Re: Market Update & The WREIA Weather Reset – Meeting Monday, March 20th

Shorts and t-shirts just a couple weeks ago, now we are back to the heavy winter coats.

Welcome to spring weather in Washington DC!

What does this crazy weather mean for our real estate market here in DC?

We definitely took a pause for a couple of days, but here is the thing: When you trap people inside for a few days, we all know they turn to the internet and start catching up on their web browsing.

There was a major uptick in home searches over the last week.

“Annual growth was slowest in January in Virginia Beach (+3.2 percent); Washington, D.C. (+3.6 percent); and Indianapolis (+3.7 percent).”

3.6% is great – but of the top 40 cities nationwide, it make you wonder what is going on that our back yard market can’t keep pace with Indianapolis?

You will get a chance to ask our WREIA member panel on Monday what they think is going on here in our local DC markets.

The panel lineup has not changed. Each of our guests has agreed to stick with us even though we had to reschedule from this past Monday.

We will be talking about the THREE PHASES OF RENOVATION. Each of our guests will bring their area of expertise to the panel and share their DECADES of experience.

Remember to update your calendar and be with us this Monday the 20th for our March WREIA meeting.

Also, keep an eye out for an email next week with details about our quarterly “WREIA Members Only” event. We will announce the details for you on Monday evening as well.

Do you have recent experience with Metro DC renovations? If you want to share your story about your business – can you get in touch with me? I would like to hear your story and perhaps we can share your lessons learned with our WREIA members at the March WREIA meeting.

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Interested in a seat or a WREIA Membership?

http://www.washingtonreianetwork.com/ John Peterson, the founder of Washington REIA, will be the moderator at the March 13, 2017 WREIA meeting.  Our topic will be “Panel of Professionals” where we will have DC area investors talk about the THREE PHASES OF RENOVATION.  We encourage you to attend WREIA this month at The Bethesda Womans Club – March 13th. Doors will open and registration will begin at 6:30.

“I hope to see you Monday Night!”

John Peterson

Founder, Washington REIA Network
Profitable Property
Rockville, MD
301-881-5541
ProfitableProperty@gmail.com

With over 800 renovations, John Peterson understands how to navigate the complex world of real estate investing. Submit a funding request or joint venture proposal on your project at http://www.DCHardMoneyLender.com

Re: The Key To Selling Fast

I was thinking about what to share with you today and a text came in a few moments ago from a friend.

“Have you seen The Deed on CNBC?”

“No. I saw a few ads for it. How is it?”

“You’ll like it. It’s good.”

I’m going to be honest. Another flipping show? If you’ve seen the show, let me know how it is?

Time is precious and nobody I know wants to give an hour to another drama filled flipping show where the “characters” freak out at the first sign of a dead mouse.

That said, I did find a quick article from one of the episodes where a person that looks like the “coach” or “advisor” talks about the list price being so important. You can catch the CNBC article with some video clips posted at http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/08/sidney-torres-says-this-factor-makes-a-property-sell-the-fastest.html

True. If you make a mistake on the listing price, it can be a disaster.

If you price it too low – you may be leaving money on the table.

Too high – the property could get stale while you wait for traffic to even preview the property.

I’ve made errors on both sides of that coin. Everyone has.

If you want some tips or have some questions about how to come up with the right listing price join us at WREIA on Monday night.

We are going to have a “Panel of Pro’s” joining us to give their perspective on the three phases of renovating in the DC market. Our panel will share their experiences and it’s a chance for you to ask some questions and get some live “real world” feedback.

Plan to join us on Monday.

Learn to make small corrections in your renovation process. That my WREIA friends is what our panel is going to be focused on at WREIA – Monday the 13th.

Come out and join us. Network with real people operating in this business in our DC back yard.

It’s going to be a great night. No promises, but one tip could be so good, it might make you want to get up and dance.

Do you have recent experience with Metro DC renovations? If you want to share your story about your business – can you get in touch with me? I would like to hear your story and perhaps we can share your lessons learned with our WREIA members at the March WREIA meeting.

