First fix and flip - A LOT of work.

[Brian C.]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Fredericksburg.

Purchase price: $143,000
Sale price: $270,000

First flip. Learned a lot... Worked a TON... Made a little...

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

If I'm being completely honest... My wife probably watches too much HGTV and got tired of some of the light "boring" rental rehabs. She wanted to "open up some walls" and "throw in some granite." So, we figured we could do a flip and make some money for our next rental down payment.

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

MLS. We put an offer well under asking, but was still probably too much. It was accepted immediately and it was then we realized "wait, did we just overpay?"

How did you finance this deal?

Hard money (Ground floor) and personal funds.

How did you add value to the deal?

Converted it from a 4 bedroom 1 bath to a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath.

What was the outcome?

The house was beautiful, and the new owner got almost new everything. But, it was way more work than I expected (I did about half the rehab myself) and I could of made way more money working overtime at my job. But after countless evenings after work and weekends, I learned a lot in the process and didn't lose money, so I can't complain.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Sometimes being "handy" is a downside. I routinely underestimated the work because I always told myself "if it ends up more expensive, I'll just do it myself to save some money." Next time I will budget the work conservatively without me lifting so much as a paint brush.