Better late then never!

[Robert Freeborn]

Yesterday I closed on my first RE deal in Washington State.  I started really thinking about RE in June of last year.  Then I found a local RE group in August or so, met my RE Agent, and was directed here.  At that time I had an hour commute to work, and I listed to podcasts there, back, and over lunch, quickly working through the list.  

My first plan was buy a student housing 4-plex with my parents, then eventually refinance them out of it.  Then I would find a 4-plex I could house hack with my family.  Not a bad plan, but life has a way of laughing at your plans.  

My area of the country is super expensive, but as I'm not experienced enough to go OOS, I had to keep plugging away here.  I eventually found a deal that would have been a perfect flip.  We decided to go with financing through an equity partner, and were ready to go.  But, because of my own hesitation, we were only able to submit our offer an hour after they had gone pending.  

Since then I've gone all out, looking at 10+ properties a week.  When Brandon issued the 90 day challenge, I was determined to meet it.  

We had an offer accepted.  It was an older house, and while it needed work, looked good.  Then we saw the "garage".  It would have needed a total tear down and rebuild, which killed the budget.  If we didn't rebuild, it killed the resale!  So we escaped with cause and kept looking.  

The next house was a beautiful property in a desired neighborhood.  They were asking 350k We thought we could resell for 470k or so.  We got it under contract.  Thank goodness for the inspection report: it revealed that our planed 40k light rehab needed much more work (around 100k.)  We countered for 250k, expecting them to negotiate to 300 or so.  They walked away.  Ok, dust off the shoulders, NEXT!

We found another property shortly there after.  It was bank owned, but had some great potential, especially with a small change in floor plan.  Buuuut, and there is always a but,  the bank wouldn't accept offers below their list price, AND they demanded 10% earnest money deposit and NO inspection.  Well, after taking a little time to recover from the sheer audacity of it, we countered with a 120k protest offer and moved to the next one.  

During this time we had offered on several other properties, only to have them go pending right before, or for other offers to be accepted.  

In December we found another property. It was partially demo'd already, with the carpet and flooring torn out. We put an offer in, only to see it go pending the next day. Well, we move on. Ironically, we later found out they accepted OUR offer, but never told us they had until they called to asked why we never gave our EMD! Wow!

This brings us to our final property.  It had just come back on the market and, low and behold, it the same property we saw before, just reduced to $300k!  It turns had gone pending several more times after we lost it, only to have the buyers back out each time.  We place an offer of 290k, only to hear back from the agent that they have another offer in place for over $300k.  But, if we can do 300k with no inspection, fast close, and 10k, the owner was sure to accept.  With the a 100k rehab, we can easily sell for over 520k in the area.  So we offered 295k, 5k earnest money, and skipped a second inspection.  Guess what, they accepted!  All before the New Year!

So now the property as closed, I have the keys, and I'm currently going over bids from two different contractors.  My hands are shaking, I'm feeling sick, and I'm more excited than ever.  Its been a crazy road to get here, and the work is only just beginning, but I'm grateful for every bump along the way.  

Big shout out to @Patrick Britton for being such an awesome agent.  He helped me through every step to get here, and is amazing with his referrals for fellow experts who have provided helping hands as well.  If you're looking in the area, USE HIM.  He won't steer you wrong.