Finished My Flip But Now Struggling For Buy-and-Hold Funding

[Matt Lowery]

Last year I purchased a house to rehab with seller financing. At the time, I had a 50-50 parter with zero experience. That lasted about 60 days before she realized that it wasn't like the reality shows she had been watching and actually required work. I continued to finish the flip in my limited free time and personally funded the rehab as I went along.

I put it on the market 30 days ago with some interest but the market is slow in this small college town this time of year. I am a (very) part-time Realtor and currently finishing my final year of getting my real estate appraiser license.

Currently, I think the best way to build my business is to treat this like a BRRR instead of a flip. There's a huge housing shortage in this town and no relief in sight, so I could lease it within 48 hours, typically. I went through a very, very rough divorce three years ago that closed two businesses and she let our house and another investment property get foreclosed on. I've been attacking my credit but not quite there to get traditional loans. The sellers don't want to do a longer term (expires 12/31/18) on CFD and I only need about $40,000 - $45,000 to buy, so I can't find any hard money lenders that will consider such a small amount. I've spoken with a few potential private investors and family members but no match.

I also have another rental and my personal residence, both that I have rehabbed and am purchasing from people I know well CFD. The investment property cash flows well and I have quite a bit of equity in my house but can't access it.

I'm out of ideas, but I know there has to be some way to make this work for 12-18 months until I'm established.