mean, it’s more amusing than anything, and I always love a chance to vent and spleen about plumbers, but geez. I am most definitely in the wrong line of work it seems.

I guess I find it interesting more than anything, both from a business and psychological perspective. I just wonder what goes through someone’s head when they give a bid like that, one that’s easily 4x-5x what it should cost. Especially when you’re talking to general contractor who has clearly told you that it’s for a flip, that the owner didn’t just fall off a turnip truck, etc.

I’d normally chalk it up to a sub who wasn’t really interested in the job and just threw out a huge number, but this guy apparently really wanted the work, as he has called back twice already to see when he can start, mentioned that he had a crew ready to jump on it immediately, etc.

Does it work out for him in the end, even if only 1 out of 20 people are foolish enough to agree to a bid like that? Maybe so, but that just strikes me as such an odd way of doing business, as far as the majority of people breaking out into giggles and shooing you out of the room when they get your bid, with your bills being paid by the select few that simply don’t know enough to laugh in your face.