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Interested in a seat or a WREIA Membership?

Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early.

Tremendous Savings and Additional
“Members Only” Perks for WREIA Members

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Join us on March 13th and expand your belief that other people are out with me right here in the DC area making money in Real Estate.

Let’s FOCUS and make 2017 a great year for your business!

Let me know how I can help you,

John Peterson
301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

Re: Drone Imaging For Real Estate

Like many parts of the renovation process, staging and getting the property to market is full of places some people make BIG mistakes.

Imaging can play a huge part in the success of your project. And today, there are more options than ever.

Drones, those little toys that everyone was asking about over the holidays are actually being put to use by some cutting edge agents. Of course, the professionals are using $2,000 versions of these flying video and photo machines.

We will have a panel of professional renovators with us on Monday night at our WREIA meeting talking about the three phases of renovation.

Of the three phases, staging and prepping the property to go to market is probably the least expensive. Unfortunately, by the time most renovators reach this phase, they have run over their budgets so bad that they try to “save” money right at the finish line.

There was an interesting article on CBS a few days ago that talked about how drones are changing real estate sales and marketing.

You can find the article and some nice overhead images posted at http://www.cbsnews.com/media/9-ways-drones-are-changing-real-estate/

I can save you the 9 frustrating clicks from one page to another (Why do they do that?) and point out a key take-a-way:

“People buy on emotion, and these videos really pull them in.”

Aerial photos and videos work great on the right property. If you have a small estate in Montgomery County or over in Falls Church, or a farm on the Eastern Shore it could be very appropriate to hire an aerial videographer to amp up your marketing.

The image at the top of the article is by a professional in the real estate photography business and can be viewed below.

It’s not too expensive, and can sometimes increase the number of views of your listings online. People like to share pretty things online and beautiful homes are no exception.

On a recent project we had a number of quotes in the $250-$300 range. Most companies will do internal photos as well as part of a package deal.

So there you have it. Spend a few extra dollars on your marketing expenses and perhaps you will sell a property a little faster.

Learn to make small corrections in your renovation process. That my WREIA friends is what I am going to be talking about at WREIA on Monday the 13th.

Re: Things that make me cringe….. Daisy Chain Deals.

I feel it’s my responsibility to keep our WREIA members informed on the current trends in our industry.

Buckle up. I’m fired up about this topic.

I’m going on a bit of a rant here because I HATE seeing so-called “investors” taking advantage of other people.

One of the biggest trends right now is shaking up the world of WHOLESALING.

In short, wholesaling is defined as getting a property under contract and assigning or selling the contract for a fee.

There are dozens of ways to control a property using various types of contracts.

The biggest shake-up in our industry is happening because seasoned or “mature” investors are going back to the wholesaling model.

Some of them tell me the biggest reason they are doing this is related to RISK.

Risk of money.

Risk of time.

Risk of liability.

I’m sure you have noticed the atmosphere in our country at the moment. People are angry about a lot of things.

So, some seasoned investors are fleeing to safety. Wholesaling a property is much less risky than performing an entire renovation and then trying to sell the property.

Regulations among the mortgage industry are clamping down on loans. Perhaps rightly so, perhaps not.

Regulations in the building industry have created a wide ranging number of inspectors for everything from electrical, structural and plumbing codes to chimney and mold inspections. Perhaps rightly so, perhaps not. We aren’t going into that debate here.

Wholesaling AVOIDS most of those regulation issues.

Wholesaling a property quickly passes on the risks associated with purchasing, renovating and selling or renting a property.

Perhaps I am a dying breed. I like to renovate homes and have enjoyed it for the better part of two decades.

I enjoy fixing up old houses and get satisfaction from “doing it right” and making them safe for a new family to enjoy.

We buy plenty of homes every year from wholesalers – but something is starting to bother me in the world of wholesaling, and you need to be warned about it.

The dreaded DAISY CHAIN DEAL.

They were really big a few years ago in Atlanta. So big that they got to be a problem for a lot of investors. No one in the community knows who to trust in these deals after a while. Lots of things can go wrong when so many people are involved.

