Looking For Advice/Mentor For My First Flip

[Andrew M.]

I'm looking to start investing in real estate and its a big decision, so I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on your first flip. I'm looking for advice as to where to start and if possible a mentor. Does anyone have any initial first steps and some advice on your first flip

About Me

I'm a 29 year old working professional. I've been working in tech since I graduated college. For the past couple of months, I've thought about how I dont see myself working in this industry for the rest of my life. I figured I might as well focus my career on something that I enjoy. I have experience with renovations, since I completely renovated my condo (demo, tiling, flooring, cabinet install, plumbing). My parents also own a couple apartment buildings, so I've been renovating managing them with my parents. 

Financials

I currently own my condo, and have around 55k of equity in it. My current salary is 140k a year and I have around 120k saved in my bank account. 

Real Estate Goals

I really enjoy the construction aspect of real estate, so that's why I'd like to be more hands on. But I do realize that it makes the most sense to hire construction out to a GC or subs. I would initially want to start off in flipping houses in the chicagoland area and eventually have a combination of rentals while still doing flips. 

[Sarah Hatton]

Hey Andrew, 

Few pieces of advise...

1) Start small. Don't take on a huge project for your first flip, or multiple projects at once. There will almost always be bumps in the road with any given project, and on a small scale those will be valuable lesions you can learn from, on a large scale, they can be devastating. 

2) When figuring out what neighborhood to flip in utilize Redfin to comp properties. I personally love using the "map nearby homes for sale" function and adjusting the filters to view sold homes in the immediate neighborhood (not 1-2 miles away) with similar square footage, layout, and interior upgrades your aiming for. The most recently sold homes (3-6 months) are going to be the best in determining your ARV.

3) If you're bringing on a GC do your due diligence! (i.e GC agreement, read reviews, if they are licensed look them up to ensure they are in good standing with the state, etc). A large part of the projects success is in the hands fo the GC and unfortunately not all GCs are entrepreneurs aka good at money management. I would advise against paying any deposits upfront, and definitely not pay by the hour. If you use hard money financing you'll likely have reimbursement style fund control (contractor get paid upon completion of work) and require lien waivers both of which will protect you. 

Good Luck!