My first House and home

[John R Kepler]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $28,000
Cash invested: $15,000
Sale price: $32,000

In the Marine Corps. A live in fix and flip. I took a part time job to help pay my $126 mortgage.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I had bought a General Development house lot through Military Sales when I was 19. I later started doing sales for them in Okinawa and bought another lot. They were not good investments but I did eventually make a little bit. More importantly they introduced a 19 year old kid to the possibilities of real estate.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Realtor. Bobby Reddick. Crazy that I can still remember his name after 50 years.

How did you finance this deal?

I had 15k tied up in a CD at the time. Interest rates were like 14 or 15% back then. I swallowed my pride and the lump in my throat and asked my brand new inlaws to loan me 15k for 6 months while my CD matured and I would pay them back with interest. They did and the rest of the mortgage was conventional.

How did you add value to the deal?

House was solid but had been a rental. New flooring, painted inside and out, new fence and landscaping.

What was the outcome?

We had a place to live, made a profit and  I had the best credit rating in my misfit family.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The power of curb appeal, not to over improve for the neighborhood, that I was able to do what many of my peers did not. Always live within your means is the first step to having more means.