All Forum Posts by: Jason Pritchard

@Darren Budahn it's funny that mention Elbow room, we're going to grab a celebratory dinner this weekend and I think we may actual go there to eat.  Are you originally from the Fresno area?

@Yosef Fares Hey man....I've been following your thread and saw that you made an offer on a property the other day, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys!  I actually was able to put my next project under contract on Friday.  I'm just waiting on the title company to do the due diligence on the property but am hoping to close within the next 2 weeks.  

Thanks everyone for the feedback and kind words.

@Jeanie H. I do have another job with a local non-profit organization that I am helping get off the ground.  This flip and the subsequent marketing that I am doing to find other deals has basically turned into fulltime work for me as well.  

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share the recent success on my first flip which just closed earlier this afternoon, hopefully it can help to motivate someone who might be on the fence about taking the first step towards accomplishing thier REI goals.

My wife and I have always wanted to get involved in REI and finally decided to get serious about taking action at the beginning of the year. We did not have much luck finding any good deals and decided to try and come up with a creative solution. It turns out that my brother in law owned a rental property with a considerable amount of equity in it that had been rented for the last 1.5 years. We approached him and his wife about the possiblity of partnering up to flip the property. We would cover all the costs, including the loss of rental income, which would all be repaid after the sale of the house and we agreed to split the profits and roll everything into another project.

We got the keys from the tenants on 3/10/15, listed on 4/20/15, and closed escrow today. Here are the particulars on the deal.

Mortgage balance= approx $73,000

Rehab expenses/holding costs= $31,318

Sales price=$175,000

Net profits=$53,956

Here are some before and afters:

Everything about this project ran smoothly with the exception of 2 things.  We originally listed for $179,999 and actually had multiple offers at or above asking.  Unfortunately the appraisal came back at $175,000 so we ended up having to sell for a little less than expected.  We also had some termite damage show up during the inspection and we had to replace some rot and fumigate the house which cost about $3200.  Overall I could not be happier with the way things turned out and am looking forward to starting the next project as soon as possible.  

@Billy Bell check out this link on how to create DIY yellow letters from home with a handwritten font. 

https://strugglinginvestor.com/2009/08/how-to-do-it-yourself-yellow-letter-marketing/

Once you get everything set up correctly it only takes me about 15 minutes to print up approximately 500 letters.  The time consuming part is stuffing/stamping all the envelopes but you could always pay someone to do that.  I just sent out my 3rd batch of letters yesterday and my response rate has been good, averaging 12% call back rate for every 500 letters I send out.  

@Account Closed I would estimate that about 30-40% of my guests are new to Airbnb and don't have any reviews.  I will normally "vet" new users by asking them general questions about why they're interested in staying with us, planned arrival/checkout times, etc.  Based on how that conversation goes I will usually approve their request.  When the conversation doesn't feel "right" for some reason I'll deny it. Again I have never had a bad experience as a host and have only denied 3-4 reservation requests over the last year.  

Thanks @Brad Roltgen .....I'll reach out to Emmet and see if I can set something up for next week. We did meet at Henry's REI group, I didn't realize you were on here as well. I'll be in touch and let you know how things go.

If anyone can reccomend some other CPA's in Fresno I would appreciate it, I would like to meet with 2-3 more people before making a final decision.    

Hey Everyone,

I'm in need of a reccomendation for a good CPA in the Fresno, CA area, preferably someone who has some experience dealing with real estate investments.  I've interviewed a couple local CPA's that I found via google/yelp searches but I wasn't totally satisfied with them after our meetings.  Any help would be much appreciated....thanks.  

Hey @Brittany DeWitt saw this post on Airbnb and just wanted to chime in.  My wife and I have been renting our downstairs bed and bath on Airbnb for the last year and have had a great overall experience.  We only make the listing available every other week and make between $300-$500 per month.  We've hosted over 30 guests during that time with the majority of the travelers visting either Yosemite or Sequoia National Park.  

I've put some thought into purchasing a property that is closer/more accessible to Yosemite that I could use strictly as a short term rental but havent taken any serious action towards that goal.  The contstant turnover/cleaning thats required is somewhat of a hassle but we've never had a bad experience and I genuinely enjoy meeting and interacting with our guests.   Also like @Steve B. said expect your bookings to drop during the winter months.  

Hey @Yosef Fares.....I am also in the Fresno/Clovis area and just recently completed rehab on my first flip.  We're in escrow now and should be closing in couple weeks.  As a new investor I've found that indentifing good deals has been the most challenging part of the flipping process.  I'm currently doing direct mail, bandit signs, and driving for $$$, I've negotiated deals with a number of different sellers but haven't found anything worth pulling the trigger on yet.  

Best of luck to you and your wife, if I can help in anyway please feel free to reach out to me.  

@Account Closed thanks for the feedback.  

I agree with your advice 100% and am currently focused on closing the deal that we accepted.  I really just wanted to play devils advocate and see if there were/are other options that I overlooked.