Need Advice! First-time investor with potential flip

[Mauricio Trigueros]

Hello, I'm a first-time real estate investor living in New Hampshire with a flipping opportunity. My girlfriend and I were originally looking to buy a multi-family home and house hack in the NH/MA area, but the prices have been pushed up too high for us to afford. Her grandmother passed away recently and her mother, knowing we've been looking to invest, offered us the option of buying the property from her and her 3 other siblings. It's currently listed as a 2 bedroom 1 bath, but there's a large basement with potential for a second bathroom. Most of the changes would be cosmetic, aside from one or two small projects.

My girlfriend and I would love to buy it, fix some things, and re-list it shortly after, but we aren't sure how long that would take or if we can get financing and afford the living expenses while making repairs. My girlfriend's mother offered to leave her share of the equity untouched so that we could pay back her 3 siblings for now and split the profits with her after flipping it. The house is currently listed in Massachusetts for $335k but we would only need financing for $250k, which is a huge help and the reason for my post.

Any advice from experts in New England (or anywhere really) on how to go about financing or thoughts on this situation would be greatly appreciated.

[Aaron Montague]

@Mauricio Trigueros

The first, and most important question, is this flip going to make you any money?

I have a couple thoughts here. If you want to flip it fast, take @Lien Vuong's advice.

If you have the opportunity to purchase a place in MA, and then live there, think about occupying it for 24 months before selling it. I recommend this strategy because you can make up to $250k in profits tax free on a primary residence that you have occupied for 24 of the previous 60 months.  This also means you do not have to maintain two residences worth of payments, taxes, bills, etc.

If you go the either route, make sure you have this discussion with EVERYONE involved up front. And triple check that they are okay with the entire plan.  The last thing you want is to piss off one of the siblings because they think you "screwed" them by eventually selling the place for 100s of thousands in profit when you only paid them a small portion of that.

That last concept bears repeating: Don't leave anything open ended with a plan when it involves family, ever.