Kristin's RI Journal

Kristen, I have not been having the problems you are having. But, I have a realtor making all these calls for me, so I don't have to deal with them directly. I put in 25 offers and have heard back from all of them.

I finally took off for Arizona (via Detroit first) from Boston at 8:45 Thursday morning and arrived in Phoenix at 1:30 somehow gaining 3 hours. Gotta love that!

The Firesky Resort is more amazing than the pictures and the staff are just as fantastic. Can't wait for others to get here because swimming in the heated pools is no fun by yourself. If anyone is already here please email me at kmg1265 at gmail dot com. Would love some company tomorrow morning.

Kristin
p.s. Typing this on my iPhone was quite amusing.

I too am already here and sent you an email.
Cathy Loose

Was that amazing or what. What a great time I had with you, Ronnie, and Julie, and everyone else. I hope you made it back safely. It was great to see you in person. I'm still in awe of the whole EDGE experience. Can't wait til next years already. Just got off the phone with my realtor and told her she should go next year.
Blessings to you, and Go Get those Deals!
Cathy L

Phew! There was so much energy and excitement in that resort, and I was thinking maybe that is why I have had headaches and tiredness the past few days since getting home. I miss my DG high gotten from just being in the presence of all those like-minded real estate folks. Like Dean said, they were all as "crazy" as I was!!! And I loved it.

It has been rough getting back into the swing of things with the headache for the past 3 days, but getting better slowly. Ready now to start my action plan.

Still wasn't feeling too chipper today, but later this evening I drove around a few neighborhoods with my boyfriend while enjoying a lovely cup of Honey Dew coffee. (I missed my local coffee while out in Arizona.) Took down 10 addresses in Lincoln and 2 in Cumberland that I want to follow up on tomorrow at the Town Hall and the assessor's website. 2 of them have been on my radar for the past month or so and one is dropping the price quickly, down $12k in the past 2 weeks.

Since I do not have my "rockstar" realtor yet, I plan on contacting the listing agent to get into the properties and decide on the spot if I wish to make an offer. Previously I was having issues with the listing agent not returning calls for my agent I had been using, so if they want to double end the deal, that's fine with me!

This realtor has both properties and requires proof of funds, so time to get creative here. I can use Coastal Funding for a letter, but I remember there is another one someone mentioned on the site and I will search to see if I can find it. Because I certainly do not have any funds to prove to anyone, and the letter will do the trick for now. I just want my offers to be considered and then accepted!

Time to take some Advil PM so I can get to sleep with this darn headache, and off to the races tomorrow morning to make my calls and hit Town Hall.

Kristin

Keep it up! Try Matt Larson tip for finding a realtor. Call your local ReMax or Keller-Williams agency and ask toe speak with a investor friendly Realtor!

I viewed 2 of the properties on my list yesterday and took plenty of pictures to show my partner. I went through them with the listing agent, so perhaps my offers will take precedence.

Well this afternoon my partner viewed the homes and we got there ahead of the realtor. There was a pickup in the driveway at the garage and a lady walks up to us on her way into the backyard and tells us the house has just sold. When the realtor got there and started to go up the stairs a man blocked his path and asked "Who are you?" Oscar (the realtor) says he is the listing agent with the listing real estate company and he is showing the property. The man, who happened to be a handyman, said his boss just bought the property and he was about to begin work on it. Oscar told him there was no way it was sold and to call his boss to clear the air. He called and tells him the listing agent is here to show the property, and had to admit that the house wasn't sold, but they had signed paperwork and everything would be completed Tuesday.

I asked him if the closing was Tuesday, and he said NO, but the papers would be submitted. Sorry dude, but that is just an offer and nothing has been accepted yet. And he was not supposed to be in that house starting work and Oscar was calling the agency to find out what was going on.

We went to the second home and luckily there was nobody hanging around that one! We plan on submitting our offers on Tuesday for both of them and hopefully will hear soon about the decision.

Getting excited and taking action! Woo hoo!!!

Kristin

We will be submitting our own offer on Tuesday with Oscar and he said not to worry about this other guy. Offers have to be reviewed and they will decide on the one they wish to accept, and hopefully it will be mine with a little nudging from Oscar.

I have never seen him on TV, but I sat down to create this post and there he is...and I want to buy the books!!!

