Evaluating a flip home

[Samuel Maclean]

I don't know if this is the best place for this post but here it is.

I just wanted to share my story of looking for flips.

I work at a hospital full time 10hr/day x 4days/wk so I get one day off during the week to do chores. I had quite a list of chores on this day to get done before I had to pick my children up from school. I woke up 6:30 brought them to their two different schools, finished that by 9am, went to a dentist appointment (with time being such a commodity these days, first one in 3 years!) Clean bill of health(no cavities). Following, I went home to begin my list of chores, mow lawn, screen tenants applications, bank, fix sink, etc. First is to check MLS for any amazing deals. BOOM 4 bdrm 1 1/2 bath 95k in new glouster (about 45 min from Portland Maine, the big nexus of our state). This is a great commuter area and homes in the commuter area are valuable. I check it with a real estate agent who says homes in the area comp at 200k. So at that moment my day has changed. I jump in my car while he starts writing up the sale agreement. His job is to get the offer in a quick as possible. My job is to go give the house a quick lookover before we put it in. As im driving down the road 1st thing I notice is this place is on the far end of the city, a minus. Next the road goes from tar to dirt to rocky and scary, another minus. The drive way is washed out, and only a truck can get up it. The home itself is huge, actually a 5 bedroom but needs significant updating and finishing. Needs: two decks, wrapped in vinyl, trim, new kitchen, new bathroom, huge unfinished 2-3 car garage. A significant job and I couldn't make the call on this one without first having my contractor look at it. I drove down the road further to see trailers haphazardly situated. I doubted the evaluation of 200k at this point. I drove home the 45 min and planned to pick my son up at 3 and look at the place with my contractor. That was a two hour ordeal and he priced it at 50-60k not including re-doing the road. I spoke with the agent and told him what I found and he told me there was only one sale in all of new glouster to go off so the 200k could very well be wrong.

I walked on the deal, I had a headache and felt sick by the end of the day.  It was the first hot day here in Maine 90 degrees and I had spent most of it driving back and fourth in a car while my co-workers posted pics of them at the beach and having drinks.  This is the name of the game.  There are a lot of success stories out there and this is by no means a failure as I learned a ton!  But some days are better then others and you gotta jump on these deals if they come up.  But you must be willing to walk if the numbers don't work out.