We strongly believe in the power of positivity. We have so much strife when it comes to rehabbing and if we didn’t keep a positive mindset – we would go crazy!!
I mean, we had not one, but TWO contractors walk out on our last job. Brick, literally, fell off the side of the home. Electricity was bad. The floors were bad. There was a random door in the middle of the house that went nowhere. There was a random outside type window between the kitchen & living room. Nobody seemed to know how the plumbing worked. We had to create a whole master suite.
And so on. You get the idea.
One thing after another with the Garraty house but we kept a positive attitude, hoping it would all turn out alright in the end.
The same goes for if you’re looking for a home to purchase. The news always tries to bring people down by saying how bad the economy is and how bad housing prices are and how bad EVERYTHING is.
But no matter how bad it seems in the news, there’s always hope! There are great homes available in great areas just waiting for YOU!
So keep the positive mindset flowing and no matter what your end goal is, you will find the home of your dreams.
This week our mentor is here not only examining what we’ve been doing but also here with a couple students to show them what we’ve been up to and how we flip houses.
It is SO important to have a mentor and here are 10 reasons why:
1. Up-to-date information. Real estate rules and regulations are constantly changing and since a mentor is usually more in-tune with the changes, a mentor can help keep you connected with what’s really going on in the real estate industry.
2. They never let you down. A lot of people in the real estate industry can let you down, but your mentor is the one person who will never desert you.
3. You’re not alone. There’s a lot of stress when it comes to flipping houses, especially when it comes to dealing with contractors, with a mentor by your side, you’re never alone!
4. More opportunities. Since a mentor is usually a lot more advanced in the real estate business, they can provide you with more opportunities than you would have if you went at it alone.
5. They’re get you started. Usually a mentor has some people in line waiting to invest and when you’re ready, he’ll make sure you’re well on your way to starting your first deal.
If you don’t have a mentor, I highly suggest finding one. Just reading a few books and going to a few seminars is a great start, but nothing compares to a one-on-one mentor who is there with you all the way.
We started this house at the end of September 2011 and after a lot of trials and tribulations, setbacks and a whole bunch of surprises, it is officially finished, January of 2012.
If you happen to be interested in the house, send us an email and we’ll back to you ASAP!
There are a few little touch ups here and there, but the whole of the house is ready to sell high, sell fast!
So, the Garraty house is just about finished, the floors just need to dry and we’ll be getting in there to get lots of pics for the MLS so we can finally list it!
Our new contractor was not as speedy as we had hoped, but at least it’s getting done and it’s getting done right! We’re quite pleased with the work so far.
So we’ll have the home up on the market by the New Year!
In the distance, we plan to continue to flip houses as we’ve got a lot of support, knowledge and plans for 2012!
We’re excited to see the outcome and we hope you’ll come with us for the ride!
Pictures and videos of the whole process, or better known as ‘season 1′, will be up within the new year as well.
We were able to find and negotiate a fair price with a new contractor to finish up the job. There’s only one weeks worth of stuff to be done so hopefully we can have an open house by December 18th!
Anyone looking for a Christmas home?
We were able to find a new contractor so quickly because when he was one of the contractors who gave us an initial bid in the beginning. He’s such a sweet guy and he’s got some real good sense. He also understands exactly what we want and noticed all the problems before we even pointed them out.
So we’re real pleased with the progress now and this house WILL be finished before Christmas.
When looking for a new contractor, it never hurts to call the people who originally gave you bids. They may not have worked out at the time, but that doesn’t mean they won’t ever work out.
Keep a good index of everyone you meet so that you can quickly call upon people when needed.
We’ll be posting lots of pics and video as soon as the house is finished! Woohoo!
So Marlana goes to the Garraty House this morning just to check up on things and sees two police officers standing outside.
She didn’t think anything of it, until she stepped inside and saw that all the tools were gone along several materials in which were to be installed this week.
The police were no help, either, even though merchandise that we had paid for and things were still damaged AND we think he’s been overcharging us. But none of that matters to the police. At least not in Terrell Hills.
