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Christopher Purnell
General Contractor |
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In my own words...
I am very much an entrepreneur, who comes from a long family of entrepreneurs who have succeeded in many different industries from auto collision repair to construction. I started off young opening my first business at 16. I had a car wash that employed 5 f/t employees and was able to obtain contracts with most of the banks and lending institutions to where we would detail their vehicles and get their vehicles ready for resale. Any work such as a cracked windshield or broken locks would be subbed out and we would charge a 35% mark up. After I graduated the owner of the lot where I was leasing the property saw the revenue I was making and decided to not renew my lease and open his own car wash which went under before the first year. I then started off into college seeking a degree in marketing, but during my first year on way from Florida to Pennsylvania to visit my family I met a very established partner in a marketing firm with whom I spoke to for several hours. To make a long story short he explained to me that school was great, but some people just have while others don't and will end up being a manager of a Radio Shack at best. However, he felt I had it and offered me an entry level position starting within one week of our meeting. I worked for that company for 10 years and left as Regional Marketing Director. After leaving I was blessed with a little princess who made me realize that life was too short to spend my life working for someone else doing something I really didn't enjoy, but loved the income. After about a year of thought I decided to move to New York City in search of a new career and myself. Well, in a short time I realized I didn't want to go back into marketing and really didn't care to work for anyone. So I noticed a big demand for furniture assembly and remodeling in New York which pushed me to open EZ Furniture Assembly & Interior Innovations, LLC with no more than a handful of tools, a box of bills, and a determination to succeed. I found that building things, and making things that were old and ugly into beautiful structures was my passion, and the pay was well worth my efforts. I have always been mechanically inclined and have helped many friends and family do everything from lay foundations, build additions, to re-roof entire buildings. Our first year was good considering I wore at least 10 hats from master assembler, project manager, marketing director, customer service manager, to carpenter and designer. Just like the houses I help build I knew that the business would only grow if I built a strong foundation, so I concentrated on pure honesty, quality workmanship, customer satisfaction no matter if we were right or wrong, and the ability to use the slow times as an opportunity to get out and market our services. Today we have numerous commercial accounts, 70% of our business last year was result of referrals. We now have a team of experts in all phases of remodeling and furniture assembly in which allows us to compete with much larger companies. I have recently launched a new company called NYC Handyman because a great deal of our clients asked for certain jobs that would not fall under our general services and that made me think how many other people are need of such services but didn't have a company capable or more importantly one that was established,honest, and competitively priced. My only dilemma was how to let people know that NYC Handyman was actually a division of EZ Furniture Assembly & Interior Innovations, but just like everything else I applied my marketing skills and made sure that all our ads mentioned our new division and sent new cards to our past clients entitling them and there friend a 10% discount on services from NYC Handyman. I have many more ideas I intend to use, but thus far it has been a success. My main goal in life is to flip houses and now is the perfect time in my opinion if I had the money because of all the foreclosures and inability to for many to obtain loans I could purchase homes needing TLC for great prices fix them up and sell them at a fair price that is at or below market. However, I have the will, the plan, and the marketing skills and construction experience but need s partner who will financially back these ventures and come to a reasonable sharing of the profits form the sale. I did one similar deal with one person on an oral agreement where I found a four unit apartment building in Pennsylvania which we were able to purchase for $30,000, and I and one other of my technicians did the labor and my partner had to invest another $10,000 in materials for a total of $40,000 plus our labor. I found a buyer for the property at $87,000 dollars within 6 weeks of purchase and was given $5000.00 to cover our labor and a thank you! I am not looking for those kind of partners because for 6 weeks both me and my technician suffered working 12-16 hour days while I burnt up the phone and internet trying to sell the property. I thought since it was such a quick turnaround and we did all the labor that we should have been given half but he felt since my business is seasonal and this was in the winter I should be thankful for what I got.
Real Estate Experience
I have worked in marketing for over 10 years, and had family members who were both in the construction and real estate business so I implemented what I had learned from them and purchased a 4 unit, 2 story,2 bedroom, 1 bath investment property in Scranton, Pennsylvania where I grew up and lived at that time with the mother of my daughter. The owner of the house had passed away and the only son lived in Arizona and had no intentions on returning to Pennsylvania, or spending time with a Realtor trying to sell the property for the estimated value in which he might end up paying taxes and up keep until it was sold. I decided to send a short letter stating that I was sorry for his loss and was wondering if he intended to keep the house. If not, I would be interested in purchasing it from him. He called the day he received my letter and thanked me for the sympathy card, and said he wanted nothing more than to sell the house as quickly as possible. My cousin who owns a real estate firm estimated the property at about $70,000. I told the owner I would be willing to pay $35,000 for the property as is, with an initial down payment of $10,000 and $1000.00 a month thereafter for 35 months which made the total pay off 3 years. Suprisngly he accepted because he wanted to get out from under the house, taxes, up keep, insurance, etc. He was also doctor who really didn't need the money nor wanted to be bothered with the house and all that came with it. He asked me as a part of our deal, but outside the contract if I would save any pictures, letters, or things of sentimental value for him and ship it to him. He didn't care about the furniture or anything else. but only family pictures and so forth. I did exactly that and mailed it to him the next week in return he sent a check for postage which I never cashed because of his kindness. The mother's quarters were loaded with antiques from front to back, and all in mint condition. I have always been a fan of antiques and had an idea of what all the items might fetch minus what we kept. I hired a friend who was an auctioneer and paid him 10% instead of the normal 30% sellers premium others wanted and knew he would sell everything at it's highest not slack on items other auctioneers would misrepresent so they could have their flunkies buy it for pennies. The all cash sale grossed a bit over $30,000. I gave him his $3000.00 plus a $500.00 tip for his great work and honesty. The church hall cost $150.00 for the day in which I gave $500.00 in honor of the deceased owner because it was the right thing to do. I invested about $10,000 into the property in materials only with me and friends doing the labor. We added a deck, new windows, added new insulation with a vapor barrier, and siding. The roof was only 5 years old as well as the gutters. Me and my daughter's mother, along with our newborn daughter lived there for about a year. We separated and I sold the house for $103,000.00. The auction actually more or less paid for the house, so after living there for a year cost free, collecting $1500.00 in rent each month I ended up with a gross profit of about $107,000.00.
Real Estate Goals
I hope to one day buy and flip my own properties, but right now I am looking for a partner who will financially back the purchases of homes where my company will do the renovations and/or upgrades and split the profits minus labor and material costs. I would like to purchase foreclosed properties or properties that are in distress in or around the Pocono, Pennsylvania area and sell these homes to people within the New York City area. This fairly close to the city in which has several commuter bus lines that travel to and from the city daily. I have conducted a brief survey with 100 of my past clients and found out that 85% would be willing to commute to work daily if they could get a beautiful home out of the city for under $500,000.00. Homes can be purchased in the targeted area for between $70,000-$300,000. There is a great opportunity for the right investor to join forces and utilize my remodeling and marketing experience to sell these homes. Some people I worked with paid over $70,000 a year just in rent for studios!
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Colleagues (4)
Joshua D.BiggerPockets Founder |
Mark D.Real Estate Investor |
Gea E.Residential Real Estate Broker |
Marc G.Real Estate Consultant |
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