All Forum Posts by: Andy M.

@Justin Baker That will definitely eat into those profits! I took my whole family to Disneyland a couple months ago and it cost me almost $1,000 for the day!! But they did love it. Happiest place on earth right?

@Bill R. & @Annette Gutierrez Thanks for checking it out!

@Don Hines I love that! My mom's family is from the south (Georgia) so when I read your post I instantly thought of some of the stuff my grandfather would tell me.

"Don't take no wooden nickels"

"You never go broken taking a profit" <--This one is for when I talk about how much MORE money I can make if I do this or that. 

Wise advice.

Personally I think you are right to have reservations. Trust your gut.

@Aaron McGinnis That is so true. If you are in this business long enough you will end up taking a loss. One of the key reasons I lost money on this particular project was that I trusted a brand new project manager to get it done. Ultimately when  you delegate you are still responsible for what those people do. Unfortunately the brand new project manager trusted some people she shouldn't have.

Hopefully you haven't had a 40k loss since the '10 experience! 

@Account Closed Thanks for the vote of confidence! No, definitely no cable shows reaching out to me. My video blog is actually more of a labor of love. My older brother is the camera man and video editor, he does an amazing job. I Love Real Estate Stories was a way for us to work together. It has been a lot of fun telling stories. We constantly are talking about how we can tell the stories in the most interesting and fun way (minus all of the fake drama). 

It seems like people who aren't in the business have NO IDEA what crazy stuff goes on in the life of a real estate entrepreneur. People outside of the industry can't believe the stories (amazing profits, crazy sellers, tenants, wholesale deals, etc.). 

Thanks again for watching! It makes it all worth it. :)

I've been in real estate for 12 years now, and at the beginning of this project I thought I was sure to make 30k + on it. How can you lose when you buy a house for $70,000 and resell it 204 days later for $176,900?!?!? Well I did.

I documented the whole journey for my real estate video blog. Parts 1 & 2 are already up on my site (Roy story), the part 3 video is just having the finishing touches put on it and I'll email it out probably in the next 24-48 hours. I was finishing it up today, so I guess that is why it is on my mind. It is definitely a humbling experience for me to show how I lost money on a flip. But I think the key takeaways are worth sharing.

No matter how long you have been doing this business, you can still lose money. Murphy's law happens (especially on flips!).

I'm eating some humble pie on this one. Sorry for the little rant, I just needed to get it off my chest. 

Anyone else taken a loss on a flip recently?

Hey Cameron, welcome to Bigger Pockets. If you haven't already checked out the Salt Lake Real Estate Investors association ("SLREIA") I recommend that you do so. You will meet a lot of good local people there that can give you good local advice. I go there sometimes, so make sure you come say hi if you see me. 

@Jon Klaus Lol. Spoken like a seasoned investor. It is the curse that no one wants to hear you complain about, "ah man, I just wrote a six figure check to the IRS this year". It just comes off like your bragging. 

@Kenneth Hynes Good question. We had to pull permits with Salt Lake City, but we didn't need to change the zoning. The structure was already in place, and we didn't really add any square footage, just finished it. I'm not sure why the County didn't count any basement or attic square footage in their assessment, but they didn't. They didn't even show that it was there. But you are correct, the added finished square footage definitely added a lot of value to the home.

@Vicki Gleitz Thanks Vicki! I love reading to my kids every night, it is definitely one of the highlights of my days. As for the former owner, she was literally in tears. Matt and I did for her (and her family) what they couldn't do for themselves. I've worked with hundreds of private sellers over the years, and I see a reoccurring theme a lot. Whenever a property is inherited or owned by multiple members of a family, they always talk about, "fixing it up" and it always seems like a good idea until they realize:

1. It is a lot of work! Who is hiring people? Who has the vision? Who is running to Home Depot? 

2. Who is going to pay for it?

3. There are inevitably members of the family who won't do anything and will reap rewards that they shouldn't have received. 

Bottom line is as investors we definitely ad a lot of value to sellers, especially those with properties in need of a lot of repair, and a quick solution.

Thanks for watching the video and for your comment! ;)

Thanks David, I appreciate it. We (my brother/video editor) and I are trying to make better and better videos that add value to people. We are really enjoying the journey. :)