Monday, September 27, 2010

Cool Site

I heard about this site on our local radio station this morning (KDKA). Even though the weather is so easily accessable anymore, it's a fun way to find out on this site too.


http://www.doineedanumbrella.com/

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great site. No rain for me it seems. We are going to dry up and blow away soon!

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

It was like that here too all summer. This week is the first time we saw a good rain in weeks. Hopefully, it's making it's way to you!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

What's going on with your house flipping business by the way? We're going to move back to Jersey and that's what we're going to do.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Debi,

Cool! I didn't know you were moving back to Jersey! I'd love to hear how this all came about.

The business is pretty much done. My partners quit on me because they were nervous about the economy. I may try again by myself some time when things improve. We came very close to buying a house, up to the offer part and that was when the one partner pulled out. I was pretty disappointed about the whole thing. It was a lot of work to set it all up just to have to take it all down. But I sure did learn a lot!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Well, when you read my blog again, you'll see how that came about. I finally had to spill the beans.

Oh, that's too bad about your partners! Can I ask if they were financial backers? I'm wondering about how easy it will be to get a loan to do this? I haven't looked into that part yet. We have great credit and we'll have very little debt when we move but the work history will be iffy because we will have to restart our flooring business in a new place. There's lots of things I'm trying to find out about this business but with the economy like it is, there are no new books out on house flipping. And it's not the same as it was five years ago so I can't take the advice from a book that came out when things were booming.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

I just read your blog and left a comment. I can't wait to hear how the move goes. It has to be so exciting to go home!

My partners in my business were my brother in law, Bill (sister's husband) and his brother, Rich. Rich was the one with the most money saved, then me with some savings. Bill didn't have any money, but he was going to carry the construction debt since he is a contractor and already had his credit set up. Rich is the one who pulled out of the business first, saying he decided to not risk his money. I just wish he had decided that before we put an offer on a house, grrr!

We were not able to get a loan for the business in the traditional way (banks) unless we put our homes up for collateral, something I wasn't willing to do with a family depending on me. We ended up deciding to use savings as down payment money and my husband and I got a home equity line of credit for the closing costs on any home we would buy. We didn't end up using the money because of Rich's decision, but it was the only way to find enough to finance a home.

When looking for homes, we mostly went the Fannie Mae route which has financing available if you qualify. They won't prequalify you until you actually find a home to buy from their site, but the financing is pretty easy to get from there, especially if you have good credit, which I do.

Good luck to you and let me know how it goes!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

So are you saying Fannie Mae will finance a flip house if you have the down payment and closing costs? What do you mean "find a home from their site?" They're selling homes? Foreclosures? My credit is good too. Won't have job history though in the new place so we'll probably have to wait two years before we can try to get some work on the books. You must have been very disappointed when your partners pulled out. It IS a scary time to do this.

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

Go under Hud.gov and search "homes for sale" and it'll give you a listing of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, etc. Pick Fannie Mae and it'll ask you for search parameters. Some of the homes you see on your list will have "homepath" next to them. Those are the ones that come with a Fannie Mae loan. The process is a pain in the butt, but they will give loans. I forget if you have to apply as an individual or you can apply as a business. It'll give you instructions and a list of banks that participate.

Yeah, I was pretty depressed for a while after the guys left the business, esp. because I had done all of the work so far and really put myself into it to try to make it successful. Then it was left to me to dismantle the whole thing. They didn't help with that. I really learned a lot from the experience, though!

It is a good time and a bad time to do this business. You can buy homes for cheap with all the foreclosures and there are lots of houses available, but selling them will be difficult. You'll do it, though. You're smart and you have experience!

Greener Pastures--A City Girl Goes Country said...

Thanks for the info! I never would have known. I printed out everything you said because we're not going to do this until we're in Jersey for a couple of years and get our new work history established.

That's nice of you to say! And you'll do it someday too!

Sweetflutterbys3 said...

You're welcome, Debi!