All Forum Posts by: Jacob A.

We are done! Closed this morning and here are the long awaited final numbers on this one:

Purchase Price: $51,500

Closing costs (on purchase): $1,222.66

Payments to contractor: $63,891.57 (original budget $59,000)

Interest payments on LOC: $2,248.11

Property Insurance: $828.00

Utilities: $976.74

Cleaning: $150.00

Appliances: $2,503.72

Staging: $1,300.00 (Includes two $150/month payments with the original $1,000 fee)

City water hookup: $8,176.00

Closing costs (on sale): $11,097.40 (Commissions, $3,000 in seller concessions, taxes, etc.)

Total Investment: $143,894.20

Sales Price: $154,900.00

Profit: $11,005.80

Time on market: Roughly 115 days (thanks winter)

Total time from close to close: Right at 7 months

There it is, for better or for worse. I'm sure there will be those of you out there that are going to pick every number apart and I'm happy to answer any questions or take any constructive criticism. We didn't really come out as ideally as I had hoped but I still consider this a great success for my first flip and for such a large rehab. Adding on the city water at the end for a buyer that ultimately got cold feet was the biggest budget hit that we took. As you can see between the city costs and the payment to my plumber to get everything rigged up for that nearly cost us 10 grand of profit. Like I said, I got paid $11,005.80 to get an education and as far as I'm concerned you can't beat that. We will take that money and move on to number two as I've already got my eyes on a couple of potential deals. Biggest lesson learned: the winter market and the spring/summer markets are two completely different beasts. Try to avoid the winter markets at all costs if you can.

Just bumping this back to the top. I have a few of the same questions. A response from someone with experience with this site would be great.

Update: We are scheduled to close on Monday the 28th in a couple of days! We spoke to the buyers agent and everything is a go. Hoping these last few days continue to be uneventful and I can have some numbers for this deal posted Monday evening.

@Victor A.

I was born and raised in Raleigh and wouldn't want to be anywhere else personally. From an investing standpoint, I think it's about as solid as any other market in the country. I don't think you will have those big swings like some of the western markets, but it seems to stay pretty consistent here so you know what you are going to get. From what I've seen, it appears that the SFR renal market is a little bit dry. The homes just don't bring high enough rents to justify the purchase prices in most cases. Then again, it depends on how you want to finance them and how you want to look at them. Using the 2% rule, there are very few if any that meet those standards.

The rehab market seems to be on fire right now. Good deals rarely stay on the market longer than a week.

@Dylan Grieve

Still in the closing process. We are scheduled to close April 28th. Hoping and praying that things go smoothly these last two weeks.

@Justin Williams

It blows my mind that people would attack someone for sharing their experiences for the betterment of others. I personally, greatly appreciate all that you have to say and share and have never felt that you have unfairly solicited yourself or any product on this or any other site. I am a big fan of your site and all that you do. Keep up the good work and don't let the grumpy folks get to you. They simply don't have anything else better to do with their time. Keep killing it!

Whew what a week. We had a gigantic week with the house. As I said earlier, the previous buyer backed out a week ago today. Since then, we've had 8 showings and several offers. We are back under contract as of tonight. I was hoping it would happen fast but even this surprised me. I'm still blown away by the effect that the time of year has on the market. We had more showings this week than the previous 4 months combined. Now to navigate the closing process once more....

@David C.

I agree. I feel like I need a cigarette with the beating I'm taking, but that's the nature of the game. It's not easy and unfortunately sometimes you have to figure that out the hard way. We'll just chalk this up to a good education.

Don't worry I'm only halfway serious :) It seemed so easy back in August when I bought the house.... lol. But yes I do think the city water will improve the value a little bit. The one knock on the house that we had before was that people wanted city water so there is no longer that excuse. But, the trend I'm gathering is that buyers will always find something to nitpick. Like I said, we have had three showings already this week and have one more today and one more tomorrow so I'm very hopeful that something will get done here very shortly. Cross your fingers. How's that for positive thinking?!?!

We were still in due diligence period. I was under the impression that buyer can back out for any reason as long as its in due diligence period. I'm not sure it's worth it to get into a legal dispute for a few thousand bucks.