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Bengals Tease Again and Lose to Packers

Oh my, Bengals. How you are so creative at ripping the hearts out of your fans. 

Sure, go into Lambeau field and build a 21-7 halftime lead. Fix your offensive woes. Score on 3rd down with a rifle to A.J. Green in the endzone. Get a pick-6 on Aaron Rodgers (his 2nd ever!!!! are you freaking kidding me?). And come out of halftime looking lifeless, tired, and ready to kick your fans in the nads once again. 

You are so good at it. 

If you want to watch the Packers comeback and Bengals meltdown, here are the highlights. 

You have to give the Bengals credit though. They really are creative at finding out ways to lose. 

Even with Vontaze Burfict suspended, you found a way to botch it. Dalton takes a 3rd down sack, pushing your kicker to the edge of his range. Of course, Bullock sails a 48 yarder wide right. 

Brandon Lafell gets WIDE open and Dalton has a chance to seal the game. What does he do? Sails it by 15 yards over his head. 

3rd and 1 on a drive that could end the game? Rookie, Joe Mixon slips on a handoff and the play breaks. 

You came out so strong! You had me believing in these #LazorCats, and then laid an egg in the second half. 

No wonder people are looking to sell their Cincinnati houses fast. When you endure years of losing, it wears on a soul. When you go 0 for God knows how long, it breaks a man. You gotta get out of the city. You need to root for a new team - maybe take it outside of the AFC North to give yourself a little breathing room. Atlanta is a fun team. The Titans have a quarterback who appears to be worth his salt. Just anything but these Bengals - who when given a chance to get back in this season, piss down their leg once again. 

Green Bay 27 - Cincinnati 24. 

Another loss, this time in overtime. And the souls of Cincinnati fans everywhere are saying, “why am I destined to root for this terrible team?”. 

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This suspension is bananas. I get that Vontaze has a past record, but how do you give a 5 game suspension for a hit that is not illegal? This dude has been playing lights out in pre-season and the NFL decides to say, nah. 

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Is House Flipping That Easy?

If you are one of the dwindling households who still has cable TV today and you turn it on, chances are you may come across a house flipping TV show. It seems they are a dime a dozen any more and any Joe Schmo can go make a million dollars by finding some crappy houses and fixing them up. 

Is that true? Is it really that easy? 

The show usually starts with the entrepreneurs flying through their day. There’s lots of business activity and they just got their hands on a “sweet” new property. Now, it’s time to demo, bring in the contractors, remodel, and sell for a hefty profit all under 22 minutes. 

I’m not knocking house flipping. In fact, I’ve been looking at real estate to be both a full time income producer as well as acquiring long term buy and hold properties, but I find it interesting that the craze of the house flipping TV shows is sweeping the nation. 

Lots of people are getting over their fears from 2008 and getting back into real estate investing. However, this time, there seem to be a lot more people who are mitigating their risk. 

For example, because of so many flipping TV shows, there are a lot of people who want to be house flipping investors. However, there is a lot of risk in acquiring a property and holding it, doing the rehab yourself, and making sure it resells at what you need to make a profit. If you mess up one or two things, your $20k profit could soon be $0 or even a loss!

However, because the deals are scarce, people who can help discover real estate deals are more valuable. Typically, these businesses are called wholesalers, as they are buying a property for a very low price, and then selling it again to an investor again at a low price where the investor can still make a profit by flipping it and selling retail. 

Wholesaling happens in virtually any industry - groceries, gas, you name it. And in real estate, it shows up around your neighborhoods all of the time. You may see the We Buy Houses signs nailed up on a telephone pole. I’ve always thought this was a kind of shady way to advertise for your company. They call it “bandit” signs because the company who is using them is just posting them and walking away. Sooner or later, the city or competitors will tear them down. 

That’s one way to do it. Another way to wholesale is by making yourself visible online. If you look at this company, you’ll see a similar message - we buy houses in Northern Kentucky - but they go about it differently. Instead of bandit signs around town, they are creating a brand online. You actually see a face and a name. 

If I’m looking to sell my house, I’m much more likely to work with someone who looks trustworthy than by calling a random sign. But hey, to each his own. 

The point is - house flipping can make you money and so can real estate wholesaling. While buying and rehabbing poses a little bit more risk in holding the property and construction costs, real estate wholesaling allows you to hold the property for a short period, or even just sell the contract. 

I’m looking to do more investing myself, and I’m looking at both of these strategies. I’ll keep you posted on the progress as we move along. 

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I’ve lived in Cincinnati for 30 years, but I find myself more and more intrigued by the Brown family. Love their passion for the team and for keeping the business in the family. 

#cincinnati #bengals

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Ate here tonight, it sucked.