Realtor Morgan Richardson

07/18/2022

🗣 Pro-tips to avoid issues with contractors 🗣

We’ve unfortunately had more issues with contractors than not, but we at least know what to avoid/look for now! I try to get a few quotes before moving forward on a project and I always use people based on referrals. I’m not willing to take a gamble on some unknown person.

And don’t be afraid to ask them questions! They are the supposed experts so should be able to answer your concerns. And they shouldn’t be annoyed with you trying to follow up/schedule with them. I’ve noticed this is a huge red flag! 🚩

Also, if you can’t find someone to do it right, you can teach yourself and save lots of money in the future since you’ll likely repeat the same fix on a future house.








freedom

07/13/2022

How to prepare your ac for the hot summer 🥵:
- start tuning up your ac in the spring
- establish a relationship with a local ac company. Don’t fall for the slick ads and high prices of other companies
- be aware of the tonnage of the new unit. This is the capacity for it to cool
- have adequate savings on hand when buying a house with an old unit. A new ac in Oklahoma costs between $6,000 - $10,000+

😎
🔥

06/25/2022

That last tip is a 🔑! I have to tell myself that this is a marathon and not a sprint! We finance our purchases ourselves, meaning we aren’t beholden to anyone on the timeline of repairs or getting investors their money back. We just want well done renovations that other families will love to live in🥰

06/01/2022

Welcome to Glenpool, OK! Named after a famous oil well, this sleepy town has been experiencing growth recently due to close proximity to Tulsa. We gambled on Broken Arrow (another burb) by buying two homes that have jumped in value. I’m excited to learn more about Glenpool!

05/24/2022

We did it again! 🎉🎉🎉
This is the 3rd house in four years! Halfway done with reno in #2 and decided to pull the trigger on this baby since the price was just right. Let’s get it! 🤘💪

05/04/2022

Took my mom out on for an early Mother’s Day and we came across the Annual Herb Festival in Jenks! It was full of beautiful plants and metal art - definitely buying stuff for my home 😁

You’ll never know what you’ll find exploring the suburbs of Tulsa!

03/27/2022

Have you wondered why home appraisals are a big deal in real estate investing? 🤔 They are a measure of how valuable the bank and market finds your home. This number is extremely important for several reasons.

1) if you’re trying to get money out of a rehab by refinancing, you need the home’s new appraisal price to be higher so that you can recapture your money spent to fix the home.

2) even if you aren’t selling the home and are renting it out, after some updates you’d like the home’s value to increase that way your LTV will lower. This is particularly important if you have PMI and it will drop after the LTV is 80% or lower.

3) if purchasing a home with a loan, the bank will order an appraisal and the house’s value must be equivalent to the amount borrowed. Example, if you need to borrow $150,000, but the home is worth $125,000 you the buyer must pay that difference in cash as the bank will not loan you money for more than the house is worth.

I recently came across a post on the Real Estate Rookie FB page made by a soon to be appraiser about things you can do to provide your appraiser with helpful information during the evaluation process. Obviously the appraiser is a professional and you should absolutely not do anything to skew their opinion. If you receive an unfavorable number, simply order another appraisal.

Check out the advice below!

03/23/2022

I’m back! Had to take a break to enjoy seeing my bestie and the . So much good food 🥩, wine 🍷 , and conversations 💞!

02/27/2022

I mentioned last week about some exciting developments in downtown Tulsa. It’s quickly become ~the~ place to be in Tulsa. But Broken Arrow isn’t a slouch either. 😎 We knew this was one of the hottest suburbs in the area and that the city had put special emphasis on developing the southern part. So we took the plunge and bought 2 houses in the same zip code. It was one of the best decisions we’ve made and you’ll see why below:

1. In a 3 mile radius from our homes’ zip code, there are at least 4-5 new housing developments
2. A new grocery store is being built in between both our homes
3. Medical offices and sprouting up everywhere

02/20/2022

Santa Fe Square - has anyone heard about this? I’m beyond excited that a project of this magnitude is happening in downtown Tulsa. This will be a $125 million mixed-use project that will have 12-story tower, apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail space built around a European-style plaza.

When we think about RE investing, it’s important to go where the people are. When a city throws millions into development projects, that’s a pretty good idea they’ve done analysis and are forecasting this to be a booming area in the future. Which is why I’m super excited to buy a condo in the downtown area. I’d love to do short term rentals or rent to young professionals who want to be where the action is at. This is yet another sign of the rebirth and continues growth of the Tulsa metro.

Downtown Tulsa’s east end is getting some new rooftops with a $125 million mixed-use project now under construction almost 20 years after it was first…

02/13/2022

Most of my lessons are learned the hard way, but this time, it was quite pleasant: It’s okay to sweat the small stuff! When we were getting my boyfriend’s house ready to rent, we spent probably an extra 2 months sprucing it up. I was losing my mind 😡. I kept thinking, why is this taking so long and why are we essentially repainting an already freshly-painted house? He also fixed every loose fence picket, built a new gate, and we completely refreshed the landscaping as if it was spring time.

Well it turns out, this attention to detail was worth it because the house will (hopefully) rent for $200 MORE than we expected 🤑. The long nights after working a full day are going to pay off. We were hoping for $1600 but our property manager took one look around and said $1795 would do. Needless to say we were pleased.

02/08/2022

Old homes, at least in the city we live in, do not have perfectly square showers. This matters because fiber glass shower surrounds ARE perfectly square and have tight tolerances. So this equals a hellish process of fitting a square into a not-square.

In my house, we put in a fiberglass surround and it took 3 months to get it right. Ridiculous. I will only ever tile a bathroom in an older home since you can custom cut tile to fit. In fact, we are going to diy tile the other full bath in this house, so I’ll provide updates on that project when it begins!