First Flip Completed (Video, Numbers, Lessons, & our First Wholesale Deal)

[Jonathan Makovsky]

Wow – great to be posting here (finally).

When I left my job at the beginning of this year to invest full-time in real estate I never considered flipping single family homes, and wholesaling seemed shady. I never watch(ed) the flipping TV shows, or had the gurus to inspire me, I don’t have a great eye for design, and I couldn't tell you what an ARV, yellow letter, or a soffit/fascia was. 

But on November 21, we sold our first house flip and on the same day we completed our first wholesale deal – some might say Christmas came early for us! Almost all of these successes are attributable and would be unlikely without the help of BiggerPockets! (Here is an earlier post describing BP’s impact on our business: http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/140...). 

I primarily learned everything I needed to know from studying: the BP podcasts, @J Scott    books, and BPs’ blogs and forums. I was also very fortunate to have a very good support team first and foremost my business partner @George Paiva , my Connecticut brokerage that I hang my license with, and the many others that helped in the process. So after we put together our own successful direct mail campaign, it has led us to the following deals so far:

• 1 x House Flip Sold
• 1 x Wholesale Deal
• 1 x House we’re currently rehabbing (probably will keep as rental)
• 1 x Commercial Building (hoping to close end of January)
• 1 x Listing brokered on MLS
• 1 x Listing under contract on MLS
• 2 x Listings currently on MLS
• Other deals in the works

There are a lot of stories with each of these deals, but to keep this post at a reasonable length here is the video, numbers and lessons from our Flip/Wholesale Deal:

• Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bPhWg0Tz9w&feature=youtu.be
• House Flip Numbers:
•              Sales Price:        $371K
•              Purchase Price: <154K>
•              Rehab Costs:    <135K>
•              Fixed Costs:       <29K>
•              Interest:                <6K>
•              Profit:                  $47K

• Wholesale Deal: $15K Fee (less attorney costs)

A few lessons learned:

• Stay conservative with Numbers: It took us a long time to get off the ground (which wasn't totally a bad thing, see next point below), but this could have been a flop if we didn't stay conservative with ARV and rehab numbers. Remember, every dollar you stay conservative on and don't use will be a dollar added to your bottom line.
• Not Get Rich Quick: I left my job at the end of January and sold my first deal end of November. This was a lot longer than planned - just ask my wife Gd bless her! :) I'm happy how it worked out. We passed on a lot of deals because we stay conservative, but the plus is that during this time we learned a lot on analyzing deals, but most important was building relationships, especially with my business partner. We really got to know each other, and this really helped our business.
• Cash Reserves: We went over our rehab budget and thankfully we had the means to be able to put more money into the flip when needed. This could have gotten ugly if we didn't have a cushion.
• Stay with It/Be Persistent with Sellers: After four months in and not being close to locking in a deal, there were some very stressful days and nights, but we continued using and trying methods that other successful investors were doing and eventually things turned. We were also told MANY times from sellers and brokers that our number was too low, or the seller's that we bought from were not interested. Keep pounding the rock and mail/text/call them (texting every other week is my favorite when you have their number).
• Partners are Awesome: As alluded to earlier I am useless with the construction side, but I have other strong skill sets to bring to the table - we all do! I found my business partner who knew the construction side (and a helluva lot more than that) and I brought my marketing, finance and people skills, which helped us find deals, investors. Also my real estate license was very valuable...
• Real Estate License: I found this to be extremely worthwhile. If nothing else you'll learn some things during the course, and maybe be able to broker a deal you didn't expect. J Scott goes into length on the "other" advantages it has, and he's dead on.
• Expensive Markets: I live ten miles from Times Square (NYC) where homes don't cost $25K, so I shifted my focus to areas outside those where deals might be easier to find. Deals likely can be had within a 50 - 100 mile radius even near expensive markets.
• Be Honest and Set Long Term Goals: We were honest with our sellers', the town, contractors, and others we did business with. This helped us a lot and it will help snowball your business when things start to pick up. 

I hope this serves as a source of inspiration for those looking to get started and haven't found their first deal - I was in your shoes and if you stick with it you will get there.

Happy investing and thanks BP @Joshua Dorkin @Brandon Turner and all the others who make this site a huge success.