All Forum Posts by: Kelly Ellis

Absolutely, would love to see what you have going on.

Investment Info:

Other other investment.

We were hired to build a custom hunting lodge barndominium. This project was incredibly fun and a great way to showcase our skills as contractors. If you go to our Facebook page "Triton Construction LLC" you can see the entire album with progression pictures. All the way from us clearing the land, to concrete, to erecting the steel, and then closing it in with all the special final touches.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We were asked to do the work

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

They came to us

How did you finance this deal?

They paid us to build it.

How did you add value to the deal?

Our knowledge and skill set helped us to get this job completed in a timely manner, even during COVID.

What was the outcome?

Beautiful Hunting Lodge and we gained a ton of experience working with this knowledgeable investing savvy family.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Be able to shift techniques with the times, especially when materials are low during covid.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am a real estate professional and I assisted the sellers with the sale of the property this hunting lodge was built on.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Bass Lake.

I am not sure the numbers on this deal because we did the remodel for a group of investors. They had us rehab the stilt clearwater beach home which had mold and rot beyond belief. They paid us about 100K for the remodel. I have attached some photos of the work we did.

Between the ARV and the increase in the market the property has tripled in value. They still currently rent it out.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

As I said we were hired to do the construction on the home

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

They called us and we had multiple meetings at the site and gave a quote.

How did you finance this deal?

We were paid about 100K for the remodel work we did

How did you add value to the deal?

Our skills and knowledge in construction helped keep their costs down so they could get it onto the market.

What was the outcome?

Home is worth triple what they paid for it even after the repair costs. As the contractors we learned a great deal about adding value.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We learned that we need to be doing this type of work for ourselves and not just other people!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am a real estate professional :)

Investment Info:

Other fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $25,000
Cash invested: $10,000
Sale price: $75,000

We found an old run down block house on the lake in Inverness FL. It was covered with thick trees. We contacted the owners and made them an offer on the property. We had someone buy the one acre of land with the old home on it and then we owned the second acre free and clear. We then cleared the property, added a little dock on the water and some sod. Ended up selling and making quite a quick return. We were in no place to be able to afford to built on the property at that time.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Everyone at the time was looking for property on the lake but it was too expensive.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We did boating for dollars and looked up the owners and made them an offer.

How did you finance this deal?

cash

How did you add value to the deal?

we used our own clearing equipment and dock building knowledge

What was the outcome?

A great return to help kick start us in REI

Lessons learned? Challenges?

There was an easement on our side of the property that took a chunk of the acre. We didn't check for easements before we bought it and that could have cost us dearly if it was a more aggressive easement.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I am a real estate agent and I would most definitely recommend myself! :)

 I am trying to figure out what is a good way to approach the financial aspect of working with another investor as a contractor/investor. We have a lot of experience and knowledge in the "hands on" aspects of this business but not the creative financing part. We have just bought a lot of equipment for our Marine Construction division, so for now we need the financial backing. I need help putting the little Dave Ramsey voice in my head to rest because I don't want to wait until we have all the money upfront before we start. All the deals we have done so far have not been financed. Especially because as a business we don't show making much. While those investments have made great returns it is too slow for us. We have the knowledge, license and ability to make our own quadplex instead of buying one that is over priced and falling apart. It is incredibly frustrating. I will find some before and after pictures of our most recent remodel we did for a couple investor that live out of state and are also Bigger Pocket Members.

@Kumud Shrestha

I am a Florida Licensed Contractor & Realtor. I got my licenses initially for my husband and I to grow as Investors. Now we are doing a lot of remodel work for Investors. We love working with people who have the same mindset as we do. We are learning so much in the process. You have to find a contractor that is an investor themself. Just this week a settlement issue came up with a triplex that we are totally remodeling from the studs. We as the contractors felt like it was a punch to the gut. We treat all our investor’s projects as if they were our own. The more trusting and easygoing our investors are with us the harder we want to work for them and give them that return on their investment. It really comes down to morals and integrity. Talk to their previous clients. Figure out how many change orders they threw at them. Do some digging. In the long run it’s worth it.

By the way the settlement issue is a minor hiccup that is already being resolved. Our investors didn’t panic and handled it by looking at the numbers and discussing their options with us. If I didn’t have to feed my family I would work for free for this kind of experience and education. Best of luck to you!

Love the info! Thank you!

Hi Bigger Pockets Community! We bought a piece of lakefront property, cleared it, cleaned it up, and made a pretty good profit off of it. Now that I know more about Capital Gains tax we just bought another piece of lakefront property under our LLC (we are licensed contractors). After we sell this one we should have about $50,000 or so to invest on our next project. We are working on building up funds through flipping. Just seems to make sense, since I am a licensed contractor and Realtor. Eventually, my husband and I will get into multi family investing for long term investments.

Since $50,000 isn't enough to buy and rehab a home in my area (or most areas) I'm thinking about working with LendingOne on financing. 

Does anyone have experience working with them? 

I love all these responses! Thank you for this feedback. 

Bigger Pockets family,

I bought a piece of lakefront property for $30,000 a little over a year ago. We planned to build on it. Got engineered prints, cleared the land then decided that we didn’t want to move their because we wanted to keep our home that has more land. We just sold it for $70,000. I’m the realtor so we get to keep all of the selling amount besides the 1% Broker fee I pay. I also have a contractors license and a Construction company. We want to start flipping houses. How can I use this money towards our flipping endeavors without getting hit with a lot of taxes?

Could we do a 1031 with this property money if we did a rental instead of a flip?

I would rather flip but I know we need to watch out for Uncle Sam. 

Any help would be much appreciated!