Houses tonight

I'll be looking at 2-3 houses this evening after work. First house is in McKinney that Blake sent to me. If I buy it I'll give him a finder's fee or the right to participate in the deal with me. It a HUD home so bid deadline is midnight Sunday night. Numbers look good except no sure about rehab until after I see the inside. I've been trying to get into the 4 condos near Richland College but that realtors's staff is letting me down. Been 4 days and two people and still no appointment. I'll follow up this weekend. I plan on submitting at least one contract this weekend. Possibly 2. Much work to do before Sunday night. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Updates

Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  Here's what's happening in my new search for an investment property.  I still have a contract in on the Talisman property.  I'm assuming the bank didn't like my offer since they haven't jumped on it.  But no news is good news I guess.  I've looked at several properties on Saturdays and Sundays.  If the property is vacant, Lisa provides me with the code and I look at the house myself.  If the house has a Supra realtor key on it, then she has to go to open the house.  Most of the houses I've looked at are in terrible foundation shape.  I'm not afraid of a foundation issue, it's just that I cannot take the time to fix the foundation within my 4 week time frame to rehab the house, and I haven't been able to really tell if the seller/bank would be willing to drastically discount it for the foundation issue.  I looked at a nice house in Richardson one street east of Coit, south of Arapaho.  It was really working for me, a few small settling cracks, but nothing major. Then wham,,,the swimming pool.  I don't do swimming pools.  The agent (from Denton area) that was showing me that house is looking into the cost of turning under the pool and making the back yard back into just that.  Nothing back from him yet.  I'm looking at a couple of apartments by Richland College.  Some are cheap...$19,000 for 800sf, renting for about $600-$700 a month.  Pay Cash, get it back in less than two years.  Really doesn't fit my model/criteria, but looking at it just the same.  One of them will accept owner financing.  I've called the listing agent on this one.  Let him get the full 6% commission and maybe he'll do a good job for me and the seller.  Lifestyles Unlimited promotes this. Personally, I'll take 'em wherever I can get 'em.  Last, I was looking at a property in SW Arlington.  I'm not fond of going that far away.  Exception...I used to live and build in SW Arlington, so I'm familiar with the area.  Second, the house is about 2 blocks away from the street I lived on when I was building in SW Arlington.  Now I'm really familiar.  And, my brother Gregg, an attorney in Arlington, and who owns 3 rental units himself, now lives about 3 blocks away from the house.  He would keep an eye on it for me.  I had my (Arlington) agent called to get a showing appointment.  The seller (it's individually owned, which normally means a short sale) all of a sudden decided he wasn't accepting any showings.  His name is a foreign name, so I'm assuming he might possibly be afraid of what's happening with his home.  I told me agent to get me some information on the house re loan amount, monthly payment, etc. because I might be able to work an assumption...take over his monthly payments, fix up the house, then rent it out, or sell it.  But, I had to get in to see the condition of the house.  Again, the seller responded with no showing.  So I'll drop it and let the agent watch the property for me.  While I continue to look around.  No one said this was going to be easy.
I ordered 20 corplast signs, bright-yellow, that will have pre-printed "I buy houses.  Cash!" and my phone number.  Paid about $100 for them.  I'll start putting them up on strategic corners.  I'm also considering a magnetic sign to go on the back doors of my Explorer with the same message, in yellow and red.  Maybe this will start the phone ringing with calls directly from sellers.
Greg Norman and Blake Thorndike accompanied me last week to the offices of Sherman Bridge Lending (Hard Money Lenders) and New Western Acquisition (Wholesalers).  They are separate entities, but owned by several of the same people.  In my next blog, I'll tell you about that visit.  And I'll tell you about a "debate" I got into last Saturday night with a friend of mine who's an investor and realtor, and our differences about "cash vs financing".  I'll tell you the story, give you the facts, and let you decide which method best fits your goals.  It should be interesting.
Until then...