I was elated by the article regarding Citi's moretorium on primary residential foreclosures only to be slammed by the news today. Hope or despair... seems an endless cycle of extremes. Here's some of the latest news... good and bad. I say, look for the silver lining - we have a new Presidency coming into office in January, a new party in the majority, and new plans and hopes for change. Hang in there until mid 2009 and you may get past the worst :)
www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_bi_ge/foreclosure_rates
www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_world_economy
www.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/financial_meltdown
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
GREAT news for Homeowners!!!
Go read what Citi is doing for homeowners... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081111/ap_on_bi_ge/citigroup_homeowner_assistance
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Get the Guru's Secrets for FREE
Let's re-visit the underlying reasons for this blog... FREE EDUCATION. I advocate getting as much free education as possible - and really that goes for any endeavor you choose to take on. But, of course, this blog is about delving into the world of real estate investing. So I wanted to pop up a quick blurb on one way I get "free education".
There are dozens (perhaps hundreds) of real estate investing gurus and self-proclaimed gurus out there that would love to sell you the information you need to be a "real estate millionaire". But guess what... in order to do that they "give away" a ton of information to "hook" you. There's nothing at all wrong with getting "hooked" - it's getting reeled in that I advise against. So I follow every real estate related link and email I get and sign up on EVERYONE's list to get their "junk mailings". Because it's NOT junk. They give away the foundation of the business. They get you excited, pump you up with belief in yourself, lay out the current conditions of the market, pitch the newest techniques for finding the right sellers, hint at the best ways to find buyers... basically they are your cheerleading team. They take the job of brainwashing you very seriously... and what's wrong with that? What's wrong with positive, cheerleading, information streaming in on a regular basis? It's actually the best way to get yourself out there and succeed. Constant affirmations that you can. And you get the basic building blocks all for free (while they're trying to get you to purchase the "whole" package). Now some of them will be right up your alley and inspire you and others will just rub you the wrong way. No big deal... follow them for a while and if you don't like them just click on the "remove me from your list" link. If that doesn't work (but it usually does... these guys are legit - expensive perhaps, but legit) then relegate them to your junk folder.
Now a word about the "whole" package. We've bought a few. Guess what... none of them are "the whole package". Real estate is a very complicated business with major financial and legal ramifications if you do it wrong. So get all the tips and the cheerleading from every guru you can find handing it out, and then WORK at learning the details. Yes, I used that 4 letter word... "W O R K". Real Estate agents actually have to take courses, pass tests, and apply and pay for a license to handle real estate transactions. And they rely on legally binding contracts drawn up by whom? Lawyers! Yes, there are typically generic contracts used by the each state's licensing board but someone, somewhere wrote it - and he/she was a lawyer. We won't even get into the education lawyers need. Then there are escrow agents, title companies, loan officers, etc. etc. etc. You need a TON of information to manage real estate transactions correctly and typically, if you look into any guru's background you'll find out he came from one of the afore mentioned professions before he jumped in to being a real estate tycoon. My advice on buying "the whole package" from anyone is go get an education first. Take some community college courses or, better yet, start with the library. We'll be recommending books we love on our blog here and most of them you can pick up at the library for free. Read at least a dozen FREE books before you pay money for any. Prove to yourself that you'll really read the material before you start paying for it. Consider it a savings plan... you have to pay to be allowed to BUY one book (preferably from a bookstore, not a seminar) by reading a dozen free ones. Did you know - you can even find THE "Real Estate Principles" course book used to pass the first required course for getting your real estate license from the library?
So go for it... sign up for newsletters, blogs, free introductory downloadable CDs, free downloadable ebooks, webinars, etc. and have a ball learning the basics. But make sure, before you go any deeper than that financially, you've secured as much basic and backup information as you can so that if you make a large investment in a guru's program you're actually ready to put what he teaches you into action.
Here's the lastest "free info" we got. It was awesome, inspiring, full of practical, doable plans, and listened to at a time of our choosing. (Keep in mind, most webinars are recorded and re-run whenever you like from the guru's website.) This is Terry Wygal, the "Quick House Buyer"... one of the "gurus" I happen to like. Listen when you have time but keep in mind they don't leave the replays up forever :)
http://www.fireyourbossin90daysorless.com/replay.htm
There are dozens (perhaps hundreds) of real estate investing gurus and self-proclaimed gurus out there that would love to sell you the information you need to be a "real estate millionaire". But guess what... in order to do that they "give away" a ton of information to "hook" you. There's nothing at all wrong with getting "hooked" - it's getting reeled in that I advise against. So I follow every real estate related link and email I get and sign up on EVERYONE's list to get their "junk mailings". Because it's NOT junk. They give away the foundation of the business. They get you excited, pump you up with belief in yourself, lay out the current conditions of the market, pitch the newest techniques for finding the right sellers, hint at the best ways to find buyers... basically they are your cheerleading team. They take the job of brainwashing you very seriously... and what's wrong with that? What's wrong with positive, cheerleading, information streaming in on a regular basis? It's actually the best way to get yourself out there and succeed. Constant affirmations that you can. And you get the basic building blocks all for free (while they're trying to get you to purchase the "whole" package). Now some of them will be right up your alley and inspire you and others will just rub you the wrong way. No big deal... follow them for a while and if you don't like them just click on the "remove me from your list" link. If that doesn't work (but it usually does... these guys are legit - expensive perhaps, but legit) then relegate them to your junk folder.
Now a word about the "whole" package. We've bought a few. Guess what... none of them are "the whole package". Real estate is a very complicated business with major financial and legal ramifications if you do it wrong. So get all the tips and the cheerleading from every guru you can find handing it out, and then WORK at learning the details. Yes, I used that 4 letter word... "W O R K". Real Estate agents actually have to take courses, pass tests, and apply and pay for a license to handle real estate transactions. And they rely on legally binding contracts drawn up by whom? Lawyers! Yes, there are typically generic contracts used by the each state's licensing board but someone, somewhere wrote it - and he/she was a lawyer. We won't even get into the education lawyers need. Then there are escrow agents, title companies, loan officers, etc. etc. etc. You need a TON of information to manage real estate transactions correctly and typically, if you look into any guru's background you'll find out he came from one of the afore mentioned professions before he jumped in to being a real estate tycoon. My advice on buying "the whole package" from anyone is go get an education first. Take some community college courses or, better yet, start with the library. We'll be recommending books we love on our blog here and most of them you can pick up at the library for free. Read at least a dozen FREE books before you pay money for any. Prove to yourself that you'll really read the material before you start paying for it. Consider it a savings plan... you have to pay to be allowed to BUY one book (preferably from a bookstore, not a seminar) by reading a dozen free ones. Did you know - you can even find THE "Real Estate Principles" course book used to pass the first required course for getting your real estate license from the library?
