December 7, 2011

  Yesterday I talked about how I had a vision for the company of providing affordable housing.  Well like many first time visionaries, I stumbled on my first attempt, (the 2nd and 3rd attempts as well truth be told) I did buy a cheap house, and it did have a lot of problems.  It was also in a middle to upper middle class neighborhood and the neighbors really need it fixed because it was affecting the property values of the whole neighborhood.  So far so good.  Then things really went off the rails.  I had a vision of what the house was supposed to be.  I had a vision of who the buyer would be.  And I based all of my decisions on what I would want if I were living in the house.  And none of those visions matched my business plan or my vision for the company.  Finally, I made the worst mistake of all, I ignored what was happening in the market.  I bought the house in August of 2008, and finished the renovations in March of 2009.  Yep, right at the beginning of the biggest real estate slide in my generation.  I’m a realtor, I had no excuse for not watching what was going on in the market and recognizing the beginnings of a stagnating market in October, November or December of 2008.  But my attention was elsewhere, I was busy with the renovations and I had a vision that would not be denied.  And come hell or high water I was implementing my vision.  Which I did: Unfortunately, it came at a price.  When I initially was running the numbers on the house I thought I could sell it in the $225,000 – $250,000 range but it took 5 months to sell and I ended up selling it for $198,000 and taking another property as part of the transaction (which I really lost money on).  However, I am still in the renovation business and here is why:  1.  This first project was really an amazing project (click onto the “Renovation” page for slide shows of the before and afters  2.  While I lost money on the house that we took as partial payment for the Cedar Hills House (mainly because of a change in focus halfway through) I renovated and sold that property in 4 months, after less than 2 weeks on the market, validating my original business model, and 3.  I really loved the whole process of renovating a house.

This process is what I intend to share with you on this blog.  You see 3dog Properties is right at the beginning of another project “Mesa Verde” and I want to share the journey with you.  We’re supposed to close on the property on December 15, hopefully sooner and I want to take you with me.  Misery loves company right?