All Forum Posts by: Caleb Rigby

@Jim Meloche, we just paid them a % o the profits.

@Jerad Miller, my number is gross (taxes have not been figured into my $22k profit). Take a look at @James Masotti's response below to answer your question. 

@Phillip Cassaw, I think that might be a thing unique to AZ. I haven't ever seen that on a UT property before. Auction.com has a 'chat with us' button on the bottom right - I'd first ask them what it means.

@Sam Shueh, here is my post to my 1st flip:  My 1st flip

@Ashley Wilson, I believe they just sprayed these, but honestly I don't know :) We just had our GC do it and they turned out great. I've also had quotes from others in the past and while they might have done a little bit better job, it didn't ever justify an extra $2k that they were asking.

@Kyle Kapp, just painted. About $600 in labor and $100 in paint.

@Andy Robison, we put laminate wood flooring down in front of the fireplace. Do you mean the rug? That's from Ikea. 

@Eldon Gomez, add me! I haven't purchased a property in SLC yet, but I'm not opposed to it. Thanks.

@Ray Dipasupil, this house was ~2,600 sq ft. I think the lot was just over .35 acres.

@Sam Shueh, I know what you're saying. The really good deals on Auction.com don't show up very often, but when they do, they can be awesome ones.

@Heidi Fagan, so our Realtor only charges 1% to list our properties so ended up paying a total of 4% in commissions, plus we conceded some dollars towards the buyers closing costs. The staging cost about $1,500 which included the labor, the bedspreads, some artwork, some towels for the bathroom/kitchen. My tip for staging a bedroom: Buy blowup mattresses and put them on totes. No one will know that it's not a real bed frame and mattress and it's a million times easier to deflate those and pack them up in the totes rather than moving a huge mattress out in the end. 

@Kad Favorite, yes. I always do a preliminary lien search on each property. I have a local title guy that doesn't charge me anything because I've committed to bring him all of my title business.

Hi @Mikki Rogers, I probably did 4 solid months of research before I jumped in the deep end. I listened to pretty much every BP Podcast that had anything to do with flipping. I also attended some of the local REIAs and got introduced to some wholesalers and other flippers. Also, J Scott's book on flipping houses is pretty awesome. 

@Danielle Knight, I would read Brandon Turner's book on investing with no and low money down. That will get your brain working and you'll start to realize there are many ways to get creative with financing.

@Hugues Armand-Delille, nope, just personal preference. The house was built in 1957, so we were trying to go for a more modern look throughout the house and we didn't care for the old stone on the fireplace. 

@Garrett Minter, I think it depends on the area. In Utah, there aren't that many auction properties online at any one time, but I'm sure in higher foreclosure states (IL, PA, NJ), you could have some luck. Sort of like the MLS, you have to dig deep to find the real deals.

@Rochelle Ray, I absolutely go and look at each property that I bid on, but I can also do that because I have a fairly narrow area that I'm interested in. I like to peek in the windows, knock on the neighbors door to see what kind of neighbors the previous owners were, and look for an old MLS listing of the house if I can find one. Sometimes Auction.com doesn't put the basement sq ft on the listing, so if you know it has a full basement then you could offer more money as the ARV will be that much higher.

@Brendon Grover, I think the only way to really zero in on the comps is by using the MLS. Connect with an agent in PA and they can start sending you the information you need.

The $2,500 deposit is not required on all properties. It wasn't required on that property I bid on. I guess if you won the bid but weren't able to close for some reason that they could hold onto your deposit and you'd never see it again. So, be cautious and make sure to only bid on properties that you could actually close on or you might get stuck.

@Brandon Rindlisbacher; @Brendon Grover Alright, here goes on the Auction.com process and what I’ve learned. Most properties (at least in Utah) listed on the website won’t ever make it to the online bidding part – they get sold at the courthouse steps and then the house gets delisted from the website. 

Only about 5% get listed as ‘online auction’ and they always begin with a ‘pre-auction’ time frame about 10 days before the auction begins. If you click on one of those properties, you’ll notice on the right hand side of the page they provide a ‘previously valued to’ price. I’ve found out through trial and error, to even get on their radar and have your initial bid get reviewed that your initial bid needs to be at least 75% of that price. So, for example, on this house, my initial bid would have to be at least $96k to be considered.

Once you submit a bid, you’ll get an automatic email response from auction.com that says they’re reviewing your bid. Then (and I’ve never not had this happen) you’ll get an email from an actual auction.com employee about a day later that says “We received your pre-auction bid for (property address). We’re in a multiple bid situation and are giving all prospective buyers the opportunity to provide a final highest and best. Please reply with your highest and best offer by:2/1/2017 7:00 AM PST, a decision will be made within 24-48 hours after the Highest & Final due date.”

You simply reply to that email that either (a) you’ve already given them your highest and best, or (b) you want to increase it to xxxx.

If you don’t win the auction, you’ll receive a rejection email once all offers have been reviewed and that’s it. But, if you’re the winning bidder, you’ll receive a phone call from an auction.com employee and they’ll walk you through the next steps, which are: (1) sign the purchase and sale contract, (2) submit your earnest money wire, and (3) provide proof of funds to close (as most properties can only be closed with cash). On the property I closed on, from the date I won the auction to the date I actually closed on the house was about 25 days. They have to get multiple signatures from the seller and that is generally what held things up for me, but I didn’t really care.

Let me know if I didn’t answer one of your questions.