Flipping Rich

I have gotten a little carried away with my mid life hockey career, but its been great for me.

Don Giroux and I started a hockey blog roughly a year ago in addition to coordinating our own weekly (if not more) hockey pick up game. It seemed there were no resources to find players or for players to find games, so we created pick up hockey finder.

If you play hockey or know anyone that organizes a pickup hockey game, tell them about this. We are hoping to have games all over the country. And it is free to us*.

Oddly enough hockey has been a nice little networking tool, so our supplemental project is a yellow pages of people that like to play hockey or have an interest in hockey.

Did not mean to bore you, but this is Minnesota!

*free if the organizer collects their own funds.

So if you are a tenant and wanting to dodge your landlord/property owner/manager, here is a tip.  BTW, this is the first entry on a series of tips for tenants.

So when you hear someone knock on your unit door and you really don’t want anyone to know you are home, freeze!  Believe it or not we can hear you rustle around, turn down the tv/radio, or yell to your friend “Shhhhh, its my landlord”. It makes more sense to just not move until the party knocking goes away.  Also, avoid the door peephole.  While we cannot see who is on the other side, we can see someone looking right at us.

Bottom line, if there is a knock, freeze, count to 120, and go back to your normal routine.

Just a quick note.  There has not been a better time, at least not since I have been investing in real estate, to buy.

Cons.

Money to purchase is a little harder to come by.  Talk to a real mortgage lender, not “johns mortgage shop” down the street.

Beggars cant be choosers.  While there are some great deals available, they usually are not the cream of the crop. Thats just the way it works.  Be willing to sacrifice some of your dream house criteria for the payoff in the long run.

MOST of the deals are bank owned, foreclosed on, or pre foreclosure.  Working with banks is a drag!  The person making the decisions for the seller (the bank) is a mid level manager who has not experienced anything like the current foreclosure trend, and probably had little personal experience with real estate.  I could write a book about how poorly banks handle these deals! No joke.

Pros

If you  can read a how to book, have a few bucks for paint, or know someone who is “handy”, you can dress up any property.  Watch HGTV, there are far too many shows about how to pretty things up for cheap.

Save 10’s of thousands by keeping an open mind of what is available.

Tips

Talk to someone that knows what they are doing. Lenders, realtors, and experience with home improvements goes a long way.

Have you ducks in a row BEFORE starting. Scrambling at the finish line spells heartache.

Your dream house is probably not going to be the deal of the century.  However you can probably find one in the same neighborhood.

Deals = needs help, ALWAYS.  If perfection is the goal, get ready to pay for it.

Here is a little social experiment to do in your spare time.  Pick a random holiday, something where most business are closed, but not malls, fast food, etc.  Park your car in a relatively busy area, pop your hood, and wait and see how many people ask if you need help.

We had a great 4th of July.  Took the family to an early movie, spent the day near the Mississippi River, ran into some good friends with their families, had dinner and watched fireworks together.  We could not have planned it better, except…

We made a brief stop at McDonalds.  The kids wanted chicken nuggets.  So we parked the car, rolled town the windows, opened the doors and chilled out, so to speak.  We had the key in the ignition so we could listen to the radio. Unfortunately I did not realize that someone had bumped the heated seat button, causing the battery to die just enough to so the car would not start.

You might think Edina is a nice safe place to break down.  Throw in a mini van and two kids and someone is bound to ask if you need help right? Wrong.  Not even the seemingly manager who walked out, looked our way, and went back in seemed to care that there was a family parked in their lot with the hood up.

After asking about 15 people if they had jumper cables we finally found a guy that offered to drive home and pick up his jumper cables.  Hats off to the random guy with the APA shirt and hat. We really appreciate the help!

So friends, if you spot someone that might appear to need a little assistance, its probably worth asking them.

We are pleased to announce the launch of pickuphockeyfinder.com a tool to find local hockey games, schedule scrimmages, or just get back into the game.

Games will be scheduled once enough people are registered with their preferred time of play. This will include regular adult hockey, youth hockey and pond hockey.

Everyone that registers between now and July 15th will be entered into a drawing for 10 Free Hockey Games.

Okay the first thing I expect, and it is deserved, is there has not been a hookup of the week in many weeks, I know. Trying to get back on track…

As many of you know I play tennis on occasion. I have been really involved with coaching innercity tennis, playing usta league tennis, and playing with friends.

That all got a little side tracked last October when our kids Griffin and Gavin started playing mini mites hockey with the Washburn Hockey Association. Little did I know but I quickly started helping coach the mini mites and started playing minneapolis hockey with a group of my friends (several times a week now.) Don Giroux and I started hockeyisourgame.com to help keep the good sport going in the metro.

And to the hookup… While I love hockeygiant.com for its big box selection of gear, there is something to be said for the real local hockey shops for keeping it all together. My good friend Ryan Alexander introduced me to Phil Ronnebaum, the manager of Varsity Sports in Medina, there is also a store in Mound. Besides being a modern day hockey store with a winter season net set up so you can sample hockey sticks (currently a batting cage, they also have baseball gear) and the look of a happening restaurant, Phil is great!

Phil has really taken the time to explain the differences in all the hockey gear, from sticks to skates. He knows it all. And, he is willing to take the time to share his knowledge.

While I do not know if Phil will hookup you up with price deals, he will take the time to make sure you get what you are looking for. Stop by, hit some balls, or shoot some pucks in the fall. Tell Phil that Derrik sentcha. He might give you the flippingrich.com discount, doesnt hurt to try!

I ran into this website that features free realtor websites. It is an interesting concept, for instance they seem to feature most major cities and publish real estate for sale. I set up a site in the Minneapolis Real Estate section that mirrors the flippingrich.com website.

Mixed feelings but the concept is interesting. If nothing else, its additional free exposure. Anyone else run into this?

Just listed, best condo with old world charm in the Kingfield neighborhood of Minneapolis ( Uptown ).

2 bedrooms, heated garage, arched doorways, updated kitchen with granite and stainless appliances.

Just a few steps from the indoor tennis center.  Easy bus access. FAST getting downtown on this one way all the way to downtown Minneapolis.

3948 1st Ave S, Minneapolis

Just listed, an immaculate townhouse in Woodbury.  $204,900. Two bedrooms, two baths.

Updated with California Closets

All new light fixtures and hardware throughout.

Finished garage with new epoxy flooring.

Private setting on nature preserve.

3200 Juniper, Woodbury

I just listed a townhouse in Maplewood, close to Woodbury. This is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to build equity. The property was purchased new a few years ago and used as a rental.  It now needs TLC. Units in the complex are selling for $180,000+, ours was just listed for $149,900.

If you are looking for a rental unit or building equity, this is worth looking at.

2702 New Century, Maplewood.