Rough Week

What a week! Let's just say we have run into a little "snag" with our real estate investment. Long story - short, apparently we don't actually "own" the house we renovated. We have recently learned that we were apart of a black market real estate scheme. The crazy part is that the individual we purchased the home from did not own the house either. After looking into it further the actual "House Deed"was counterfeit, It was nothing more then a certificate template he downloaded online. I am kicking myself for not seeing it earlier, (I have actually used the same template to make awards before).
So... sorry if anyone had their hearts set on this one. Luckily the real owner said he would not press charges for painting his house. We just have to paint it back (Can you believe he actually wants us to paint it back turquoise! - That is the real crime)

Needless to say, Kenny is pretty upset at the whole thing. He is saying he is the one that lost everything. I just have to keep reminding him that my part of the investment was the wisdom and experience. When it comes down to it you can always earn more money. How do you replace wisdom or experience? You can't.

Anyway, the real estate market has left a bad taste in my mouth so I think I am going to shift my career directions for a little while. Besides, I have a gut feeling that the real estate market may be softening in the near future. I have always had a dream to record audio books. I have had more then one person comment on my unique voice and I think it might be time to put it to use. So I have started practicing reading some books (mostly Harry Potter, my English accent impression is Uncanny.) but, nothing real has stood out that I want to do for a debut book. Any suggestions?

Hunter

Flip this House - Part Two

Wow! what a weekend. I have never worked so hard in my whole life. Don't ever let anyone tell you that managing a single employee is easy. I had to use every management technique I could think of to keep Kenny on task. I even did a lot of the low intensity of painting myself. I did have to take regular breaks, because I am still having some complications from my foot surgery and can't be on my feet for extended periods of time. Anyway, we worked all day yesterday. It was gruelling but take a look at these pictures and I think you will agree that sometimes sweat equity does pay off.

Let me give you the run-down of what we did. We changed the entire exterior, updating it with a nice calming earthtone blend. A huge improvement from that ghastly 80's turquoise. For the kitchen, we wanted to give it a contemporary look. I have always loved black & white. It's timeless and as you can see gave this kitchen exactly what it needed. I have to give Kenny props for the bathroom. I'll admit I was hesitant at letting him do a room all by himself but, as you know from "Extreme Home Makeover," every renovated house needs at least one room with a theme -- and who doesn't love basketball. I actually think that bathroom might be the cheese on the mousetrap for someone.

Oh yes, I did thank you guys for bringing it to my attention the proximity of the adjacent home to ours. I look at it a little closer. It looks like there is some connecting walls. However, I didn't notice it originally so I do think many other people will either. So, we are going to start advertising it on craigslist and will try to get some video of the remodel on You Tube. I have some classic video of me inspiring Kenny with a megaphone. Getting it online may be a problem.(Once again, my computer keeps acting up. I keep getting these weird pop-ups and then the screen just goes blank for 30 seconds. I'm pretty sure it's the monitor. This will be the 6th monitor I've had in the last year. They just don't make them like they used to.

-Back to the home, if you know of anyone who might be interested send them my way.

-Hunter

Flip this House

It was just brought to my attention that I have not yet posted anything on this blog regarding real estate. Which is of course shocking because it is definitely something I excel at and I enjoy doing. Truth be told, my cousin Kenny and I are about to begin on a little real estate investment / project. I have always had a dream of buying an older house, fixing it up and selling it for a huge profit. However, due to a few bumps in my credit (curse the Nordstrom's half yearly sale and the 2002 Olympic Edition Pontiac Aztec that I just had to have) a home loan has been a bit of a challenge. So I would like to congratulate Kenny on becoming my partner. He will contribute the financial capital and I will contribute the knowledge capital. Anyway, the plan is to post our progress. So here are a few photos. Here are the before pictures:















As you can see we have a lot of work to do. But you can also see the potential. The best part is the sweet deal we got on this house. I don't want to reveal the price until we have it fixed up and sold. Does anyone know how to get a hold of the producers of "Flip this House?" I think HGTV would love to promo this. If you do please forward me their contact info.

So I will keep everyone updated on the progress. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. We are going to make a ton of money! The only thing I'm nervous about is Kenny's poor taste in paint color. (We spent and hour and a half at Home Depot fighting over colors.) Kenny wants me to believe that because he once dated a girl that was going to be an interior designer that he taste is better then mine. Yeah Right!

Stay tuned for more house updates!

Hunter