So go for it... sign up for newsletters, blogs, free introductory downloadable CDs, free downloadable ebooks, webinars, etc. and have a ball learning the basics. But make sure, before you go any deeper than that financially, you've secured as much basic and backup information as you can so that if you make a large investment in a guru's program you're actually ready to put what he teaches you into action.
Here's the lastest "free info" we got. It was awesome, inspiring, full of practical, doable plans, and listened to at a time of our choosing. (Keep in mind, most webinars are recorded and re-run whenever you like from the guru's website.) This is Terry Wygal, the "Quick House Buyer"... one of the "gurus" I happen to like. Listen when you have time but keep in mind they don't leave the replays up forever :)
http://www.fireyourbossin90daysorless.com/replay.htm
Saturday, October 18, 2008
PICK A CLICHÉ
I know I haven't blogged in weeks now. I've been biting my tongue, trying to follow the principles I was taught as a child - "If you haven't got anything nice to say..."
Having never directly hired a general contractor before and finding myself disappointed or irked about something every time I checked in on the work being done, I began to think that perhaps I just needed to wait until they're done. Perhaps "the proof is in the pudding". Maybe they, too, see the spots they missed in the finish on the wall, the glob of drywall mud slopped on the new bathtub, the half wall in the hall where there is no quarter round, the dried drips of paint on the newly painted front door. They're planning to take care of all that (and the rest of the "oops!" around the house) - just wait until they're done and it will all be right. And I can be patient because Sponge is over there every day catching all the irreversible problems as they happen and calling the general to make sure he knows we want this or that corrected. But they're done now. So now I can say, outloud, what I think and have learned.
Where to start?! First of all, before I get real candid and detailed, let me say I LOVE our houses. They're both beautiful. Medallion is the nicest house I've ever had and we've moved into it at this point. From a "purusing" point of view Medallion is fabulous compared to where we started with it and Sun Bay is MIRACULOUS in comparison to it's "Ugly House" beginnings.
However, when you're paying a contractor to gut and put in a new house (which is pretty close to what we did in both cases) you expect perfection. And the "proof in the pudding" turned out more like "a fly in the ointment". I may not have hired a general contractor before but I did work for one for years and I know all about the punch list... ahhhh - the punch list. The punch list is our friend. So at the end of the whole process I was verbal indeed. Admittedly I'm a bit of a perfectionist (possibly even a little OCD about details) but you know, when you're about to write that final check you MUST make sure all items are complete because YOU WILL NOT HEAR FROM THE CONTRACTOR AGAIN AFTER THEY HAVE THEIR MONEY. Sooo, I came along on the walk-thru and, yet another cliche comes to mind - "If you want a job done right..."
Our punch list at Medallion was pages long. And it needed to be done NOW because they were already two weeks late and we were planning to move in (which they knew well in advance and I'll explain in another entry). And there are certain items that to "fix" would actually mean doing it over. Like, for example, one of the laborers dropped a tile while they were doing the tile surround of the bath/shower in the master bathroom and it put a BIG chip in the porcelain on the tub. They just left it that way! OK, I paid for a brand new bathroom (including replacing a grungy old fiberglass bathtub with a new porcelain one) and I end up with worse than grungy... I end up with a big black hole in the middle of a sea of white porcelain. One more example and I'll move on... they installed the baseboard BEFORE they laid the tile. Ok, so they're not geniuses but it's all good. After laying the tile they went back and added quarter round to the baseboard to cover the gaps. Unfortunately, the thickness of baseboard plus that of the quarter round is more than that of door trim. So throughout the entire house you have the blunt end of a piece of quarter round boldly protruding at every doorway... and it's not even painted!
Moving on... and this is the major point of this incessant whining... the contractor has NOT finished the items on the punch list. He also is not returning any of our calls regarding same. Nor is he calling to ask for the final payment. Not that I like looking at the blunt end of quarter round at every doorway but there's something about not having to make that final payment that makes it a little easier to bear :) Sponge made the final payment to the electrician before he was finished... he never finished. He also made the final payment to the A/C guy before he was finished. And, guess what... he never finished either. Sponge, big bear of a guy that he is, is more teddy bear than grizzly bear. We've decided that within the bounds of our business, we have a new policy: Contractors are required to get their final payments from me (because I won't write a check until I hear a fat lady singing!).
On a better note - we hired a different electrician for the work at Sun Bay. He worked for a national franchise and he actually ITEMIZED what he was doing, how much each item cost, and what the charges for labor were BEFORE we ever agreed to have him do the work. And then - brace yourself - he did the work... ALL the work... before ever asking for ANY money. And last, but soooo not least, he gave us a RECEIPT and a WARRANTY!!! (Thank you Donna for the referral and thank you Manny at Mr. Electric for the great work!)
Now there are many of you out there that are probably getting some good belly laughs out of this. You're thinking... DUH!! And yet - when someone comes highly recommended and offers to do the work for 80% what everyone else is asking you too might find yourself tempted to grab it and grin. For those of you who know better - good for you! For those of you who don't... RUN - DO NOT WALK to a licensed contractor - with a business card, and you get extra "Whew!" points if he's got a storefront. Pay the few extra dollars and save yourself weeks (or months) of anxiety and aggravation.
Having never directly hired a general contractor before and finding myself disappointed or irked about something every time I checked in on the work being done, I began to think that perhaps I just needed to wait until they're done. Perhaps "the proof is in the pudding". Maybe they, too, see the spots they missed in the finish on the wall, the glob of drywall mud slopped on the new bathtub, the half wall in the hall where there is no quarter round, the dried drips of paint on the newly painted front door. They're planning to take care of all that (and the rest of the "oops!" around the house) - just wait until they're done and it will all be right. And I can be patient because Sponge is over there every day catching all the irreversible problems as they happen and calling the general to make sure he knows we want this or that corrected. But they're done now. So now I can say, outloud, what I think and have learned.