This isn’t McDonald’s, I didn’t think quitting without notice was even an option. How unprofessional can you get?
The day before, he was starting to get a bit snooty with us about things that we had repeatedly told him to fix. Blowing us off and trying to tell us how awesome he’s been to us, even though it’s been like pulling teeth with him!
Marlana wouldn’t take it anymore! She laid it down how it was and got stern with him, saying that he needed to fix these problems that have been addressed for WEEKS.
He had such a poor attitude to begin with. He did what we told him to, but it usually took us a good 5 times of asking to get him to do it because he thought he was the baddest mo’ fo’ around and knew what was best…even though this is OUR house, not HIS.
We treated him with respect and he apparently doesn’t have the courage or human decency to simply say, “We’re going to have to go our seperate ways.
The house isn’t even done!
Guess we better get on the phone to hire a new contractor to finish the job.
When something like this happens, just hire a new contractor and forget about the old. Oh yeah, and tell all your friends not to work with him, either and leave bad reviews for him online. LOL
No, seriously, take the upper road and don’t even give him the time of day.
The house is really shaping up to looking like a true home instead of whatever it was before.
However, with all the problems we’ve had with the home, none of them compare with the problems we’re having now.
We have been a bit too friendly. We go shopping with our contractor. We go to lunch with our contractor. We grab coffee with our contractor. We have fun and fancy-free conversations with our contractor.
Because we’re nice people, we like to have fun with our workers. We like to think we get along with everyone. Happy people are productive people!
But in this case, it seems as if our kindness has been abused.
So now we’re having to pull back on the reigns to show them who’s flipping the bill and getting them paid.
We fully admit we’re still learning as we do all this, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know what we’re doing.
Most everything is getting done to our specifications, but there are a lot of little things in which we said to do, but aren’t getting done for one reason or another.
In a business relationship like this, it’s so important to have a rapport with your contractors and workers, but not to the extent in which it feels like you’re losing control. The moment the contractors start arguing with you about something you know you told them to do and now they’re refusing to do it because they’re lazy – crack the whip!
Don’t be afraid to crack the whip, either. They are there to do a JOB and you are there to make sure they get that job done so that you can make some big bucks.
That’s what’s great about a team; good cop, bad cop!
The moral of this story: don’t let the workers walk all over you. Not even for a minute.
It’s impossible for any flip to go smoothly. Even the ones in which you slap some paint on, there’s ALWAYS something!
It can be irritating and if it’s a huge setback, can be costly as well.
Luckily with the Garraty flip, we under-bid everything so we would have enough left over from our total budget in order to fulfill the setbacks, unexpected construction and what-not.
Because of all the crazy-ness that has reared its head with this house, we have had a week or two setback. Which is ok!
Yes, it’s a bit more money, but in the end, the house is going to look above and beyond what we had hoped for it to look like.
Setbacks suck!
But as we’ve learned over and over again, expect the unexpected. Go under-budget so that you’ll have enough left over for any surprises along the way.
So it should be another week before we see the house complete.
We just acquired our second property! We’re quite excited about this because it’s in the Historic District in San Antonio. The houses all around our house are just BEAUTIFUL! We’re excited to make our flip house as beautiful as all the others in the neighborhood.
We were able to have a bidding war with a few other people that were interested in the house.
It was SO much fun! Yes, I said, FUN!
We both made our first initial bids before we came. But when we got there we would have to make another bid after we walked the inside of the house.
Once we walked the inside, it was down to me and a couple old men who were working together.
We stared each other down and Marlana kept giving him the stink eye. She was elated and knew she was going to get it. I mean, come on, of COURSE we were going to get it!
We ended up bidding only 2K over their price. But none-the-less, we were the higher bidder and we got the house!
We may have been eccentric and bouncing around, but they underestimated us in the sense that they just didn’t think we were going to take the house. We could tell that we were not intimidating them by any means.
But that’s where THEY went wrong. NEVER underestimate ANYONE. No matter their age, race, how they look by any means; you never ever know where people come from, how much money they have, what resources they have available, etc.
We’ll be posting pics of our new house as soon as we can!
