Another BiggerPockets article is up, Carpet or Tile? Rehab Decision Making for Nervous Newbies.
Nothing new on the REI front until January… lots of family and business stuff to wrap up before moving on to ‘08
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Here’s the link to an article written for BiggerPockets with the snappy title, “That’s Too Risky! Overcoming A Poverty Mindset.”

Josh doesn’t know yet, but I may be too overcome with Christmas Cheer to write another for next Saturday.
 <Gratuitous Snicker>
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Confessions of a Former RK Addict
My first real estate investment book purchase wasn’t actually about real estate at all–RK’s Rich Dad books inspired us to action and I will be forever grateful.
Unfortunately, most of the real estate advice and examples were seriously dated, going back to before the humongous tax reforms that changed real estate investment forever […]

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Yesterday, the mister wanted to ride around looking for prospects for his birthday. Gotta love that man
We found this little jewel. In general, we’ve avoided  this area as almost everything requires both well and septic which can be a bugger when replacement time comes. However one neighborhood has community water. It’s beautiful- tons of hardwoods […]

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Books That Deserve a First, Second, Third and Thirty-third Reading
Reading this wonderful post over on Shaun’s blog, How To Get Started In Real Estate For Under $400, got me thinking about our own beginning in REI. For starters, our experience closely mirrored his post (never tried #10… just not a birddog by nature). And I can’t […]

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 We made it over to the house late last night to check on the tile installation.

Couldn’t get back far enough to get a shot of the entire kitchen without stepping on the newly laid tile.

A slightly different angle
Some preliminary ceramic tile photos:

I’m really liking this terracotta color. The texture on this tile is particularly nice.

A […]

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The cabinets are glazed~! For complete DIY instructions, try Ask The Decorator– (includes an excellent video and checklist.)
Marc Bridges is a dear friend and I can’t thank him enough for his help. After a full day cutting hair at one of the swankiest hair studios in Houston (M Salon, on Richmond), he drove to the middle of nowhere […]

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Digging through the pictures and financials of our first rent house prompted a seriously soppy trip down Memory Lane. It’s a bit of a conflict as such sentimental dribble should probably be reserved for babies and new puppies but as we have neither at the moment, this will have to do.
When it came time to write this week’s article […]

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Marc’s on his way over right-this-minute. As soon as he arrives, we’re going over to Magnolia to glaze the kitchen cabinets~ Happy Dance! (The mister would like to point out that, technically speaking, he and Marc will glaze and I will chronicle for posterity via digital imaging although I would like to point out that no […]

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This first purchase tossed us way outside our comfort zone.
Here’s where we were mentally at the time of purchase:
Note: If you notice something missing, leave a comment and I’ll edit the post.

ARV for the house was 110K.
Asking price: 100K  
Offered 82.4K which was accepted without counter. We learned at closing that 2 bids came in the same […]

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We paid 83K for this 3/2/2 in 2004 with nothing but our good credit rating, an 80/20 loan, and a handful of credit cards. We borrowed enough to pay closing costs from family until our income tax refund came back.
Everyone’s got to start somewhere. I’ve hesitated to show our first purchase because the before pictures are […]

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Okay… let’s start by developing collective amnesia concerning anything I said about liking this house. 
 
Please?
Mamma Always Said:
So here’s the something nice before we get rolling on the something naughty.

Great floorplan… really nice
Large living room
Nice galley kitchen that opens up to a larger-than-Ikea sized dining area
Well proportioned bedrooms bigger than MLS stated
Kitchen cabinets are solid pine and […]

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Free Background Check Manual and Forms 
The background check forms are ready. The background check manual is complete, updated and online. You can access the manual here. All efforts to upload the forms to the site were unsuccessful (and my head is sore from all the wall-banging) so if you’d like a copy of the file, send […]

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I like Mike and Rob over at Two Wise Acres… they’re funny. (Thanks Terry for the referral). Even better than funny, they possess a commodity sometimes lacking in the drama that surrounds real estate investment–
Authenticity 
Every post is gold– but this one, How To Succeed in Investing by Doing Everything Wrong, instigated a random James Brown moment in the Brz parlor.  
Best quote:
Many of […]

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When we started looking for investment properties, most of the homes were either FSBO or listed with an agent for the usual reasons. Over the last year or so, that’s drastically changed. Now, most  of the homes are foreclosures. I’ve always found little hand prints and names in concrete charming, but something about seeing them at sad little […]

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Shopping for real estate is personal– every investor’s looking for something different. Some turn away from termite damage, some get nervous over cracked slabs, others are fanatical over water problems. Our biggest concern is always location. Almost anything can be fixed if the numbers work and you have a good contractor, but short a load of dynamite or a […]

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