All Forum Posts by: Ophelia Nicholson

    I got the experience of being a guest on the Podcast a few shows ago and I listened to the Grant Cardone episode and I thought man this guy was amazing. I think the original poster is getting the wrong message here- Its not about if you are a Guru or not- Its not about if you are selling this huge DVD set or not.  Who cares!! No one is forcing you to buy anything.  As a matter a fact don't buy any of his stuff- He probably will not care and he will still have his private jet!

      What its about is motivation- Plain and simple- I listened to the show and I thought man my goal of doing 30 houses this year is way too small. I need to 10x that and I need to do 10 times more actions and I need to start fulfilling the true potential that I have inside and I think that's what every single show is about- Showing others that it can be done!  It doesn't matter where you are in your real estate career whether its house 0 or house 4000 that you should get up and do some actions and achieve some goals.

 I think doing that show early in the year was amazing cause now I don't want to compete with everyone in my market -I want to DOMINATE!!!

I actually agree with Andrew's comments- This happens all the time everyone starts counting the money and thinking they can do it too but most people especially contractors know how to renovate the house but they don't know all the moving parts that come with flipping. Renovation is great but its so much more than that and everyone thinks its easy.

Run your own race- So your contractor leaves- find another one its not personal- Everyone is looking out for their own self interest. So you can't buy multiple houses at the same time- Buy what you can buy and stop looking at them. It might work it might not.

Congrats - I have 2 very dumb questions so pardon my ignorance.

1. Didn't you pay any transfer, recordation, taxes to buy? Didn't you pay the closing costs to sell?

2.  What would have happened if after the year your friend decided not to move? They already got liens paid and money in pocket no incentive to leave.

If I was in that situation I would figure out where the water is coming from- Seal all cracks add a sump pump and dig down outside and waterproof the house. Hard to say what costs would run in your area to get it waterproofed. Call a company and get them to come out and give a professional opinion and a quote.

Okay I like historic properties in historic neighborhoods.  I'm in the process of doing one now in a historic neighborhood and I sold two last year in same community- With that said- I would never and I mean never ever ever restore it to original condition. What's the point of taking a 1900 home and making it look like it did in the 1900's.

While I think its great for some there are more buyers who are looking for older homes that are newly renovated than there are buyers looking for restored older homes. Now I'm not saying that buyer doesn't exist- While I was doing one house last year the neighbors told me they didn't like granite, wanted all the old doors, trim and would only buy a restored home.. Needless to say they might like Nicole a lot. 

They are however the minority and this is business... who wants to have a house that only appeals to a very small sect of people in an already small sect that would buy a historic home.

@Rachel Gill  As @J Scott said storage only becomes an issue when you don't have a ton of rehabs going on but as you network there will always be other investors that you could stage for and store the furniture at their rehabbed house until you are ready for it again.

It's worth it if you have furniture that breaks down- Like my dining room table when I did less rehabs I would take the legs off so it was easier to store it in my house or pack the furniture up in one room on top of each other but again that was when I did less rehabs. 

It will start out slowly at first but over time it is worth it.

Hi Rachel,

 I do my own staging- I have two sets of staging furniture at the moment.  About to get a 3rd set. I think it depends on how many houses you do per year. For me it makes sense because of the number of houses I'm doing at the moment saves money over the long run. I think if you have a good eye for design it works out- Some people however have no eye for design.  I don't think it takes expensive furniture but its also about shopping for different pieces over the long run as opposed to buying everything all at once.

I set my goals back in October for 2015 so I've started actively working towards them after I made the goals.

1.  My main company to make 1mill net profit in 2015- By flipping 30 properties - In order to do that I needed to purchase 3 houses a month with an average profit of 30-35k each. I purchased 3 properties in December, I'm buying one on 1/2 and 2 more before end of January.  Since houses have to be sold by December 2015 to reach the goal - I will have to increase the amount I'm buying come spring summer to compensate for that.

2. I decided to expand the flipping business to a different market in my state in 2014- My second company to make a net profit of 320k in 2015- by flipping 10 properties. In order to do that I need to purchase 1 house per month- Same strategy applies- More purchase in spring, summer to compensate for the fact that they have to be sold by December.  The first house towards this goal is being purchased in January.

3. Take some vacations in between and maybe buy a new personal property.

Hi Ronnie,

 Send me either a private message or email and I will send you one. Thanks

First flip was in 2011 and it was a house that was down to the studs- We changed everything on that house except the roof. We did all cash for purchase and rehab and my uncles did the work. Rehab took 6 months. We bought for 62,900 and sold for 191k. We found it on the MLS- it was easier in 2011 to find MLS stuff.

I would say that as bad as hard money is - It's also motivation to hurry the hell up. I think that was one of the reasons we took so long to renovate because there was no one over our shoulders and that made us drag our feet.  There was no need to hurry- So there was a loss of opportunity because when you buy a house in December and sell it in August its not cool.

 Now my reno's on the market by week 4- 5 and sold by the time I'm a 120 days-Usually quicker than that. Time is money. Doing the work yourself leads to spending more time in a property. And if you have all your money tied up in one property then you can't do another deal till that one you have sells even if that's 8 or 9 months down the line.