Starting in the beginning of 2013 I partnered with my mother to try our hand at flips. She, the lender, me the designer/grunt. After what was certainly an absurd amount of house showings (I still feel bad for our buying agent), we found a home that was listed on the MLS, but headed to auction (dot com, in fact) shortly after we viewed it. To our benefit, it was listed on the MLS as a 1 Bed, 1 Bath, but was realistically a 1 bed, 2 bath, which basically made all of the investors lose interest. It easily became a 2 bed, 2 bath (with the master suite in the basement... I know, I know. That's weird. But it was also pretty cool, and made it much more marketable, even if a bit odd. We purchased it for $92k. $50k in Rehab. Sold $185k. Net profit $22k (as well as free rent for 6 months) after realtor fees and $8k in "income" taxes. Effing taxes.

Here's the kitchen/living room:

Took out that goofy wall. Ikea cabinets, granite, stainless, pulled up the tile, and managed to salvage the hardwoods hiding under 2 additional layers of terrible linoleum. Also, note the "before" refrigerator, in the back entry, hanging over the steps. Apparently this was rooted in the days of ice boxes, when the "iceman" had a key to the back door and wasn't just a nickname for a mob hitman.

Much better, right?

On the second flip we offered full asking price of $99k, before it hit the MLS. It was in probate, and the sellers had been clearing the house out for something like 6 months, and it was still pretty full of stuff. As part of our offer, I said they could leave what they didn't want, and we would empty it out once we closed. Probate then lasted another 4 months, and we closed in October of 2014.

I feel it noteworthy, that because of the lengthy probate, I had 3 days to do any work on it before moving in. This was something of a nightmare, and lead to me sleeping on a cot, wearing shoes indoors and basically burning candles 24/7 for the first month. (Not really 24/7. Blow out before you go out, friends.

Anyways, here’s a taste of the transformation.

Exposed the brick chimney that was hiding behind awful popcorn textured plaster. Increased the “passthrough” to a more open feel, and the granite now hangs over for breakfast seating. New cabinets, appliances, everything. Didn’t do new windows, but maybe should have… Hindsight, you know?

Purchased: $100k, Rehab $60k. Sold $199k. Net $18k. Also, "free" rent for 10 months. Not a bad deal.

More than anything, I would say these flips taught me that doing all the work myself burnt me out. But the upside is that it lead me to change my approach a bit.

From here, I plan on buying a small multi-family property to live in, and rent out. Buy and hold awaits. I’d love some larger multi-units at some point. I do still see flips in my future, once I secure some more private lenders...

I also see contractors, properties with more meat on the bones, and shorter renovations.

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Two successful flips in South Minneapolis, MN!

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