Where to start?! First of all, before I get real candid and detailed, let me say I LOVE our houses. They're both beautiful. Medallion is the nicest house I've ever had and we've moved into it at this point. From a "purusing" point of view Medallion is fabulous compared to where we started with it and Sun Bay is MIRACULOUS in comparison to it's "Ugly House" beginnings.
However, when you're paying a contractor to gut and put in a new house (which is pretty close to what we did in both cases) you expect perfection. And the "proof in the pudding" turned out more like "a fly in the ointment". I may not have hired a general contractor before but I did work for one for years and I know all about the punch list... ahhhh - the punch list. The punch list is our friend. So at the end of the whole process I was verbal indeed. Admittedly I'm a bit of a perfectionist (possibly even a little OCD about details) but you know, when you're about to write that final check you MUST make sure all items are complete because YOU WILL NOT HEAR FROM THE CONTRACTOR AGAIN AFTER THEY HAVE THEIR MONEY. Sooo, I came along on the walk-thru and, yet another cliche comes to mind - "If you want a job done right..."
Our punch list at Medallion was pages long. And it needed to be done NOW because they were already two weeks late and we were planning to move in (which they knew well in advance and I'll explain in another entry). And there are certain items that to "fix" would actually mean doing it over. Like, for example, one of the laborers dropped a tile while they were doing the tile surround of the bath/shower in the master bathroom and it put a BIG chip in the porcelain on the tub. They just left it that way! OK, I paid for a brand new bathroom (including replacing a grungy old fiberglass bathtub with a new porcelain one) and I end up with worse than grungy... I end up with a big black hole in the middle of a sea of white porcelain. One more example and I'll move on... they installed the baseboard BEFORE they laid the tile. Ok, so they're not geniuses but it's all good. After laying the tile they went back and added quarter round to the baseboard to cover the gaps. Unfortunately, the thickness of baseboard plus that of the quarter round is more than that of door trim. So throughout the entire house you have the blunt end of a piece of quarter round boldly protruding at every doorway... and it's not even painted!
Moving on... and this is the major point of this incessant whining... the contractor has NOT finished the items on the punch list. He also is not returning any of our calls regarding same. Nor is he calling to ask for the final payment. Not that I like looking at the blunt end of quarter round at every doorway but there's something about not having to make that final payment that makes it a little easier to bear :) Sponge made the final payment to the electrician before he was finished... he never finished. He also made the final payment to the A/C guy before he was finished. And, guess what... he never finished either. Sponge, big bear of a guy that he is, is more teddy bear than grizzly bear. We've decided that within the bounds of our business, we have a new policy: Contractors are required to get their final payments from me (because I won't write a check until I hear a fat lady singing!).
On a better note - we hired a different electrician for the work at Sun Bay. He worked for a national franchise and he actually ITEMIZED what he was doing, how much each item cost, and what the charges for labor were BEFORE we ever agreed to have him do the work. And then - brace yourself - he did the work... ALL the work... before ever asking for ANY money. And last, but soooo not least, he gave us a RECEIPT and a WARRANTY!!! (Thank you Donna for the referral and thank you Manny at Mr. Electric for the great work!)
Now there are many of you out there that are probably getting some good belly laughs out of this. You're thinking... DUH!! And yet - when someone comes highly recommended and offers to do the work for 80% what everyone else is asking you too might find yourself tempted to grab it and grin. For those of you who know better - good for you! For those of you who don't... RUN - DO NOT WALK to a licensed contractor - with a business card, and you get extra "Whew!" points if he's got a storefront. Pay the few extra dollars and save yourself weeks (or months) of anxiety and aggravation.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!
There is soooooo much happening right now it's hard to keep up! Which is very exciting but at the same time a little overwhelming. Let's see if I can summarize...
The same contractor we have working on Medallion started on Sun Bay week before last. Yes, I know I've complained incessantly about him but he's all we've got right now and we bought the two properties as a package so he was (supposedly) giving us good prices because he knew he'd be doing both properties. Leaves me wondering why he didn't get started on Sun Bay until it had been sitting for a week but, hey - school started and he was busy with the kids that week. Whatever! I'm going to attempt to stop complaining... this whole process was intended to be a learning tool and it definitely has been that!
So in one day at Sun Bay we got the trees trimmed, a new roof, all the trash cleaned out and all the demo done. And no, I didn't manage to grab any of the great stuff left in the house before it got tossed (LOL). The next day all the popcorn had been scraped from the ceilings and all the baseboard got pulled along with the first coat of primer on the ever-so-colorful rooms.
Medallion has been painted inside and out, door and window trim has been installed and painted, they're in the midst of painting the kitchen cabinets, and the place is starting to look like a house someone could live in (some day... still no flooring anywhere).
The long and short on both of these projects is they're moving right along and what we've learned is 1) we bought too high, 2) renovations cost more than we anticipated (like twice what we thought), and 3) the sale values in the areas we bought are lower than we thought at the time we bought them and have gone down even further since then. All in all... we've learned that we've done nearly everything wrong. And it's going to cost us... our profit. There won't be any. In fact - we'll be lucky if we don't go into debt on these two. The good news is - we got a "hands on seminar" possibly for free... possibly for a couple of thousand bucks. And that's OK. It's a learning experience. And the most important part of what we've learned is that you need experience to do this right.
We cant wait to get these sold/leased and buy some more!!! Let me just say, though, for those of you out there that want to make a living at this... unless you are passionate about it, this is not for you! You need to learn, learn, learn from books, seminars, networking, etc. even before you jump in to learn, learn, learn from experience. This is a bonafied profession like any other (unless you're like us and not making any money doing it... then I guess it's just a full time hobby - LOL) and it takes a good education and on the job experience to be good at it. We work 7 days a week at whatever time we have to in order to keep the projects on track (last Friday night, 10:30pm to 12:30am, Sponge and I were out at Medallion in the dark moving all the construction debris the crew left in the front yard into the garage just in case Hurricane Ike blew in and wreaked havoc in our area).
This is a lifestyle more than a job... you've got to LOVE it, or LEAVE it!
The same contractor we have working on Medallion started on Sun Bay week before last. Yes, I know I've complained incessantly about him but he's all we've got right now and we bought the two properties as a package so he was (supposedly) giving us good prices because he knew he'd be doing both properties. Leaves me wondering why he didn't get started on Sun Bay until it had been sitting for a week but, hey - school started and he was busy with the kids that week. Whatever! I'm going to attempt to stop complaining... this whole process was intended to be a learning tool and it definitely has been that!
