Success to Failure to Eventually Success

[Conner Andrews]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $295,000
Cash invested: $41,000
Sale price: $440,000

Sold first "accidental fix and flip" and bought this property located a street away from it. 3 Bed 1.5 Bath and I knocked out the wall separating a bedroom closet and the half bathroom and added a walk in shower making it a 3 bed 2 bath. Cost to do this was $2,500 including labor and material.
Can't imagine any future flip to be as impactful as this one. About 3/4 of the way through it the General Contractor company I was working for unexpectedly fired me! The President called me into his office to talk to me and I thought I was getting a raise because the month before he put me in charge of getting a new side of the business up and running which was insurance restoration work for State Farm, etc. After I got it set up, the first few jobs successfully completed and automated, he hired someone willing to work for substantially less than I was getting paid. The end result was that I would not be getting the typical "2 weeks pay" because my first house hack was such a success, and he said I didn't need it.
But little did he know that everything I made from the first house was into this house hack along with $10,000 in credit card debt. I had $5,000 credit card allowance left which paid for Saltine crackers and peanut butter lunches and ramen/egg dinners along with my truck payment, mortgage payment, etc... I got a seasonal personal delivery driver job with MR. Brown right when that credit card was maxed out and in order to pay for the gas to get to that job I had to get my forgotten childhood dinosaur piggy bank out. I asked for $3.37 on pump number 4 with zero embarrassment. 3 Months of 6 days a week 60 hour a week work at 20 dollars an hour, along with selling anything and everything of mine that was worth more than $100 on ebay gave me enough to finish the house hack fueled by saltines and ramen. Sometime during that time I couldn't pay the $1,600 mortgage and got a pre-foreclosure notice letter but thanks to covid I was able to choose the monthly forbearance option. This one gave me the confidence that I'm able to handle way more than I think I am if I just endure and think "What's My Next Move." And that my decision to not put mine and my future family's "financial security" fully into a company ran by a person who could overnight decide to fire me was a a great decision. Hopefully one day I'll say it was the best decision I ever made for my career, personal daily life etc.

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

My love for business, designing, creating, and living a life of freedom.

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

MLS. REALTOR

How did you finance this deal?

Mortgage Conventional

How did you add value to the deal?

Turned a half bath into a full bath and went above and beyond in design while being budget minded

What was the outcome?

Gave me the mindset that no matter what or against all odds if I just get out of my situational emotions and ask myself what's next and do that thing then I'll eventually get the house renovated completely. Also that house was featured in "The Charlotte Agenda's "Hottest Homes Under 500k." Also profited around $80,000. And one of my neighbors gave me my next deal.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Jump and build your parachute on the way down. I wouldn't quit my job because i was worried about health insurance but health insurance was the last thing on my mind during that whole process. While it was a tough time, looking back it was the most fulfilling season of my life up to that point.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Kristen Pegg with Cottingham Chalk