For years I used to watch the Carlton Sheets infomercial on T.V. I knew there was a lot of money to be made in real estate investments but I did not have a clue where to start.
I have a friend that is a realtor and I told him I bought the Carlton Sheets program. He said, "Get your realtor's license first and learn the rules and laws first." I took the realtor's course and got hired on with Century 21. For the first few years I worked with a lot of different investors trying to learn their method / niche. I finally caught on.
I noticed that HUD (foreclosures) dumped a lot of equity, so I monitored the MLS very hard for a good flip / rehab property. The perfect one came up. It was a red brick house on a slab, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, about 1200 heated, less than 5 years old. One of my friends from the National Guard knew a lot about construction, painting, electrical, etc... We were good friends and could do business on a handshake. A lot of other investors placed bids but we won at $39,000. Being that my credit was not strong enough but I did have money saved up, we used his credit to get the mortgage and my money for the closing costs. We had the outside and inside panted and cleaned up the yard and put the house back on the MLS market. We sold the house and it appraised for $74,000. Our gross was $24,000 (-) capital gains tax, interest, and other expenses = a net of $9,800 each.
The funny thing is my broker (boss) had been a realtor for over 30 years and told me not to do it. He did not understand the principle of getting someone's equity. When I closed the deal I went into his office and showed him the check for $24,000 and told him this is what you told me not to do. He then went on to flip 2 houses before he had a major stroke. I got another partner and flipped two more houses until he moved to Arkansas. I am currently looking for another backer. I love art. Getting a distressed house and turning it into something pretty is both fun and very profitable. It is the ultimate "rush".
Brady Howard buyahowardhome@hotmail.com West Monroe, LA Nov 6, 2007
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