First Flip in Ferndale, MI

First Flip in Ferndale, MI

Investor · Ferndale, MI · Member since 2016 · 50 posts · 19 votes

So tomorrow our first flip will go up for sale! It's been a long 7 months, but a valuable hands on learning experience. Excited to see how the market reacts. I'm counting this a success already just for working up the courage to do it after creeping on the biggerpockets site and leaning a ton. Before I show the before and after pics, a little background on why I decided to do this with my family.

I went to school for Industrial Design and work in the auto industry mostly. Ever since graduating, I've always dreamed of owning a nice modern home or even renting one. I soon realized that "luxury lifestyle" look only tended to be possible if you were buying or renting an almost half million dollar home or loft. I felt like a lot of young professionals wanted that, but couldn't afford it. So after living in the area for so long and getting a good feel for where that demographic might want to live, I settled on Ferndale. I love the city and it's constantly growing/welcoming small local businesses. It's nightlife is also amazing with plans to expand the downtown with more lofts, etc. I'm also a designer by heart and wanted a chance to be creative while also investing. I teamed up with my father and mother. I handle the designing and contract work with my dad (he's amazing at his craft) and my mom loves decorating. Our thought was "worst case scenario, we own a house we would be proud of". So we dove right in and I'm hoping it will do well in the market. It will be up for sale in the next day or so. I'll share the numbers and how well or not so well it does when it's sold.

Now, on to the pics and video! We did pretty much everything ourselves and saved a ton of money that way. We thought that was important for the first one. For the next there are some parts we would contract out to speed up the process. The stress was real, but worth it at the end. It's a 3 bed 1 bath near downtown with an open concept and lots of custom designs. Very modern. We worked with what we had and think we achieved something special.

Before:

As for After, I feel a video is a little more fun: 

Video Tour on Youtube!

Hope the goal was achieved, but I will keep you guys updated on how it goes. A little nervous, but glad we finally started investing.  I'll post some after pics too this week.

Cheers,

Diego

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Sean GrahamBusiness Member
Investor , CPA · Detroit, MI · Member since 2016 · 587 posts · 249 votes
9y

Very cool Diego! The house looks beautiful and Ferndale is a great location. What is the address of the home? Perhaps you could share a link to Zillow once it is posted. It'd be great to see the numbers after you sell it as well. 

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  • Sean GrahamBusiness Member
    Investor , CPA · Detroit, MI · Member since 2016 · 587 posts · 249 votes
    9y

    Very cool Diego! The house looks beautiful and Ferndale is a great location. What is the address of the home? Perhaps you could share a link to Zillow once it is posted. It'd be great to see the numbers after you sell it as well. 

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  • Investor · Rochester, WA · Member since 2013 · 221 posts · 30 votes
    9y

    Awesome! Looks great my first investment property I also teamed up with mom and dad! It is still doing awesome. I would love to see your numbers as well, happy selling!

  • Investor · Ferndale, MI · Member since 2013 · 130 posts · 41 votes
    9y
    Great design work! Ferndale has to be the best city hands down to use a strategy like this. What will the list price be?
  • Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2015 · 113 posts · 29 votes
    9y

    Congrats @Diego Ortega!  Well done.  Beautiful design.  If you don't mind sharing the numbers it could be beneficial for newbies like myself. :)  I'm working on my first flip right now in Grand Rapids, MI.  

    Well done! 

  • Investor · Ferndale, MI · Member since 2016 · 50 posts · 19 votes
    9y

    @Account Closed Thanks! I will for sure share the numbers once it is sold. I'll be happy just to make a small profit, but the agent thinks it will be a fair amount.

  • Farmington, MI · Member since 2017 · 16 posts · 7 votes
    9y

    Very nice work Diego. How much did the renovation cost? Can you give a breakdown of the cost of material and labor.

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 166 posts · 67 votes
    9y

    Bravo @Diego Ortega! Looks spectacular. Hoping you get that under contract soon.

  • Investor · Ferndale, MI · Member since 2016 · 50 posts · 19 votes
    9y

    Hi guys. Update with numbers added. Let me know if you have any questions.

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