All Forum Posts by: Will Menard

I like to use 3.5% of the purchase price.  Thanks a safe number for estimate numbers.  I am more of the conservative type!

The renovation took 2 months to complete.  My partner and I have full time jobs so all work is contracted out. We pick material, finishings... make the house flow (people like open concept now so we move walls where we can, etc).  To keep cost down, shop shop shop around.  We have a wholesale place here in town we like to use, account with Lowe's to save 5%, reuse whatever we can from the home, get multiple bids from contractors. 

Wanted to share by success story of a recent flip here in Lafayette.  Bought the home for $104,000, 3 bedroom, 2 bath as a foreclosure.  The previous owner must have been upset about his/her loss because there were holes in almost every wall, lights pulled from the ceiling, appliances damaged, etc.  These are the types of properties that we love to see because we can bring them back from awful to great!

Construction was estimated to be around $30,000.  Almost everything was touched inside and outside of the house: electrical, floors, cabinets, tubs, drywall... you name it.  Final construction budget came in at $34,000 (13% overage).

Decided to list the home at $167,000 based on the comps, location, etc.  This area is a valuable one due to the great school zone.  Within 3 days, we had 8 offers, a sellers dream world!  We ended up getting an offer of $170,000 and without hesitation accepted! Over ask, fantastic.

Breakdown:

Sells Price - $170,000

Purchase Price - $104,000

Construction - $34,000

Commission - $8,500

PROFIT = $23,500!

I am interested to know if anyone has purchased an property from Auction.com?  I have looked on the site many times but with all of the documents, lingo, etc associated with each property, I do not want to get in over my head with unknowns.  Does anyone have an stories, pros, cons?