Wealth Steps Blog and Site Updates

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House #8: Fix and Flip “Before” Pictures

This is long overdue but here are the "before" pictures on House #8, our newest fix and flip project. As I had mentioned in the previous post this house is in a new area for us and is bigger, nicer and higher price range than what we have done before.

I'll walk you through the pictures so you can see some of the major repairs and upgrades that we planned for it.

Reader mail: Doing the work yourself when flipping houses

I’ve been following your website for quite a while, especially the house flipping part. I'm very interested in house flipping myself and am trying to start

Taking Control of Your Money

You and I can probably agree that money cannot buy happiness. It’s a common expression and you have probably seen a case or two of someone with a lot of money that was miserable or even took their own life.

Yet our actions with money throughout our life suggest that the more money we have the more we spend in the subconscious effort to “buy happiness”. Think about it…

When you are feeling down you “treat” yourself to something to make you feel better…Whether it’s a new pair of shoes, a movie ticket, a drink, a nice dinner, an ice cream cone, etc.

When you want to celebrate good fortune you probably spend money in some way…A nice dinner, a gift from the mall, a vacation, weekend getaway, a catered party, etc.

When you are looking to do something fun or are bored you spend money again…Go shopping, the movies, buy something online, the casino, a sporting event, go to some big box store to buy something on credit, etc.

Partnering with Family for House Flipping

I am interested in asking some more questions geared around flipping houses. My brother is a general contractor so using him would be my best option. If

Life After College Roadmap

For those of you out there that are visual persons, I thought you would find this image useful. Also, if you have someone in college or a recent graduate you care about you might want to share this with them.

As you can imagine the road to travel after graduation is not always clear cut. Although this sketch oversimplifies the many crucial decisions that hang on the balance at this point in life, I still think at the least is a good starting point to get you thinking.

Beginning Real Estate Investing | Real Estate Investing for Beginners

Real estate is a proven way of creating wealth. Beginning real estate investing is not as hard as it seems nor as easy as late-night infomercials make it sound. This is one way you can get started...

Tips to Control Impulse Spending

Do you have a problem with impulse spending? If you don’t know how to answer this question then look at your latest credit card statement. Can you pay it off in full?...

If the answer is no then you might have a problem with impulse spending. Also, I want you to think and give yourself an honest answer to the following questions:

Do you go to Walmart or Target to grab “one quick little thing” and come out with more than you went in for…lots more?

Do you buy things just because they were on sale even though you really did not need them?

The first step in changing this habit is realizing you have a problem and then doing something about it. Impulse spending might be the way you spend money and you might not think of it as a problem.

However, if it’s causing you to go into debt because you fund many of your impulse buys with a credit card that you can’t pay off at the end of the month…or you just “can’t find” the money to create an emergency fund or put money into savings or investments then impulse spending could be a problem for you.

Once you realize that impulse spending is an issue for you the following tips can help you deal with it:

Wayback Machine:House #5: Flipping Bank Owned Real Estate

We sold House #5 back in 2010 and like all investments it had it's share of lessons learned. Overall this was not a difficult rehab but it still had it's share of surprises.

One of them was dealing with septic tanks. Although there was nothing wrong with the septic tank system before we could sell the house we had to do an inspection and cleaning of the tank. In the process I learned there are some septic tank companies in this city that are less than ethical. What was supposed to be a $200 job they wanted to turn into $800 by trying to pull a bait and switch on me.

Look at the before, after and final analysis on this house so you can follow along on what it took to flip this house...

Rehabbing House #8: The Budget

Like I had mentioned in previous posts, House #8 was not only going to require a lot of work but it was going to be more expensive work and more extensive too.

Putting together a detailed budget proved to be a challenge because the repairs were very diverse and because of the size and price range of the property they were also harder for me to estimate.

For example, although I have replaced roofs before and have pricing figures from previous roof work, the roof on this house was huge and steep which adds to the overall difficulty of the job. So while in the past I had roofed houses for $3,000 to $4,000 this one was going to be $6,000+.

The other aspect of estimating this was that this house being a higher price range than what I had done before it needed to be finished nicer than the basic homes I had rehabbed in the past. This meant granite counter tops instead of Formica. High end stainless steel appliances rather than basic black. Lots of crown molding, 8 inch base board instead of 4 and more finish trim overall. The list goes on…

What Kind of Results Are You Getting?

I was talking with someone recently and somehow we ended up talking about real estate. When I told them that I have been buying, rehabbing and selling real estate (otherwise known as flipping) over the last couple of years, he gave me the “deer in the headlights” look.

To which I replied that in principle it’s the same thing except nowhere near as easy or as dramatic as they make it look on TV.

Then he said in disbelief, “that is completely the opposite of what you see and hear in the news…”

Buying your own materials for rehabbing houses

Should I buy my own finishing materials, appliances,cabinets,counter tops,paint etc. Or allow my GC to do it all? LM says:Kareem, this cake can be

Tax Considerations when Flipping Houses

Your blog is very thorough for one to understand the finances of flipping; however, what about uncle Sam's cut? You have not discussed the tax implications

Making Money With Real Estate Wholesaling

There are several ways to make money in real estate investing. Real estate wholesaling is one of those ways. For many, wholesaling real estate provides a relatively easy and low risk way to enter the world of real estate investing if you are willing to educate yourself and do the work.

Wholesaling real estate provides you an opportunity to build income now while the requirement for capital or credit is very low as compared to other real estate investing opportunities.

