Real Estate Investing

[SuDz]

Yeah I know what you mean about not wanting to give up your time. I was at it again this weekend. I had decided to update my pantry. It was old looking with tile walls that had style and colors from the 70's. Same with everything else in the room.

I was given cabinets that I am going to put in there and decided that the sink was awful looking (it was the kind you would use in a garage or a shop room), it had bathroom fixtures on it so no spray nozzle or a tall enough spout for dishes to go under (I would fill water for pats in the bath or shower) and the ceiling was only about 6' 5" or so so I would not really have much clearing ever since there was a light that came down in the middle that took another 3 or 4 inches off the height in the place. Also the doorways were way smaller than normal doors because after seeing how they framed it they just kept adding wood around it. We made it about 4 inches wider and 3 inches taller. No more ducking when I go through now.

I figured redoing it all was the way to go. I gutted it out Friday night into Saturday morning. It was ton of stuff to come out. I did find out something intresting though, I had an attic above me. I had no idea since there was no way into it from outside the house. It was just a huge space that was built to replace a not steep enough roof years ago. I took down the original roof and then found out not only was there an attic but it was loaded with roll after roll after roll of insulation. That was a bonus that would save me some money on this project and the next ones. By the time I was done gutting though I had no walls, no cabinets anymore, no counter, no sink, no flooring, no ceiling, widened and added height to the door frames and removed the basboard heaters. It was a long night.

Saturday was framing day. The studs in the walls were all done by someone who must have been half in the bag. None of them were straight and it was all junk wood that was used before me. It was the work of a cheap bastard that just kind of slapped it together. I couldn't do everything else new and have that behind it. A call to my brother got me his electrician skills and he came over and put in three new outlets at the level the counter will go in later on, wired me up some new in ceiling lights that would mount flush with the celing later on, and some new switches on the walls and another electrical outlet down at floor level. By the time we were done we had reframed the walls with new studs and framed in a ceiling.

Sunday was the day of the blizzard here in the NE so we set to work again since everything else was pretty much shut down. This time we had gotten all of the sheetorck on the walls and ceiling, double insulated everything like walls and ceiling (the ceiling went from a little over 6 feet to a new wonderful height of 8 feet) , made a scuttlehole outside so that we could get to the newfound attic and had ran new wiring down to the basement to the main electrical box. My buddy who does plumbing had to plow or else we would have had the heat routed out of the pantry and into my mudroom. Maybe that will be done tonight.

I am hoping that maybe this week I will have the walls taped, mudded, painted, and ready for the cabinets to be hung. Also I am going to install the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, new faucets, and new plumbing to move the washing machine next to the sink. I am figuring that this weekend coming up the floors might be ready to be tiled by my roomate who does it for work.

It cost me a weekend but I got a lot of work done and now will be able to up the value some more. Also with the found attic space I would have enough space now that if someday down the road I wanted to add on to my second level I could add a full sized Master bedroom and a master bathroom without having to actually add on more house and take away any yard. I would just raise the roof about ten feet of the "found" attic. It would be about 15-20 grand to raise the roof and frame the place but it would add on hugely to the value of the house.

[travelpunk]

Wow! You got mad skillz, bro !


I can't even install baseboards or new lights in the kitchen and baths. Looking to find someone who can for a couple hundred bucks

[SuDz]

Originally posted by travelpunk@Feb 16 2006, 05:25 AM
Wow! You got mad skillz, bro !
I can't even install baseboards or new lights in the kitchen and baths. Looking to find someone who can for a couple hundred bucks

[snapback]103012[/snapback]

I get lots of help from my Father and friends and stuff though so that makes a huge difference. Having the right people and the right tools are what it is all about.

I grew up around contractors though so I just figured out how to do a little here, a little there, and just went with it. It is one of those skills that find a way of coming in handy especially now that I got my own place.

