First Flip, 3 Months In

[Peter Stanford]

I haven't been very active on these boards as far as participation, but I am still eagerly listening to the Podcasts and checking the forums. My partner and I are now 3 months in on our first flip. We are doing it nights and weekends so we really don't have a conventional time line. 

First, I spent an hour or so every morning checking the MLS. We visited multiple properties, checked a few auction sites, went to local REI events (big shout out to @Justin Silverio), but in the end I ended up finding a property I was fairly familiar with on the MLS. The house was actually my old neighbor's house. There is a long story behind it, but my wife and I always joked that we would buy that house someday.

This particular property had been foreclosed, at no surprise to me, and it was listed at a reasonable price (219K). It is a 3 bed 1 bath Cape with just over 1500sqft of living space. I ended up offering well below that at 195 and got countered at 210. I ended up paying 207.5k in cash.

My agent looked at comps in the area and most were well over 300k. So now comes the cost of rehabbing. My partner estimated between 60-70k for all of the labor and materials, which would leave us a little meat on the bones. We both are heading into this thing with the hopes to learn a steady process and if we make a profit on #1, great! 

So as of now, we have made quite a bit progress. We had a new roof put on right away, a whole new heating system, new windows, and new front and rear doors. The plan is to take care of all of the major factors first, then tackle the remaining interior items.

Luckily, there haven't been any major issues. We are adding a second bathroom and turning the second floor into a master suite. As of now, we are right on budget but maybe off on our original end date. (Not a huge deal as I have a 2.5% interest rate on the money).

I hope to update as we make more progress on this one. I am also actively looking for the next one because it is quite an amazing experience!