All Forum Posts by: Avery LeMmon

@Ken Nelson 

After two years, were you ever able to find anything, Ken?

@Peter Kozlowski You can obviously take anyone’s advice here. I recently had someone place a mechanics lien on my flip (in Ogden, UT). All the contractor had to do was pay a $40 fee to the county. They didn’t ask him for any documentation. However, if he files a lien for anything more than $75, he is risking getting caught filing a wrongful lien which has major repercussions.

@David Tyrawa depending on where in the country this is happening, that isn’t necessarily true. I’ve seen lines filed for as little as $40.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Ogden.

Purchase price: $230,000
Cash invested: $1
Sale price: $340,000

This home is up on the east bench in Ogden, UT and had so much potential in it when we found it. Ogden, luckily, provides beautiful mountains, views, hiking, and more up on the east bench.

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

As with our first flip, we were hoping to acquire more capital in order to purchase rentals. Additionally, we did enjoy our first flip for the most part as we watched something in such disrepair transform into something amazing.

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

Our real estate agent at the time, Rob Moser, and I had just met a day or so earlier and he brought me this home that meet my criteria. I began working with him to assemble our offer. We had heard numerous investors offered around 200k for the home right off the bat. The sellers turned them all down. We came in at their asking price to start things off on the right foot. As time passed, we would negotiate more and more off the top as we found additional issues with the home.

How did you finance this deal?

Because I was introduced to Rob Moser by Corey Curwick Dutton from Private Money Utah, I made the decision to work with her. She was always quick to respond and had numerous hard money options to select from. We had previously established our relationship and I felt secure in my decision that she would close as quickly as I needed her to. For the remaining gap and repair costs, I used private money that I recycled from my first deal because it went so well.

How did you add value to the deal?

Hopefully the photos answer this question better than I can. If not, however, we took a home that was stuck between the 70's and early 2000's to a clean, more modern-feeling home. This required about 60k in repairs. Some would think this is a lot for a home in Ogden but averaged out to be $19/sq. ft. in rehab.

What was the outcome?

We had multiple offers on this property and accepted a full-price offer with a high earnest money deposit. After closing, my partners and I were blessed to make $37,000 on this flip even after we exceeded our rehab budget by approximately $20,000.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Thoroughly vet your contractors - I originally partnered with a very kind contractor. Unfortunately, we learned over time that his work ethic was extremely poor and had to let him go a month into the project.
Contracts are extremely important - I had created a joint venture contract with this contractor but he never sat down with me to fill it out and sign it. We would have avoided a massive headache had we done this.
Many other lessons I would be happy to share but don't have room for.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Rob Moser, real estate agent, is as professional as they come. If I could recommend an agent in the Ogden area, despite the fact that I am an agent myself, it would be Rob hands down.

Corey Curwick Dutton from Private Money Utah has your best interest at heart and is extremely easy to work with. She helped me thoroughly vet this deal to make sure we would come out on top.

@Casey Christensen I would also be interested in attending your meetup. Looking forward to coming out. 

@Casey Christensen This home was 1,212 sq. ft. and, yes, the rehab came out to just over $53,000. I wouldn't normally assume $40-45/sq. ft. on my flips but my contractor and I concluded that there was quite a bit more work than normal that needed to go into this one. 

From start to finish, this flip lasted for five months. We closed on it on the 15th of February last year and sold it on the 23rd of July last summer. Had I known what I know now, I don't believe it would have taken us any longer than 3.5 months to off this type of property. It was a huge learning experience. 

Thanks, again, for your interest. 

@Adrienne Donner I’m honored you and others even find this interesting enough to reply to the post. I ended up borrowing all the money necessary for the flip (minus $500 I spent on last minute concrete for the driveway) from hard and private money.

I had the opportunity to work with a Mr. Daine Clark for hard money. I have a decent list of hard money lenders if you are interested.

@Jeffrey Masessa if someone hasn’t said it already, find a mentor. Don’t pay an arm and a leg their mentorship though. In flipping for example, you shouldn’t have to pay a dime for decent mentorship until you sell. Educate yourself so you don’t waste your mentor’s time, find out how they want you to do things, and do it that way until you understand how to do things on your own.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in South Salt Lake.