I already own them and have one of them signed by Dean himself. It just fires me up even more to make this real estate empire of mine a reality.

Kristin

And it's not even over yet!

We worked out our numbers on the 2 properties seen yesterday and both will be about %50 off FMV. Excited just to get through the submission process even if they are not accepted. Everything is a learning process.

And after going through Louisa's journal, I am also going to steal one of her ideas and number the deals as I work through them to keep track.

#1 Single Family w/Overanxious Handyman
#2 Single Family with 4 bedrooms

I will post the details about these later tonight.

I also spent a bit of time last night on Craig's List while watching the Red Sox finally beat Kansas City. For anyone not checking out CL, even just a few times a week, you are missing on a lot of golden opportunities. I have since sent several emails to mortgage brokers, listing agents. and owners on properties and already heard back from 5 of them!

I was looking for no-seasoning refinancing, and received 2 responses that willed be called on Tuesday.

An owner we called is showing us a multi-family is a nearby town that looks to be in very good condition and we are seeing that in about an hour. And while checking CL again I found another one she has listed. Looks like a very nice source of info and possible deals there!!! Probably #3.

A listing agent has already set up an appt for Tuesday at 10am to view a REO 2 unit that rents out for $1000 each side. This will probably be deal #4.

And I am thinking about going to see a property in Providence, multi-family, that offers seller financing. Want to ride the neighborhood first to see if it is somewhere I wish to own. Maybe #5???

Still have an email out to an agent about one listed on CL and it is in the same neighborhood as #2. Thanks Ronnie for sending the CL ad! Love ya girl! (#6?)

The fire is just getting stoked and I am definitely taking advantage of my time this weekend to make the magic happen. Look out world, here I come!

Kristin

I hit the real estate gold mine with this one. The lady we called had us meet her boyfriend, who just happens to be an independent real estate agent and investor himself. And his specialty is working with investors! Love it.

The multi family is a 4 unit in rather good shape and he recently boarded it up to prevent thieves from getting in to screw with the plumbing. Well, just last night someone had kicked in the front door and took the copper in the basement, but didn't get into the individual units. There was a mess in the basement, but he and my boyfriend shut everything off and the owner will be securing the door with help from the neighbor across the fence.

Nice units, great yard, and parking for at least 2 cars off-street. The 2 3-bedroom units were nice and large, and the 2 1-bedroom units were good too. They could also be joined together to make a larger unit, but that could be a project for the future.

They also had another 2 unit multi in a nearby city and we drove by that one and peeked in the windows. The first floor unit we could access looked well taken care of and the roof is also in great shape.

I will be contacting the owner on Tuesday and we will see if a package deal could be worked out for a bit of discount since there is now a mess in the basement which needs to be professionally taken care of.

So excited about all of this and I may have even found my "rockstar" real estate agent. Time will tell but for the first time in quite a while I am excited about what the future holds for me.

Kristin

You are on fire girl! Just remember Matt's formula. Typically it will take 25 offers to get a yes. But keep on going, if nothing else you are learning about the properties out there and how to make offers. One other thing you need to keep in mind, you will need to estimate the repairs, so when you are going through the properties you want to keep track of the repairs needed. I believe there are forms on here that you can use.

I took plenty of pictures to document what I could easily see and then had my boyfriend also view them to check on things I am not as familiar with, yet.

We have calculated repair costs into the offers we will be making, but I am concerned with that 4 unit multi because of the oil now on the floor of the basement. The thieves ripped the copper piping right from the heating unit without turning anything off and the owner first discovered the issue when he got to the building to show it to us. He and my boyfriend turned off the system but it may need to be professionally taken care of if it is considered a hazmat spill. Ugh! Hate people who ransack these properties!

But I will print off the forms and use that to document my estimated repairs and keep that in the folder I created for each property. Got to keep organized!

Taking it easy today with family and household chores, but back to work tomorrow.

Kristin

This may seem to be a strange comment, or more like a question, but where did my bronze medal icon go? And I don't have mine for the EDGE 2010 yet either??? Iconnnnn, where are you?

Kristin

I wish you the best with the 4 unit. What a shock this must have been to the owner and to you. A local investor told us he's found properties with copper taken out too but not to the extent that you described. People sell the copper for drug money. From the little I've learned is that professionals must come in to clean it up. I don't know what kind of costs are involved with this. Please keep us posted.

