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#House Flipping
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'We buy ugly houses' is code for 'we steal vulnerable peoples' homes'
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Tonight (May 11) at 7PM, I’m in CALGARY for Wordfest, with my novel Red Team Blues; I’ll be hosted by Peter Hemminger at the Memorial Park Library, 2nd Floor.
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Home ownership is the American dream: not only do you get a place to live, free from the high-handed dictates of a landlord, but you also get an asset that appreciates, building intergenerational wealth while you sleep — literally.
If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/11/ugly-houses-ugly-truth/#homevestor
Of course, you can’t have it both ways. If your house is an asset you use to cover falling wages, rising health care costs, spiraling college tuition and paper-thin support for eldercare, then it can’t be a place you live. It’s gonna be an asset you sell — or at the very least, borrow so heavily against that you are in constant risk of losing it.
This is the contradiction at the heart of the American dream: when America turned its back on organized labor as an engine for creating prosperity and embraced property speculation, it set itself on the road to serfdom — a world where the roof over your head is also your piggy bank, destined to be smashed open to cover the rising costs that an organized labor movement would have fought:
https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5
Today, we’re hit the end of the road for the post-war (unevenly, racially segregated) shared prosperity that made it seem, briefly, that everyone could get rich by owning a house, living in it, then selling it to everybody else. Now that the game is ending, the winners are cashing in their chips:
https://doctorow.medium.com/the-end-of-the-road-to-serfdom-bfad6f3b35a9
The big con of home ownership is proceeding smartly on schedulee. First, you let the mark win a little, so they go all in on the scam. Then you take it all back. Obama’s tolerance of bank sleze after the Great Financial Crisis kicked off the modern era of corporations and grifters stealing Americans’ out from under them, forging deeds in robosigning mills:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-breaks-down-93-bln-robo-signing-settlement-2013-02-28
The thefts never stopped. Today on Propublica, by Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon bring a horrifying, brilliantly reported account of the rampant, bottomless scams of Homevestors, AKA We Buy Ugly Houses, AKA “the #1 homebuyer in the USA”:
https://www.propublica.org/article/ugly-truth-behind-we-buy-ugly-houses
Homevestors — an army of the hedge fund Bayview Asset Management — claims a public mission: to bail out homeowners sitting on unsellable houses with all-cash deals. The company’s franchisees — 1,150 of them in 48 states — then sprinkle pixie dust and secret sauce on these “ugly houses” and sell them at a profit.
But Propublica’s investigation — which relied on whistleblowers, company veterans, court records and interviews with victims — tells a very different story. The Homevestor they discovered is a predator that steals houses out from under elderly people, disabled people, people struggling with mental illness and other vulnerable people. It’s a company whose agents have a powerful, well-polished playbook that stops family members from halting the transfers the company’s high-pressure salespeople set in motion.
Propublica reveals homeowners with advanced dementia who signed their shaky signatures to transfers that same their homes sold out from under them for a fraction of their market value. They show how Homevestor targets neighborhoods struck by hurricanes, or whose owners are recently divorced, or sick. One whistleblower tells of how the company uses the surveillance advertising industry to locate elderly people who’ve broken a hip: “a 60-day countdown to death — and, possibly, a deal.” The company’s mobile ads are geofenced to target people near hospitals and rehab hospitals, in hopes of finding desperate sellers who need to liquidate homes so that Medicaid will cover their medical expenses.
The sales pitches are relentless. One of Homevestor’s targets was a Texas woman whose father had recently been murdered. As she grieved, they blanketed her in pitches to sell her father’s house until “checking her mail became a traumatic experience.”
Real-estate brokers are bound by strict regulations, but not house flippers like Homevestors. Likewise, salespeople who pitch other high-ticket items, from securities to plane tickets — are required to offer buyers a cooling-off period during which they can reconsider their purchases. By contrast, Homevestors’ franchisees are well-versed in “muddying the title” to houses after the contract is signed, filing paperwork that makes it all but impossible for sellers to withdraw from the sale.
This produces a litany of ghastly horror-stories: homeowners who end up living in their trucks after they were pressured into a lowball sales; sellers who end up dying in hospital beds haunted by the trick that cost them their homes. One woman who struggled with hoarding was tricked into selling her house by false claims that the city would evict her because of her hoarding. A widow was tricked into signing away the deed to her late husband’s house by the lie that she could do so despite not being on the deed. One seller was tricked into signing a document he believed to be a home equity loan application, only to discover he had sold his house at a huge discount on its market value. An Arizona woman was tricked into selling her dead mother’s house through the lie that the house would have to be torn down and the lot redeveloped; the Homevestor franchisee then flipped the house for 5,500% of the sale-price.
