My first investment was a flip (I was hoping for a buy and hold)

[Emma Whear]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) fix & flip investment in Moscow.

Purchase price: $206,300
Cash invested: $10,900
Sale price: $260,000

I didn't buy this property planning on flipping it. When I purchased it, my plan was to fix up the nasty downstairs unit to a level that I could live in it, and then slowly get better and better tenants upstairs.

Then... I got married in 8 weeks and we decided we should move to Kentucky.

Praise God for flexibility in real estate.

It's quite a blessing at our age (we are both 22) to walk away with ~$40,000 (once we paid back a $50,000 down payment loan to my grandparents) pre-tax. That money will go far with us in Kentucky.

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

I'm a real estate agent, but Bigger Pockets especially got me pumped for a duplex.

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

I was the agent and buyer when I bought it, and then the seller + listing agent + buyers agent when I sold it.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventionally with a friend who is a mortgage broker, and then privately with my grandparents for the down payment.

How did you add value to the deal?

Flipping a nasty basement. The biggest thing was gutting a 5 x5 bathroom and making it a 10 x 5 with all new appliances, paint, walls, etc.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

There are a few of the fixing projects we wish we hadn't done. Chiefly: flooring (vinyl and not plank). We wish we had either gone for a plank type flooring or paid someone to lay the vinyl.