All Forum Posts by: Steve Gregory

First I've heard of it too, looking forward to it

I'll be at the Tulsa Meet up.

Look forward to meeting @Steven Thomas and others from the BP NATION!

Hello David,

I might be interested. Send me a PM or call me. I could help you with your cost estimates for the rehab if you'd like a second opinion. I've been a remodeling GC in tulsa for over 15 years now, and in construction for about 30. I'm lending hard money on a flip at 49th and Cincinnati, we close next week on it, with expected rehab costs of 38K. I'm fairly new myself, with one successful flip under my belt that closed in July of last year.

Welcome Kevin.

I've learned a ton on BP!

Glad your here Tim!

I belong to the Tulsa REIA club and find it helpful. Listening to the podcasts has taught me so much in the last year. I've done one flip and one wholesale this year.

Gotta run, but wanted to say hi real quik!

Thank you to all for your kind comments! I hope this works, this is the link to the Craigslist ad I posted on the house and it includes pictures of the finished product. All I have in the way of before pics are some videos I took on my phone of the house as I did a walkthrough with the seller. I may be able to post the video, but for now here's the link of the finished flip. 

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/reo/5046280810.html

I found the house on my local court records website, it was in probate and after further research I cold called the 72 year old brother in Texas. I asked him if he wanted to sell and he said that one other person had contacted him and was also interested in the SFR full brick, 3/2/2, 1872 sq ft.

I looked at the house for the first time just before Thanksgiving of 2014. Thanks to BP, I used the 70% rule to figure out my max allowable offer price and came up with an offer of 40K (yes... I did feel embarrased at my offer). He countered at 50K and I came back with 48K and I would pay seller's closing costs...... He agreed and I felt good about coming up in price after discussing it with a guy who I had met at my local REI meeting.

The engineers report called for 11 piers to be done and I got a price from a company for $650 a pier which I forwarded  to the seller and was able to get him to come down to 44K on the purchase price. I then got a price of $450 a pier from another company and ended up using them after closing. 

I did a full rehab on the house including the following:

• new kitchen cabinets and granite counters with tile backsplash
• tile floor in kitchen and laundry
• new appliances (no frig)
• new vanities in baths, tile floors, bathtub
• new garage doors with openers
• laminate wood floor in open living/family/dining area
• new carpet in hall and 3 bdrms
• all new heat/air registers and return air grills
• all new outlets and switches
• replaced windows (vynil)
• removed all holly bushes at front and had a dead tree removed from backyard
• interior paint 
• replaced water heater
• repaired vynil siding and gutters as needed
• power washed exterior
• wood shutters on front windows
• new front door and storm door

I closed on the purchase of the house in Jan 15' and am scheduled to close on the sale side on July 10th.

I am a remodeling contractor by trade and had every intention of doing my best to be "hands off" on the rehab, but it didn't work out that way. I put in 6 weeks of labor and the rest of the work was done by my employees and sub-contractors.

I held the property for way too long as I was tied up on a very demanding full house rehab for a client for about 5 months.

I put up a FSBO sign in the yard when it was almost completed and had it under contract 2 days later for 154K.

All in I'm at 107K, but the buyer is going FHA and I agreed to pay his realtor 3% commission. I hadn't had the landscaping and sod done when they called and it was going to cost $3,200. In lieu of me paying to have the landscaping done, I agreed to pay the buyer the $3,200 to use as he wished for a frig, blinds, or whatever. I also agreed to replace the electric panel as it came up on the buyers inspections as a fire hazard. ( 1% of purchase price $1,500)

I learned a lot and couldn't be happier. I have pictures and can post them another time.

Big thanks to bigger pockets! 

I go back and forth between Zillow and Realtor.com on the map setting. If you set the filter to show recently sold props on Z, they show up in yellow (not an option on my Iphone, but is on my Ipad. But I noticed the other day that Z shows way more (too many) recently solds including ones from 2012. R.com only shows more recent sales. 

I look for the closest matches on sq ft, beds, baths, etc., how close to the prop you are valuing. write down 6 or so if possible, don't count the highest and lowest, add up what's left and divide by that # to come up with an average price per sq ftl

Also need to look close at ones that have been fixed up, difinitely not a cut and dry process, but another tool. A guy at my local REIA meeting last week told me he uses "whats my house worth" I havent checked it out yet, but it gives comps, etc.

Happy Hunting

Hello BP'rs,

This is a rough draft (depending on criticisms and/or suggestions to make it better) of a letter I intend to leave leaning against early in foreclosure homes. The reason I say "leaning" is because I saw a video on youtube today that suggested putting a letter in a USPS provided Express Mail envelope ( 9.5" x 12.5" cardboard) and writing the target house owners name and address in the address location on the envelope as if it was left there by the USPS. I plan on having Dear Mr. John Doe, at the start and hand signing each letter. I'm undecided as to wether or not I should include a business card in the envelope or provide one when people contact me to meet in person. I'm thinking this letter would also be my mailer letter that would go out in a normal envelope.

I am planning on starting a direct mailing campaign in the near future and probably need to draft letters for absentee owners and probates. I am not an in your face kind of guy and my letter may or may not reflect that.

Any and all comments or suggestions would be much appreciated ..... Here it is!

My name is Steve Gregory and I am in the business of helping people who are facing foreclosure escape with as little emotional and financial damage as possible. I am not a Realtor, and any and all discussions we may have regarding your house or anything at all will remain completely confidential and discreet. I’ve had my share of financial difficulties in the past and was able to salvage my self-respect and dignity even though it was hard at the time and I wasn’t sure how things would work out.

I am not a big corporation and when you call me to discuss your situation I will not “push” anything. I will explain your options and do an informal Foreclosure Prevention Analysis based on you and your homes situation and let you decide what is best for you!

When facing foreclosure, here are some things you need to consider:

Most of the time, these are your options:

In ALL cases, taking action is what you need to do, and stopping the foreclosure before it’s too late will benefit you in the long run. …………….So, give me a call and let’s explore your options now, before it’s too late……

Sincerely,

STEVE GREGORY

WEB: WWW.STEVEGBUYSHOUSES.COM

EMAIL: [email protected]

(918) 231-3331

That's not what I wanted to hear, but that's why I put it out there....for feedback. So thank you. I need to go look at the inside before I write it off though. Not having done a deal yet, I'm pretty anxious, but patience is a virtue, and it would be a good experience just to make an offer for 6K less than I figured originally to allow for 20k profit and you never know, they might go for it.....right?