Thank You Little House

I wanted to send a shout out to my house. It really has treated me very well. It has sheltered me from the elements, provided a warm space for friends, and provided me with a safe place to hide from the world. She has even managed to produce some peaches, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and apples. She is very talented. Her best talent was performed today when she was able to secure a very large HELOC for me at an excellent rate (shout out to USAA) that will allow me to pay for and renovate a house I just contracted today. What am I thinking? Have I done the right thing?

Apparently I'm thinking Mike and I don't have enough debt and I should acquire some more. I mean, what's another 270K? I'm very excited though as I've been presented with an amazing opportunity. This house ( which is a stone throw away from my house) came on the market on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday morning I submitted an offer, and by this morning the Sellers had 15 offers on the table. I'm very fortunate that they went with my offer as I was not the strongest bidder. They felt I was the best presented offer and they felt the most comfortable with me. I'm still in shock. My competitive side can't help but smile to think I beat out 14 other people and I was not the strongest on price. Odd still that a corporate seller (bank) would make that decision. I've learnt a lot in the past 2 years. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment on Friday when, at Mike's closing, it was confirmed which bidder we had beat out and that we were not the strongest on price. I go heads up with this other guy a bit in my market and it was all I could do not to jump up and high five Mike in front of the Sellers. But I digress.

The house needs lots and lots of work. New systems, cosmetics, etc. etc. I'm scared because this will be my baby. Mine alone. Mike will not be helping out with any of the renovations as he has the other property to tend to. It will be a challenge, and it will be lots of stress, but that's why you hire contractors. I've got some good room for error and as long as the inspector doesn't determine the house is about to fall down (which I doubt) and as long as I don't mess up my financing (always a chance) I should own this puppy by the end of the month. It was a bit of mental battle with myself to get it done as my support system wants to protect me and I know I have to at least give it a try. Hence my frustration in the blog yesterday. It will be a huge undertaking. I'm hoping the strain of these 2 projects won't be too much in the year to come. Ah, it will be a ride.

My long term hope is that I can build a little nest egg and do another one. I didn't feel like this was something I wanted to do until recently when I started working with an investor. I showed him a great opportunity and he didn't take my advice and he didn't get the house and the great opportunity turned into a pile of dust. I was thinking to myself why am I hunting down these opportunities for people only for them not trust my opinion and then to lose out on a great investment? It just doesn't make sense to me. I should trust my own opinion and make those investments myself. Odd that this puppy came on the market so soon after that experience with the investor. Maybe he was a blessing in disguise. On the other hand maybe I am deranged and have made the worst purchase ever. Time will tell.

In other news I think 2 more sunflower shoots have emerged. I ate out today for the first time this week and I did not make good decisions (chicken wings and french fries). Damn.