Finally sold my re-habs!

[Larry Seith]

I know this forum is supposed to be about rehabbing success stories, but ya know, sometimes things don't go as planned. I purchased two houses in Mobile, Alabama last June hoping to re-hab them and flip them quickly.

Well, even though our inspector underestimated needed repairs by about $20,000 we did have both houses done and on the market within 5 weeks. But of course last July is when the credit market tanked and even though we were getting non stop full price offers on both houses, no-one was able to qualify for the loans. And even if we found someone who did qualify, by the time the paperwork got to underwriting, the rules had changed and the buyers were no longer able to qualify.

So we are very happy to finally have found qualified buyers and have just closed on both of these homes. Unfortunately the extra repairs and carrying cost have put us in the hole, but we like to comfort ourselves by saying we just attended a very expensive "boot camp"!

I'm sure we learned something here. But should I have hired multiple inspectors? That gets expensive.
I could have done a lease option but I wanted to sell these outright for the cash - and remember we had offers from day one so we never expected it to take so long to close. Or sell at a lower price to a cash investor.
Oh well, live and learn.
The photos are available at my galleries at http://www.biggerpockets.com/users/photos/RedwoodCreek


Barkley Drive before rehab


Barkley Drive after rehab

Barkley Drive bathroom before

Barkley Drive bathroom after

Barkley Drive kitchen before

Barkley Drive kitchen after

La Pine Drive before

La Pine Drive after

La Pine Drive kitchen before

La Pine Drive kitchen after