So in one day at Sun Bay we got the trees trimmed, a new roof, all the trash cleaned out and all the demo done. And no, I didn't manage to grab any of the great stuff left in the house before it got tossed (LOL). The next day all the popcorn had been scraped from the ceilings and all the baseboard got pulled along with the first coat of primer on the ever-so-colorful rooms.
Medallion has been painted inside and out, door and window trim has been installed and painted, they're in the midst of painting the kitchen cabinets, and the place is starting to look like a house someone could live in (some day... still no flooring anywhere).
The long and short on both of these projects is they're moving right along and what we've learned is 1) we bought too high, 2) renovations cost more than we anticipated (like twice what we thought), and 3) the sale values in the areas we bought are lower than we thought at the time we bought them and have gone down even further since then. All in all... we've learned that we've done nearly everything wrong. And it's going to cost us... our profit. There won't be any. In fact - we'll be lucky if we don't go into debt on these two. The good news is - we got a "hands on seminar" possibly for free... possibly for a couple of thousand bucks. And that's OK. It's a learning experience. And the most important part of what we've learned is that you need experience to do this right.
We cant wait to get these sold/leased and buy some more!!! Let me just say, though, for those of you out there that want to make a living at this... unless you are passionate about it, this is not for you! You need to learn, learn, learn from books, seminars, networking, etc. even before you jump in to learn, learn, learn from experience. This is a bonafied profession like any other (unless you're like us and not making any money doing it... then I guess it's just a full time hobby - LOL) and it takes a good education and on the job experience to be good at it. We work 7 days a week at whatever time we have to in order to keep the projects on track (last Friday night, 10:30pm to 12:30am, Sponge and I were out at Medallion in the dark moving all the construction debris the crew left in the front yard into the garage just in case Hurricane Ike blew in and wreaked havoc in our area).
This is a lifestyle more than a job... you've got to LOVE it, or LEAVE it!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sun Bay - The "Ugly" House
In investor terms I suppose you would describe Sun Bay as an "ugly" house, ie., it's going to take a lot of work to make it market ready for the average consumer. But it just seems so mean to call it names. Just because each bedroom is a different color (lime green, electric ocean blue, and a nice neutral tan in one) with "matching" bathrooms (in that they're each a different color too... lemon yellow, bright/baby pink... with stickers all over the walls) doesn't necessarily mean it's "ugly". The kitchen kind of matches one of the bathrooms :)
I can remember a day when I was very into "country" decorating and, oh this is gonna hurt to admit, we painted the house a beautiful shade of... gulp... peach. And the carpeting was blue. We had a wonderful overstuffed couch and loveseat in a nice blue and white stripe pattern. I loved it! (Much to my poor family's dismay). But I'm not letting the kids off that easily. There was the violet purple bedroom, the dark grey bedroom, the - yes - electric ocean blue bathroom. Ahhhhh - the good ole days. We didn't have an "ugly" house at all. We had a precious home that was just the way we most desired.
Boy did that place take a lot of work when we decided to turn it into a rental 'cause, for some reason, no one would rent it with peach walls and blue carpeting! So, although Sun Bay has a definite character of it's own (and a few things a little scarier than just colorful rooms) - we will call it a lived in and loved home that needs a few changes to make it more appealing to the masses. Unfortunately, those few changes are gonna run about $25,000 :(
So please, check out the very thorough set of pictures we got of the "before" on Sun Bay (perhaps you should sit down first - and maybe you'll even want to make sure you're not alone if you get scared easily) and WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE AFTER!! You're gonna want this house for yourself! (Ok, maybe that was a stretch)
P.S. - you can get a fullscreen view of the Sun Bay slideshow by clicking on the title of this post... then just hit your browser's "Back" button to return to this blog :)
I can remember a day when I was very into "country" decorating and, oh this is gonna hurt to admit, we painted the house a beautiful shade of... gulp... peach. And the carpeting was blue. We had a wonderful overstuffed couch and loveseat in a nice blue and white stripe pattern. I loved it! (Much to my poor family's dismay). But I'm not letting the kids off that easily. There was the violet purple bedroom, the dark grey bedroom, the - yes - electric ocean blue bathroom. Ahhhhh - the good ole days. We didn't have an "ugly" house at all. We had a precious home that was just the way we most desired.
Boy did that place take a lot of work when we decided to turn it into a rental 'cause, for some reason, no one would rent it with peach walls and blue carpeting! So, although Sun Bay has a definite character of it's own (and a few things a little scarier than just colorful rooms) - we will call it a lived in and loved home that needs a few changes to make it more appealing to the masses. Unfortunately, those few changes are gonna run about $25,000 :(
So please, check out the very thorough set of pictures we got of the "before" on Sun Bay (perhaps you should sit down first - and maybe you'll even want to make sure you're not alone if you get scared easily) and WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE THE AFTER!! You're gonna want this house for yourself! (Ok, maybe that was a stretch)
P.S. - you can get a fullscreen view of the Sun Bay slideshow by clicking on the title of this post... then just hit your browser's "Back" button to return to this blog :)
Friday, September 5, 2008
YELLOW BRICK ROAD
So you know how I felt all better when last I blogged? When was that... yesterday? Maybe two days ago? Well, while our contractor was fixing everything ("no problem") he came across a few more things that needed fixing. This is what you call an "ADD". The new things he found were on the outside of the house so NOW he CAN'T match the paint (as he said he would in the contract we signed). Now we need to have the outside of the house painted rather than power sprayed. Is there an additional cost for painting the outside of the house? Oh don't be silly! OF COURSE there's an additional cost. Is there a "subtract" for NOT power spraying (as first agreed upon) ... hmmm... no, I don't see a subtraction from the original price anywhere.
OK, so he says he's gonna give us "a deal" on painting the outside of the house. He's going to help us out... he's got a bunch of paint in his garage that he'll "let us have" to save on the cost of the paint and he'll only charge us labor. But we have no idea what color the paint is. He says he can "work with us"... what does that mean? He says he can mix some of it and he'll make sure to get a neutral color palette for us. We agree under the condition that we see and approve of the colors... afterall - he's saving us money! (Such a nice guy!)
So today we were suppose to meet him at Medallion at 10:00am but he calls and says he's running late. OK. (hmmm)
He calls around 11:30am and says he'll meet us there in half an hour. We get there and the "neutral palette" is YELLOW. No... not yellow ... YELLOW!!! Can you say "Yellow Brick Road"? (Ok, that might be a little harsh... still it was VERY YELLOW) And he's painting the trim brown. Talk about YICK! (Sponge says it's just two shades of baby poop) But that's not all... he's already had the guys paint one side of the house!!!!!!!!!! I was beside myself. SERIOUSLY! Me, myself and I were ALL speechless!
