This discussion is more of a article on how I got my first flip property.
(Disclaimer please excuse the grammar or spelling error)
Quick Facts
- First I am currently 24 years old
- Jamaican Born,& raised
- Currently in Brampton Ontario Canada (13 years)
- young Entrepreneur
- Love football (soccer)
- Aspiring Christian
- Studied Architectural Technology and Degree in Architecture and Project management
- BP listener since 2014
Learning
Late fall 2014 I was working for a mid size construction firm as a project coordinator in the insurance restoration division. working 10 hours day some time 6 days a week (not too bad). on average i was juggling anywhere between 15- 20 small to medium projects at a time.
I always was interested in learning all i could in construction as one of my futures goals is to become a developer. one of my other goals was to own my business as well. this brought me to a franchise show in Toronto. there i saw a lot of restaurant franchise, bin rental companies and a motivational speaker (not sure why he was there).
However surprisingly what sparked my Realestate journey was 2 special meeting/ showcases that was at this event. One was a Developer Harry Stinson, relativity well known in the Toronto area, hamilton, Detroit and Niagara (both america and Canada). he was pitching courses on how to become a developer and invest at the same time. Naturally I went. learned about economy but with my budget at the time my investment would not have made his minimum’s.
The other was a real estate similar where 2 individuals (cant remember theirs names) discussed the power of real estate and how to make money from in it. This opened by eyes too a great way to make “passive” money.
I was intrigued there was a follow up event which then there was a membership fee, I didn't really like the concept they where pitching as well as they are not well known when i did some due diligence i didn't feel comfortable working with them. however out of that meeting I meet my Mortgage broker/ advisor (who later help me get the house).
We ended up building up a good rapport with each other and i gain a lot of credit and investing advice along the way.
some time has pasted and a lot more of real estate investing seminars via Meet up app. i was hooked! it was at one of my meet ups i learned about Bigger Pockets! i was reeled in.
Action
Early 2015 after enough seminars, reading and learning I decided to make the leap and get a real estate team, after all i already have the trades. and being young ambition is probably not a big enough word. never working with realtors and or agents before, i was confused how to navigate speaking with them or knowing how to explain what i wanted to do.
I started by looking on line sign up for foreclosure and power of sale deals on various website but the truth is in Ontario Canada these do not exist. due to a number of factors.
However i did not know so agents just used these a ways for people to sign up on their website or get numbers. i had 1o agents that emailed me and 2 that called to talk to me. unfortunately with my busy schedule at the time i had to call him back later. the problem was when i called back it was actually the wrong agent. but this wrong agent was savvy some how (fooled me) that it was him i was talking too before. anyways went to go see him a week later discussed i wanted a fixer upper looking to do a flip. not knowing anything about agents again for some reason i was signed up and looked into a 6 month contract with this guy and i cannot use any other agent or i have to pay him $650.00. at first i thought no problem ill just use him, to later realize after 1 showing this knew nothing about area demographics and was willing to sell me a piece of crap just to get a deal, the relationship diminished. Feeling stuck i just decided to wait out this 6 month contract.
Momentum
he eventually passed me off to one of his younger colleagues (who happen to be a woman) which really worked 100% better (she was pretty good looking too). She actually had ears meaning she actually listened to what I wanted/ need. She should be a number of properties that where actually in or well below my budget only problem at that time they where all in Hamilton (an hour and 10 mins away) difficult for me to manage trades since i worked in Toronto most of the time. regardless the properties all had good potential with only 1 being in a rough neighbourhood. I almost bought a duplex to start out. But not understanding the area demographics and the potential rental demand in the area, plus it needed some work with sign of water damage issue. i chose against it. I really just needed better mentorship (google-ing it is not the best teacher sometimes).
Purchase
After walking away from that property feeling a bit perplexed 1 took a week off looking. two days before my 24th birthday a new property came to market within brampton at my budget and also under market value. Naturally I went to see it the next day! And on my birthday I went and put an offer in! :) ….so did 8 other people. it was a multiple offer situation. it took about 2 hours. naturally I got board waiting back and forth with relators, price raising and negotiating. I start to play with the neighbourhood kids, they where playing soccer I couldn't resist. eventually they brought me to my tap out point and held firm with my final offer. about 6 people left and this point and only my offer and a couple others where still around. I kept playing, simply i was winning. later it turns out my offer and the other where the same identical final offer…
I would the bidding by what the owner saw. the owner said he love the fact i was playing with the neighbours children. LOL… I was just bored but it worked! :D
- home inspection was fine.
- i had my mortgage approved
- submitted my deposit
- 3 month close
- great birthday gift
Disappointment and stress
Till it was 1 month till close, it was time for the reminder of the down payment which i managed to scrap together but i didn't have the closing cost… the bank at the time, within 2 weeks of close actually decided not go a head with the deal and dropped my mortgage because
- didn't have 2 year work experience
- Not enough down payment (only had 5%)
- too young (made no sense to me)
- yet I had Good credit score over 740!
2 weeks to close and it was bad enough i didn't have the closing cost fully ready but now i had to kind 300k in 2 weeks. stress was not even the word. I prayed and prayed that it would work out. 3 days before close my mortgage brooker found another lender that would take me on only thing is I was not allowed to use my credit care to cover the closing cost.
and they wanted me to have a clean credit card. meaning instead on finding 300k in 3 days i have to find 7k in 3 days. long story short and this story is getting long
Good old Dad
Good old Dad was there to help, he leant me the money till i acquired the property and I got the house closed only 3 days after closing with closing delay penalties, threat of being sued. Yet God is still good. it could have been worst! :) and they dropped the law suit. I got the old house, with a crappy kitchen broken facet, faulty baseboard heaters. yet it was mine! now the fun begins!!!!
and that was the process for my first house!
I will discussed the reno project in another post stay tuned… thanks for reading.
please excuse the grammar or spelling errors
