If you read through the old blog posts, you’ll see that I started to get really comfortable around House #5 or so. This is about when I felt like I had learned the process, understood how to manage contractors, understood the basics of renovation, and was getting good at determine the cost of various renovation tasks. Also, it was around this time that I started to solidify my contractor crew and really found a group of contractors I could trust.

All that said, if you take the time to read through everything I went through on all the houses, my guess is that you can probably be where I was after just one or two houses (you always need some hands-on experience, regardless of how you’re learning)…

Personally, I like engineered hardwood better (nail down or glue down). The cost isn’t that much more expensive than the laminate wood, but the look is much nicer and you don’t have to worry about “bounciness” issues with a floating floor.

Just my personal preference though…

There is no reason to have to sign a new PA after 90 days because of a FNMA deed restriction…the deed restriction says nothing about when the contract is signed, only when the deed is transferred. My guess is that you’re getting confused with the FHA restriction on resales, which USED to require a new PA after 90 days. Though, these days, you can resell to an FHA buyer without time restrictions (I.e., in under 90 days), so there should never be a situation where you need to sign a new PA after 90 days. If your lender/broker is making you jump through these hoops, find a new lender!

It’s been nearly a year since we’ve gotten FNMA to drop the restriction, and they don’t seem to be accidentally forgetting to put it on anymore. In other words, we always expect it to be there. But, as you pointed out with your second question, it does NOT restrict you from listing, marketing and putting it under contract — just set the closing date for day 91.

Thanks for the great info on this blog. I’ve been following for almost a year now and really appreciate your insight. I’m in the process of buying a fannie mae property that has a 90 day deed restriction on it, and in doing research about this I found a few threads on biggerpockets that looked liked you had participated in. A few questions:

1) When was the last time you had success in getting this clause removed? I understand that some verbiage has changed, and want to find out if it’s still possible to request this clause to be removed.

2) Just to clarify, the deed restriction doesn’t stop you from listing the property or getting it under contract, it simply restricts to closing of the sale in which the deed is transferred. Is that correct?

Thanks for your help, and good luck with your current projects!

-Tom