All Forum Posts by: Lisa Caracciolo

Thanks @Nate Sanow! I took a loss lol, but I learned a ton of lessons to take me into the next one. Onward :)

Have you thought about turning your condo into a midterm rental....it gets you around the 30-day minimum for your HOA and will give you more cash flow then a long term tenant. I would look on furnishedfinder.com and see if it might make sense for your location/property. I know a couple people who have made this work and love it. Good luck!

@Juan V Lopez Thank you so much! It sounds like you understand this completely :) I hope it sells soon so I can move on too! lol

Investment Info:

Condo fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $168,500
Cash invested: $30,000

This property is currently for sale, if anyone is interested in a turn key condo in Phoenix, near freeways and hospitals for under $240k.

2 bedroom/2 bathroom 800 sq ft, second floor unit.

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

It was under $300k arv, which was part of my buy box. I also liked the idea of being able to rehab everything in the property and not have to worry about landscaping or roofs, etc. for my first deal.

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

I found it through a local wholesaler and negotiated it for $7500 off their ask price, my purchase price ended up being $168,500.

How did you finance this deal?

Hard money to purchase and I used my Heloc for rehab. 

How did you add value to the deal?

I rehabbed the entire unit. I found out after I closed on the deal that it had been vacant for 2 years and so it was in rough shape. On top of all the aesthetic updates, I also had to replace the AC, which included updating a lot of the electric, new hot water heater, appliances, some plumbing, installed a brand new shower/bath in the master, etc.

What was the outcome?

It is currently for sale :)

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Walk the property with a contractor before closing/offering.

The challenge was that I had a two and a half month closing due to the wholesaler not being able to close on their end (it was a probate deal). During the time I signed the contract to when I closed on it, the phoenix market completely changed, homes began sitting longer and selling for less money. Not my ideal deal :) but a great first opportunity to complete a flip from start to finish. 

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

Me! I was the agent as well and I know the area of Phoenix very well. If anyone reading this needs an agent or just someone to bounce ideas off of, let me know!

Investment Info:

Condo fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $168,500
Cash invested: $30,000

This property is currently for sale, if anyone is interested in a turn key condo on Phoenix, near freeways and hospitals for under $240k.

2 bedroom/2 bathroom 800 sq ft, second floor unit.

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

It was under $300k arv, which was part of my buy box. I also liked the idea of being able to rehab everything in the property and not have to worry about landscaping or roofs, etc. for my first deal.

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

I found it through a local wholesaler and negotiated it for $7500 off their ask price, my purchase price ended up being $168,500.

How did you finance this deal?

Hard money

How did you add value to the deal?

I rehabbed the entire unit. I found out after I closed on the deal that it had been vacant for 2 years and so it was in rough shape. On top of all the aesthetic updates, I also had to replace the AC, which included updated a lot of the electric, new hot water heater, appliances, some plumbing, installed a brand new shower/bath in the master, etc.

What was the outcome?

It is currently for sale :)

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Walk the property with a contractor before closing/offering; there were a couple expensive items that I just missed during my own walk through that a contractor would have caught.

The challenge was that I had a two and a half month closing due to the wholesaler not being able to close on their end (it was a probate deal). During the time I signed the contract to when I closed on it, the phoenix market completely changed, homes began sitting longer and selling for less money. Not my ideal deal:)

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

Me! I was the agent as well and I know the area of Phoenix very well. If anyone reading this needs an agent or just someone to bounce ideas off of, let me know!

@Theresa Harris yes! this was the plan, but we ultimately couldn't make it work :/ all is well though, on to the next deal :)

@Patrick Kaiser thank you for the advice! I was going to go the route of not putting too much into it and just getting it pretty and on the market quickly, but ultimately it need a lot of exterior deferred maintenance and the pool needed a lot of love so I don't think 10k would have gotten us far :/. We ultimately decided to have him just put it on the market, but now he is just getting a lot of low ball offers from investors, hahaha, go figure lol. I walked away and he is working it out with his actual realtor, I just realized I couldn't make it work for me in this stage of my investing career.  

I was hoping to get some advice. I just feel like I'm not looking at this from all angles and I want to make sure I'm coming to the table with a win-win scenario. My brother in law is selling his rental; it needs work (probably about $50k) and he wants to net at least $300k when all is said and done (he owes $215). He was going to sell it as-is on the MLS as-is, but he was thinking he could list it at $500k, but I told him that investors would probably offer closer to $430k (as I believe ARV is around $550). Then he was going to see if I wanted to buy it from him and flip it myself, but I don't think that I could make any money on it if I bought it from him as I would have closing costs, holding costs, etc. that would just push the profit margin too slim. He brought up an interesting idea of just flipping it together: aka....I'm boots on the ground here and would run the flip completely and put up the money for rehab and he would just be almost like a silent partner (he is out of state and doesn't really have time to deal with it anyways). I'm wondering if it's even worth it or if I should just advise him to sell it on the MLS as-is....I know I'm missing something as this seems like a great opportunity, but I can't seem to make the numbers work.

It's on 7th St and Greenway 3/2 1550 sq ft with a pool on 15,000 sq ft lot.

@Frank Makri - I didn't think about this at all, thank you for bringing it up! To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what a survey shows....do you use them often before purchasing property?

@Bobby Hosmer I was not thinking of it in that way at all, thank you! I appreciate the advice on looking at it from an actual students viewpoint..... and comps, looking at it, I don't think it would be able to match the amenities as a $1000 new one down the street. I was loving it and I assumed everyone else would too, lol, but that's not a great business way to look at it. Thank you for bringing it to the forefront of my mind now every time I run numbers from now on :)