Why Real Estate Investing-Part#2

Well. I certainly have procrastinated on this post, eh? I have an excuse. (yea,yea) I have been busy! (aren't we all?) (see previous post!) Post #1 was kind of a "where have I been?" So post #2 should be a "where I am". I am probably unemployable at this point in my life. Not that I'm not capable. Certainly I would be worth hiring in some capacity but staying home has spoiled me...I like my own schedule. I like the freedom that that allows. (we have lots of doctor app'ts to keep..fit that into some body's 40 hour workweek) But I don't like not having the income. So...How can I take my skill set and my interests and do something that can earn some money? I love Rochester (maybe not so much in January) and it's houses. We have some beautiful neighborhoods/homes that have gone into serious disrepair...I love the end result of people's creative energy..seeing something created from not much. I like working independently. I like meeting lots of different people. For that matter, I like people. mostly. I love the idea of providing decent, clean housing for people that are trying to make it all work but are having difficulty making ends meet. I know where I want to go....it's in the getting there that I'm fuzzy and still working on the specifics. I'll save the "where am I going?" as my part #3. Back to the "where I am"... I'm working on rehabbing a house in "the Wedge". Cute little cape that Cori will live in for a few years and (hopefully) we'll make a profit when we sell it...I say "hopefully" because reining in expenses when remodeling an old house...not easy! I'll go into all of the details in another post! Too much for now! I'm also working on a short sale. A short sale is when a homeowner can not make his/her mortgage payments but the house is worth less than they owe on it. They are "upside down" on their mortgage so they try to work with the bank to accept less for the property that is owed. A homeowner gets into this situation in a few ways: i.e. in other parts of the country where there has been a rapid depreciation in home values, that can do it. Locally it's usually one of two things: The house has fallen into disrepair which makes it worth less than the original amount borrowed or the homeowner has taken out loans against the property or over leveraged it and they just can't get the $ needed out of a sale. If you know about short sales...you know this: they have a reputation to be a real PITA because they are time consuming, frustrating and you have to be very detail oriented. Which reminds me...I have to call the bank! :) Thanks for reading! Gail