Investment Info:
Single-family residence fix & flip investment.
Purchase price: $299,000
Cash invested: $30,000
Sale price: $471,000
I was able to live for free for 4 years after I sold it. This was not my original intention. I learned about bigger pockets 6 months after I bought it!
What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?
It was the cheapest house in a nice neighborhood. The house was undervalued by 30k when I bought it.
How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?
I went with a realtor. He was able to help me out and got me an amazing deal. I had no idea what I was doing as a 27 year old first time home buyer.
How did you finance this deal?
30 year mortgage with 3% down. I was dead broke so I pulled the down payment off a credit card and used that to get the house. I quickly paid the card off within a couple months after the purchase.
How did you add value to the deal?
New roof, new construction windows, Siding on 2 sides of the home, new exterior and interior doors, replaced all trim and painted throughout, new upstairs carpet, repaired sprinkler system and got all new appliances. Over the years I also repaired the lawn by paying trugreen to spray and seed while I put down new dirt and patched spotty areas. I did a decent chunk of the work myself which helped me keep my expenses low.
What was the outcome?
I lived for free for 4 years. I got all my money back out and bought another beat up property in the same neighborhood.
Lessons learned? Challenges?
I learned that I don't have to replace everything in a house. There was a decent amount of money I could have saved if I had just painted a few doors rather than replacing them.
I learned how to work on almost every part of a house.
Now after listening to bigger pockets and reading financial books for the last 4 years, I am significantly more educated in real estate.
Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?
I got my MA real estate license and sold the property myself.
