All Forum Posts by: Derek Duplechin

Hi Brian, I’m in Ponchatoula, my wife and I competed our first flip last year in downtown Hammond. Currently downsizing my personal residence and will be saving to purchase our next property in the next 12 months. I’ve got a friend who is an agent/investor who got me in/out of the flip. He’s pretty good about sharing pocket deals and off market stuff. Welcome to BP! Derek

I used Hammond Electric on Easy Street off of Range Rd for my flip. Super nice old guy runs the biz and his son runs the crew

Mike! Wow! Thanks for chiming in, you’ve made some really valid points and you eyes on the situation gives me a different perspective on the house. I was leaning towards keeping it but the vacancy scares my wife to death. I appreciate your taking the time to give me your insight!

Hi BP friends! I’m in a bit of a pickle and would like some insight and recommendations. We completed our first flip this year and sold it in late August. We’ve since decided we wanted to downsize our primary residence so we are more than half way through a new construction 3/2. I’m using proceeds from my flip to fund the 20% down on the new primary. My question is do I keep my current primary a 4/2 that is only 6 years old in a growing neighborhood. The opening pricepoint for my model is now 204k(I paid 187k but have also put in about 12k worth of upgrades(fence, flooring, patio etc). I could probably move it fairly quickly for 200-205. I owe about 150 on it. If I kept it as a rental I could maybe fetch 1600 a month, my note is only 1020.00, so it would cash flow nicely but I’m at the very top of the rental market in my area and that concerns me since the renter pool will be small when I have a vacancy. The other option is to sell it and pay a 12k commission out to my agent and put some of the proceeds into a cheaper(120k) rental. Cash flow would be around the same amount monthly as keeping the primary but would offer a larger pool of tenants when vacant. We definitely want to do B/B+ to A grade rentals. If I chose this route I could would be getting a cash flowing property as well a see monthly bill reduction around 640 a month from payoff of my 401k loan and lower primary mortgage. But I have to pay the 12k commission out to get there. I have a 401k loan of 20k I need to pay off from my flip so I think I would need 8 months to save some cash before purchasing another rental. I would be saving the 401k loan payment(440.00) and my new mortgage on the 3/2 would be 200.00 less than my current mortgage. So essentially I could save 640 a month to put towards the 20% down payment on the rental. I hope this wasn’t too confusing. I’m just looking for some input on my thought process, wrong or right and what you would do and why. Thanks everyone!

I definitely had an advantage in knowing how to do a lot of the work myself and really only hired out stuff that required a licensed contractor. In my area if I purchase a 3/2 B+ neighborhood house for let's say 150k, put 20% down, mortgage payment is 567 plus insurance/taxes brings it around 800 a month, this will rent for 1300 a month easily.

Ok finally get to update you all on this project. Last post was an offer on the house. Offer was 99k(listed at 99,900) with 5k in closing assistance, we countered at 99,900 and 5k in closing assistance and they accepted. A couple weeks go by and they ask for an elevation certificate so they can get an estimate on flood insurance. I spend $300 on a cert and the flood comes back at 1100 a year pushing the buyer over their debt to income ratio.....:-/ so the deal falls through. We relist the property and have 3 showings in a week and the following week an offer of 104k with 6k in closing assistance comes in and we jump on it. This buyer is much more qualified and has no issues with financing. 30 days later we are at the closing table(on 8/31) and the house is sold! We were so happy that a nice family was getting to have their first home and we turned a neighborhood eyesore into a really awesome house. I know you want to see the numbers, right? Selling price: 104k, after commissions, closing assistance, home warranty we got a check for 89,414 All in purchase price plus reno $66k Carrying cost: Interest only loan: 1020 Electricity and water: 600 Insurance: 1000 Private loan: 39,000 401k loan: 25,000 Profit: 22,794 Not too bad for our first flip, we most certainly have realized that we don't want to dive this deep on a project ever again. We may not even ever flip again but this gave us some true sweat equity to get in the game and begin our investment into real estate. I wouldn't change a thing and love all the lessons we learned, plus it was wonderful getting to work with my dad so much on this project! We've recently had one of the kids move off to college so we are going to use the profits from the flip to downsize our primary to a new construction 3/2 that will make a great rental in about 8 years. This will allow me to reduce the note on my primary by 225 a month. I'll sell the current primary and use the equity in it to purchase at least one B-B+ neighborhood rental(130-150k)that should cash flow 4-500 a month with 20% down. I'll stockpile that cash flow and mortgage savings until I have enough for another B neighborhood rental. We really feel like these types of rental will be best for us as the clientele is usually better and the houses are certainly newer with (hopefully) fewer issues. I want to thank you all who have posted words of wisdom or cheered us on as we made our way down this path, it certainly was nice to share it with you all. Stay focused my friends!

Hi All,

I have my first flip under contract and close on 8/31. We have been considering downsizing our primary and would like to build a new house for that and then turn our current primary into an investment property. Can you do that?

My agent just called and we got an offer on the house! I don't want to jinx it so I'll follow up as we progress through the selling process. Say some prayers for us!

Thanks guys! In the home stretch, currently I've got a crew in there knocking out the punch list. We have decided to flip the house to upgrade to a better neighborhood and a more turn key property. I'm going to be all in around 68k and will be listing the property for 99,900 in the next 2 weeks. I will post the final numbers on the property when we sell it. I'm hoping we sell in the mid to low 90's, houses in the local market sell on average for 97% of asking price according to my agent/investor friend who got me in this deal. Our plan after the sale will be to do a 1031 exchange and purchase a B, B+ neighborhood property in the 120-30k range. We just feel like this will be a more comfortable space to work in and not have quite the worry that comes along with low income properties and the tenants that rent them. At the end of the day we've learned a ton of lessons and we're thankful that we won't lose any money. It may not be a lot of money to walk away with for all the time and sweat we put in but it gives us some cash to get into a better property and that's what really matters.

Bob B, I know it's probably just one more thing to break but the disposal was only $65 and it's more of a convenience in case we have renters putting who knows what down the drain. Supplying fridge because it'll be a rental, most in my area come with all appliances