All Forum Posts by: Patrick McPartlin

Rafael, this property was found by my mother. She was driving the neighborhood and saw this property. Looked it up on an online auction website (which has been quite a pain). We found out later that the house was actually listed on the MLS but was under the wrong county (?) I want to say. Not quite sure but it was something like that.

First off, thanks for the reassurance guys! I appreciate it, lifts some of the worry off.

Anywho, the renovation is mostly cosmetic.

For reference its a 1250 square foot house. Factored in light plumbing, new kitchen, upstairs bathroom, light sheetrock/spackle/paint, siding, all new flooring, and all the other miscellaneous like fans, lights, doors, etc.

I have been blessed to be in a family of carpenters (dad, uncles, brother, grandfather) and a family of realtors (mom, stepdad) so things work out quite nicely. This is reflected in our renovation costs as most of the work will be performed by myself and family.

Thank you for the tip David about seller's concession. I should factor that in to my calculations as a just in case. It does make sense, especially if appraisal issues come into play like you said. I think I will deduct it and anything above that be a nice bonus.

Also, yes the numbers are quite light for 6 months. I budgeted for 3 months being optimistic (cuckoo). The renovation timeline is 5 weeks. Insurance quoted at 1200 but I need to call a few more as it seems high in my opinion (what do I know though!). The house is very close to mine so the grounds will be kept by myself.

To note:
Exit Strategy #1 - buy and sell.
Exit Strategy #2 - buy and hold for 2 years, then sell.
Exit Strategy #3 - buy and hold for a long time.

Located in central jersey.

Hello all,

So I've been a bit late to write this post as the house has technically been under contract for roughly 19 days. It's expected closing is fast approaching, this Friday (6/28/2013).

The acquisition process has been rough. All in all though, think we raked in a solid deal.

Please review my numbers and let me know how I did.

Purchase price: $92,900 (all cash)
Closing costs: $1,800 (inspection, survey, etc)
Renovation costs: $22,000
Holding costs: $1500 (utilities/taxes/insurance)
ARV: $160,000
Closing costs: $8000 (realtor commissions)
Net Profit: $33,800!

Also, the realtor is my mother and she has insisted that she is not keeping her share of commission. I told her she should, but she is quite stubborn I guess. That's another $4,100 between purchase and sale. I know, I know, that is not a part of the numbers technically but it is worth noting.

I am sure there will be hiccups along the way and I expect them but I am proud that I jumped in and didnt get stuck in "analysis paralysis." I as well note the disadvantages of all cash but for this particular situation it made sense.

Anyway, I am really excited about this deal and I know emotions should never be present in real estate investment but I can't seem to not be anxious to start.

I'd like to send out a huge thank you to you guys because this is a wonderful community full of really great knowledge. I've learned a lot from here and if it weren't for all of you I may not have even tried to get into real estate investment.

Turns out our offer was beat after the dust settled. They accepted an offer that was 1.6% better than ours. It was close but we let it go. It was over.

We kept this house on the back burner (knowing that deals do fall through). In the meantime we continued to submit offers on other properties when appropriate. We knew that the house had issues and the person who bid on the property more than likely did not understand them all or had not seen it. Turns out, for whatever reason, 2 weeks later the property was re-listed.

This time much closer to our MAO. We sent in an offer well below our MAO and what do ya know a couple days later they countered UNDER our MAO!!! This could be the beginning, and that is exciting.

We will review the counteroffer, rerun all the numbers, revisit the house, and do our due diligence in greater detail but it is looking like our persistence has paid off. This could really be Project #1.

Well, it has been about two weeks and a lesson is beginning to emerge.

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Dealing with a bank has been a slow and arduous game of back and forth. I naively thought that since our offers were within a few thousand that final negotiations would be tied up shortly but is anything ever that simple? Turns out, no.

The bank rejected our "close" offer. We sent in a new offer, they countered back up near their list price. It took another two weeks to negotiate them back down but we stayed firm at a price where our numbers worked.

The bank knows our offer and held it for a few days. Now they have sent out a highest and best call. We will smudge up another couple hundred but ultimately the number will be $1000 LESS than two weeks ago.

I will update this post on the situation as the process moves along. Fingers crossed.

Thank you, I appreciate the tip!

Hello All,

I, like most others, have been a long time lurker of these forums, probably around 6 months or so, and am only now getting around to introducing myself. Apologies, but I have been soaking up amazing information from you guys and really I had nothing to post about so I figured I would refrain from registering until I had something post-worthy. Well, I believe that now I do!

A little background on myself first.

My name is Patrick. I currently attend university full-time in PA and reside in Central NJ. I am 21 years of age, and have had plans of getting into real estate investing for approximately 4 years. What piqued my interest initially was the freedom, flexibility, and control one has in this line of work. I have had many jobs including desk positions and quickly realized what I like and didn't like.

Real estate investing is a good fit for me because my brother, dad, and uncles are all carpenters. My mother and step-father are real estate agents. So I have picked up a few things along the way. My first unofficial investment was funding my brother’s house. It was a house that suffered extensive fire damage and was a hoarder house; a full gut to the studs. It came out amazing, that was the turning point and inspiration to "go for it". So I am very familiar with property acquisition, the renovation process, home repairs, and selling real estate. Having said that there are still many, many lessons to be learned in the world of real estate investment. As most on here say, no two renovations are the same.

So I have been taking in the 70% rule and getting better at cost estimating, accounting, tips, timelines etc. etc. etc. This site is truly a wealth of knowledge and for that I thank all of you.

First Project

I have been actively looking for investment opportunities in the Central NJ area. My partners and I have placed multiple bids on two different properties. We are in tight negotiations with a bank on a good potential flip. The numbers work out and funding is there, just trying to squeeze the bank a bit. Our numbers (banks' and ours) are very close at the moment, hopefully within the next couple days we’ll have it under contract.

I’ll keep you guys posted if all goes well, and if not I’ll still be around the forums and looking for the next deal.

Sorry for the novel! And I'll try to get a picture up as soon as possible.

-Patrick