Whether I get this deal “notice” buy phone, text or email the conversation goes something like this:

“Hi John, I have a deal for you. You have to act fast because it is going to be gone today.”

I’ve heard this before, of course, but my reply is usually – “Tell me about the deal.”

At this point they begin to tell me about a deal that I also got in my email two days ago, with an additional $2,000 tacked onto it. That’s a “finders fee” they explain to me.

Ok, great. This probably means that over the next few days half a dozen other “wholesalers” are going to tell me about this great deal using email, text and maybe even a few phone calls.

It’s become absolutely terrible….

BECAUSE NOW IT’S GOING NATIONWIDE.

We are starting to hear about “deals” in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan and half a dozen other states.

A few well known “real estate teachers” are talking about software that let’s you do all this in your pajamas.

Let me tell you – on a couple of occasions I might have taken a call from home. But I have never done a deal without someone from my office laying my eyes on the property. Never.

Do your due diligence people. Check those comps. Make sure you are looking at recent sales, not sales from 3 years ago and 9 miles away.

You don’t have to go far to find horror stories of over excited people who paid cash for contracts on homes – only to find them demolished with an additional enormous city tax bill.

My point is this – Be careful and know who you are dealing with in 2017. There are lots of shady people running around “daisy-chaining” trying to act like big wigs with lots of deals.

Now, why are the seasoned people starting to wholesale again? Because some of them are good marketers.

There is no harm in being a good marketer. My hats off to them.

The seasoned investors also see a national market. If they can get a property under contract and sell it to a list of national buyers, why not go nationwide and start looking for deals?

Better yet – if they can “partner” with other wholesalers and promote the property to their list – everyone wins – right?

Maybe.

Then again, maybe not.

When the deals are spread so thin, and every nickel is taken out of a wholesale deal before it hits the renovator – then we are no longer talking about a deal. It’s just another property for sale.

I think this trend of “master wholesalers” daisy chaining deals is going to be a disaster – with lots of carnage along the way. The little guy trying to do a couple deals a year is going to get taken advantage of – and lots of people are going to be confused at closing tables when they find out 6 other people are getting paid a couple grand for “marketing” a property to their email and text lists.

Ugh…..

Be careful.

As someone who wants to either become a wholesaler, a true wholesaler, you need to learn to market for properties – not buyers – as so many GURUS are starting to teach.

If you are someone who wants to flip properties, LISTEN UP. If you learn to market for properties you can save yourself thousands of dollars – sometimes 10’s of thousands of dollars. More importantly you can finally ignore all those daisy chain wholesalers.

Learn to find good deals. That my WREIA friends is what I am going to be talking about at WREIA this Monday night.

Come out and join us. Network with real people doing this business who aren’t hiding behind emails and daisy chain “deals”.

I’m fired up about this topic.

It’s going to be a good night.

Do you have recent experience with a “Daisy Chain” and want to share your story about your business – can you get in touch with me? I would like to hear your story and maybe we can share your lessons learned with our WREIA members next Monday?

*********

Interested in a seat or a WREIA Membership?

Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early.

Tremendous Savings and Additional
“Members Only” Perks for WREIA Members

*********

Join us on Feb 13th and expand your belief that other people are out with me right here in the DC area making money in Real Estate.

Let’s FOCUS and make 2017 a great year for your business!

Let me know how I can help you,
John Peterson
301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

P.S. Interested in a lender or construction partner for your pending project? Yes, we do that. We lend to and partner with people all over the DC area. Call the office and lets set up a time to talk through or walk through your project.

Re: Tiny Houses

NFL superstar “Neon Deion” Sanders used to live in a 29,000 Sq. Ft. mansion.  He sold it in 2014 and downsized to only 7,000 square feet.  But why in the world is he thinking about moving to a 600 sq. ft. tiny house?

 Downsizing is a hot topic.

One of the struggles that investors, especially new investors, face is their inability to fund a GOOD project.

