FLIPPING HOUSES
We started buying then flipping houses. It started with our small little place that we bought after moving to Los Angeles. Bankruptcy was never on our minds. We had buyers lined up for our house. Then we bought another and immediately made just a few little improvements and put it on the market, too. I had neighbors lining up to buy it. They had plans to flip it, too. It was a never ending escalator up. How could you beat it. We were making more money from real estate than from our jobs. This happened, because we leveraged a bit and had purchased 2 houses. We quickly turned those around, and we had a lot of cash in hand, even after the taxes. Then Michelle lost her job. It was a shock. She had been their model employee, but it was not about her, so her employer said, it was about the economy. Things were slowing down. I couldn’t see it. And neither could Michelle. Things seemed about the same for her. But projections told another story, I guess. Orders for goods had been way down for the past 2 quarters. Some of it had to do with the dollar sinking against the Eruo, and some that Michelle’s company had stiffer competition.