Did I End Up Getting Screwed? PLUS: ASSumptions

The demo is done on the Sunset property - the one where I hired a new crew and wondered if they would try to screw me.

Remember, I sent them to another job without getting a price. 

Well, predictably, they billed me too much. 

About $200 too much. 

But I didn’t even have to threaten them - I just said, “That’s about $200 more than I’d budgeted.”

The response?

“No problem, we like working with you.”

So, hopefully, we have a new team player. 

EVB, my partner, locked up another flip last week, so they’ll have a chance to show whether they're true players in about 6 weeks on that one. 

BTW - they took 6.1 TONS of trash out of that house, and it’s only 1,000 sq ft!

But anyway - here’s what’s on my mind today: did we leave money on the table?

Our Realtor called earlier with an offer on Twisted Oak.

$185k with $5k in closing, cash buyer.

It took 5 of these orange dumpsters to clear the Sunset house out.

We countered at $180k.

They took it, closing for four weeks.

BUT. . .

When we bought the place, I assumed it would be an FHA buyer, so I was in no rush to flip it. Plus, it was the holidays, and then the bad weather. 

So what should have taken 30 days max took about 70.

And now, the would-be FHA buyer (who can buyt until we’ve owned the house for 90 days) is actually a cash buyer.

Meaning we might have left 40 days' worth of interest, taxes, insurance, and other carrying costs on the table. 

That’s not thousands of dollars, but it’s enough hundreds to make me kick myself. 

The lesson here is as old as time itself!

Never ASSUME!

In fact, at Remington Homes, a sister company, we have a saying - “What did AANA say?”

AANA = Always Ask, Never Assume.

I think we’ll start asking that at House Partners, too. 

Because when you assume, you make an ASS out of. . .