So I count to ten and take a breath and ask what our choices are at this point. "Well if you don't like it we can fix it". OK... feeling a little better. This is how we can fix it... WE can go buy paint but by the time we do it'll be too late for the painters to do the house today. Sooo in addition to the cost of the paint we'll also need to pay for another day's labor (because these guys already showed up on the jobsite and it's not fair to not pay them for NOT painting because WE don't have any paint for them).
You know, I don't have a lot of experience at this but somehow, scheduling the painters today and having them do an entire side of the house with paint that was not approved, and then charging us for an entire day while they don't paint anything else, just doesn't seem quite right in my head. Is it me? AM I HORMONAL???
Repeat this after me... there are A LOT of out-takes on "Flip This House" and "Designed To Sell" that we don't see!!!!!!!!
OK, so he says he's gonna give us "a deal" on painting the outside of the house. He's going to help us out... he's got a bunch of paint in his garage that he'll "let us have" to save on the cost of the paint and he'll only charge us labor. But we have no idea what color the paint is. He says he can "work with us"... what does that mean? He says he can mix some of it and he'll make sure to get a neutral color palette for us. We agree under the condition that we see and approve of the colors... afterall - he's saving us money! (Such a nice guy!)
So today we were suppose to meet him at Medallion at 10:00am but he calls and says he's running late. OK. (hmmm)
He calls around 11:30am and says he'll meet us there in half an hour. We get there and the "neutral palette" is YELLOW. No... not yellow ... YELLOW!!! Can you say "Yellow Brick Road"? (Ok, that might be a little harsh... still it was VERY YELLOW) And he's painting the trim brown. Talk about YICK! (Sponge says it's just two shades of baby poop) But that's not all... he's already had the guys paint one side of the house!!!!!!!!!! I was beside myself. SERIOUSLY! Me, myself and I were ALL speechless!
So I count to ten and take a breath and ask what our choices are at this point. "Well if you don't like it we can fix it". OK... feeling a little better. This is how we can fix it... WE can go buy paint but by the time we do it'll be too late for the painters to do the house today. Sooo in addition to the cost of the paint we'll also need to pay for another day's labor (because these guys already showed up on the jobsite and it's not fair to not pay them for NOT painting because WE don't have any paint for them).
You know, I don't have a lot of experience at this but somehow, scheduling the painters today and having them do an entire side of the house with paint that was not approved, and then charging us for an entire day while they don't paint anything else, just doesn't seem quite right in my head. Is it me? AM I HORMONAL???
Repeat this after me... there are A LOT of out-takes on "Flip This House" and "Designed To Sell" that we don't see!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
I FEEL ALL BETTER
Our contractor finally showed up on the Medallion job site today and met with Sponge regarding a whole list of items we're not pleased with. We've been looking for new subs for the last several days (that we'd coordinate ourselves) because of this and because Sun Bay is just sitting there, not having any work done at all, while our contractor has been at large.
So he finally calls Sponge and meets him there today and says he'll fix everything - no problem. He also said he'd get started on Sun Bay as soon as we say go (which would have been last Thursday if we'd been able to talk to him). And now I feel all better and like we don't have to find all new contractors (this guy coordinates all the subs himself)... am I hormonal? Stupid? Or just easy to please?
It doesn't really matter to me today... I'm just glad the work is getting done :) Wait 'til we can put up "after" pictures of Medallion and you let us know if we should stick with this contractor or not... I CAN'T WAIT!!! (It'll be about 2 or 3 more weeks)
P.S. - There are a couple of our contractor's subs that we're not happy with and neither is he - so I think we are going to find someone to replace them... plus, we're hoping to pick up the pace and have too much work for our contractor to handle so we figure finding more subs is still a good idea.
So he finally calls Sponge and meets him there today and says he'll fix everything - no problem. He also said he'd get started on Sun Bay as soon as we say go (which would have been last Thursday if we'd been able to talk to him). And now I feel all better and like we don't have to find all new contractors (this guy coordinates all the subs himself)... am I hormonal? Stupid? Or just easy to please?
It doesn't really matter to me today... I'm just glad the work is getting done :) Wait 'til we can put up "after" pictures of Medallion and you let us know if we should stick with this contractor or not... I CAN'T WAIT!!! (It'll be about 2 or 3 more weeks)
P.S. - There are a couple of our contractor's subs that we're not happy with and neither is he - so I think we are going to find someone to replace them... plus, we're hoping to pick up the pace and have too much work for our contractor to handle so we figure finding more subs is still a good idea.
Monday, September 1, 2008
THANK YOU ONE AND ALL
I'd like to thank everyone that voted on the floorplans for your help. Floorplan #2 won by a landslide (58%) and even though I, myself, prefer the feeling of carpet under my feet, I've decided to do the tile as suggested by the majority vote. Many of you sent comments and emails explaining your choices and I have changed my own bias towards carpet because I can see the wisdom in your reasoning. Wow! Blogging is awesome!! Who knew I'd be the one getting the education by doing this :)
As I mentioned when I started this blog, my purpose behind doing it was two-fold:
First - to encourage all you new investors out there to get as much FREE education as possible. Along those lines I'm planning to begin including links to other blogs and sites that we use to stay informed as well as information on where and how to get tons of information (again, for FREE!) in your own "back yard". And
Second - to chronical the day to day adventures of actually DOING a "flip" (whether it's one you're selling or planning to rent out) so as to help with the details we, personally, just haven't seen in the "guru" packages. Along the way, we'll end up including our advantures as landlords too. Keep in mind, we're newbies ourselves so some of the information we share will be lessons in what NOT to do :)
Now... if only we could get a hold of our contractor to tell him our decision! Haven't heard from him in 4 days now - he's not returning our calls. We're trying to chalk it up to the holiday weekend and TRULY hoping he actually touches base with us tomorrow when the world gets back to "business as usual". Unfortunately, there are problems on the site (besides our contractor not knowing what we've decided to do with the flooring) and we don't speak Spanish... definitely a problem when you're trying to "Flip this House" in Texas. I think tomorrow we may have to go throw our bodies in the way of construction in order to stop any further mistakes from happening until we can get a hold of our general contractor/interpreter! (LOL)
P.S. - learning Spanish is up towards the top of our list of "things to do"!
