Wow, rehabbing has been a VERY humbling experience

[Brian Davis]

Here is my late introduction to biggerpockets (I just really got involved here thx to the podcast)

So we have rehabbed somewhere just north of 20 houses over the past few years. The first house we did was something like 70k purchase, 15k repairs, and 150k selling price netting us somewhere in the 55k profit range because we didn’t use hard money on that one. (awesome deal) Since that first deal, we have had some great profits but others where we were around the 20k range (which is not good for me with what I expect). It's amazing to me because I go in planning for 35k as my minimum profit and somehow a few properties have been real disappointments. At the same time, some houses we have remodeled the least have given us the best returns. The funny thing is, just when I think I figure it out, I run into another stinker. (2 actually)

So I have come to realize that the profit I turn at the end of the day is in direct correlation to the number of opportunities I have. (pretty elementary, right?) So the past 2 months I have focused on the direct mail route and stopped looking at the MLS (and I am an MLS junkie so it's hard, but I am so tired of highest and best)…so the plan is to get enough leads coming in through the direct mail that I can cherry pick the awesome, wholesale the rest, and live the dream (or at least that’s the plan). Well, after about 5000 mailers this past month, I found a deal last week. But I need more so I'm mailing another 2000 letters this week. (we own 6 houses right now, selling one tomorrow, but need 2 asap so the guys don’t run out of work because everything is coming to completion)

Direct mail has cost me a bunch of money. I think I have spent $20,000 on mail over the past 3 years just dabbling here and there never making any real headway. But the good news is, I think I finally figured it out. (market to the right list, at least that’s the plan, and mail to them consistently). Well, I still have never wholesaled anything and I have spent a lot of money on marketing with little return. (I did buy a house last year from a mailing and it was the best deal to date..107k purchase, 20k repair, 230k back end…this one should have been a sign but I was too cheap to keep mailing and stick with it hard so I went back to the MLS) - The MLS feels like an ex-girlfriend I keep running back to because she's cheap and convenient.

Well, just so everyone knows from my introduction to biggerpockets:

-I used to think I knew a lot more until I started rehabbing…I am just figuring out the mailing stuff after about $20,000 in mail (and in a year I will realize how little I know today looking back.)

But I have learned something from all the ups and downs…as long as I know what I'm striving towards and persistently move in that direction, I know I will get there (sure would be nice to be sooner than later…I guess we will all get somewhere given a long enough time frame but if I arrive at my goals in 100 years, I'll probably be too old to enjoy it)

As for the plan, I will keep mailing and rehabbing houses and start wholesaling…(and I will keep watching flipping shows as if it were my job..haha, I'm hooked on watching those shows..how pathetic)

And wanted to say thanks for everything that is a part of a community like this and thanks to josh for putting together an awesome podcast…(I sure wish Joe and Alex would release a new episode from the real estate mastery podcast..wtf guys!)

and a sorry for the rambling..if you got to this point, wow! you need to get back to work..not sure if forums are a good place to jot down your thoughts for 30 mins while hyped up on caffeine and stressed out because I have a list 100 things waiting for me to do…maybe I could have found a new house to buy instead of doing this..on that note, back to work :)