So What Next or what do I do first....

[Matthew Nixon]

Ok, so I found a house I really like in a pretty hot market. House going for about 190k, comps consistently tell me the ARV is 300k to be conservative, but closer to 350k. I haven't done a walk through with a contractor, but my guesstimate is about 45k in renovations/repairs. So I'm feeling pretty good about the numbers.

Question is, what do I do next? Do I contract the house if I'm going to flip it myself, then go to the lenders? Or do I go to the lenders, then to title company? There is a listing agent involved. We are meeting Monday, and I want to look competent lol. 

Or do I go to the meeting with contracts, contract the house while I look for funding? 

I'm really excited and don't want to let this slip past me.

[Derek Diamond]

Hey @Matthew Nixon

Welcome to the B/P community.  In Colorado, it is customary for the seller to pay their real estate agent and the buyers real estate agent.  The premise is the seller gets a bunch of money and can pay both agents.   So if it is the same there you can get an experts opinion for free *(you will have closing expenses but the agents time will be free to you).  

To be taken seriously by some agents they will want you to have talked to a lender, and get prequalified for a loan.  For me, I  would be more than willing to sit down with you and walk you though the process before you meet with a lender.  So if you know a local agent like that, sit down with them or if you know a lender like that sit with them first. Make sense? 

If it was me I would go 

1- Real estate agent

2- Lender

3- contractor

4- the agent will be able to help you with the title company

One red flag I see is the fact that this is a "hot market".  Normally in a hot market you can sell almost anything at a market price unless it is a real turd.  So why is this property so much cheaper than everything else.  Are the sellers motivated? Do they not know what they have?  Are they out of touch with market values?  Do they have a huge tax bill to settle?  Or is this property in such bad shape that it will take way more than expected to fix it up.  Just some food for thought.

It sounds like you have done your research.  If this is really a good deal go for it! If not there will always be more that come down the pipeline. Sometimes passing on an okay deal is the best financial decision.  Good Luck!!