I have been investing in real estate for a few years on a part time basis. My wife joined me in the investing world at the beginning of 2007 and we have flipped 4 houses this year. Our goal was 7 but we fell a bit short due to a variety of problems. In 2008 we WILL flip at least 12 houses!

The Homedale house was supposed to be a slam dunk, in and out in about 3 weeks. Our start date was delayed because our other project ran over by a few weeks so we started out on the wrong foot! We also had a new contractor named Dan that we had very high hopes for. He did a very nice job on our previous product so we expected great things from him! Read on..

When we start a project we do two things first: put up a for sale sign and start working on the outside to draw attention to the house. Homedale was a big ranch that needed a lot of work on the outside. It needed new siding, a new rail built across the front porch, new lights, new paint on the shutters and doors, and some major landscaping in the back.

The landscaping consisted of a few things. The fence line along the back yard had trees and branches and bushes that all needed to come out. It also had a pool that had been filled in with dirt and had grass and weeds that hadn't been mowed in months! We had our landscapers take the grass and weeds out and fill the pool up with mulch, large rocks, bushes and a few small trees. It looked great when it was done!

The inside needed all new flooring, new bathrooms, new lights, and a lot of minor repairs. When Dan started on the siding outside he told us that it would take him a few days to finish that. Well, he was pretty much full of crap. He started on it and a week later still wasn't finished! We needed him on the inside to do some drywall work and other things on his list so that my wife and I could get in there and paint. We decided to move him inside to keep things "on schedule".

Dan was like a lot of contractors, he will tell you what you want to hear to get the job and then screw around. At least that's my opinion! He showed up daily at 9-10 am and would leave at 2-3pm. I tried yelling at him, threatening to fire him, and I can't even remember what else I did. Needless to say it was very frustrating! I decided to call his business partner, another guy named Dan, and threaten him with firing. It worked! Finally!

Dan got his stuff done, slowly but surely, and then it was time for us to move inside and him to move back out to work on the siding. Once we got in there we saw a ton of things Dan didn't do that was on his list to do. It was past the point of having him come back in because we were behind schedule. We went ahead and finished these things and kept pushing. He finaly got the siding done about 5 weeks after he started, about 3 weeks longer than he said he was going to be in there.

We have had problems with contractors in the past so we had a signed contract that stated finish date and an agreed upon price with a penalty for going over the finish date. Obviously Dan didn't get all the money he thought he was going to get. He even had the nerve to call me after the project was finished to tell me how excited he was to work together again. YEAH RIGHT!!!

On our next project I am going to cut up the jobs a bit. I am gonig to hire a friend of mine and we are going to go in and tear out carpet, cabinets, countertops, bathrooms, etc. Then our painter will come in and prep and paint walls. After that our contractor will come in and install tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. Then our contractor will install the kitchens and bathrooms as needed. Then our carpet goes in, then we sell the house and make a lot of money!

Sounds easy right? We'll see. House flipping is something that can be incredibly profitable and at the same time can be a huge pain in the butt! I'll write again when we finish our next house flipping project!! Until then, happy real estate investing!

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