All Forum Posts by: Dennis Sprague

Just got my numbers in today for the electrical (going from two meters to one and other electrical issues) and the plumbing( same as electrical), $10,000 total! ouch! Has to be done.  I just was not ready for that high of a price. One third of the budget gone in a wink and nothing will even look any better. Oh well, new  updated plumbing and electrical will be a selling point....Right?

I am two weeks into mf first flip. Me and the contractor revised our scope of the project. I eliminated a few things in general and removed a lot of things from his to do list and got his total bill down to about $25,000. The things that I removed from the original list I will do as I have done all of them in the past. For instance; I demoed the whole place, removed one wall, three doors, painted the basement and large mud room and removed all flooring that needs to be removed, and by the weekend I should have the yard all cleaned up and ready to go. Oh and the neighbors are just thrilled that it will be made back into a SFH! So, so far so good but I am a long way from home.

Jeff, thanks for the positive reinforcement and the good advice on the 90 day hold. Yes my hold cost will be around 600 per month tops and this 60 day flip can easily turn into a 90 day one very easily.

With this house I very underestimated the rehab cost. This is my first real flip. I will make it work and I will make a profit. I got this house at less then 50% of the value of other comps in the area. I saw that as a good deal. It's the renovation that is way more then I expected so now I hope to make up for that with sweat equity. This is my goal/plan. I am hoping to make between  10-20. Thanks for all the input and keep it coining for I have much to learn.

I believe I have 10000 figured into the equation for that.  Very thin numbers I know.

Andrew, I don't like this property as a duplex. This property is in an old historic area that is making a come back and I believe the value is in it as a SFH. Plus I am doing this as a flip so I can start building up some cash and do more flips. I want to start doing real estate investing full time and this is going to be a test property.

 Yea, my holding cost will be around 1000 or less so I think that's what I will do.

I am closing on a property I just bought in 2 weeks. It is a old SF that was converted into a dumpy duplex and I will turn it back into a single. I believe that is where the money is in this area. Its was REO and I paid 48,000 for it and it is in a 110,000 area. The rehab estimate from the GC is at 43,000. I know this puts the numbers very thin. I was thinking of trying to knock around 10-15,000 off by getting with the GC and doing some of the work my self. There is no doubt that I can do the work but it will extend my hold time by a month for sure. How does my plan sound.

I am 53 years old and really want to quit my job, take 1/2 of my retirement and go into real estate/flipping full time. I am almost done with my current home and should make around 35,000 on it. I also have access to another 135,000 in pensions. I love houses, am really handy (do about 95% of my own work), and feel this is the path for me.  Should I go all in, what is the down side and what should I be careful of. My real fear is that I will slowly bleed out.