SuDZ

[travelpunk]

Dude, I got over my fear on electrical shock and forced myself to learn to install a chandelier that my lady wanted. That went well, so I replace all the lighting in our condo and added an outdoor streetlamp...inside.

SHE then painted the whole kitchen including sanding and painting all the cabinets and picked out all the furniture. Looks like I'ze gotz a winner...fuggedaboutit !

[SuDz]

Way to go Tony, we will make a contractor out of you yet. hehe.

You know, I have seen the outdoor lights many a times while at the Depot but have never thought about it inside. It really does have a cool look inside and not very out of place. I'll have to remember that just in case down the road.

I recently had the tile get put down in my mudroom and pantry and a marble threshold put down. Good bye awful linolium and cheesy fake gold threshold, hello nice looking tile and marble. It makes the whole room look a lot better. The best part is now that I have that done, I can go now and put the door casings back on, finish off the caps on the bottoms and sides of the base cabinets and put my basboards on along the walls and floor. I am mostly at the cosmetic level now though, finishing touches and stuff. After that is just repainting the walls and putting knobs on drawers and cabinets.

After that is all done, I get to do the fun stuff, like build my bar.

SuDZ

[xanthuos]

Well, I know the house I want in Nashville. I wouldn't necessarily consider it an investment property, but Nashville real estate is undervalued in most neighborhoods...I doubt I'll be able to get in on the property before the value catches up, but it's the house I want!

Chances are, however, the first residence I purchase in that town will be in an up-and-coming neighborhood with an increasing trend in property value, like 12 South was not that far ago.

[SuDz]

Originally posted by xanthuos@May 19 2006, 11:16 AM
Well, I know the house I want in Nashville.* I wouldn't necessarily consider it an investment property, but Nashville real estate is undervalued in most neighborhoods...I doubt I'll be able to get in on the property before the value catches up, but it's the house I want!

Chances are, however, the first residence I purchase in that town will be in an up-and-coming neighborhood with an increasing trend in property value, like 12 South was not that far ago.

[snapback]121751[/snapback]

Yeah when I am actually able to buy places to try to sell later, they will start off as either very small single family homes, or maybe even try the condo market. That will at least get me in the door and get my feet wet.

Actually, my father will start building some condo units soon. He picked up a piece of property (old house) and knocked it down and leveled it and will put in like 6 condo units in its place.

SuDZ

[ChasinJason1313]

I have a couple of questions/comments about this topic. I just quit my job with a 2nd mortgage specialist company called Secured Funding. Tony, I'm sure you probably know these guys. Anyway, I didn't work for them for long because they treat people like shit but I learned a lot in the process. I live in southern Cali and real estate is insane here, as you all know. There are 1000sq.ft. townhomes. 2 bed 2 bath here in my city selling for $575k. Listening to my customer's problems I learned that companies are doing absolutely everything to get people into homes no matter whether they can afford them or not. I would get calls from people all the time who are looking at $4500/mo mortgages who are making $3500/mo from their job. Interest only loans and all these other creative financing schemes get people into their home in almost any scenario. What I think is going to happen is that in the next 2 years there are going to be a ton of foreclosures in SoCal. It's just my guess but there it is for those rich investors out there.

Anywho, I was also wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with options trading on the stock market. My dad's really fired up about it and paying a lot of money to learn about it and wants to get me involved. Just wondering if anyone has done it???

[travelpunk]

Originally posted by ChasinJason1313@Jul 13 2006, 09:39 PM
I have a couple of questions/comments about this topic.* I just quit my job with a 2nd mortgage specialist company called Secured Funding.* Tony, I'm sure you probably know these guys.* Anyway, I didn't work for them for long because they treat people like shit but I learned a lot in the process.* I live in southern Cali and real estate is insane here, as you all know.* There are 1000sq.ft. townhomes. 2 bed 2 bath here in my city selling for $575k.* Listening to my customer's problems I learned that companies are doing absolutely everything to get people into homes no matter whether they can afford them or not.* I would get calls from people all the time who are looking at $4500/mo mortgages who are making $3500/mo from their job.* Interest only loans and all these other creative financing schemes get people into their home in almost any scenario.* What I think is going to happen is that in the next 2 years there are going to be a ton of foreclosures in SoCal.* It's just my guess but there it is for those rich investors out there.

