Life of an Investor » 2008

Archive for October, 2008

Things are falling in to place…but always dot your i’s and cross your t’s

Friday, October 17th, 2008

It appears that we are truly going to get our first investment property … that is unless something falls through at the last minute, which it almost certainly will. We hope not.

We had originally submitted an offer to the bank who had foreclosed on the property. They countered our offer and we also countered back. With a verbal acceptance made by both sides, they sent us final documents to sign and physically mail to them, then they would sign them, thus making the contract official. After providing these to the bank’s realtor early this week, we hadn’t heard anything back, and we are planning on closing on 10/31. Today, the realtor called to let us know that the utilities had been turned on and that he assumed we had the inspection scheduled for today. Hmm… that’s interesting. We didn’t even know if the deal was official yet.

I don’t think there is any problem. We will just get the inspection done early next week and then start the planning process of what needs to happen in the next two weeks. These things include having a contractor look at the repairs needed, securing the financing, securing insurance, talking with management companies, etc. Oh yeah, plus finding out what needs to be done to register our company to do business in another state, license our rental in that city/county (if necessary) and the tax implications. Wow, it sounds like an interesting couple of weeks ahead of us. Wish us not luck, but wisdom, patience and understanding as we plunge ourselves for the first time into this sea of real estate investing. Let it not be a one-time thing that frustrates us and turns us away forever, but let it be a building block, a stepping stone, into the future.

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Will this be our first purchase? Finally!

Monday, October 6th, 2008

As I was browsing the MLS listings recently, I noticed a peculiar sight. One of the fourplexes that we had previously bid on and lost, was back on the market. Apparently the buyer never showed up at the closing. Also, the price had dropped by $5,000 since we last bid. The listing had been active for a week, so I was afraid that we might have lost our chance to move on it, but to our delight, the realtor let us know that there were no current bids on it.

This prompted us to make a full price offer in hopes that we would actually get it this time. The offer was submitted to the bank on Friday, and we have not heard back yet, but since we’re dealing with a bank, we’ll be lucky to get a response within the week. We’re crossing our fingers. With a full price offer and us having the only offer, I don’t see how they could say no. We’re also crossing our fingers that the repair costs won’t be much more than expected.