Duplex for sale

I have neglected my blog for too long! We have worked on the Provo house, rented the basement, and listed it for sale. I always post my properties on forsalebyowner.com. The only negative is that overzealous agents are constantly contacting me, telling me they can sell my house for more much more quickly than I can :-) From previous experience I realize they will say anything to get a listing. I tell them if they are so certain, they can buy it and sell it at that magical higher price themselves. Since I'm not in a hurry to sell anyway (my wife isn't too thrilled about moving yet), we can set our price and just watch to see what happens. We're already getting calls, so I don't think it will be too long.

As we get nearer to the December 1st cutoff date on the Hobble Creek lease option I can't help but wonder if I will get the house back and have to put some money and work into it and resell it, or if the current lessors will exercise their lease option and close on it. I don't really care either way. If I get the house back, I think I can sell it for three times the profit. However, if they close on it I wont have anything keeping me from purchasing a fixer-upper and start making bigger profits more quickly. The reason I have the duplex for sale is so I can have some cash to fix the Hobble Creek house should we get it back.

We were never able to buy the twin home back, which is probably for the better. It would have been too much to handle with everything else going on. Surprisingly Benjamin called me and asked me to send him an invoice for what I thought he owed me, partially restoring my faith in humanity. I thought about it for awhile and decided to invoice him only for the actual money I put into the home instead of what I lost by his dishonesty. I realized that if I invoiced him for the lost opportunity of the $25,000, he wouldn't send me anything, so I invoiced him $2,400 for the deposit and extra each month I sent him. Even more surprising after four months of calls he actually sent me a check for a thousand. I gave most of it to Jorge to return his deposit and the extra money he paid each month, so hopefully that will help him feel better about things. Now we will see if Benjamin can finish and pay the other $1400. Ironically Ben is making great money by helping investors find profitable pre-foreclosures in Oklahoma! I am excited to start using his methods here. More on that later.

It has been quite astonishing to see the appreciation of the Utah County market. It should continue for at least another two years by the looks of things. This is an amazing time to make money in real estate.