Anywho, I was also wondering if anyone out there has had any experience with options trading on the stock market.* My dad's really fired up about it and paying a lot of money to learn about it and wants to get me involved.* Just wondering if anyone has done it???

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You're absolutely right those foreclosures coming our way, Jason. True investors will clean up!

Ask your dad if he's following this guy- http://onlineoption.com/. We may have attended the same seminar/program with Robert Allens company.

I am playing options, as I write this, following Dr. Coopers strategy. It's very easy for me to understand as he uses Investors Business Daily as his main and only tool, cuz I used to work there for 3 1/2 years and know that system well! Just never played options following the rating system religiously like he does.

I just started doing it and it is going well. At the end of the day, the market has it's own temper so anything can happen. Just use speculative capital for now. Mastering this, with patience, can reap HUGE rewards from a tiny investment.

To understand options trading easy, get the book Wall Street Money Moachine by Wade Cook, BUT once you understand it, paper trade with Dr Coopers technique using the IBD (http://www.investors.com) .

Good luck and let me know how it goes !

[SuDz]

Since we had been talking about home repairs and things of the like before,I have one for you.

I had an old toilet in the bathroom when I first moved in, lets say like 20 years old at least, maybe closer to 30. Well eventually the thing started draining really slow. You would flush and maybe it wouldn't empty, or if it did maybe do half. You would sometimes have to flush like 6 times. As you can imagine this was a pain in the butt.

So I am given a free toilet by someone who had one laying around. Well, now it was doing the same thing a couple months later. It is baffling me and getting worse.

Now I am trying to think of why both had done this and what they had in common...

Guess what it wound up being? You know those 2000 flushes kind of things you put in the tank to make the water blue? Well those can cause all kinds of problems. It clogs up the piping within the toilet so that water can't move right and gets stuck or blocks the jets that deliver the water all together.

So I take it out and after about 5 flushes, it works perfect.

Think about it though, if I hadn't done that and had to pay for a plumber and the new toilet the prices would have gotten insane. Plumber to replace toilet, about $400. Then the new toilet, about $300. I would have been out $700 the firsttime and STILL had this problem again.

From now on, no more of those blue things. Just figured I would toss it out there since in this thread is both money issues and the repair stuff.

SuDZ

[voyd]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChasinJason1313 @ Jul 14 2006, 12:39 AM) [snapback]130956[/snapback]</div>

I live in southern Cali and real estate is insane here, as you all know. There are 1000sq.ft. townhomes. 2 bed 2 bath here in my city selling for $575k.[/b]

First, Californians moved to Seattle. Then Las Vegas. Then Phoenix. Now, many are moving to TX. The diaspora continues...lol.

[travelpunk]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(voyd @ Aug 29 2006, 01:55 PM) [snapback]137280[/snapback]</div>

First, Californians moved to Seattle. Then Las Vegas. Then Phoenix. Now, many are moving to TX. The diaspora continues...lol.
[/b]

You're absolutely right about that, Voyd. I am plugged into a serious network of real estate investors and the word is Texas.

Investors make the market by buying and flipping and setting comparables sales in the market place. I was down in Texas, briefly, and saw a lot of good opp's. My only gripe is that you can only refi a property up to 80% of the value of the prop. That sucks. Other than that, there's a lot of cash flowing properties there.



Sudz, are you saying that those 2000 flushes things are clogging up the toilets by it's chemical compounds? Once you remove it, the normal water begins to clear the blockage?

That seems odds, but thanks for the excellent money saving tip !

