The One that got Away?

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I’ve finally jumped through all of the hoops needed to do real estate showings. I have my real estate license; I have MLS access; I have an account on the website to schedule showings; and I have the app on my phone that will open the lockboxes. Whew. I had set up three showings a few weeks back before I realized I needed an in-person appointment to get my phone app certified and installed. I finally set up my first real showing for Saturday morning after searching for places on Thursday and driving by it. Within hours, the duplex was in contract. It had only been on the market for three days.

Mr. PFL and I still aren’t exactly sure where to move or what kind of place to buy (mulit-family, single-family and condo are all on the table). We have some very general parameters, but I think it is going to be a “you know it when you see it” type of situation. We also have plenty of access to cash through our home equity lines, so that can give us leverage when we do make an offer.

The best part about this process, in my opinion, is that I’m not too concerned that we will make a bad mistake. I guess I don’t believe in a “forever” home anymore, if I even did in the first place. We will do our best to make a wise investment. Then, even if we don’t want to live there, we can sell or rent it out. This provides an amazing amount of freedom. We don’t need to settle, and we don’t need to stress about “the one that got away.”

Everything’s For Sale

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If the price is right, everything’s for sale. This past winter, we received an offer for our house. While it was a good offer, it wasn’t enough for us to fast-forward into moving.

For the last several months, we’ve been receiving letters in the mail with offers to buy our rental properties. I’ve followed up on a few of the solicitations. The offer on the Condo was about $100,000 short of where we’d expect to sell; we’ll likely need to find an owner-occupant because the math just doesn’t work out as a rental at market price. It works for us because of the purchase price and the huge amount of debt Mr. PFL paid off while living there.

The Duplex that we’re selling on a land contract also received an offer. I talked to my purchaser about it, and she still wanted the property. I had my doubts about that deal working out once someone actually drove by the location. They were also requesting that it be move-in ready condition and I have no idea how much money that might take.

This week, I received a letter about BD, the 6-unit, from an investor in California. We talked on the phone for a bit and she asked me to send the last year’s expenses. Because I use Quicken Rental Property Manager personal financial management software, I was easily able to create a report. She had a couple of follow-up questions, and I told her about needing a new roof. She declined to make an official offer because the maximum she could spend would be $122,822 in order to have any cash-flow. Good thing we only paid $49,000! Plus the rehab costs, of course. We would still make a sizable profit for that price, and it is in line with our estimated value. We also had more vacancies/under-performing units than I would have liked, so our next year should show a better bottom line.

So, investors, I’ll keep looking for your letters. But, we aren’t “distressed,” so you aren’t likely to find fire-sale prices here.