As I mentioned when I started this blog, my purpose behind doing it was two-fold:
First - to encourage all you new investors out there to get as much FREE education as possible. Along those lines I'm planning to begin including links to other blogs and sites that we use to stay informed as well as information on where and how to get tons of information (again, for FREE!) in your own "back yard". And
Second - to chronical the day to day adventures of actually DOING a "flip" (whether it's one you're selling or planning to rent out) so as to help with the details we, personally, just haven't seen in the "guru" packages. Along the way, we'll end up including our advantures as landlords too. Keep in mind, we're newbies ourselves so some of the information we share will be lessons in what NOT to do :)
Now... if only we could get a hold of our contractor to tell him our decision! Haven't heard from him in 4 days now - he's not returning our calls. We're trying to chalk it up to the holiday weekend and TRULY hoping he actually touches base with us tomorrow when the world gets back to "business as usual". Unfortunately, there are problems on the site (besides our contractor not knowing what we've decided to do with the flooring) and we don't speak Spanish... definitely a problem when you're trying to "Flip this House" in Texas. I think tomorrow we may have to go throw our bodies in the way of construction in order to stop any further mistakes from happening until we can get a hold of our general contractor/interpreter! (LOL)
P.S. - learning Spanish is up towards the top of our list of "things to do"!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
HELP!!!
OK, so if you've been reading along you know we're stuck! We took out some walls (it looks awesome!) but it's changed the "flow" of the house and now we can't decide what to do with the flooring. I've posted a slideshow of the floor plan showing how it was "floored" when we got it, and three different options for what to do now. PLEASE look at the floor plans and then answer the poll in the upper right hand corner here. We have to decide PRONTO 'cause our contractor works at the speed of light and he's going to order the materials right away. I can't slow this guy down so someone needs to SPEED ME UP!!
P.S. - you can click on this post's title ("HELP!!!") and it will play the slideshow full screen for you so you can get a better look at the floor plans and our thoughts on them.
P.S.S. - Tell everyone you know to vote!!
P.S. - you can click on this post's title ("HELP!!!") and it will play the slideshow full screen for you so you can get a better look at the floor plans and our thoughts on them.
P.S.S. - Tell everyone you know to vote!!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
THE WALLS ARE GONE!!!
So I missed one day of going and checking on the construction crew and when I get there today...
THE WALLS ARE GONE!!!!!!!!
Actually (hehe), that was in the plan. I've got to post a floor plan and you'll see why. I mean really... there were these two walls that separated the house in half that just JUMPED out at us as soon as we walked in the front door. The first thing I thought when we went and looked at this house was, "Can we rip out those two walls?"
Well, as of today, they're history!!! AND IT LOOKS GREAT!!! Well, as great as it can considering the other walls and floor are all torn up and the place looks like... well... a construction site :)
I put links on for each of the slideshows now cause the blog page was getting too crowded... follow the links - see the ever changing shape of this project.
More importantly, I'm going to put up the floor plan and I need YOU to help me to decide what to do with the flooring!!! The wall removal didn't go exactly as planned so now we've got to rethink the flooring. My contractor and I disagree on how to handle it and Sponge is remaining calmly neutral about the whole thing. I'm wondering if I'm crazy to question my contractor or if I just have better taste than he does.
Oh, and I was going to say check back soon to see the floor plans but guess what! I put an RSS feed thingy at the bottom of this blog... you can SUBSCRIBE now! WooHoo!! So subscribe and then come vote as soon as you see me post the floor plans. And feel free to leave comments soo... we can use all the help we can get :)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
SPONGE IS SEQUESTERED
Sponge has sequestered himself in the bedroom - busy writing LESSON THREE. He's been in there awhile. I told him he was limited to 3 paragraphs... 4 at the most. It seems LESSON THREE was a significantly more difficult lesson than I realized. He studied for months before he came across the eye-opening, life altering lesson that changed our way of thinking. So now, I'm told, LESSON THREE is undoubtedly going to be more than one lesson.
I'M EXCITED! In the months that Sponge was studying his way to LESSON THREE, I was simply busy working. Working night and day as an independent contractor so that I could give half my income to Uncle Sam and still have enough left over to pay the bills. Sponge, on the other hand, (while working night and day too) was busy studying how to keep a little more of our earnings for ourselves.
Sooooooo... this post is primarily to get you ready for LESSON THREE and maybe a few more. By the time we're done, you're going to see securing your financial future a little differently then they taught you in school. And, hopefully, be able to start now to secure not only YOUR future, but a future for your kids, and their kids, and their kids, etc. Learning a new way of thinking can provide a future for generations to come and our hope is to lead you in that direction - FOR FREE!!!
I'M EXCITED! In the months that Sponge was studying his way to LESSON THREE, I was simply busy working. Working night and day as an independent contractor so that I could give half my income to Uncle Sam and still have enough left over to pay the bills. Sponge, on the other hand, (while working night and day too) was busy studying how to keep a little more of our earnings for ourselves.
Sooooooo... this post is primarily to get you ready for LESSON THREE and maybe a few more. By the time we're done, you're going to see securing your financial future a little differently then they taught you in school. And, hopefully, be able to start now to secure not only YOUR future, but a future for your kids, and their kids, and their kids, etc. Learning a new way of thinking can provide a future for generations to come and our hope is to lead you in that direction - FOR FREE!!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM?
Just a quick update... we started construction today at Medallion (and closed on Sun Bay). You know Medallion was just fine without any improvements... we'd actually have been happy to live there as our primary residence. BUT... to make it really valuable there are all these little improvements we wanted to make (like today they were scraping the popcorn off the ceilings). As you can see - things get alot worse before they start to get better! Isn't this what they call "the storm before the calm"? (hehe)
Friday, August 22, 2008
REAL TIME!!!
Well newbies (and other fans)... I'm working on getting Sponge to write LESSON THREE since, really, he's the one that stumbled across it and began our transformation. But in the meantime, there's sooooo much going on that I can't hold back any more on "sharing". I'm not even going to start at the beginning... I'm going real time for this post!
Today we met with our contractor to pick out materials for the rehab on the Medallion house. Medallion is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1700 sf. single family dwelling that we want to flip (I'm going to try to get some pictures up this weekend). We closed on it on August 5th (17 days ago) and what a ride it's been since!
