Our First Purchase

   Less than 1 month into starting our business, we thought we found a great deal. Instead, we found a learning lesson. Many of them.

Welcome to 1700 Baker Lane in Payette, Idaho as when we first saw:

Video of the Property in February 2013

Not very pretty. Did you want to see it again, only in still motion? Check out these pictures:

Outside of the Property

Living Room

Nice built in right? Made with press-board.

Kitchen. Was this 1960s or 1970s?

The Bathroom, love the window. It goes into the Utility Room.

Built in Closet in the Only Bedroom. Yes, it's press-board.

Utility Room

This might be a bedroom. I wasn't sure in the beginning. 

Another Bedroom? 

600 sq. ft. enclosed porch. Why?

Still the Porch. But at least you stay dry going out to the garage.

   Again, not very pretty. But still salvageable. And what a deal we thought. Now we had to find a way to get the money to buy this property and rehab it. After many meetings, and social gatherings, we found an interested partner. But because we were just starting, he only wanted to fund the purchase of the property. So now we still needed money for the rehab.
  Trough a friend we found a couple of hungry contractors. They had just started their own business, and was looking for a project. After two or three meetings, a couple of walk throughs of the property, they were good to go. On one condition, they wanted us to have skin in the game. Meaning, we needed to bring something to the table. So we broke out our Home-Depot Cards. Here is Mistake Number One.
   On to Mistake Number Two. We started the rehab. And what we thought should have been maybe a 12 week project, we actually planned for 8, turned into a 5 month project.
  Mistake Number Three. We should have started marketing the property as soon as we purchased it. We had the educational tools in front of us. But we didn't watch the videos, read the lessons, or implement a plan. So, instead of just one mistake here, we actually made two. Not good.
 In all reality, our contractors did a great job. I could not have been more impressed. Take a look below:

Front

Remember this bathroom?

Living Room

Kitchen

New Utility Room.

New Master Bathroom

New Porch

   Quite impressive right? We thought for sure, we could have sold this property for at least $139,900. But that led up to our next mistake. Mistake Number 4, and Mistake Number Five. 

   We bought this property in March of 2013, and we are still trying to sell it. If you are interested, please go to our webpage:

Properties For Sale

   I will not post on this Blog, how much we bought the property for, what we spent to rehab, or how much we made or lost on each property. I feel that is just bragging, and I think our completed projects brag enough for us.

   So here are the mistakes, just in case you didn't catch them.

Mistake Number One - Try to always use other people's money. A person can get to emotional about what needs to be done, when it is your own money.

Mistake Number Two - Always have a timeline to complete the project, and stick to it.

Mistake Number Three - Marketing is the key to any businesses success, so always market. And if you don't have the tools to do so. Create some!!

Mistake Number Four - Some areas have certain periods of the year when people are buying. This property was completed during a period when no one is buying.

Mistake Number Five - We had a great Realtor working for us. But, she knows Canyon County. This property is in Payette County. Two completely different markets.

So why share the mistakes we made? Because we are human, and are prone to make some bad judgement calls. But we also learn from them. Bou and I will not make these same mistakes again.

  

And in the Beginning, We started a business.

In the Spring of 2009, I stood in the middle of my living room, explaining to select friends, and family, where I thought Real Estate would be going. I thought I could see where the trend was going.

The prices on homes had fallen, the market was flooded, and no one was buying. I explained to my captive audience, (I bribed them with dinner, so they were stuck with me), that we needed to get into the business... NOW!

That didn't happen. But I kept a close eye on trends, and the interest rate. I knew that something was going to happen.

In the Fall of 2012, I heard something on the radio. "Let us teach you how to make money in Real Estate!" A free seminar to get some information on how to do, what I thought we should have been doing 3 years earlier. So I called up my brother-in-law.

"Hey Bou, you need to hear this". I had called the number, got a reservation to attend, and I invited Bou to go with me.

We went. Needless to say, he saw the potential, of what I had been trying to get started. And we moved forward. Yes, we paid for the next step.

Another seminar, we sat and listened to what Jeremy Black had to say. It was all very interesting, and a lot of what I had been saying for the last three years was confirmed. We could start a business in Real Estate. And we could be successful if we wanted to. We just needed an education.

During the weekend of the Seminar, I actually played Devil's Advocate, and tried to talk Bou out of doing this. Instead, he was more than willing to move forward. We did it. We started taking the right steps, to become who we are today.

Just like any Lawyer, who spends years in Colleges trying to learn his trade, we paid for an education that would teach us, how we could become successful in Real Estate.

And so, that weekend H&B Property Redevelopment LLC was born. Two managers, myself, and Bou would begin our journey. Follow us through this BLOG, as I explain each of the deals we have completed since then, where we are today, and what we are doing for the future.