Basic Financial Plan to retire in 7 years

Me and my wife made up our minds that we want to leave corporate America and get out of the rat race in 7 years give or take. We are not exactly debt free

The 6 Steps to Basic Financial Planning

Its been said that the average person spends more time planning a vacation than they do their finances. Basic financial planning can be the key to not only getting you out of debt but setting you up to build wealth.

When you are dealing with something as important and potentially complicated as your finances you need to take some time to figure out what you want, set some goals and plan to achieve those goals.

So grab a cup of coffee because this is a long one and then follow the link to read more...

Fix and Flip House #8: Negotiating on Bank Owned Properties

In the last post on House #8 I covered how I came to find House #8. Now that I had done a “good enough” inspection of the house I came up my initial price that I wanted to pay for it considering the repairs that it needed, how much I could resell it for and how much profit I wanted to get out of the deal.

I say “good enough” inspection because I would be doing a more thorough inspection later during the “due diligence” period. This is something that I put into all of my offers where basically I get a couple of days (I typically ask for 3-5) where I can back out of the contract for practically any reason I can come up with, if I want to...

11 Signs That You Need Credit Counseling Debt Relief

Credit counseling debt relief can be a good resource for dealing with overwhelming debt or learning how to better handle your finances. Counseling credit & debt relief services are available through numerous resources, private or public.

Read the following list and be honest with yourself…no one is looking and you don’t have to raise your hand

. See if any of these applies to you:

11 Ways to Improve Your Life Now

The year is coming to an end and December is one of my favorite months for two reasons. First, because of the Holidays, the time off and the fun of the season. Second, because I get to look back on 2011 and see what I did with the year.

Good because in the rush-rush of everyday we are always looking to what’s next but if you take some time and look back you might realize that it was a great year, better than you remembered.

I know I realized one lifetime goal this year, riding my bike through the French Alps. Yet somehow it feels like it flew by unless I stop and think about how great of an experience it was.

It can also be bad because you might realize that your year did not go the way you wanted...you did not achieve the goals you set for yourself...you might not be where you wanted to be.

As painful as this can be it’s important that you realize it or else you can’t learn from the experience and become better from it.

So considering that December is a good opportunity to look back, evaluate, clean and prepare for the next year, here are some good things you might want to consider doing this month:

Best Way to Organize Bills | Organize Files

Tired of paying late fees on bills? Follow these easy steps to organize bills and stay on top of them, it’s easier than you think. How to organize an office. How to organize files.

Lessons Learned of a First Time Entrepreneur

Because of my real estate business and this website I have had the experience of being an entrepreneur and business owner for a couple of years now. In that time I have been able to pick up a few good business lessons that I would like to share with you.

Some people might think that to be successful in business you have to resort to some undesirable conduct or looking out for yourself at the expense of the other in order to make a profit. The reality that I have encountered is not like this at all…

Guide to Simple Net Worth Calculation

Your net worth calculation can help you measure your financial well-being. By knowing what your net worth is right now and then tracking it over time you can measure the progress you make as you build wealth. It is important to understand what goes into your net worth so you can understand why it goes up or down over time.

Calculating your net worth will help you see what progress you are making in saving, investing and growing your money while at the same time reducing and eliminating your debts...

Our Next House Flipping Project: House #8

We have found our next house flip, House #8 is our new rehabbing project. Unlike our previous flipping projects there are several things with this house that is going to make it a different deal for us.

Our previous home flipping projects have been mostly houses for first time home buyers. Here in Atlanta, specifically the North and Northwest part of the city, that typically means a house with at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and in the low $100,000 price range. Our typical rehab cost is in the $20k range and it takes us about 2-3 weeks of work to turn a house around...

Becoming a Part Time Entrepreneur

Building wealth requires many things. If your main or only source of income is your job, you may also have some savings in the bank, possibly a retirement account and maybe some investments. You may have realized that those will not be enough for you to create wealth or achieve financial independence...

Education in Real Estate Investing – First Step for Creating Real Estate Wealth

The #1 factor that keeps people away from real estate investing is not money but education.

There are many that think that to successfully invest in real estate you need to have money to invest. But that is not the case.

Actually, if you have money but no education you are almost sure to loose your money. Successful investing will be a result of your knowledge backed up by your desire and will...

Being Grateful

My fellow Wealth Steps readers. I just wanted to send you a very sincere and joyous thank you for your support to our little website. I wish you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving Day and holiday season.

Blog and RSS Issues

It has been brought to my attention that our RSS feed (orange button on the left that says RSS)that you use to read the blog updates on your favorite RSS reader is broken. It somehow stopped updating after October 13.

Also, if you are subscribed to email updates, those are not working either so you would not have received any new content through email.

Honestly, I got no idea what is going on

but I will soon find out. If you can help me out I would appreciate it, otherwise I'll let you know when it's fixed.

How Proactive Thinking Can Change Your Life

Proactive thinking can change your life. Whether you want to change your finances, your relationships or the direction of your life. These proactive behavior tips can help you take charge of your life

Credit card debt conversion to real estate mortgage debt

Local lenders will not give us mortgages on free and clear real estate (mostly commercial unfortunately). They say we owe too much. If some of the credit

Wealth Creation Secrets

What are the wealth creation secrets of the top 1%? Read an interesting article about the wealth distribution in the US. It’s not just where the wealth is at but more about how at the top 1% level of

Make Money Real Estate: The Final Analysis on House #7

After all the rehab is done, all the papers signed and all the returns have gone back to Home Depot it's time to crunch some numbers...

In this article we take you through the final steps in getting this house sold and the final analy$i$ on the deal. See for yourself how the financials of the deal worked out...