I'm a Real Estate Loser

Good Morning World, I'm a Real Estate Loser.

So over the past few months we have been looking at investing into real estate again, we purchased our home, a multi-unit a little over a year ago, we were able to fix up the property using a contractor and have enjoyed having a touch of what we wanted in our unit, while still receiving rent to help with the mortgage.  Because we have had success I was looking for ways to purchase more real estate, most likely buying and flipping the property(the shows on HGTV add to the mix) or even a buy and hold strategy to pay off the mortgage and get a little extra cash on the side each month.

Despite my enthusiasm and reading biggerpockets a real estate website for advice, the fact remained we needed a down payment for these homes and in most cases since the market we are looking in is mostly comprised of all cash investors.  In a stroke of two worlds matching up, a family member was looking to invest and felt comfortable with our decision making, which would include there money expected to be paid back in full and our name being on the loan and ultimately responsible for both the loan and any money used in the transaction.  So you can imagine my excitement, someone was willing to gamble on us in the real estate market.  I was so excited, let's make some money, watch out Donald Trump, Richard Kyosoki ain't got nothing on me, I will own Chicago one house at a time!


REALITY hit just the other day.  We have put multiple offers on properties, some low, some high, some all cash, some loan, most REO, but overall we are batting a big fat 0.  I think the crushing blow came a couple weeks ago.  We had previously submitted an offer on a house, the asking price was 181K and recently dropped to somewhere around 155K.  We felt the right price for us was to get this property at just a touch below 140K, we submitted the offer and this was rejected through Homepath which is where the government sells many of the properties from mortgages that were previously backed by FHA mortgages.  I was a little bummed out but we were on our way to San Francisco and I felt like we gave our best offer.

Then about a month later, I noticed the price had been dropped again to almost exactly what our original offer was, so I contacted our real estate professional to submit our offer again and even increased our bid a couple thousand over asking to make sure we put our highest and best offer to win the property.  After more than a week we were told we did not win the property and later saw the house move to conditional, taking it off the market.  That was the last time I have really been excited for a house and have decided it is best to focus in other areas where I enjoy my time more.

So today I am a Real Estate Loser, lost multiple bids, feels like have seen 50 houses in person to no avail.  It's a little frustrating, but as my wife says if it were mean to be it would have happened.  I think that I need to focus more on other avenues that I enjoy, including writing on the blog, my ebay store http://stores.ebay.com/GQ-Casual and my Shopify store gqcasual.com, which I just started in the past week or so.  We are still on track for the 7 year retirement, paying off debt as we go, I really believe we can make it.  Cheers and enjoy the read.

Don't forget to comment I love reading it.



 

Owning a Home-Lawnmower from Craigslist to Sears

Recently my wife and I purchased our first home together!!!! Multiple exclamation points needed for that one.

We went through and purchased a 2 flat on the NW side of Chicago, it needs some work(dont' they all), but we are involved in a 203K loan, where we are having everything fixed and included in the purchase price. While a contractor is doing the heavy lifting, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. Many things cannot be done by a contractor, mowing lawns, changing locks, cleaning, etc. This becomes how our weekend was spent.

We need many things and we are a semi-frugal bunch, so not always new with the best brand name. We needed a lawnmower and so began the search on craigslist, I finally came across a cheap $25 lawnmower and despite my gut telling me to say no, the idea of a cheap lawnmower and a trusting seller got the better of me.

Fast forward to 2 days later and I am at Sears buying a new lawn mower, but all is not lost, we were able to find a Clearance Lawn Mower(returned) for a unbelievable price of around $70, so to protect our investment we purchased the 3 year warranty plan and left with a *brand new* lawn mower and 3 years of worry free mowing. So all in all $135 for a new lawn mower with warranty, I'm happy with that.

Many people say don't buy the protection plan, I tend to agree with them most of the time, but peice of mind and a questionable item that was returned and I feel we made the right decision, what do you think?