[LiveFreeorDie]

^ I haven't had major problems with those things, but occassionally, the cake gets caught under the flap in the tank and so the tank never fills and the toilet runs. Other than that, they have worked okay. That said, I always buy the ones with Bleach that are white, they do not color the water. Pretty sad.....comparing tips on toilets....there must be something better to talk about than that...we sound like we are at a tupperware party or the like.....

[voyd]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(travelpunk @ Aug 30 2006, 05:44 PM) [snapback]137506[/snapback]</div>

You're absolutely right about that, Voyd. I am plugged into a serious network of real estate investors and the word is Texas.

Investors make the market by buying and flipping and setting comparables sales in the market place. I was down in Texas, briefly, and saw a lot of good opp's. My only gripe is that you can only refi a property up to 80% of the value of the prop. That sucks. Other than that, there's a lot of cash flowing properties there.[/b]

Ya, the major TX metros are VERY fast-growing right now, but I don't think the real estate here will ever match the WC growth rate. This is because there is so much open land here that builders can just keep sprawling out (unlike the WC sandwiched between the ocean and mountains). Not to mention the weather and scenery isn't as nice. The main draw is the large cities with relatively low cost of housing. However, I'm sure you can make a decent cash-flow off rentals, at least. And you could flip some too, maybe just in the right areas and given a bit more time..

[SuDz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(travelpunk @ Aug 30 2006, 06:44 PM) [snapback]137506[/snapback]</div>

Sudz, are you saying that those 2000 flushes things are clogging up the toilets by it's chemical compounds? Once you remove it, the normal water begins to clear the blockage?

That seems odds, but thanks for the excellent money saving tip !
[/b]

I know, I was skeptical too. I had looked it up online since like everyone else I asked had no idea waht the problem might have been. I found this site: which explained it some. After that I went home and tried it that very night and after a few flushes to clear it out, worked perfect again.

Just one of those thingsthat if you ever run into the slow flushing or "lazy toilet" problems, it might be worth a shot.

SuDZ

[travelpunk]

Any new homeowners or investors in da house?

[SuDz]

I've beern pumping away more and more on my house lately again. Another couple nice little projects down that really make the placemore updated and livable. I keep getting the feeling I will never run out of stuff to do around here but the whole house is almost done with the bigger stuff.

SuDZ

[travelpunk]

How bout this real estate market, eh? A lot of deals out there, if ya know what you're doing.

For all of you wanting to be homeowners, try to buy under 75% of the market value and ask for flexible terms. Structure the terms to meet your desired payments. You might get a lot of people declining your offer, but it's a numbers game.

Think long term. 5-10 years from now, you'll be grateful you did it. This is the time where real investors build wealth.

[SuDz]

Originally Posted by travelpunk

How bout this real estate market, eh? A lot of deals out there, if ya know what you're doing.

For all of you wanting to be homeowners, try to buy under 75% of the market value and ask for flexible terms. Structure the terms to meet your desired payments. You might get a lot of people declining your offer, but it's a numbers game.

Think long term. 5-10 years from now, you'll be grateful you did it. This is the time where real investors build wealth.

I played around a little this week with some real estate. There was a new development of condos going up in my area. I know the developer and knew he was having a tough time selling off the last 2 units. I bought it on paper (100% mortgaged) and have someone already looking to buy it now. I basically just relisted it pretty much the way he did but he had it listed for 205K and I got it for 190K (due to knowing him and him wanting to just get rid of the unit) and listed it at 199K and actually have someone now who is in the market for it. If all goes as planned then I should walk away with 7K give or take. The extra couple bucks went towards just finishing up one or two of the things it needed to make it more complete like a washer and dryer in the garage where the hookups already are and more of a useable garage system like shelves and a bench near the laundry area. Other than that there are brand new units that were just built three weeks ago.

SuDZ

[travelpunk]

See everyone?! Even in this unstable market (many markets declining), you can benefit from it tremendously. Opportunities everywhere.

Excellent job, Sudz !