All Forum Posts by: Roderick T Byars

Impressive indeed! Like I said, we were very shocked at the number when our realtor suggested it. Definitely well above what we were expecting.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Del Rio.

Purchase price: $132,000
Cash invested: $22,000
Sale price: $183,500

Contributors:
Xandria Byars

This was a 3BD/2BR live-in flip that was accomplished by my wife and me (mostly by her), while we were stationed in Del Rio, TX. This was our very first venture and there were plenty of lessons learned.

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

Doing this deal was the ideal beginning investment for us as we knew we would not be in the house long, just a little over a year. Finding something that we could live in and make a profit off of in a year made this a must-do.

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

We found this deal on Zillow and made an offer for just a few thousand below asking price.

How did you finance this deal?

We financed this deal using my wife's VA loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

We (mostly my wife) did quite a bit of DIY where we could to cut costs on labor. Also doing a live-in flip meant there were no worries about extra costs that can be attached to doing a flip over a longer period of time. We also were able to put a new roof on the house on our insurance's dime due a hail storm that came into the area.

What was the outcome?

This flip turned out to be a pleasant surprise for us. Midway through the reno, we thought we were way over-budget when comparing how much we invested into the renovation versus our projected ARV. That caused us to scale back on some renovations to the bathrooms and the yard. We were delightfully surprised by the $183,000 list price that our agent suggested. We got 3 offers for $500 over that and left Del Rio with a healthy profit and an education in flipping we'd never forget.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Get multiple quotes from different contractors on the work. While our reno work was fantastic, the contractor we used was one of the more expensive ones in the area.

Do more due diligence on the house if you can. We bought this house with only a virtual tour done by the realtor because we had no way to see the house. We lived in Georgia at the time we were moving in and were on a time crunch to find somewhere to live.

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

Stone Construction was the contracting company that did all of out renovations for the house. They were very professional and the work they did was excellent.

@David Valadez thanks for the heads up. Most labor costs are already spent for us. The last bit of rehab we have left is pretty DIY. We just have to make sure not to overspend on those elements.

@Joseph Firmin we don't plan to invest in Texas either. We plan on being in the south east region of the country more than likely, doing long distance. We're military so we're gonna end up being long distance no matter where we invest

Hi BP!

My wife and I are new potential REIs. However we realize that the first two things that are needed to get in this game are knowledge and capital. Over the next year we will be attaining both of those as we prepare to invest. As a part of the education piece we have come up with a competition. Over the next month we will both be finding potential deals that fall in line with our preferred strategy (small MFH rentals in a localized area) that we would hypothetically pitch potential outside investors. I was looking for an experienced investor who could be the arbiter for this little competition. Someone who could judge which deal is best and maybe even tell us what we could do better in our analyses etc.

Anyone willing to be the person that could help us in our competition and get potentially a good deal for themselves in the process?

Thanks!

Thanks for the replies guys! I am along the same thought as you all. I am definitely looking at this as a big helping of lessons learned and I'd like to just try to minimize losses as much as possible. Just wanted to get some perspective from others first. Thanks for the words of wisdom! 

@David Pere Thanks for the advice. I will definitely let you know if I ever need anything.

@Lane Siegle I appreciate the offer. Partnering may be something I'd be interested in in the future. Currently I have to focus on making sure I have the financial capital to start everything first. Thanks!

Hello BP!

My wife and I recently started our first foray into real estate. We bought a home in Del Rio, TX that we are rehabbing, and plan on selling in about a year and a half when we leave the area. We purchased the home for $139K, which is at about 86% of the highest projected ARV (big mistake I know). However, the rehab quickly went over budget as is apt to happen during a first time experience. We are about $12K over and still have some work that we feel we need to complete to make the home even worth selling at ARV.

Seeing as we are already over, should we continue with the rehab and try to go a bit above the ARV on resale or should we focus on turning this into a rental? Del Rio is a small town on the Mexico border whose primary source of economy is the nearby Air Force base. The current mortgage on the home is $1010 and average rent in the area for a comparable home is $1200 - $1400 and we would more than likely want to use a property manager. What advice would you all give on this situation?

Thank you!

Roderick T. Byars

Hello BP Community!

My name is Roderick Byars! I am a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force with a wife and infant son. My wife and I are both excited about starting a journey in real estate and are both ecstatic that we found Bigger Pockets to help us get started and grow. After reading the Ultimate Beginner's Guide and listening to hours of the BP podcasts, we started to develop a plan for how we would like to start and grow in this business. The plan is along the following lines:

For the next year and a half, we plan to save up capital and educate ourselves on all things real estate. After we have hit our capital goal, we want to begin buying multi-family homes that we can buy cash, rehab, and turn into rental properties. Because we are in the military and that requires lots of moving, we would like to localize our plan to a specific area, more than likely somewhere in the south.

My questions, as far as this plan is concerned are:

What are some resources I can use to learn real estate numbers and how to analyze deals?

What are some ways that others find MFH properties? (I find that they are not always the most abundant on the normal listing sites)

and finally what are some of the unexpected pitfalls that people fall into when attempting a plan such as the one I have laid out?

Thanks BP Community,

Roderick Byars