Ah, the eBay property saga

Quick refresher from yesterday...

Over the summer I got a cash flowing duplex under contract, then proceeded to have much difficulty getting access to the property, so I rescinded my offer.

I forgot about this yesterday...after rescinding I was contacted by Aaron and he mentioned he could probably move it quickly, but if I had a lower price.  Told him I had just dropped it.

Seller contacted me to see if we could get it back on track.  I offered about $5k less this time ($13k) and then let Aaron know.  We decided to go in as partners on the deal and he worked to get into the property to check it out.  Got in, took a ton of pics, contacted his list...his nearly sure thing buyer did not pan out.

Contacted another wholesaler friend, Rosanne, asked her to send it to her list...nothing. Between the two of us we put it out to our lists at $19,900 and we both got replies asking what is wrong with the property because it was priced so low.  Really?  "You know, that deal is too good, please charge me more."

 We re-grouped and decided to put it up on eBay.

Now, the next part of the story...

So we put the property up on eBay for 14 days (which was too long, will do something shorter next time) and a decent following developed.  Got some inquiries about it, a couple of investors had multiple inquiries, so that was a good sign.

(Oh, and at this point I had made a decently-sized mistake.  I agreed to partner 50-50 w/ Aaron so we would split regardless of who found buyer.  This was fine since he actually did a decent amount of legwork on this.  When his buyers did not pan out, I reached out to Rosanne to see if her list would be better.  Now, if Rosanne gets the buyer we are splitting the take in half.  Then, I am splitting my half w/ Aaron.  Not my best decision, but 25% of something is better than 100% of nothing.)

As expected the action did not really take off until the auction period was just about over (during the last day).  There were two investors who were bidding against each other, the same guys who had been emailing us.

At the end of the auction the winning bid was $22,500.  Contract price was $13,100, so a nice $9,400 payday.  Woo-hoo!  Got in touch with the winning bidder, he is in Australia.  Got the assignment letter to him and sent a $2,000 deposit via PayPal.  Nice.  Seller is in CA, property is near Pittsburgh and the buyer is in Australia.  This should be a piece of cake, right?

Got the deposit no problem.  Got my attorney to quarterback the closing.  Buyer hired a local attorney to be his representation.  Ok, all of the players are in place.  The train is on track and heading out of the station.

Then the wheels fall off...

As promised for more details (aka what a nightmare)

So I had gotten this cash flowing duplex under contract waaay back in the summer (July or August). My first sign that this was probably not going to go smoothly was that I had a very difficult time getting into the property. Actually, the PM was going to get in and take pictures. This was not happening, so after 10 days of trying to get it done I rescinded my offer. If I (or someone I send) can't get in, how can I know what exactly is going on with the property?

Shortly after I rescinded the offer, the seller contacted me and asked if it would be possible to re-visit the deal. I decided I would give it another shot, but I lowered my offer to $13,100, which was accepted. This is a property that was originally be offered for $27k. My first contract was for $18k, then I got it or $5k less...

Crap! How low could I have gone?

Ok, so now I have it again. I hooked up with another wholesaler (Aaron) who knows that area much better than I do AND he said that he has a couple of investors who like that area so long as they can get in @ $10k per unit or less. Sweet. We are going to sell if for $19,900, which would be a decent payday for us.

So, he started trying to get into the property and it was basically the same thing again, so I told the seller I would rescind again unless we got in immediately. She got in touch with the PM and my partner got in...but by this time it was nearly Labor Day.

Unfortunately, the couple of buyers who he had in mind took a pass on the property. Awesome. I was also working with another investor friend of mine in CA (Rosanne) who has a fairly active list of buyers who will buy wherever, and she got some interest, but they turned out to just like to ask a lot of questions. Great.

Here it is just after Labor Day and what looked to be an easy sell has turned out to be anything but.

So, while Aaron continued to push the property to his list, Rosanne and I looked to do something neither of us had done before, put the property on eBay. This went well, much better than we expected, but then it got interesting.

I'll have the interesting eBay part for you tomorrow...

OMG! I last posted when?!?

Umm, ok, so I said I was going to be better at posting. I guess that translated to "I may never post again." It has been MONTHS since I have posted...not good.

So, I have had a bunch of stuff going on, but at the same time it doesn't really feel like it. It's strange.

Here are some highlights (chronological order, will add details soon)

1. Sold a property on eBay to a guy in Australia (Sep 09)
2. Got a fire-damaged triplex under contract for $1 and found a buyer
3. Got some new websites, updated existing sites
4. Finally replaced my PC with a brand spankin' new iMac (this thing is SA-WEEEEEET!)
5. Wife and I had a baby. Awesome!
6. Burned out triplex deal fell apart (thanks, mayor)
7. Had to re-do all of the sites I built myself (see #4)
8. Started getting some traction with affiliate marketing and CPA offers
9. Got shut down by Craigslist
10. 2010 came along
11. May have lost the deal with the Australia buyer...no, it was not a quick close (for MANY reasons)

That is a run down of the big things that have happened since my last post. I'm pretty sure I am missing some things, but they must not have been that big of a deal if I cannot think of them right now.

Here is Ethan