The company vigorously denies these claims. They say that most people who do business with Homevestors are happy with the outcome; in support of this claim, they cite internal surveys of their own customers that produce a 96% approval rating.
When confronted with the specifics, the company blamed rogue franchisees. But Propublica obtained training materials and other internal documents that show that the problem is widespread and endemic to Homevestors’ business. Propublica discovered that at least eight franchisees who engaged in conduct the company said it “didn’t tolerate” had been awarded prizes by the company for their business acumen.
Franchisees are on the hook for massive recurring fees and face constant pressure from corporate auditors to close sales. To make those sales, franchisees turn to Homevana’s training materials, which are rife with predatory tactics. One document counsels franchisees that “pain is always a form of motivation.” What kind of pain? Lost jobs, looming foreclosure or a child in need of surgery.
A former franchisee explained how this is put into practice in the field: he encountered a seller who needed to sell quickly so he could join his dying mother who had just entered a hospice 1,400 miles away. The seller didn’t want to sell the house; they wanted to “get to Colorado to see their dying mother.”
These same training materials warn franchisees that they must not deal with sellers who are “subject to a guardianship or has a mental capacity that is diminished to the point that the person does not understand the value of the property,” but Propublica’s investigation discovered “a pattern of disregard” for this rule. For example, there was the 2020 incident in which a 78-year-old Atlanta man sold his house to a Homevestors franchisee for half its sale price. The seller was later shown to be “unable to write a sentence or name the year, season, date or month.”
The company tried to pin the blame for all this on bad eggs among its franchisees. But Propublica found that some of the company’s most egregious offenders were celebrated and tolerated before and after they were convicted of felonies related to their conduct on behalf of the company. For example, Hi-Land Properties is a five-time winner of Homevestors’ National Franchise of the Year prize. The owner was praised by the CEO as “loyal, hardworking franchisee who has well represented our national brand, best practices and values.”
This same franchisee had “filed two dozen breach of contract lawsuits since 2016 and clouded titles on more than 300 properties by recording notices of a sales contract.” Hi-Land “sued an elderly man so incapacitated by illness he couldn’t leave his house.”
Another franchisee, Patriot Holdings, uses the courts aggressively to stop families of vulnerable people from canceling deals their relatives signed. Patriot Holdings’ co-owner, Cory Evans, eventually pleaded guilty to to two felonies, attempted grand theft of real property. He had to drop his lawsuits against buyers, and make restitution.
According to Homevestors’ internal policies, Patriot’s franchise should have been canceled. But Homevestors allowed Patriot to stay in business after Cory Evans took his name off the business, leaving his brothers and other partners to run it. Nominally, Cory Evans was out of the picture, but well after that date, internal Homevestors included Evans in an award it gave to Patriot, commemorating its sales (Homevestors claims this was an error).
Propublica’s reporters sought comment from Homevestors and its franchisees about this story. The company hired “a former FBI spokesperson who specializes in ‘crisis and special situations’ and ‘reputation management’ and funnelled future questions through him.”
Internally, company leadership scrambled to control the news. The company convened a webinar in April with all 1,150 franchisees to lay out its strategy. Company CEO David Hicks explained the company’s plan to “bury” the Propublica article with “‘strategic ad buys on social and web pages’ and ‘SEO content to minimize visibility.’”
https://www.propublica.org/article/homevestors-aims-to-bury-propublica-reporting
Franchisees were warned not to click links to the story because they “might improve its internet search ranking.”
Even as the company sought to “bury” the story and stonewalled Propublica, they cleaned house, instituting new procedures and taking action against franchisees identified in Propublica’s article. “Clouding titles” is now prohibited. Suing sellers for breach of contract is “discouraged.” Deals with seniors “should always involve family, attorneys or other guardians.”
During the webinar, franchisees “pushed back on the changes, claiming they could hurt business.”
If you’ve had experience with hard-sell house-flippers, Propublica wants to know: “If you’ve had experience with a company or buyer promising fast cash for homes, our reporting team wants to hear about it.”
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Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!
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[Image ID: A Depression-era photo of a dour widow standing in front of a dilapidated cabin. Next to her is Ug, the caveman mascot for Homevestors, smiling and pointing at her. Behind her is a 'We buy ugly houses' sign.
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Image: Homevestors https://www.homevestors.com/
Fair use: https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property
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odinsblog · 9 months
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🤯 No. fucking. way.
