Hello, everyone - After lurking for months, am finally here! 22 posts by 10 users

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 08:42AM

Hello,
I found this site several months ago and absolutely love it! I've now decided to become an active member.

A bit about myself - own my own home in Greenwich, CT. Recently rehabbed it from " slum" on the block - it's on the market now. Although it's a tough time to sell, it's been a good " laboratory" for me to test my skills, since there has been ZERO market appreciation since I bought 20 months ago. My sweat equity and wise spending on materials/labor has led RE broker to expect it to sell for 30% profit after investment/broker/taxes, etc. (should clear $200K)

I have excellent (800) credit score. When my current home sells (hopefull this Fall), I'll have funds to purchase another fixer-upper and have enough left $$ for rehab.

I absolutely loved doing my rehab (did as much as possible myself) and can't wait to do my next. I work full time, but would like to cut that back to 1/2 time, so I could do two rehabs at once.

Ideally, I would like to be working on two houses at once - the one I'll live in and another house. Question - if I can find the funds for another downpayment (will be tough!), will a lender give me a loan to purchase a 2nd property to rehab and flip? In this part of the country, homes are not inexpensive. Fixer uppers start at $500-700K.

I'll easily qualify for the mortgage for my next home, but can't imagine that a lender would give me another $600K mortgage! But again, I'm a newbie and am unfamilar with any loans besides the fairly traditional home mortgages.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks!!! Cindy

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 10:29AM

Welcome to the forum Cindy, defenitely take Rehab702's advice, you will find he is very helpfull like most of the members. What type of rehabs did you do yourself?

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 11:13AM

Hello there cindy-

It's nice to see that you love rehab properties and It is a over plus to the fact that you do a lot of the repairs yourself. I would love to see some of the before and after photos it's all ways a good thing to take pride in your work Cindy. Now was that a rehab to rent property or were you planing to flip the property now that it is done? Whatever it may be can you keep us updated so that we know how things are going for you in the rehab area? Also if you could let us know in your opinion the dos and donts that you think will help out approaching a possible flip! Thanks for your time and becoming a new member to biggerpockets community!

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 12:20PM

Loki005- Thanks for your welcome!

I didn’t buy the property with the intention to flip (bought it as my “home”.) But I quickly found myself loving the transformation process and decided to sell and buy another rehab property.

What would I do differently? A ton of thinks (since this was the project I cut my teeth on.) Since I didn’t plan on this being a flip, I did buy the house after a proper profit analysis – I just sort of lucked out. For my next purchase, profit analysis will be #1 criteria.

The one thing I did do right was set a budget for everything I did and tracked every penny I spent from the beginning to the end – this really kept the reality of spending front and center in my mind. Who ever knew that my tight-wad nature would come in handy!?!

And Rehab702 - Minna (a fellow CT gal) has been a great inspiration - I've been following her posts forever!

Am I correct to think I cannot post photos since I haven't done 10 posts yet? Thanks.

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 12:36PM

Hey there Spy-

That sounds like that once in a life time deal that just falls into your lap but it is a good thing that you were able to act on the deal and not let it pass you by! Wow so it seems that our penny pinching days may never be over (lol), but knowing what you know now would you cut some corners to save even more money or do you plan to take the same approach? Thanks for keeping us updated and I do hope to hear about your next adventure as far as flipping goes, talk to ya later!

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 01:30PM

You are an inspiration to us other " chicks" looking to do well here. Sounds like you are off to a good start. I look forward to seeing more great success stories from you!

Posted: 10/08/2007 at 07:56PM

Hi Cindy,
You've been busy! Quite a project for the first rehab. Welcome to the boards. I'm sure you'll make a great contribution.

Another source of funds for rehabs is hard money. The rate will be higher, and there may be a lot of points, but the focus will be on the property and not your personal credit. You also have experience, which will help get money.

Try the " add an attachment" to add pictures. If you're trying to link to a photo site, then you are bumping into the 10 post limit. But, you're well on you way to meeting that requirement, too.

Jon

Posted: 10/09/2007 at 08:22AM

Attached are photos of current rehab (keeping fingers crossed it works.)

Posted: 10/09/2007 at 11:40AM

Beautiful job, spy.
Jon

Posted: 10/09/2007 at 12:17PM

Awesome job Cindy! It’s great that you thought to take pictures, I didn’t on my first rehab but do now. I also keep a simple journal of what I do each day, it can be as simple as “painted bedroom” or “installed kitchen cabinets”. The journal allows me to refer back to see how things actually progressed as opposed to how I expected them to.

8)