New Member Introduction

[John Reynolds]

Greetings. I’ve been following this blog and occasionally posting and decided it was time to introduce myself. I’m a stay at home dad who also builds a half dozen spec houses a year with a partner in Virginia. I have a couple of rentals there, too. I ran a successful remodeling company in Virginia for about 15 years. Three years ago, my wife was offered a great job opportunity here. She couldn’t advance her career any further where we lived, so I sold the business to a long time employee and we moved. The plan was that I was going to take care of our girls for a year while we settled in and I figured out what to do. What I quickly learned was you don’t have a lot of time to contemplate your professional future or anything else for that matter while chasing around a one and four year old. Luckily, being a parent is a lot like being a contractor. I spend a lot of time arguing, listening to crying and cleaning up messes. Anyway, while working in Virginia, I always wanted to flip houses but I never had the time to find deals. About a year ago, I found BP and started researching how to properly fix and flip houses. Now that my youngest is starting school on Tuesday, I’ve committed to start flipping.  I'd like to buy two or three houses by the end of the year.  Between my experience remodeling and building houses and what I’ve learned about flipping houses, I feel like I have a grasp on the basic concepts. What I definitely lack is local knowledge and experience. I don’t know the area or anyone in the business. My initial plan is to focus on houses for first time and working class homebuyers. I like the idea of focusing on the less expensive houses because I could rent them if the market tanks. Also, it seems like a lot of the less expensive houses here are little ranches and cape cods and they are all alike for the most part. Since they are the same, it would be easier to systematize a process that could be scaled easier than higher end custom homes. Am I wrong in my thinking? If I am, what do you recommend? If not, where should I be looking? I live on the Eastside, so I’d like to stay within 30 minutes of home. The areas in the city around Tosa look intriguing. I also like the far Northwestern parts of the city, zip codes 53223, 53224 and 53225. There seems to be a lot of activity in 53218 and 53209. I don’t have any interest in Trulia blue areas. Of course, all of my information has come from a computer screen since I’ve spent most of the time I’ve lived here in my little bubble. I’m starting to get out. I’m going to an open house tomorrow and will look at a couple of houses next week. Any advice would be appreciated. I look forward to getting out and meeting you soon.