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Yesterday I posted the devastating renovation/restoration of this 1892 Victorian in Goshen, New York. Well, thanks to ephraelinhats who found the original photos of what it looked like before. They definitely could've salvaged some of the original elements. Look at this comparision:
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They chose to lose the main entrance hall altogether, so it's not even shown on the listing. Definitely could've been restored, though. They made so many square angular rooms, now.
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Some of the stair railing is gone, but the stairs could've been restored and the curving walls, too. Looks like the upper railings are still there.
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Definitely a lot of it left. Looks like someone started to restore it, but they opened the 3rd floor up.
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Okay, I see what they did here- a previous owner put the window in. But, did they have to square off the alcove?
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The kitchen must've been around here, b/c those are the service stairs.
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The kitchen now.
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This must've been the dining room. That wainscoting could've been restored. Look at the crown molding and a niche above the fireplace, not a window, and if it was, it may have been stained glass.
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Well, it's all gone and this is now the dining room.
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They didn't need to get rid of the crown molding.
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There was plenty of crown molding that could've been saved.
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Don't know where this room is, but it had beautiful wood that could've been saved.
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One of the bedrooms had a cute fireplace.
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The previous owner did some funky stuff to this bedroom. But, at least they kept the fireplace.
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There are doors w/original ceramic knobs. Could've been salvaged.
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If they did this much demo anyway, they could've done it differently.
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I see what they did here w/the porches, but someone had painted the back part white. Looks like they sandblasted the brick. I wish they would've taken that much care to restore the interior.
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zenosanalytic · 8 months
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I was just driving home, saw some newly renovated homes on the way, and something occurred to me(may be explicit idk I dont actl watch this stuff):
The HGTV aesthetic, Whites, Greys, and Blacks, those aren't just neutral colors: They're PRIMING Colors. They're colors you paint Other, BETTER Colors that you like MORE on top of.
Property Brothers, all these other assholes; they want you to live in a house painted to sell.
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blankdblank · 1 year
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Let’s Flip
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Beast is passing out the weekly tasks and oc cuts in as he says, “And Logan-.”
“Oh he’s going with me to my houses this week. He can’t be in the list, I told Scott to tell you,” that has Scott look down and flip through his booklet of notes and shrug making Beast sigh and continue passing on the tasks to Ororo instead who would be much happier with those tasks anyways. Meanwhile, alongside others who never have seen them alone together, Wolverine is subtly stealing glances at oc until the meeting is over and he can join them on their usual stroll to the gardens to get to their metal storage unit turned tiny house that was parked not far from the mansion.
“Okay, not to sound ungrateful for being let out of my chores for the week, when were you going to ask me about this week of errands you’ve saddled me to?”
Oc simply turns and gives him a wide grin, “Pretty please?” His brow lifts up and they say, “If you don’t I’ll just have to tell everyone you left me high and dry and you know how Beast will double your chores after that.”
“So you intended to blackmail me, makes me feel even better,” he said in a sarcastic tone. “Now I’ll most certainly cave.”
“Well it is peer pressure if the worst kind,” oc says poking him in the arm and he couldn’t help but smirk as they added, “Plus everyone knows how you love doing good deeds and all. Gives you the warm fuzzies.”
Lowly he sighed and asked, “Alright, what’s the deal with the houses?”
“Just a few open houses, I have one I’ve got my eye on and then just have to drop by my project lot to give a new contractor a tour.”
“What happened to the old contractor?”
“I broke his nose,” his brow arches up in their look up at him, “Tried to get a bit colorful in his language about my thighs and now he whistles when he works permanently.”
After he stood by waiting for them to grab a few things, including a white gold duck foot print etched wedding band they slipped onto their ring finger.
From there he led the way to his bike and took directions on their flying squirrel shaped navigator velcroed to his handlebars to get to the first open house where as he waited for them to climb off he followed their hand that secretly slipped a wedding band in his left finger. Blankly he stared up at them in the shift of the bike onto its kickstand he’d let down out of habit only through the stares of other couples in wait by their cars to be seen being told at a volume the others could hear in the short distance, “Oh it’ll be lovely with some elbow grease, Pookie!” Then be promptly kissed on the cheek.
“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,” he rumbled in a rise off his bike leaving his helmet on the handlebar then eased an arm around oc’s back beginning what would be an almost alarmingly convincing round of pretending. Not just fake dating but fake married and he most certainly even with this coming out of nowhere let in this was a farce and he was anything but devoted to his little snuggle bear who was interested in the tear down. Playfully chatting up that you were interested to widen the grin of the realtor who turned out to be a friend of yours to build up some competition between fellow flippers. He wanted a way out of being trapped at that mansion and now it seemed he had one, waiting to see this project lot of theirs that seemed fine from the front.
