All Forum Posts by: Alex Applebee

 Thank you. I did a lot of work to try and make it look nicer. Although admittedly my bathroom vanities were off the shelf sale from home depot and I HATED them at the end. I got creative. I bought tile for the showers off of craigslist. I bought all of my doors and the toilets and the kitchen sink from Building Materials Outlet in Phoenix (AMAZING STORE, GO THERE PHOENIX FLIPPERS! PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN). I replaced the window in the guest bathroom with a stained glass window I found for $150 in a Salvage/antique shop off of 7th ave in phoenix, called Qcumberz. I also sold the same store the antique doors that were in the house (they were too damaged to stay in the flip, but $40 is $40!). I sold the old retro stove left in the house that was super cool, but something that was just too taste specific to be appropriate in a flip. I read about how to stage for little money and the "beds" in all the rooms are air mattresses with walmart bed linens. The "upholstered headboards" are insulation board covered in fabric. The brick patio was laid by hand by an awesome guy I found on Craigslist who did all the work by himself, by hand, cigarette in mouth, flip flops and a giant jug of sun tea (again phx people, I would love to share his number, send me a message). The sand under the patio was left over from the stucco work. The bricks were on the property already from an odd and falling apart patio in the back we pulled up. 

Here are some more pictures. This is the guest bathroom process. The first picture is some of the CRAP work I paid for and had to pay to re do. They actually framed the window like that (insulation board to fill in the gap?! They were going to just start to tile over that drywall board, that isn't even the correct board, and isn't even flush with the wall. Second picture is after the incorrect drywall was taken back out, the window was correctly framed, and the correct backer-board (wonderboard) was installed. Third picture is the final product (the house was built in '48 so I was trying to keep it sort of retro, but still appealing to as many people as possible). Oh and the tub I also got at Building Materials Outlet for $60.

 To be clear I was living in Phoenix at the time of the flip (well technically a suburb). I couldn't have done it if I myself was out of state. Maybe in 10 year I could, but sure not right now.

Private investor was a family member. I found the deal on the MLS (i have my real estate license.) The property was a foreclosure that had sat on the market a while, but the bank had just reduced the price 30k.

 Thank you, although I am not stretching the truth either. It is a little sad to me and sends the wrong message to people because essentially it is being implied that somehow educating yourself and putting in the hard work is not enough. It implies that you will only have success and put out a good product if you have someone else holding your hand. That isn't true. Is flipping tough? Yes, but mainly the self discipline and managing of people. Is it rocket science? No. My previous career was a much more stressful job with a lot more knowledge required.

Follow the rules and use your brain and you can have success. Maybe not every time. I bought right and did have some luck that some higher priced comps closed while I was working on mine. I thought I would make 50k and I made 19k. I have been honest that I had a family member loan me money at a fantastic rate, and that gave me a big leg up on the finance part. I walked through other deal. I still could have run the project into the ground easily. 

 I was very lucky to not be working when I was on this project. I am back in CA now and will be working while doing another flip (when I find one), and I know it is going to be harder. I think being OCD on organization and timelines will be key and make it easier. 

I've walked through crap flips. It takes just as much work to make them look like junk as it does to put together a nice project. The neighborhood that this project is in is full of junk flips. This project took me 4 months of construction when it should have taken two. I paid to have work that was shoddy and not up to my standards re-done. My profit would have been double had I slapped lipstick on a pig and called the substandard work good enough. I wanted a quality project. I'm sorry you have trouble accepting that, but it is your issue, not mine.

 I take my integrity very seriously. Your comment implying that I am lying is disrespectful and I called it out as so. Your justification that my first project looks better than your first project is not a solid foundation to build your argument on. If you have any valid questions I am happy to answer them. My understanding about this forum is that we share our positive and negative experiences in real estate to help educate ourselves and those around us. Did I miss something? Is this forum about baseless accusations? I do not think so.

I've been interested in real estate since I was a teenager, and have been putting in place the pieces to do a flip together for two years before I made it happen. I am proud of my success and stand by it.

 With the exception of the family member out of state loaning me money at 6% on the project site unseen I did this myself. Obviously not the actual construction, but I found the deal, planned the renovation, found and managed all of the subs (no general contractor), sourced and purchased the construction material, and then listed the property when the renovation was complete.

I educated myself on the process, walked through other peoples' flips, learned some more, and I did this. Myself. Was I lucky on some aspects? Yes, a full loan at 6% is incredibly lucky. But I can tell you I would have secured financing without that help if I had to, because I am determined to make my own success. Your comment is disrespectful.

Also I think we structured it this way because according to my investor he didn't think it would make money and he had planned just to hold it as a rental after I fixed it up. Hows that for a vote of confidence, LOL. 

For those asking how we structured the loan, we did things a little differently seeing as this was a deal within the family. Unless you have explicit trust in the person (and 99.9% I would say, don't) I would not do it this way. He is out of state and took my word on everything, and I made sure to have all the financials clear in order to honor that trust. It works for us. The house was purchased in his name and all repair funds were placed in a joint bank account. I was paid through escrow on the close of the house. through the HUD-1 and title company during the sale the family member/investor was paid the interest on the loan, the purchase price and repair cost. My personal LLC was paid the remainder after that was paid the remaining profit. It was called something like "realty consulting fee" on the HUD-1. It worked for us.