You Never Forget Your First

[Alton Williams]

I was just thinking about the first deal I did a couple of years ago and how it came together.

It was an investor that had bought about 40 homes back in like 2010 and never paid taxes on any of them so it was a fire sale. He had one in particular in Roseville, MI that I liked and I went back and forth with the agent until finally I had him agree to a land contract for $7,000 with a $1,500 down payment and I would catch up the taxes (approx. $4,300). Payments were $500/mo and they did not start for 3 months. Me being a novice went and had to bring people in (my father included) because I did not have all the money for the taxes. That was the beginning of the ending. I ended up having to get rid of the house and took a loss. This was my initiation. I still love it though, it's like that girlfriend you never forget about even though she broke your heart (not that this happened to me before lol). Any other BP members want to share the first time they popped their cherry and if it was all it was cracked up to be.

[Kyle Samuel]

My first deal was a short sale. Took 6 months to close and 6 months to renovate, sell, and get paid. Estimated ARV was 250, sold for 220. Estimated repairs were 50, actual repairs were closer to 70. My partner and I at the time spent every available hour at the property doing anything we could to save a dollar here and there for 2 months straight. This house was a complete disaster in every direction. The outside was ugly, the roof was basically caving in, the driveway was non existent. The interior was a full gut and all the mechanicals in the house had to be replaced. The previous owners pulled out the support columns in the basement for some reason, so we also had to jack up the second floor and first floor to level them out. In the end, we walked away with a little under $5k split 2 ways, which worked out to a little over $3/hr. From that point on, I learned not to be as optimistic with my rehab and ARV numbers haha.