But through the front door oc led him to show off the moderately constructed front half that just ended having him laugh aloud at what looked like a tornado tore the back half of the house off.
“What happened here?” He managed to laugh aloud.
“You know that giant slug Deadpool and you took out five months back?” Then gestured to the back missing half of the house.
“Huh, thought this area looked familiar,” and he peered through the open half to see houses on either side already partly being rebuilt. “So who’s the contractor?”
“That Farley guy,” Wolverine blew an uncharacteristic raspberry making oc’s brow arch up this time.
“Idiot, overpriced idiot at that.”
“Well nobody else will take my call. Apparently no one else will risk being punched.”
“I know a guy.” He said pulling out his phone.
“Ya, a friend knew Farley too, how I managed to talk him into a tour.”
“Well my guy won’t mind a punch or two,” he found the right contact and hit call.
“Oh really, and how do you know he’ll be up for the job?”
“He’s my brother and I’ll kill him again if he doesn’t.” Oc’s jaw dropped to the sound of a truck parking outside and Wolverine stepped away, “Hey Victor, your contractor’s license is still up to snuff right?”
Five times the usual rate the Farley guy tried to get oc in the hook and was sent packing to a second truck pulling up and parking off to the side of his to let out Sabertooth who started to stalk around the place listening to all his half brother said about the place then came back with a nod to oc, “I’ll take the job,” offering a hand for them to shake.
“Now now, me and the little lady were just agreeing on my paycheck.”
“Must be another little lady here, you were trying to gouge me you little worm to work on what an even bigger slug did when it fell in this block!”
He huffed and said, “I came down here because Max said you’d put a muzzle on n your temper! Now you just don’t be surprised when no Architect will take the job either when I’m done telling everyone about this!”
“Well bad luck there Bub, I’m the Architect! Have fun hunting for an easy mark.” Wolverine barked back and Farley stormed off to his truck to get in and speed off once he fired up the engine.
Oc looked up at Wolverine after taking hold of Victor’s still hovering hand to ask the younger brother, “You’re an Architect?”
“Have been since 1825.”
“But your papers are current?”
“Renew it every so often. Last time they tried to argue I had to take the courses again but I backed them down. Might have to next go around but all good for some years yet. So, what’s the plan?” Nodding his head to the house they walked back inside again.
Off projections of a hovering flying squirrel bot of theirs oc shared the plans only having them pause at what seemed to be a widely sloping slide they both pointed at.
“It glitches on stairs,” making them both nod in approval. “Now, upstairs,” they said and in a running step oc gripped the grooves on a pillar to climb adorably for the brothers up to the second floor they had an easier job of getting up there after to see what the plan was up there.
But in the back yard where a planned office and separated building that had what looked to be a spiral staircase into the middle of the wall in the lower floor had them look at oc again, Victor asking, “More stairs?”
“No that one’s a slide.” Making them smirk at the entrance into a not so secret room connected to the house as well by a hidden underground tunnel.
“Alright, what are the budget limits?” Wolverine asked.
“I have roughly enough to get the bare bones up but if I want drywall that will take a wait to get another remodel sold I did last year, pre broken nose. Got a few offers on it, just they want a contingency first and that takes time…”
The brothers shared a look and Wolverine said, “Okay, I can back it to completion. Just take a 20% cut when it sells, anyone else would charge more, but, well I’m part of how it got crushed to begin with.”
“You, what?” Oc asked.
“We’re from the 1800’s we’re good for the cash and have been up for investments for ages now. Seems as good as any.” Oc’s brow arched up and he raised his left hand, “You slipped a ring on my finger Snuggle Bear, told you you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.” His head nodded to the side while his brother’s smirk bled into a grin, “Now let’s go get some impressions of the stone siding you wanted. I know a depot they’ll cut us a bulk bargain carried his Gramps back to the base camp after Normandy never skimp on giving me a good deal after that.”
Victor said, “And you can show us pictures of your other jobs too you’ve done so far. Things pick up speed here we can look into a new project lot too. Keep the family business going and even send out for shirts, hats, the whole nine yards.”