You know how all the gurus tell you that you need to "have a team"... we can't emphasize enough how important that is. HOWEVER, we also should mention that until you actually have work for your "team" to do it's pretty hard to attract anyone to the team. It's kind of like trying to get a baseball team together without a league to play in. A lot of players just won't be interested in all the work it takes to play against... well, against no one. Just play amongst themselves. Not so much fun!
In any case, Sponge has been busy full time gathering team members (while we actually have work for them to do and the ability to offer them earnings for that work). Seriously - it's taking ALL his time. But this is our FIRST house so, being the machanical engeineer that he is, he's chalking it up to "tooling" (and I remind him of that when he's feeling overwhelmed with all the phone calls and "interviews" and such). It's like when you're inventing a new toy... for the very first one you have to engineer it, create all the drawings for the fabrication guys, they have to create molds to make the thing, and then - WALA! You have a new toy. One that you can now mass produce because all the "tooling" has been done.
So he has "shopped" for the last couple of weeks. His schedule has been something like this...
First: (and we were sweating this!) INSURANCE. VERY IMPORTANT!!! You can do your investing in the stock market or mutual funds or T-Bills and none of them will EVER sue you. But when you have a house... a neighborhood kid can be cutting across your lawn, scrape up his foot on one of the sprinklers, and BAM! You're in court! Well - maybe nothing like that will ever happen but the point is, when investing in real estate there are certain risks that are not present when investing in "paper". There is a lot of money to be made but you can't ignore the risks. You minimize the risks by covering yourself. So, at the top of our list was getting insurance. Insurance isn't the only way to minimize your risks but it seemed to be the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to get started so it's what we did first. I'll write a whole post on risk and ways to minimize it at a later date (because we've taken other measures now too).
Second: UTILITIES. Ha! you say. Utilities? Like I mentioned when I started this blog, the $2500 guru packages are typically vague and don't really cover all the details involved in your investment endeavors. Undoubtedly, some of the points they don't cover are left out purposely because they figure we have a brain. Well we won't be making any such assumptions here (hehe). Seriously - there are details that can get overlooked and will cost you extra if you do.
Squeezed inbetween First and Second: ... when they had the time... having our Realtor and our contractor come over to the property to start making plans. Gotta have an exit strategy!
Oh my goodness - sooooo much more to say and so little time!! If I wait 'til I get it all on paper I'll never get around to posting this! I'm going to pop this up there now and start writing shorter, more frequent entries...
Today we met with our contractor to pick out materials for the rehab on the Medallion house. Medallion is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1700 sf. single family dwelling that we want to flip (I'm going to try to get some pictures up this weekend). We closed on it on August 5th (17 days ago) and what a ride it's been since!
You know how all the gurus tell you that you need to "have a team"... we can't emphasize enough how important that is. HOWEVER, we also should mention that until you actually have work for your "team" to do it's pretty hard to attract anyone to the team. It's kind of like trying to get a baseball team together without a league to play in. A lot of players just won't be interested in all the work it takes to play against... well, against no one. Just play amongst themselves. Not so much fun!
In any case, Sponge has been busy full time gathering team members (while we actually have work for them to do and the ability to offer them earnings for that work). Seriously - it's taking ALL his time. But this is our FIRST house so, being the machanical engeineer that he is, he's chalking it up to "tooling" (and I remind him of that when he's feeling overwhelmed with all the phone calls and "interviews" and such). It's like when you're inventing a new toy... for the very first one you have to engineer it, create all the drawings for the fabrication guys, they have to create molds to make the thing, and then - WALA! You have a new toy. One that you can now mass produce because all the "tooling" has been done.
So he has "shopped" for the last couple of weeks. His schedule has been something like this...
First: (and we were sweating this!) INSURANCE. VERY IMPORTANT!!! You can do your investing in the stock market or mutual funds or T-Bills and none of them will EVER sue you. But when you have a house... a neighborhood kid can be cutting across your lawn, scrape up his foot on one of the sprinklers, and BAM! You're in court! Well - maybe nothing like that will ever happen but the point is, when investing in real estate there are certain risks that are not present when investing in "paper". There is a lot of money to be made but you can't ignore the risks. You minimize the risks by covering yourself. So, at the top of our list was getting insurance. Insurance isn't the only way to minimize your risks but it seemed to be the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to get started so it's what we did first. I'll write a whole post on risk and ways to minimize it at a later date (because we've taken other measures now too).
Second: UTILITIES. Ha! you say. Utilities? Like I mentioned when I started this blog, the $2500 guru packages are typically vague and don't really cover all the details involved in your investment endeavors. Undoubtedly, some of the points they don't cover are left out purposely because they figure we have a brain. Well we won't be making any such assumptions here (hehe). Seriously - there are details that can get overlooked and will cost you extra if you do.
Squeezed inbetween First and Second: ... when they had the time... having our Realtor and our contractor come over to the property to start making plans. Gotta have an exit strategy!
Oh my goodness - sooooo much more to say and so little time!! If I wait 'til I get it all on paper I'll never get around to posting this! I'm going to pop this up there now and start writing shorter, more frequent entries...
Sunday, August 17, 2008
LESSON NUMBER TWO
OK - join me in the moment... we had 5 wonderful children, 6 cars, 5 cats, a hamster, and a big 5 bd, 2.5 ba, 2500 sf. house on the hill with a 3 car garage. We had worked hard and reached the height of our careers and whoops! Suddenly we were BOTH unemployed and positively dumb founded by how that could happen. Hadn't we been taught, "Go to school, work hard, get a good job, work your way up the ranks and your company will take care of you"? yeah... Not So Much!!!
We began to think about the "successful" people we knew (or knew of) and tried to figure out what they were doing different. Fact is, they didn't work for someone else... they owned their own companies. They set their own hours and made all the decisions and were "happy" and "rich". Sooooooo... that must be the key. Run your own business!! And that's what we set out to do.
I was an applications programmer and EVERYONE on the planet needed programmers... from every "Ma and Pa" shop all the way to the BIG corporations. I decided to become an independent consultant and do contract work. Sponge did too... he was a mechanical engineer and an AutoCAD guru with plenty of contacts in the industry to provide both references and referrals. We set out to become "sole proprietors" with no need to depend on a company to be loyal to us and take care of us.
