First home/House hack

[William Bratrud]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Lake Elsinore.

Purchase price: $85,000
Cash invested: $10,000
Sale price: $232,000

This was a live in flip/house hack The first home we purchased as our personal residence and the one that started it all. We purchased the home as a semi pocket listing for $85K and it appraised for $118K the day we closed. After putting in about $10K and a lot of sweet equity over the course of two years we sold the home in 2005 for $232K, netting approx $130K.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

My wife and I were newly married and we figured that if we were going to be paying someones mortgage it might as well be our own. I had been around real estate all of my life. I had been wanting to buy my own house since I was 18.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Our Broker brought it to us. It was her listing and was on the market for $120K but the seller said she would entertain a lesser offer if she didn’t have to pay a hefty commission or complete any repairs. Another investor had offered the seller $85K but our broker talked her into selling it to us instead.

How did you finance this deal?

We qualified for a first time homebuyer FHA loan up to $110K with 3% down. We had been living well below our means for a year and saving our pennies for a down payment. We got a 20 year loan at 6%, my wife didn't want a 30 year loan and we could afford a little higher monthly payment since we were financing much less than what we qualified for.

How did you add value to the deal?

We were willing to buy as is, we didn’t require any crazy inspections or repairs and our agent waived her entire commission ( It was my mom).

What was the outcome?

We lived in the home for about 1 year and took out a HELOC for $35K with which we bought and flipped a piece of vacant land down the street which net us $20K in a single month. After paying back our Home Equity Line of Credit and living in the home for another year we sold in the 2005 housing bubble for a whopping $232k, netting an additional $130K tax free. When the dust settled this live in flip put $150K into our bank account in two years.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Timing is everything. Buy low, sell high. Buy a home early in life, Don’t throw your money away paying rent, that’s someone else’s mortgage. It was really scary taking that first step to buy a house when I was only 21 years old but looking back it was one of the best decisions I have ever made and it showed my wife and I the tremendous power of real estate in building wealth.