We're moving in!

After much discussion and thought, we have decided to move in! This house is exactly what we were looking for and now that we've finished it, it's amazing! We are still going to continue to flip houses, no doubt! We plan to live in this house for 2 years, then sell and keep the profits tax free. That always makes for a nice plan. In the meantime, we are going to buy a few houses to flip and a few to keep as rental properties. I'll keep you updated, the next house is not far off.

Finally Done

I haven't posted in a little while due to all of the finishing up we've been doing on the house. The house is finally finished!! I'm so relieved to have this done. I put up our “For Sale” sign last Wednesday. I also put out flyers and created a site with new pictures, check it out: www.407turnberryway.com. So far, over 25 flyers have gone out but no calls just yet. We had an open house last Sunday that went well. We’re having another open house this Sunday and it’s a lot more advertised so hopefully we’ll get some more feedback. I’m ready to sell this house and buy another one!

I definitely enjoy this business. I think this is what I was meant to do. More on that later!

The end is near

The house is coming along nicely. We had the roof professionally cleaned on Friday. Here's a new picture of the house. The shutters are off and in the process of being painting but the bushes are trimmed and the roof is clean!! We had an electrician come out and install vanity lighting in all of the bathrooms along with pendant lighting over the breakfast bar. A tile lady came to the house today and started the countertops. We're doing ceramic tile on those. She should be done Saturday. We had to push the carpet back to this coming Monday. I might push it back again...it depends on how far we get tomorrow night. I don't want to chance spilling paint or grout on the new carpet. We have nearly all of the painting done. Three of the bathrooms remain and one is only a half bath. Yay! We've got a friend coming by Saturday to look at finishing our laundry room. Only half of it is finished. We'd like to advertise a 100% finished basement when we sell, so this should help our resale...hopefully.

We're over our timeline but I guess that's okay. We're shooting for the 15th now. My fiance tells me that was the original date and somehow I bumped it up to the 1st. We're going to have an open house around that time. Hope we get a good turnout. We are undecided about going with a realtor. I think we are going to try to sell it and if we don't get any bites, we'll call the pros.

10 Dos and Don'ts for Maximizing Your Profit Potential

I ran across this article today that I thought was pretty interesting. It deals with flipping houses and maximizing profit. Check it out.

Moving right along

So, here we are on our fifth week of the flip. The house is coming along great but still has a long way to go. We have been working on landscaping for the past three days. This was only supposed to take one, maybe two days. Now, by landscaping I'm referring to the mulch, planting new plants, cleaning/painting the shutters, and painting both the front and back decks. We have opted not to have the roof replaced since it's in good condition, just dirty. We have hired a cleaning crew to come out and clean it up. They guarantee that they can get it looking new again. That's what we want.

We picked out the new carpet last night. We're going to go with a Berber due to the popularity and the ease of stain resistance as well as cleaning. Our market is targeted towards families with children who tend to spill things on the carpet. I paid for the new carpet this morning and it's going to be installed next Wednesday.

An electrician is coming out later this week to install our pendant lighting over the breakfast bar and the vanity lighting in the bathrooms. I got a great deal on the vanity lighting. Shopping online pays off!!

I am tired and stressed. I have been at this house every night for hours upon hours. Keep in mind that I work on the house after working a full day at my job. Our goal was August 1 but if we can have the house complete by the first weekend in August, I’ll be very happy with that.

Interesting Flipping Website

I found this website tonight that I thought was pretty interesting. It is about the flipping process from start to finish. I am constantly reading up on this since I intend to make this my full-time business. You can never learn too much.

Over improving

Ah, the situation that every flipper faces sometime or another. Installing that sauna or whirlpool tub is sure to make the sale right? Wrong. Investing in personal preference items like these limits the buyers who will be interested in your house. Perhaps your buyers have small children; well there goes the pool in the backyard. It’s very important to improve your house to the level of the others in the neighborhood. Here’s a good article explaining more.

If your home is not located in a granite countertop neighborhood, this investment is likely to pay out what you put in. If you over improve, you’re sure to spend more than you have to or lose out. A great way to view other homes in your neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods is by attending open houses. Try to attend as many of these as possible. Listen to what the buyers are commenting on and pay attention to the features of the house. If there aren’t any open houses nearby, try viewing a model home and take notes of what improvements and features this home has over yours. Make adjustments to your house accordingly.