Unfortunately, it took a while to get up to speed and in the mean time we spent all our savings and went about $45K into credit card debt. Luckily, I owned 2 rental properties - a condo I had gotten when my oldest daughter started college (for her and her girlfriends to rent), and a townhouse I had gotten back in 1995 when the kids were still little enough to fit into a 1500 sf. place. Face (my oldest daughter) had tired of living with a bunch of giggly girls and had moved back home, so at this point we decided to leave the house on the hill (which we were renting), sell the college condo to pay off some of our debt, and move into the townhouse (which was $1000/mo. less than the house on the hill). We refinanced the townhouse (to pay off the rest of the debt) and continued our quest to become sucessfully self employed.
(Any one reading this should make a note of how we just got out of debt and lowered our bills... it didn't dawn on us until some time later what a gold mine the real estate was).
Well, with time we succeeded! We had enough clients to maintain a fair income and found that we were in total control of what jobs we took and when we worked. That's right... as self employed, independent contractors we could choose any 18 hours a day we pleased to fulfill our clients needs!!! We had to work more hours than we did as employees because now we were paying self employment taxes, Social Security, and Medicare. Oh, and there was the tiny little problem of not having health insurance. Details!
Okay, so working hard for someone else had proven to NOT be the way to go. And now, being self employed was proving to have it's limitations too. It would seem that since the number of hours in a day that you have to "sell" your services is limited, so is the amount of income you're able to bring in that way.
LESSON NUMBER TWO
"Being your own boss is still, really, just working long hours for someone else (your clients)"
Lesson Number Three is what changed everything...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
LESSON NUMBER ONE
So my business partner (and loving husband), Sponge, says I need to start at the beginning...
I was born on a rainy night OH! He says not that far back... ok then... I want to summarize how we got here with just a couple or so posts (so we can get to the good stuff), so I'll go back about seven years...
Sponge and I have been white collar professionals for, well - without giving away our age - about a mellineum or so. He worked his way through the ranks as a mechanical designer/engineer while I was climbing the IT ladder. I made the mistake of climbing to the top of the ladder only to find out, apparently, I'm afraid of heights ! I really hated being in charge and STILL being told what to do. Caught between the P. and the V.P.'s dreams for the company and all the while working even harder and longer than ever. Who taught me that you made alot of money and got to sit on the beach drinking Mai Tai's once you got to the top? Hmmm... apparently I climbed the wrong ladder!
So back in mid 2001 I decided to wait 'til my options vested (I was miserable, not stupid), cash out, resign, and sit back for long enough to relax and figure out what I wanted to do next. January 18, 2002 was my last day as a corporate stiff - WooHoo!! On January 24, 2002, without warning, Sponge was the casualty of a RIF (Reduction In Force... ie., LAYOFF) of unprecedented magnitude for the company he had been working at for the last 11 years. And along with the unprecedented number of people that got laid off was an unprecedented severance check for only 3 weeks salary! Guess I was going to have to "relax" and figure out what to do REALLY FAST !!!!!
Sponge and I have been white collar professionals for, well - without giving away our age - about a mellineum or so. He worked his way through the ranks as a mechanical designer/engineer while I was climbing the IT ladder. I made the mistake of climbing to the top of the ladder only to find out, apparently, I'm afraid of heights ! I really hated being in charge and STILL being told what to do. Caught between the P. and the V.P.'s dreams for the company and all the while working even harder and longer than ever. Who taught me that you made alot of money and got to sit on the beach drinking Mai Tai's once you got to the top? Hmmm... apparently I climbed the wrong ladder!
So back in mid 2001 I decided to wait 'til my options vested (I was miserable, not stupid), cash out, resign, and sit back for long enough to relax and figure out what I wanted to do next. January 18, 2002 was my last day as a corporate stiff - WooHoo!! On January 24, 2002, without warning, Sponge was the casualty of a RIF (Reduction In Force... ie., LAYOFF) of unprecedented magnitude for the company he had been working at for the last 11 years. And along with the unprecedented number of people that got laid off was an unprecedented severance check for only 3 weeks salary! Guess I was going to have to "relax" and figure out what to do REALLY FAST !!!!!
We were living "on the hill" (renting) in "the big house" and still had all 5 kids at home. One in college, one a senior in high school (which means more college tuition coming up later THIS YEAR!), another high schooler, two in Jr. High and we were both unemployed!! We're both educated, hard working, MOTIVATED (5 kids, remember?) and yet, after all our years of experience we were NOWHERE . Frankly, at this point in life we were both scratching our heads wondering, "Hmmm... what have we learned?"
So here it is...
LESSON NUMBER ONE
"Unlearn everything 'they'
taught you growing up about
how to be successful"
Stay tuned for Lesson Number Two...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MAKE A MESS
I wish we had started this sooner - to capture all the confusion and mistakes... ahhhhh - hindsight. In any case, I've decided to start this blog for all you new real estate investors out there. How much have YOU paid so far to the ever so benevolent gurus? Are you amazed that you can pay $2500 to get their "Step by Step" package only to find that they're really just glorified motivational books? Really... has anyone bought a guru's package and found that it actually had all the steps needed (and the paperwork necessary) to carry out a complete real estate transaction? I'd love to hear about your experiences.
This blog is going to "give away" all the steps as we do them - right or wrong. We're newbies! This has been our dream for years, postponed until we finished raising our kids (all 5 of them!), and now we're really doing it! We've joined the clubs, taken the seminars, read the books (and books and more books - we'll be putting up book reviews here for you too), tried to network... and the thing that really got us going is someone telling us one day, "Don't be afraid you'll do it wrong and don't wait until you get every little thing in place before you start - because if you do, you'll never get started! Just MAKE A MESS and then worry about cleaning it up!"
Well - that's what we're doing... making a mess (and learning along the way) and loving it!!!
You'll hear all about it and I'll share everything we learn - FOR FREE - as it happens.
This blog is going to "give away" all the steps as we do them - right or wrong. We're newbies! This has been our dream for years, postponed until we finished raising our kids (all 5 of them!), and now we're really doing it! We've joined the clubs, taken the seminars, read the books (and books and more books - we'll be putting up book reviews here for you too), tried to network... and the thing that really got us going is someone telling us one day, "Don't be afraid you'll do it wrong and don't wait until you get every little thing in place before you start - because if you do, you'll never get started! Just MAKE A MESS and then worry about cleaning it up!"
Well - that's what we're doing... making a mess (and learning along the way) and loving it!!!
You'll hear all about it and I'll share everything we learn - FOR FREE - as it happens.
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