My 1st Flip (or not so flippy) Success Story

[Krista Goodrich]

After purchasing a few buy and holds in Florida I realized how hot my market is and wanted to buy more but needed some cash...so I decided to do a flip.  I ended up at the foreclosure auction bidding on a house (that I did not get) and when the next house came up I was a little familiar with the property so I decided I would bid but had my cap set at $80k.  Bidding started at $65k and I was the only other bidder and went in for $67k...and won!  So I met my agent and contractor at the house shortly after and much to my surprise the tax records were wrong as the house was not a 2/1 816 sq ft right near the beach but a 3/2 1400 sq ft right near the beach!  Additionally the former homeowner showed up at the house to give me the keys (what???).  So after looking at the repairs being around $50k and thinking I could sell the house for $159-$179k I did some thinking.  The former owner had left tons of stuff at the house so I got a dumpster and paid $800 all in for the trash to be removed.  I met with my agent and asked him if we could go ahead and list the house as is as I thought I could get over $100k for it (not quite as much as if flipped but no surprises, no carrying costs, etc).  We listed the house for $112k, had 5 people in the first day, an offer and agreed price of $105k two days later and closed ten days after that (were were suppose to close 5 days after but the back of the house addition had a lien that we dealt with first-the purchaser actually assumed the lien and we took $1k off the price.  So in less than a month I purchased and sold the home with only paying $800 trash fee and the real estate commission netting over $28k (closing fees etc in there).  Not bad for my first non-flip Flip!