What’s Happening?

I don’t reread any of my blogs.  Despite my Nostradamical takes on Detroit real estate and DJT, I’d probably end up deleting everything else.  Whatever.  90% of the time I just want to anonymously do my thing and 10% I feel like oversharing.   I guess if you want to enjoy the long reach of social media, you have to put yourself out there.

This blog has definitely opened quite a few doors and I’d like to keep that going.  If your interest is not real estate,  I hope I can hang around on your curiosity/entertainment blogroll.

Quick recap:

In 2012, I took on a very large delinquent note project which was a disaster.  There are a lot of reasons why it didn’t work out.  Bad luck, bad partner choices, bad execution.  Investors were paid off in full plus interest, but I took a financial bath.  Equally annoying, I wasted four years of a huge Detroit real-estate bull run.  I could have picked pretty much any real-estate vehicle under the sun and crushed it.  Somehow I missed the dartboard.  Bricked the breakaway dunk.  It was my first big setback on a professional level, and those four years were not much fun.

On the homestretch of untangling from that note mess, I started a side project with my new neighbor and his brother (Tony and Chris). We started company with one asset, on a bit of a lark, and now it’s now a solid full-time endeavor.  I think we have a chance to build it into something long-lasting.  Our end-goal is to build a company that has the ability to be a long-term player in the Metro Detroit real estate game.

We flipped around 45 houses in 2017.  Our goal is to get to 80 deal/flips in 2018.  Here is the plan to get there:

1.  Find enough deals.  If you know of someone that has a unique selling situation, we would love to help solve their problem.  We will always be straightforward in assessing what their house is worth, what it would be worth it were completely rehabbed, how much it would cost to rehab, and what we can offer.  If we buy their house that’s great. If not, we’d be happy to point them in a direction that helps fulfill their goals.  Also, we will pay a bird-dogging fee if we end up buying or selling your contact’s house.
2. Raise more money.  If you are interested in following along and/or hearing the details of potential involvement feel free to email me at JustinSadauskas@gmail.com.  If you just want to connect or talk real estate, that is great too.
3. Manage the rehab madness.  I thank my partners for handling 99% of the actual meat and potatoes of the rehabs.  It’s a huge logistical undertaking, and they are very good at it.  We have recently added one full-time employee and two part-time employees so we can take our process’ to the next level.
4. A cooperative market.  This is out of our hands, but I’m hopeful that we have a year or two in us before the interest rates increase or a unforeseen catalyst changes things dramatically.

Also, we began dabbling in new construction. Currently we have plans to build on six lots.  At least four of the basements should be dug by winter, and we should be finished in time to sell by spring.  It’s pretty exciting.   I think taking some new ventures on is always worth the gamble as it may end up being a new opportunity and the more malleable you are as an investment company the longer you can stick around.  I count these in the goal of 80 homes.

Lastly, I am trying to put together a direct-mail marketing campaign.  It’s been a loooong time coming.  Honestly, I just can’t get out of the analysis-paralysis portion of it.  I have a bad case of phone phobia.  I love talking to people in person, but I just get anxiety of the phone.  Have to overcome that!  I’m hoping to have my first mailers out before Christmas.

We have two or three houses hitting the market next week; I plan to post some links.

Looking forward to a big 2018.