Quick Update

Been extremely busy at work, at home, with REI, and with another venture I hope will open some doors. I've had a flood of people interested in buying and renting both houses since my last post, but no one seems to want to take the plunge. I think I finally convinced my wife we need a RE agent to sell them as I just don't have anymore time to devote to marketing/selling them myself. I have a meeting later this afternoon after work to interview a new agent. She actually works (and lives!) in the same area as both houses, so she may be a good fit as a future resource. She is also HUD-qualified (at least the HUD site says so - something I'll ask), which should help in future HUD acquisitions. I'm also going to meet a prospective client at House #1 who is interested in buying or leasing the property. He says it looks great from the outside, but he wants to see the inside to make a final decision. I also got an email from a birddog I met recently, who sent me two leads. One looks promising - the other looks too high. I need to run hard numbers on both to see if either will work.

See what I mean about busy? And that's just the REI part of my life. :-P

Edit: Met with the agent AND the agent's broker for well over an hour. Sounds like this will be a good fit, but I've said that before. The good thing is that the broker understands RE investing to a "T", since she invests herself. She's also a member of the city's Planning&Zoning Commission, so she has firsthand knowledge and said she can pass along any info to me. She also said that I was right in that the city does not have a housing authority, but said I could still rent via Section 8 by using a nearby city's housing authorty office. This was both new and exciting news to me as it opens up new doors for rentals.

Another bit of very good news ... The couple that saw House #1 tonight fell in love with it. They want to move in NEXT week. He says his credit is dinged from a divorce almost two years ago, but should be straightened out in 6 months. They want to lease it for 6 months and then buy it using a conventional loan. Also, they'll be renting it for $50 more a month than my previous renters. Whoo-hoo!!! I still need to verify his employment and make sure neither is feeding me BS, but they certainly seem like they are honest people.