Our first flip in Idaho!

[Edmond Claessens]

I have to start with saying that I have been reading and listening on BiggerPockets for a while and had a hard time finding properties to begin with. My wife is a Realtor with KW and I help her out with placing her signs for open houses on the weekends and after I am done I drive for dollars. I write down every home that could be interesting and try to stop by estate sales that don't have an Agent sign in the yard.

Last year we ran into an estate sale that was perfect for us. We stayed in touch with the owners over the months, and after meeting up a couple times and some negotiations we were under contract.

I'll keep it simple to the details but let me know if you have any questions.

4 bed - 3 bath - 3 car garage - SFH

Purchase price: $160K

1st Loan: $112,000
2nd Loan carried by sellers: $49,000
Down payment: $2,500

Rehab Cost: $13,000

Real Estate fees and closing cost: $8,900

Basic list of repairs: carpet, vinyl tile floors, vinyl plank flooring, faucets, toilets, light fixtures, thermostat, interior paint, appliances, gutters, backsplashes, resurfaced counter in kitchen with an epoxy countertop, re-stained all cabinets throughout the house, added pulls to all cabinets, new kitchen sink & faucet - finished it off with some light staging for photos and to help it sell quicker!

We initially set the ARV at about $215,000 but the market picked up really fast over the 8 week rehab period and into the new year, so we decided to list for $229,900.

The house came on the market on a Friday and received 5 offers over the weekend. After some negotiations we were under contract for $234,500. We had to kick back an additional $900 for some repairs that we were not able to address because of a snow covered roof all winter long.

After all other fees and holding costs we made a profit of $45,000.
The total amount of cash that was required for this deal was $20K. The bank required us to put $17,500 into a bank account from which we could draw for repairs and we put down $2,500 for the owner carried loan.

We learned a lot from our first flip and did most of the work ourselves except for carpet and paint.
This really helped us to understand on what parts we will tackle on the next flip and what not.

Without BiggerPockets I am sure I would have missed a lot in my calculations but everything came in exactly as my predictions were except for the increased market value of the home.

We don't have many great before photos, but here are a few.

[Edmond Claessens]

@Michael Schlager yes, we based it on the comps for this property. We decided what it should sell for and were very conservative, then I calculated the costs involved in selling the property. We had a certain look that we wanted for this house and I calculated every single item and already did my homework on flooring and painting beforehand. This came to around $14K which included 20% extra, in case I missed something or was going to change my mind......

I deducted $1500 for future buyers for any repairs, which seems to be a common number after home inspections and $5K in concessions. I know you can negotiate this number but it was my first property and I wanted the numbers to work for me and I didn't want to loose any money.

After all this if i remember correctly I set a goal of $10-15K. Once I knew this number I knew what it would cost for me to close on this deal.

We were very straightforward with the sellers and had the numbers on a sheet that I put in front of them. I was not going to buy their property for the fun of it and I am doing this to make a profit, no need to hide this. They were surprised by the low offer but my wife also created a cost sheet for what they would walk away with if they would sell it themselves with the possibility of the house sitting on the market for a long time as it was very dirty.

I never budged in my offer as I was too scared to loose money.