first profitable deal

[Vikram C.]

As many of you know, I knew nothing about RE a year ago. When I started my research on the subject, I stumbled upon Bigger Pockets and joined it right away and started reading all the old posts, asking you guys questions, etc.

Like many newbies, I jumped around from one thing to another (Mobile Home Parks, SFHs, Apartment Complexes, HM lending, private lending, etc!). And I did all this while living in India - I am still amazed at how BP and the internet have made it easy for anyone in the world to invest in RE in the U.S.

I finally decided to try fix-and-flips in Phoenix and flew down here and got started right away. I actually lost money (a very tiny loss) on my first two flips but learnt from each one and felt that I would eventually make a profit as I continued to learn and avoid the previous mistakes. Today I closed my third flip for a small profit. On the whole, while this business is not yet a financial success, I feel that I have learnt an incredible amount and also enjoyed the entire experience.

I now have a bunch of properties in Phoenix on the market and am keeping my fingers crossed as to their eventual profitability. It's been a blast so far and I appreciate all the advice that I have received from experienced BP members through their forum posts and also PMs. I even had the pleasure of meeting and learning from two wonderful BP members when I was in Denver.

Thanks to all of you and to Josh for making all this possible.

P.S.

I have used three agents so far, two of whom I found here on BP. Both are good and honest people. I have also partnered with a BP member on my recent flips - a great guy with an excellent business mind.

[Account Closed]

Sounds like you have learned some fairly low cost lessons.

It sounds like you margins are thin. Are you repair estimates working out with in budget? Are you purchasing the property with sufficient room to generate a profit? I'm sure that you are finding that time is an important factor here as well. The longer it takes to rehab and sell the more the market has a chance to change.