All Forum Posts by: James Vermillion

Welcome to BP Clarence! I started rehabbing houses with a partner when I was active duty Air Force. I have since separated, but I understand some of the challenges of being in the military and trying to pursue real estate investing. BiggerPockets is such a great resource with many experienced and helpful members. Make sure you browse the forums and blogs...there is a wealth of information in each section. Good luck to you!

Julie Grupke, I just logged into my Facebook business page and it looks like you can add both photos and videos (although I have only done photos up until now).

Julie,

Your winters are much colder than ours, so I am not sure if you would be able to do this, but we just finished a rehab and we were able to dig out around the house and add some small bushes and dark mulch. In my opinion, the mulch alone adds a lot to a yard and the fact that the hard part is done (digging up the grass and adding a planting area) will help with buyers.

As for the grass, we generally try to seed in the fall but got to it late this year...I am not sure what the effect will be on the results. Hopefully someone from that area can chime in with better advice.

These type of things actually happen very frequently. Like with any property you have to do your due diligence and ensure the property is indeed a good deal...who is selling really has nothing to do with it.

I have known rehabbers who have bitten off more than they can chew and had to unload properties before they were able to rehab them. In addition to the reasons others stated above there are dozens of things that could happen that would cause a rehabbing company to sell prior to rehabbing.

Gulfield Jones, Congratulations! I wish you luck as you look for the next one!

This is another instance where balance is required. Sure, there are tons of things someone could hire a V.A to do to free up some time and increase their own production, but as others have mentioned many things cannot/should not be done by someone else. I would never let someone post under my name (no matter how great they are). I try to take pride in what I write (although I am sure I have posted some things that people might assume were done by a cheap VA), and I think it is important that only you represent yourself both online and in person.

These issues go with any assistant and employee as well, not just the virtual ones. I have seen instances of actual office assistants and personal assistants hurting people and companies because of their actions. You have to be very careful who you choose to let represent your business, but I would never let anyone represent me!

Nice tip Loren Whitney. I will also be trying this out...thanks!

Fear sales publications and gets ratings! While it is true that funds and institutional investors are buying properties, I do not believe it will put a lot of small investors out of business. It is important to stay up on current events, but at the same time I don't believe a lot of what I have read. If you continue to monitor your market and adjust your strategy when needed you will continuously be successful.

I noticed no one had responded to this yet...I am curious as to what BP nation thinks. Obviously we are in an interesting time with the so called "fiscal cliff" looming. Overall though, I expect my market to look much like it did in 2012, during which the market tightened up, properties sold more quickly and investor competition increased. I believe these trends will continue at a similar pace during 2013...but deals will still be out there.

We are starting to expand our operation to include rentals, just put our first one under contract a few weeks ago and will be looking for number two in the near future. I believe the rental market will be very strong for the foreseeable future and we love the idea of being able to finance these rentals at such attractive rates. We plan to continue rehabbing and selling to gain capital to both purchase more rentals and expand our flipping operations.

I am curious as to what others, especially those in more "dynamic" markets are expecting and what adjustments they are making.

Brandon Turner, congrats, you are famous! I am going to have to check out this PDF now.