Purchase price: $325,000
Cash invested: $12,000

This home was intended to be our primary residence that we house hacked. In the end, we put tenants in the downstairs unit and flipped the upstairs to put tenants in there as well.

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

In an attempt to get into real estate investing, I wanted to start where I knew I could: house hacking. I was interested in developing a rental portfolio so I could "retire" young in order to spend more time with my wife and future children.

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

Instead of doing my homework in class, I would find myself scouring Zillow for homes that could accommodate my family and another family. My wife and I would walk a property here and there but finally came across a small home in South Salt Lake that had a mother-in-law apartment. After realizing how dirty it was, the work my wife and I would have to put in to rent it out, and the seller's motivation, we offered 25k less than asking price. The seller took the offer without countering.

How did you finance this deal?

This deal counted as our primary residence when we applied for a 30-year loan. We came in with a 3% down payment that we had save by living below our means for a few months.

How did you add value to the deal?

We did numerous remodels to both units in order to raise rents. There were less-than-neutral paint colors throughout the home, awkward kitchen cabinets, and neglected yard care to name a few things. My wife and I aren't handy so we hired out some of the work but we did do as much work as we could. We somewhat regret that.

What was the outcome?

To this day, we still own this rental. It has had 100% occupancy since then (presumably due to location). We have amazing tenants. We will most likely sell this a few years down the road with full occupancy to 1031 exchange it into something larger.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

My wife and I faced tight time frames and financial stress for the first few months with this rental. From this, we learned the importance of budgeting to have the work done by someone else even if you will contribute certain parts. In addition, we developed a better understanding of lease contracts that protect the landlord and how to compose oneself as a landlord.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We were blessed to work with Dan Williams from the Lending Alliance who seemed to work day and night seven days a week for my wife and I. In addition, Cheryl Buckley, a real estate agent, helped us through the process as our buyer's agent. She did a wonderful job.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $107,000
Cash invested: $500
Sale price: $215,500

This hoarder house was presented to me by a local wholesaler. We had the opportunity to partner with a mentor and learn how to do our first official flip. There was black mold, asbestos, and meth in the home. However, we gut the home down to its studs and started anew. In the end, buyers entered into a bidding war for the home and we were able to take home $41,000.

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

My mentor at the time taught me that I needed to flip homes in order to accrue capital for more rentals. I later learned that wasn't the case. In addition, I believe everyone loves to see the transformation of these types of homes and I was no different from everyone else.

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

As previously mentioned, a wholesaler showed me this deal. Unfortunately, it isn't all that common to negotiate with wholesalers (at least in the state of Utah) from what I have seen. The purchase price I put it under contract for was his asking price.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a hard money lender's bridge loan at 2.5 points and 10% APR for 85% LTV (or 85% of the purchase price). My mentor, after letting me attempt to raise the private capital for gap (15% remaining to purchase the home) and repairs (what ended up being $53,000), brought a private lender to the table. We secured his money with a deed of trust.

How did you add value to the deal?

Arguably, I did 92% of the work. I found the deal, the majority of the funding, and the contractor. Later, I helped with demolition and, eventually, cleaning the property to sell, landscaping, and pouring a new driveway. I got everything ready to sell it and worked with our agent to do so.

What was the outcome?

We were originally going to list the home for $205,000 but the market warmed up and our agent encouraged us to list it for $225,000. We had multiple offers and we took the highest offer at full asking price. Unfortunately, the buyer was using a VA loan and that means he had to use a VA appraiser. The appraisal came in at $215,000. We took that since the other offer was about the same. Everything resulted in $41,000 in profit.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Above all else, I learned the importance of contracts. My mentor was too busy to do the one thing he promised me he would do: create a joint venture contract for the deal. Because of his neglecting to do so, I was the only one on title and he couldn't prove he had any part in the deal. After coming to me when the home was about to close (asking for a 50/50 split), I told him I wouldn't settle for less than 75%. He was furious. In the end, he realized he couldn't change it.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I had the opportunity to work with Rob Moser, a real estate agent from Ogden, Utah. He was more than fantastic. Because things went so well with him, I later bought and sold two more homes with him in Ogden.

We also worked with the women at Inwest Title who were equally amazing to work with.