Let’s be clear on something.  If it’s a good deal – the money will be there IF you are looking in the right place.

That is a powerful statement that many people breeze past.

FIRST – FUNDAMENTALLY, it must be a good deal.  If your deal is too “thin”,  private money and hard money will run the other way – or even worse – will slow you down while they “review” the deal.

If you are trying to find money through friends and family, they might not know what a “good” deal actually is – and in most situations, working with friends and family – especially as lenders – can be a recipe for relationship disaster.

A short video about our next WREIA meeting in Bethesda where we will be talking about “Finding Money and Finding Deals” is posted here:

SECOND – The money will be there IF you are looking in the right place.

“Some people are crazy” is a blanket statement we all hear from time to time.  Well, let’s all be honest – that extends into business too.

It’s a fact of life that we all run into people who “rub us the wrong way”.  We think that one person may be terrific, while your good friend may have a different opinion of that same person.

A big reason we might  have a rewarding business relationship with one person and not another may be where we SOURCE that relationship.

At our monthly WREIA meetings we see a lot of people that become lasting friends based on their shared passion for real estate.  They may come from different ethnic, cultural, political or religious backgrounds, but because of their shared love of real estate, they have a deep common bond.

It’s a beautiful thing to see our WREIA members truly bonding – especially over shared success stories and even stories about their struggles.  Successful people WANT to help the person that is just getting started or facing an obstacle.  Our WREIA organization is full of successful investors.

When it comes to financing a property – if your source of funds comes from someone who is a great investor because they have a sizeable stock portfolio that could pose problems down the road.

Someone who has had success building a stock portfolio by trading stocks, but never held real estate, may not have the temperament for a six to 12 months renovation project.   You can’t liquidate a house by pushing a “sell” button.

Remember, this all hinges on that fact that a GOOD deal makes life much, much easier.  When you FIND a good deal, you can screw up in a lot of other parts of this business and still find success.

So – come on out to our WREIA meeting this month and join us as we discuss the process of finding a GOOD deal here in the DC area and marrying it to the RIGHT type of capital.

John Peterson
301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder

Re: Pet Cemeteries

Of all the renovation shows, few get the negative feedback that “Flipping Vegas” receives.

When I bring up the show to a few friends I heard these descriptive replies:

“I *&$#ing hate that show.”

“Garbage TV.”

“Unbearable.”

“It’s everything wrong with America today.”

Calm down a minute already. It’s not that bad.

When it comes to that “special type of acting required” for reality TV that we mentioned in our post about the Flip or Flop couple – well, this cast takes it to a whole new level.

“Overacting” might be a better way to describe the show.

Everything is a major catastrophe.

I did a quick search to find what the broader internet audience thinks of “Flipping Vegas” – I will spare you the bitterness. Let’s just say the feedback amongst my flipping friends was not far off the internet consensus.

Here is a clip from the Cat House episode where Scott Yancey talks about “hemorrhaging” money. (As he does on every episode.)

You get a taste of his special type of acting skills.

However – if you watch the episode you will also find a take-a-way from the episode. My discovery was that it is possible to respectfully deal with a previous owners love of their pets.

Specifically, dealing with a home-made pet cemetery.

I am a pet lover. I grew up with pets. I have owned pets. I think they are valuable and can help teach our kids responsibility and compassion.

That said – the previous owner of the “Cat House” obviously took things too far.

That house was really in bad shape. When you have to remove up to 4 feet of drywall from the pet “debris” – things have gotten out of control.

For a few hundred dollars they had a local “licensed” professional deal with the remains of the few cats buried and memorialized in the back yard.

Now, after a thousand renovations, I have seen pet memorials on properties.  Numerous times.  We usually just ask the previous owners if they have a desire for the memorial if we thought there might be any value. Otherwise, we have been reluctant to due much of anything.

Now I know it is actually possible to exhume the remains and have them properly cremated. Which perhaps is safer for the environment and respectful as well.

Maybe this was a little gory topic for the weekend? Maybe. But now you are equipped with something to talk about that doesn’t involve the weather.