Brandon & Josh were wrong AKA My first flip

[Jessi Hill]

Dear Brandon & Josh, 

I am happy to tell you that you were wrong! I have been listening to the BP podcast and hanging around here for almost a year now.  I was ready...oh so ready but those little words kept scaring me away "Most people lose money on their first flip". Well I am happy to tell you, I DIDN'T! (ok, we, but mostly I). I have been analyzing, advising and helping others with their real estate investments for a couple years now but I just finally jumped in and did my own end to end flip. YAYYYY.

I closed on the selling end of my first flip on Friday. It was an adorable little Old West Tampa bungalow. I (my llc and a partner) purchased it in September for 37k, spend 32k on rehab, 9k on closing costs/fees/commissions/taxes/holding costs. We purchased with cash and we sold it in February for 120k. Within 24 hours of the MLS listing we had two contracts. We accepted a full price offer with cash close and no contingencies. We had a backup offer for 124k. I know, I know, maybe I priced too low. After all was said in done, the deal made 42k before taxes.

We did it! I dreamed of this moment when I would be telling you all about it.  So as much as I cringed every time I heard "most people lose money on their first flip" I found so much inspiration in all the stories and the many times and ways you guys have said "take action" or "just do it."  

I should also note that I'm also a single mom, I work full time and volunteer for local animal rescues and charities.  After seeing all the feral cats and kittens in the area and my heart breaking worrying about them I also rescued, tamed and adopted out (to loving families) 7 kittens from 2 litters and trapped, spay/neutered and vaccinated 3 adult cats in the process. The neighbors were so happy to have help with them.  I'm sure it also helped the house to not have tons of feral cats everywhere.  

So if I can do it, anyone can do it!!

Oh, and I bought a rental, more on that next time. :) 

Union House (after photos)

[Will Barnard]

Love your title of the thread! Congrats on your success.

For all reading this, I want to point out the most important factor in this message which resulted in the successful first flip: @Jessi Hill BOUGHT RIGHT!! Simple as that.

Look at those numbers - $32k purchase, $37k rehab, total of $69k and sold for $120k. That is a 57.5% deal and the reason she slammed a home run on this one. Deals with that kind of spread are not easy to come by but beginners need to know that they must find decent spreads before they pull the trigger.