{"id":188201,"date":"2026-06-12T07:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=188201"},"modified":"2026-06-12T07:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:14:22","slug":"inside-the-search-the-pipes-burst-during-the-final-walkthrough-he-bought-the-house-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/inside-the-search-the-pipes-burst-during-the-final-walkthrough-he-bought-the-house-anyway","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Search: The Pipes Burst During the Final Walkthrough. He Bought the House Anyway."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here\u2019s how an out-of-state investor turned a flooded hoarder house into his next step toward 20 doors, and what his team says separates the investors who make it from the ones who tap out.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan was doing the final walkthrough on a house in Warren, Michigan, that he had already agreed to buy when his agent spotted water where it had no business being. A pipe had burst. The house had basically flooded. That meant new damage, problems, and a reason for most buyers to walk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan asked for another discount.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">That move, the one that looks at a flooded house and sees a cheaper flooded house, is most of the story of how a guy losing two to three hours a day to New York traffic ended up running a real estate operation in metro Detroit from a different state entirely.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Minutes, Not the Money<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Before any of this, Bogdan had a setup a lot of readers will recognize:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A 9-to-5 that came home with him every night<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A commute that ate the daylight on both ends<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The growing sense that the clock was running and he was spending it in the wrong place<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;Sitting in NY traffic for two to three hours a day and a stressful 9-to-5 that went home with you\u2014it just felt like time was wasting away,&#8221; he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Real estate looked like the way out. Not because of the money, exactly. <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is the point of any of it if you never get the minutes back?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;I say freedom and not financial freedom, because freedom is not money,&#8221; Bogdan says. &#8220;It&#8217;s the extra minutes you get to spend with your son, your wife, and your family, learning new things and traveling.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Building the Team Before the Portfolio<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan was not starting from zero. He had owned a small condo in Nashville, so owning property out of state was not a brand-new idea. But when he set his sights on Michigan, he made a decision that mattered more than any single property: He went <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/team-builder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">looking for the team<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> first.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He found BiggerPockets, searched for the top investor-friendly brokers in metro Detroit, and landed on the FIRE Realty Team. Within a few conversations, he was talking to team lead Joe Hammel, who paired him with one of his agents, Richi Brown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Then came two to three months of the part that most investors skip: education, pricing, neighborhoods, rents, demographics, and which governing agency does what.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Only then did Bogdan buy. And he bought the boring way on purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;I wanted to learn without too much skin in the game, so turnkey was the best,&#8221; he says. He put 15% down, picked up a few turnkey rentals, cycled through a couple of property management companies, and got comfortable. Then he ran the math at his own pace and saw the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pivot: Turnkey to BRRRR<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Turnkey was teaching him the market. It was also going to bankrupt him. &#8220;At this pace with turnkeys, I was going to run out of money, and that was never the long-term strategy,&#8221; he says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">So he sold his second New York co-op and the Nashville condo and moved into <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/the-brrrr-method\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">BRRRRs<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat, for anyone new here); the whole point is to recycle the same down payment instead of burning a fresh one on every deal. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan moved <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">slow<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">steady<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, vetting every contractor and vendor and learning timelines and seasoning periods.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> By then, the whole FIRE team knew his buy box, and deals started coming in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;Rome <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">wasn&#8217;t built<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in a day, and I guarantee <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">no real estate portfolio was built<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> overnight,&#8221; Bogdan says. &#8220;Having the right team in place is key, and the team I have, I wish for every beginner and seasoned investor to have in their corner.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Three Houses, Three Completely Different Bets<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This year, Bogdan is chasing 20 doors by the end of 2026, hunting in the $40,000 to $130,000 range across Warren and Eastpointe, running two strategies at once. On the low end, he\u2019s looking for something that will involve heavy sweat equity to squeeze out max ARV. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On the high end, he seeks <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">something<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> tenant-occupied that has been sitting on the market <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">that he can buy<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> below market and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">push<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> rents <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">on<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> with light work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Here is what that looked like in practice<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Three<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> houses, all real, all on the table at the same time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The $40K shell in Warren was a three-bed, one-bath with a basement and no garage, about 950 square feet on a corner lot. On paper, it had meat on the bone. Add a garage, juice the <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/glossary\/after-repair-value-arv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">ARV<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, and <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">you&#8217;re done<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Then they showed up to view it. It was a shell, with severe structural issues. The kind of &#8220;deal&#8221; that is only a deal until you walk inside.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The $72K hoarder house, also in Warren, was a three-bed, one-bath, 870-square-foot house with a basement and a garage. Funky layout, small rooms, packed wall-to-wall with the previous owner&#8217;s everything. Not pretty. But the location was strong, and in this market, a basement and a garage are in serious demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The $130K keeper in Eastpointe was a three-bed, two-bath house, about 1,000 square feet, with a garage but no basement, already tenant-occupied at close to market rent. It was in a great area, within walking distance to houses Bogdan already owned, with real upside and almost nothing out of pocket to make it work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cheap and scary, mid and ugly, pricier and easy\u2014all on one budget.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The One He Picked<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan went with the $72,000 hoarder house in Warren.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It was off-market. The seller needed cash fast, and because Bogdan was willing to close as-is, Richi negotiated a steep discount on the way in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Then came that final walkthrough: the burst pipes, the flood, and a fresh round of damage nobody had priced in. Bogdan did not flinch. He let Richi take the new problem back to the table and turn it into a second discount.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A worse house on paper turned into a better deal in practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What Actually Separates the Winners<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ask Bogdan&#8217;s team what makes him different, and the answer has nothing to do with finding deals. Richi says:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;Most investors approach real estate with the wrong expectations and mentality. They think just because you underwrite a deal and make it pencil, it all magically comes together, and you make a ton of money without backend <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">effort<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The reality is, identifying the deal is the easy part. Executing the deal is where the money <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is made<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Good execution can turn a base hit into a double or a triple. Poor execution wipes you out of the game completely.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Buying real estate is more like buying a business than <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/rookie-600\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">investing in a stock<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. The investors who treat it like the latter fail. The ones who treat it like the former hit financial freedom.&#8221;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan is the proof. He built the foundation first\u2014a good agent and property manager\u2014before he ever touched a heavy rehab. In year one, he hired and fired three to five property managers before he found one that fit and ran through twice as many contractors. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He now runs the entire operations side of the business in-house from a different state and has quit his W-2 job to <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">do<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> real estate <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">investing<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> full-time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The flooded house represented a guy who had already decided that the work after the contract was the actual job.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Build a team before building a portfolio:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Bogdan spent two to three months learning the market with his agent before buying anything. The relationship was the first asset on the books.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Buy boring to learn:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> A turnkey with 15% down was the low-stakes classroom. He graduated to BRRRRs once he understood the market, not before.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Underwriting is the easy part:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> The spread <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is made<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> in execution, vendor management, and the willingness to renegotiate when a pipe bursts at the worst possible moment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Expect to fire people:<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Losing three to five PMs and a stack of contractors in year one is the cost of building a team that eventually runs without you.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Bogdan found his <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">metro<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Detroit team through BiggerPockets.<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/users\/richib\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Richi Brown<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> and<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/users\/josephh211\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> Joe Hammel<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> of the FIRE Realty Team are right here on the platform.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s how an out-of-state investor turned a flooded hoarder house into his next step toward 20 doors, and what his team says separates the investors who make it from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":613755,"featured_media":179940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4252],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deal-analysis"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/613755"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}