H ammer

[wallstreet]

So lets talk about business..

Tell me about what you do..I will do the same!

[Sports-Plays]

Currently working on my Master's at LSU. I'm originally from California and the difference in housing costs here are night and day. Typically I try to stay in white communities and rehab homes there. I use the local Sheriff's condemned homes list to find absentee owners or homes that need more cosmetic work than structural. I have a basic formula I use to determine if the prospective rehab is worth flipping or not and on occasion I have bought a small home and sold the contract to a larger investor for a quick 3-5K. Right now I'm trying to learn more about Lease Purchasing. The down side here is that I can only get a LTV ratio of about 55-65% which typically means more money out of my pocket. But, I plan on keeping some cash from each deal until I can purchase and rehab with all of my own cash.

I genuinely want to accumulate enough property to not have to get a "real job". Real estate is the only safe bet when it comes to investing...in my opinion anyway!!

Let me know what's up with you? I am not nearly as intelligent as you are with respect to the stock market. I am more of a chart analyst. I always seem to get into stocks after a 25% gain and then I have to ride out the correction!!

The Ham mer

[wallstreet]

H ammer,

I have done a few rehabs, just finished one and it is currently on the market.

The details on my last one is the property is built in the 70's, it was a bank REO property, people defaulted on the loan and went into foreclosure..then it was sold at auction and bot by a bank out of state. They tried to do some easy fixing and sell, which they couldnt.

I bot for 82k, the house is 2500 sqft with 4 bd and 2.5 bath. It needed nearly everything..I mean everything.. I have spent about 45k in fixing, holding, acquiring etc.. trying to sell for 162k. I have a crappy agent, so it has been dragging for a few months.. But it will be a nice payday when I get it done..

I am not large on lease option properties, I dont think you will be able to acquire a rehab property through a lease option. I would recommend using a hard money lender for ease and speed of closing. I was able to close in less than 2 weeks on this one using a HML.

I enjoy the flexibility it gives, and I like learning and doing the work. Next property will have a better location..this one has an ecclectic guy next door and it has stopped a few people from wanting to buy..the guy is a pack rat and an oddball..

I also am a chartist..I like technical analysis, speaking of that I was looking at the homebuilders that 4breakout was talking about..and I can see based on a chart why shorting a few of them would have been smart in December. RYL and CTX had triple tops in december, looks like a total head and shoulders formation on the chart..when it triple topped it was an easier trade. Pull up a chart on CTX..it is amazing..

So what market are you in now? You said LA, I am in PHX and certain areas are ok to invest in..but this city is one of the most competitive investor wise that I have EVER been in.. People overpay at the auction and buy nearly anything for the sheer fact of owning.. and it shows in the foreclosure rate.. PHX is very high in foreclosures..

So where did you get your education in RE investing? I have studied Subto (Contract for Deed) Lease Optioning etc..and LO'ing is a very weak strategy, I much prefer Contract for Deed..

Hope we get to discuss this in more detail...I have a website for my biz, what about you?