November was another successful month of growth and learning for us at iCandy Homes! We had one new deal close, we also lined up December closings, progressed through our current deals, and made the necessary adjustments to our operating basis to ensure that we continue to have the results we are after as a team!
Before we dive into the details on the projects that are currently taking place for us, let us first have a look at what we are putting into our near future.
During the month of November, we were able to get another 2 properties locked up and set to close at the beginning of December. Both of these deals were found on the MLS and believe it or not, we were not the highest offer! We were able to make the offer stronger than others by doing our due diligence before submitting our final offer, removing our inspection contingency and upping the earnest money. We’re lucky that the one who offers the most money is not always the best offer.
On the Flip Side
As we hinted, we were able to get closed the property that we had under contract in Oak Lawn. It’s the only off market deal we’ve close on recently and we have high expectations for it. We are now in the final stages of permitting and getting our plans approved. We’ll start the demolition of the property this week and prepare ourselves to be full steam ahead once permits are in hand. This one needs almost $90,000 in renovation. It should hit the market upon completion in March.
The first property we locked up is a small house in Worth. It is a 3/1 with no basement, roughly 1200 square feet. This property will require a full cosmetic renovation, including siding, windows, and a full interior remodel. It’s full budget is $38,000 so it should be a quick flip and we’re excited about this one!
The second property that is lined up for closing in the first week of December is a 4/3 in Bensenville. This property is 2200 square feet and will be another major transformation. We will be installing a new roof, siding, windows, and as always a full interior remodel. This property will be a bit out of the norm for us as we are working with a different color pallet and tile selections! It’ll be fun to see it all come together. If you want to see it for yourself during the process follow us here.
To check back in on our current renovations, we are nearing completion of our property in Lansing! The remaining items include installation of the countertops, backsplash, final plumbing hook ups, and punch list items. We are expecting this one to officially hit the market in the next week or so. We will do a final walkthrough video of this property upon completion on our Facebook page, so keep an eye out for that!
There has also been a lot of headway made on our project in Palos Heights as well. Currently we are working on getting the interior painting complete, installing the cabinets and the tile in the bathroom. There will also be updates on Facebook about this house as well, so check in for those and let us know what you think about the finishes!
To wrap things up on the project side of things, there was one lesson that was learned that stands out among the others for this month. We found that we have the most success in holding our projects to the timeline we projected in visiting them at least twice per week! Even if you’re working with a great contractor!! If you want the in depth explanation Dustin did on this topic check out Mini-Class Monday Episode 19 here!
During November we kept our event hosting and attendance light. We hosted a rehab case study at our renovation in Lansing. It was a great learning opportunity for those that came.
We have no plans to host an event in December. 
It’s a very busy month, But hopefully we’ll get out to an event or 2.
Other Gains from November:
Even though we had two closings lined up for December we new that we had to improve our lead flow to keep the pipeline full. We did a CRM update for ourselves so that hubspot had the best categories for our flow, and set up new policies around tasks associated with our leads so that there is always attention on each lead. From here on out, every property has an active task associated with it and it won’t get lost or left behind. That’s a big improvement for us. We were managing to pull enough closings without being as organized, but we’re sure this is going to make our system cleaner, and our process easier.
Another improvement we made was tackling the exact actions that need to be done to fulfill our goals. We recently updated our goals and realized that we hadn’t ever tackled the action plan to there. Sure in general we were headed in the right direction… But perhaps not on the timeline we had expected or with the right volume. Dustin will do a mini class to better explain this soon. But if you have your goals laid out, I challenge you to pick one thing and work out what specific actions have to happen in order to reach that one goal. Write those actions down and then figure out how to work them into your daily plans/schedule. Let us know how it goes for you!
Have a Great December and Happy Holidays!!
From the iCandy Homes Team ⛄