The fifteenth week has already come and gone and is now documented on the blog. This week I released the free lead manager web application, got 21 leads and visited a death house.
Last summer my family took a vacation to the west coast. We went from San Diego to Seattle over three weeks, stopping in the major cities and San Simeon. What a beautiful place (the west coast in general).
Just got back from vacation. We went to AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and then stayed downtown Chicago for several nights. It was a great trip and the whole family really enjoyed it.
I did post last week and then today. That would be the Nineteenth and Twentieth weeks. We started work on two new rehabs and sold the Hidden Iron house. My wife staged the Def Leppard house and it made a remarkable difference.
The Twenty First week is now posted. I can’t believe it has already been that long!
Got some good stuff for you this week.
The numbers for the Hidden Iron House flip are now posted for your viewing enjoyment. Take a look at the real numbers involved in selling a house in this market.
Oh, a raccoon fell out of the ceiling at a house! The weird things that you come across in this business keep it interesting. Check out the note that was on the door where the raccoon ran after falling out of the ceiling. Priceless!
2 more deals under contract. One is a little different than what I normally buy. The postcards I sent out last week have pulled pretty well and have already produced 12 leads (two since I wrote the post a couple of hours ago).
Just want to say it’s a pleasure reading your blog (I’ve kept up with it since Week 1). Your insight and experience is practically a gold mine to me.
Question: How old were you when you did your first deal, and did you buy with full-cash or finance? Any tips/insight on making the very first investment a success?
I was 24 and it was a HUD house that I bought to live it. Got a loan to buy it.
The first investment that wasn’t lived in was about a year later and my mentor put up the funds for that one. Split profit 50/50.
The biggest tip is to verify the numbers yourself and make sure not to try to turn a non-deal into a deal by messing with the numbers to make it work. You will be itching to get that first one under your belt and the temptation to play with those numbers to make it work will be there. Don’t give in. Wait until you find a TRUE deal.
Reading through it now, lot of good information. A lot of stuff that most people that read this forum should already know but often don’t. Seeing it in an easy to read format like your blog certainly makes it easier to digest I think.
Thanks, Rich. I think the weekly day-in day-out work helps people see everything put together.
The twenty seventh week has now been posted. The contractor quest continued through this week. Not something I really enjoy but is very necessary to operating a rehabbing business.
Closed and posted details on the ‘front yard stink’ house. Enjoy.
Your blog is definitely one of the better one’s that I’ve read.
I noticed you’re getting quite a few leads through your web site. Are these clicks or are these actual leads (people submitting their information via web forms etc.)? If the later, your web site is generating a good amount of actual leads a week. How much are you paying, on average, for your google ppc?
The leads are from actual form submissions where they gave me the information about the house they want to sell, not just clicks to the website.
The ppc is just a small portion of the traffic to the site. The majority comes from organic search where I am number one for the results in my area for the main keywords.