It's great that you are organizing these properties with a document of estimated repairs. You are headed in the direction of becoming excellent at this!

Enjoy your time with your family!

Lea
SPR Property Solutions, LLC

Appreciate your comments Lea.

Here in Rhode Island many houses get stripped of anything that can be scrapped, either copper, aluminum, or any kind of scrap metal. And it's not just for people looking for drug money. Our unemployment is so high here that many folks do it just to survive, even though it is breaking and entering. My own boyfriend drives the neighborhoods when large trash items are put out and he scraps things like dishwashers, washing machines, lawnmowers, air conditioners, and other stuff like that. And he has a job, but like so many here in RI, he is underemployed and scraps for the extra money.

I will discuss the clean-up with the owner tomorrow when I speak with him and will see if he will lower the price to account for any possible cleaning. And time to hit the computer to search for local places so I can get an idea of the cost to do this correctly.

Will definitely keep everyone posted. Hope you enjoyed your weekend too!

Kristin

I haven't been back at your journal for a couple of days, so I'm in awe of how much you've accomplished! Yahoo ... you are rockin' and rollin' ... headed for the big stage next year!!

Am I reading this right? Is this all coming off Craig's list? How about the info on the no seasoning refinances???

Miss hearing that RI accent. Keep up the posting.

Ronnie

I don't have any accent, you do!!!

These houses are from a combo of CL and the local MLS. The mortgage guys are both from CL ads they posted under Real Estate Services and that section can be a gold mine!

Heading out to my first appt of the day to view a large brick duplex perfect for Section 8 with both sides renting for $1000 a month (4 beds each side.)

Got any money??? I may need some help with actually paying for this thing, but I will keep everyone posted as to my progress.

Later today putting in offer on the 2 seen Saturday and will also be calling back the 2 mortgage guys and the owner with the 2 multi units.

By the way, do you have a journal?

Kristin

You know us Southerners, we always like to tease you Yankees!

That said, yours is not that bad.

Keep up the great work!

Rick

Who are you kidding? Mine is pure Yankee, but my heart is Southern in nature. After all, Gone With the Wind is my favorite movie! My goal is to sound international, so I can fit in anywhere.

Thanks for stopping by Rick. Hope all is going well with you.

Kristin

I submitted my first 2 offers on #1 and #2 this afternoon with the agent. The handyman's owner has an offer in, but nothing has been accepted yet. So my agent said to submit and they will review my offer as well.

I didn't want to change my offer much just because I knew someone else was offering on the property, so I kept the offer at the number I came up with originally. The numbers need to work for the amount of rehab and prep work needed to make it attractive to the mainstream buyers. Hope to hear soon on the offers.

Viewed 2 more duplexes today, both in the next town over from me. The first one was in very good condition and looked to need only paint, carpet, kitchen flooring and appliances. The tenant was made aware of our visit but refused to open the door when the agent knocked. We tried to get into the garage and that was now locked and when the agent looked up she saw the tenant's husband peeking out the window. She said there was a language barrier but that the husband was suspicious of anyone looking at the house. As an investor I would prefer keeping a good tenant paying $1000 per month for the 4 bedroom home. But they had totally destroyed the back yard and it looked like a war zone back there. Which was very odd since the agent said she had been in the other unit and it was immaculate and even more modernized than the empty side. Can't understand that...

The second duplex was only 2 bedrooms each side and the set-up on one side was strange in the kitchen. The rooms were small and it felt closed in. The basement was a wee bit scary with termite damaged floor joists and support beams, but this needed repair was already quoted for repair by the owner. There was a damp smell in the cellar but they stated it was due to the recent rain storms New England suffered through about a month ago.

Will keep an eye out on the second duplex but not interested enough at this time to make an offer. There is plenty of structural work needed and the home was built in 1860. More than I want to get into at this time.

Kristin

I submitted my first 2 offers on #1 and #2 this afternoon with the agent. The handyman's owner has an offer in, but nothing has been accepted yet. So my agent said to submit and they will review my offer as well.

I didn't want to change my offer much just because I knew someone else was offering on the property, so I kept the offer at the number I came up with originally. The numbers need to work for the amount of rehab and prep work needed to make it attractive to the mainstream buyers. Hope to hear soon on the offers.

