Active Duty Soldier Looking To Do My First Flip

[Anthony Glover]

Hello everyone at BP! I have been a member for a little bit but I walked off the face of the earth for a little bit but now I'm back! Haha. Quick intro about myself: As the title says, I am an active duty soldier stationed in the Augusta, GA area. I am a husband and father to 3 beautiful girls and although the Army has treated us very well, I don't plan to retire from it (I did, however, just re-enlist for 5 more years and will be PCS'ing to Hawaii in February.) With that being said, I have been interested in real estate for a while now and would love to be able to jump right into full-time flipping, buy and hold, and commercial once I depart from the Army so that I can get to a point that my family and I are being well-taken care of and our future is secure through REI. Now that you know a little about me, I'll just dive right into to my situation and any advice would be extremely helpful!

I bought my first home in 2015 in Arkansas and walked into it with a little bit of equity.  Not long after buying it was when I decided to join the Army and had to quickly get renters in there. Being a beginner, I didn't do my due diligence and vet applicants as well as I should have. That was my first mistake. The next was thinking I could manage the property myself while being states away while having no leave built up yet in order to save money on a property manager. Fast forward to today, and after 2 years of crappy renters, vandalism, insurance claims, eventually hiring a fantastic property manager, a complete 180 on the property as well as the renter, the house is in great condition and I'm looking to sale. I say all this because it was a lesson learned and in the end, I still see it as an investment because I did not come out of pocket much for the whole thing and look to make quite a bit from selling it. My decision for selling it stems from the fact that I am moving to Hawaii and I know for a fact that I would not like to have a rental here in the states (even with my fantastic property manager) until I get back in 3 years. The same goes for my current house which is just under 2 years old and would be ok with breaking even on after selling it. 

Selling both houses would decrease my debt by over 75% and would allow me to rest easy and enjoy Hawaii while I am over there. But with me standing to make around 15k off of my first house, I don't want to just sit on that money. I want to invest it in flipping my first home. The markets I am interested in are Augusta, GA (and surrounding areas); Monticello, Arkansas (my hometown), and Hawaii itself. I understand that I will need to study whichever market I choose but my problems lie in my connections and my credit. Augusta works well for me with it being local but I have no real estate connections here. Monticello works well because I do have those real estate connections but the distance and time frame I have to work with before leaving to Hawaii worries me. And I know nothing about REI in Hawaii except for the property values are enormous for something even as small as a shack. But since I'll be there for the next 3 years, I would like to invest there if at all possible. So the advice I am seeking here is what market sounds the best for me to work in? Is it even plausible for me to flip a house with the time I have remaining here (about 6mos)? If not, do I try in Hawaii or do I just hold onto the profits and wait until I am back in the states? Am I moving too fast because I haven't even sold the house yet?

My next question/dilemma is financing. Due to having to make both mortgage payments for about 6mos while waiting on the insurance claim to go through on the first house, my credit score dropped from above a 700 to below a 600. My first thought is to invest with a partner. But going back to those real estate connections, I only have them back home in Arkansas. I am actually already talking to someone about the potential of partnering up, but again, that distance and time-frame are worrying me. The next option, and I may have to even do this with the partner, is try and secure a hard-money loan. After listening to some of the podcasts, I know I need to have exit strategies, etc. I would just like some advice/recommendations in this area to give me more confidence as this is what I would be worried about most (obtaining the financing and exit strategies if things don't go as planned.)

I apologize for the long post but I'm excited about REI and find it hard to contain that excitement in a community such as this! Again, any advice/suggestions/recommendations would be so beneficial to this beginner! Thank you all!