35K Profit on my first flip! Before and After pics!

[Dan Beaulieu]

It is possible after all! After months and months of learning, I decided to dive in to the world of flipping. After a month of searching and offering on properties, I found the winner. I bought it off of the MLS (10 other offers on the property day 1 and I got it.) Ballsy to pay more than everybody else? Probably. I'd like to think that it was the personal letter / picture of my cute dog that got me the deal...But it was an awesome deal even at the price I paid. (363K) I know, I know, that's very expensive in most markets. When I do new things in life, I always go all in.

This property needed a full renovation which I estimated to be 110K, and the after repair value was estimated at 520-550K depending on the finishes. The house needed all new HVAC, decks, siding, railings, flooring. I still went for it!

I shopped for a good HML for 2 weeks and finally found one with relatively good terms that was willing to lend to a first time flipper. I knew nothing about home construction, but decided it would be best to learn as I go. After 3 months of hard manual labor, financial stress, managing subs, the rehab was complete! I had 3K left to my name, 2 maxed out credit cards, 4K a month in holding costs. Like I said before... all in.

The property had multiple offers on the first day and closed 2 weeks later for 536K. I came in under budget, too! :) 

Salt Lake City is a tough market and really hard to find good deals, but if I can buy one on the MLS, use hard money, AND pay realtor fees aaaaand still make money? Anybody can do it.

Now I'm completely addicted.

[Michael P.]

I'm impressed, good job.  Don't worry about some of the mistakes you made, learn from them, don't make them again.

I never ever pay anyone up front, unless they are a huge legit company, and usually that means I put it on the credit card, so I have extra security.  Random joe blow company who wants 50% up front?  Nah.  

My philosophy is, I am building a house, I can't go anywhere, you can place a lien, and you can easily track me down.  You?  You are a random person and I am not going to spend one millisecond tracking you down if you screw me.  So either you do the work up front and then get paid or cya, plenty of others out there who don't need money up front.