Prologue

After 29.5 years in the corporate world, it finally dawned on me that I don't like white collar work. I liked using my brain, but I also really enjoyed what I was doing at Habitat for Humanity. So after lengthy, painstaking consideration (while on the chairlift at Keystone) I decided to go into the flip business.

The politically correct way of describing this business is we help people get wonderful homes at a great price. We take slightly rundown properties, bring them up to modern sensibilities, then market them. Oh yeah, we (hopefully) make some money in the process.

I made this decision in early February 2007. I hooked up with a great realtor (Chris Viets) a fantastic decorator (Alysia Viets) and a savvy mortgage expert (Kim Hubbard). Since then I've looked at about a dozen potential houses. They ranged from the disaster (completely gutted), the shaky (sketchy neighborhood), the overwhelming ("start by tearing out all the walls, then we'll figure out what to do"), and the perfect.

Made two offers, both at above asking price. Both were declined.

Oh, I'm the Denver area.