Viewed 2 more duplexes today, both in the next town over from me. The first one was in very good condition and looked to need only paint, carpet, kitchen flooring and appliances. The tenant was made aware of our visit but refused to open the door when the agent knocked. We tried to get into the garage and that was now locked and when the agent looked up she saw the tenant's husband peeking out the window. She said there was a language barrier but that the husband was suspicious of anyone looking at the house. As an investor I would prefer keeping a good tenant paying $1000 per month for the 4 bedroom home. But they had totally destroyed the back yard and it looked like a war zone back there. Which was very odd since the agent said she had been in the other unit and it was immaculate and even more modernized than the empty side. Can't understand that...

The second duplex was only 2 bedrooms each side and the set-up on one side was strange in the kitchen. The rooms were small and it felt closed in. The basement was a wee bit scary with termite damaged floor joists and support beams, but this needed repair was already quoted for repair by the owner. There was a damp smell in the cellar but they stated it was due to the recent rain storms New England suffered through about a month ago.

Will keep an eye out on the second duplex but not interested enough at this time to make an offer. There is plenty of structural work needed and the home was built in 1860. More than I want to get into at this time.

Kristin

Remember Matt's formula, it make take 25 offers before one is accepted. I am up to 40 offers, but I am hoping to do better on the second round based on the information I got from Matt Larson.

This one is the multi family in Providence with seller financing. The seller has emailed me twice yesterday asking if I wanted more info on this one, so I am riding out there to see where it is and what the neighborhood looks like. I replied to his email telling him I wanted to run some numbers first and will call him later today.

Using TotalView site he is only asking about $10000 more than the estimated value of the property and he wants $10000 down with a $1595 monthly payment. The average rents in that area for a decent house run from $950-$800 depending on which floor it is. 3 unit can possibly bring in $2500 per month leaving me with a cash flow of at least $400-$500 after expenses. Worth driving out there to take a peek and see if we can work out a deal.

Nothing will be accomplished unless I give him a call and see what he really needs right now. Off to the big city!

Kristin

Kris,

What about houses near these schools or by Johnson & Wales???

All my properties are in college towns and I never have issues with finding new rentals and surprisingly college students tend to pay on time. At least mine do.

Like i've told others on here, pick up the schools' newspapers and look for the ads looking for tenants and ask if they're interested in selling.

College students are normally the only time I would take existing leases and not prefer my own.

Hope it helps

We certainly have plenty of colleges in the Providence area and those students do pay a bit more than regular tenants. I will try and get the papers from Rhode Island College, Johnson & Wales, Brown University, Providence College, may as well hit Community College of RI with campuses in Lincoln and Warwick, and New England Tech in Warwick too. And now will be the time that incoming students for the fall semesters will be looking to make their living arrangements for the fall.

Thanks for the idea!

Kristin

This was the property that Ronnie forwarded the CL ad to me, but I contacted the agent and it is already under contract.

I asked her to let me know if anything fell through and since she asked what I was interested in, I asked for non-MLS properties in Cumberland, Lincoln, and Woonsocket. I already have the MLS properties being sent in emails as they hit the market or have changes.

Better to make the contact and if she sends something my way, fantastic!

Kristin

Hi Kristin

i am in Rhode Island also. If you ever have any questions feel free to write.

michael e. v. knight

Spoke with Carmine about the multi-family in Providence. Here is the deal:

$195000 asking price
$10000 down (but on the phone he said he may come down to $7500 for the right person)
$1525 per month with $50 going to the balance owed

he will hold the note for one year.

Currently completely rented with rents as follows:
1st $750
2nd $650
3rd $650

He stated these are average rents and the second floor could probably be raised about $50.

Also has 2 garages in the back which he rents out for $100 each.

If totally rented out will bring in $2250.00
Payment to owner on note $1525.00
Cash flow to me of $725.00

I would need to find out if he will cover building expenses or I and that will take a big chunk out of that cash flow if it is me. Will have to think about this one since I don't even have $7500, let alone the $10000. But at least the 1 year time frame is long enough to either find another buyer or refinance.

A lot to think about. And thoughts would be appreciated.

Kristin

Most of the students at Rhode Island College, and community college of ri live at home.

Johnson and Wales, Brown, Providence College and RISD have a lot of students from out of state that need housing.

Do not know about the students at New England Tech.

i used to rent to Brown, RISD and Johnson and Wales students.

Be sure to get their parents to co-sign the leases.

michael