My first true "FLIP"! With pix!
Hi all,
Well after doing (1) live-in BRRRR and (1) SFH BRRRR which is rented out now, I decided I wanted to do a true "flip". That is, buy a property, gut renovate, and immediately try to sell it. I had just recently formed my own company so I figured it was time to step up to a bigger challenge given my previous focus was on buying distressed properties with the intent of "flip to rent"
I'm not going to post official numbers until it's sold, but I will say purchase + closing costs was around $138K, we did a full gut renovation, everything new, including basement dig down and finish, and we are currently listed for sale at $279,900 which is very competitive for the market and it's specific location in South Philly (Philadelphia, PA). We likely could have listed higher but I didn't want it sitting on the market (with my money tied up too) for months on end. I find it's better to be realistic about prices so your chances of a sale are faster.
From closing day to listing day, renovations took 11 weeks to complete. I hired out everything and only did 'actual labor' 10 days total on the project (mostly tidying up on site, installing kitchen cabinets, little detail work at the end, etc.
Lessons Learned:
--As much as you try and prepare/plan ahead, you'll run into some type of surprise. Don't spend time worrying about it, just find the solution and move on
--Whatever your timeline is, double it.. and hope you meet it! Upon initial purchase I hoped to rehab in 30 days (in hindsight that wasn't realistic anyway) but once we determined we could dig down and finish the basement, I slightly changed up the project and with excess time for other things.. it took 11 weeks total (which other flippers in my area says is more appropriate, if not on the faster side of flips of this caliber)
--Networking is important as we all know --> don't forget to utilize your resources. I had planned to use a contractor for 1 part of the project but when I needed him, he was tied up for a month, so I called my real estate buddies and located another contractor who was free and could start within 2 days! Different contractor, but same quality of work and similar price to my other guy.
--Finishing out a basement (dig down, new cement, framing, drywall, etc) takes about 3 weeks total start to finish (I was foolish in hoping everything would tightly line up to do it in 10 days). By the way, we did NOT have to underpin (add another 2 months to your project for this because you'll need architect or structural engineer, additional city permits, etc).
--Take care of your contractors and they will take care of you. I would stop by the jobsite 2-3 times/week unannounced to walk through and check out the quality of work. I bought lunch a few times throughout the project for the guys and at the end, if a particular sub did really well and went 'above and beyond' I tipped them a little extra in cash. That came in handy after the floors were installed and flooring guys messed up some walls. For wall patching and re-painting I was only charged 1/3 of the actual repair cost since I 'took care of my guys' earlier on in the project.
**EDIT- having trouble uploading pix for some reason --> check out my company OMC PROPERTIES INC on Facebook for detailed pix and weekly updates on the project
Here's the outside before/after picture as well as the listing below:
-- ZILLOW LISTING --
Best,
Mike