@devilishminx328 @lilith15000 @theincaprincess @jesevans
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linnychuvt · 1 year
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Totally not cleaning up a crime scene 😬
My 21th January 2022 Part 2 VOD is now available to watch on YouTube!✨
Go watch, like, comment and subscribe!🥰
Likes and reblogs are appreciated!🥺
Links in About Me ❄
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fixandflippers · 7 months
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Fix And Flippers
Fix and Flippers are always looking for investors for trust deed investments.They work with individuals, corporations, pension plans, or IRAs. They are experts at matching private investor funds with low risk, high yield, secured by a hard asset and solid loan opportunities. They have solid systems in place that allow investors to earn between 8%-13% per annum, compared to the low-interest rates currently being offered by banks. Fix and Flippers has developed a relationship with many such brokers, mortgage companies, and lenders worthy of a referral.These lenders and mortgage companies have many years in the business and have vetted for their reputations as closers and being a preferred lender among the industries elite. Their referral sources are loyal and provide steady repeat business that affords them an overflow of business.
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tigerjelly · 2 years
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House Flipper - Pink Camping Bungalow Tiny Home (Speed Build
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andrewgesuele · 3 months
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Fix and flip- is a popular real estate investment strategy that involves purchasing a distressed property, renovating it, and then selling it for a profit. In this article, we will explore the fix and flip strategy in detail, including its benefits, risks, and best practices. The first step in the fix and flip strategy is to find a distressed property that is undervalued and in need of renovation. This can be done through various channels, including real estate agents, online listings, and auctions. Once a suitable property has been identified, the investor must assess the renovation costs and potential resale value to determine if the investment is financially viable.
The next step is to secure financing for the purchase and renovation of the property. This it typically done through private lenders who specialize in real estate investments. It is important to have a solid financial plan in place before embarking on a fix and flip project to ensure that the investment is profitable.
Once the property has been purchased, the renovation process can begin. This typically involves repairing or replacing any damaged or outdated features, The investor may also choose to update the property with modern finishes and amenities to increase its resale value.
After the renovation is complete, the property can be listed for sale. The investor must carefully consider the market conditions and set a competitive price to attract potential buyers. Once a buyer has been found, the investor can sell the property and realize a profit. While the fix and flip strategy can be highly profitable, it is not without its risks. One of the biggest risks is underestimating the renovation costs, which can eat into the potential profits. Additionally, the real estate market can be unpredictable, and a downturn in the market can result in a loss on the investment. To mitigate these risks, it is important to follow best practices when executing a fix and flip project. This includes conducting thorough research on the property and the local real estate market, working with experienced contractors and real estate professionals, and having a solid plan in place.
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clemsfilmdiary · 5 months
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Flipping for Christmas (2023, Katherine Barrell)
12/3/23
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buniyadrealty · 5 months
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Purchasing and claiming real estate is an investment methodology that can be both fulfilling and worthwhile. Not at all like stock and bond financial backers, planned real estate proprietors can utilize influence to purchase a property by paying a piece of the all out cost forthright.
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paradisehomepros · 7 months
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stephanyaworski · 10 months
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Flipping House Tips by Stephan Yaworski
Looking to dive into the exciting world of house flipping? Look no further! With Flipping House Tips by Stephan Yaworski, you'll receive expert guidance and valuable tips from a seasoned real estate professional. 
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shoppingcartdiscounts · 11 months
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Everyone deserves owning Land. Discount Lots was born with one simple idea: Make land ownership easy and affordable for everyone.
Discount Lots was born with one simple idea: Make land ownership easy and affordable for everyone.
Our founders William and Paul – an investment banker and e-commerce expert respectively, turned real-estate connoisseurs – found overlooked deals on land. The savings made on property purchases are passed on to clients in the form of low prices and easy payments.
Apart from exclusive access to listings not listed on the market, we also assist in outright land purchases through the use of our innovative rent-to-own program.
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https://tinyurl.com/2zaxm9ky
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trgbooks · 1 year
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Flipping the Script: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to House Flipping in the Digital Age - Available on Kobo Writing Life
Greetings to all book lovers and aspiring house flippers! #houseflipping #TRGbooks
Greetings to all book lovers and aspiring house flippers! We are thrilled to announce our new venture into the world of ebooks through Kobo Writing Life. As a publisher dedicated to providing educational resources for those looking to enter the real estate industry, we are excited to expand our reach and offer our beginner-level ebooks to a wider audience. We understand that not everyone has the…
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linnychuvt · 1 year
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Watch me finish renovating this house! 😎
My 11th January 2022 Part 2 VOD is now available to watch on YouTube!✨
Go watch, like, comment and subscribe!🥰
Likes and reblogs are appreciated!🥺
Links in About Me ❄
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