All Forum Posts by: Katie Neason

Congratulations!  Awesome job!

Congrats on pushing forward! How did you find this deal? Direct mail, MLS, Wholesaler? How big is the house? Do you have pictures? I am worried about the numbers being too tight. $10,000 in rehab seems like a really small number. I would be challenged to paint and put new flooring down for less than $15,000. What do you plan to do with the $10,000?

Realtors fees alone will be $7,200 on $120,000. On this size deal I budget $15,000 for realtor fees, closing costs, taxes, and utilities (assumes you paid cash). If you can get $120,000 on this house with only $10,000 of work, I would list it with a realtor for $115,000 (assuming you did not buy it on MLS) without putting any money in it and see if you can sell it as is. Less risk and sounds like you could make more than if you fix it and you will be in the peak of selling season. Just a thought. Good luck!

If it is a marketed deal (mls, wholesale, or for sale by owner) and it is a deal, in my market, it will be gone with in a few hours. In order to respond comfortably that quickly you need some experience under your belt. You can do that by partnering with someone who has the experience. During your option period you can get your inspectors and/or contractors in there to flush out any surprises. If there are surprises you can go back and negotiate your price. The trick is, they need to be surprises (ie foundation issues, MEP issues, etc). I am in a small market, if I come back and say my painter cost too much so I need to lower my price, word will get out quick and our future offers will not get accepted. Good luck!

@Philip Williams way to jump in with both feet. Can you share the numbers? Purchase, rehab, sales, holding, note terms on the owner financing, etc?  Did you buy it in a park? On land? Did you move it? Will the buyers have to move it, etc?  Thanks for sharing. 

I would need a lot more info. Purchase price, Reno cost, rental rates, etc. to know if they are a good deal or not. I am not sure what part of Texas you are in, but if they have been on MLS for more than 48 hours, I suspect they are not a deal or they would have been gone. It is a super hot market in my area and things go under contract in less than 12 hours. Reading J Scott's book is a great start. Next step is to get into a bunch of houses and start figuring out Reno costs. At that point deals will start bubbling to the top. Everything seems like a deal before you see it.

 @Anthony Armstrong what do you mean by "a range of 25k+ on comps on the same street"? Are you saying it is list $25,000 below what other comps sold for?  If so, that is not near enough room for a flip. Target profit for my flips are between $20,000 and $30,000. So $25,000 below comps leaves no room for selling expenses, holding cost or Reno costs.  

@Nick Stango

I am a long way from you, but my market is scary hot right now. Great on the selling side, but tough on the buying side. In my market MLS is really not a viable option in such a hot market. You may be lucky and get one but it won't feed the family. We are seeing the best results with direct mail. We have 3 different campaigns going. We send out our own letters after driving for dollars. We are also targeting infill lots to build on (sending our own letters out) and we have hired a company to send out letters to absentee owners. We have gotten a property under contract with each of these methods this month. However, in my opinion knowing your numbers, having money ready to go and being able to move lightening fast on them are critical. If it is a really good deal it will be gone while you decide if the numbers work or if you have money to do the deal. However, the bigger risk is moving fast and getting a deal a without knowing your numbers. You can end up upside down in a hurry! We always makes sure plan B works on the property (for us that is breakeven as a rental with fully loaded costs) and that there is viable plan C.

Waiting on the right deal can be so frustrating. I wish you patience and luck!

can you pull the permit and get the inspector out there before you close?

good luck! I hope flip #2 sells quickly for you. Numbers on this one look pretty tight. with purchase price and rehab budget you are at $63,000. I threw a $1,000 in for holding cost and 10% in selling cost. That leaves you with $12,000 in profit. Looks like your last project was over budget about $14,000 so this one could get tight quick. I may be looking at it wrong or you may have selling and holding cost in your rehab #s. Either way I will be hoping everything comes together perfectly for you!

A $300,000 house in Cali sounds like a shack (-;   Obviously new windows are a plus and will make a house sell faster but not sure it will make it sell for more. The benchmarks we use are 1. what else has been done on the street. If all the houses in your street have the old windows I would not upgrade. 2. What has been done in your competition? What other houses are for sale in the neighborhood. Do they have single or double pane windows? 

Good luck.