Our First Failure And Why It Feels So Good

Our First Failure And Why It Feels So Good

Investor · San Rafael, CA · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 9 votes

My wife and i have flipped a house once, 7 years ago. Different times, different environment.

After making the decision to go back into the game, and after months of reading and listening to BP podcasts, we finally pulled the trigger and put an offer on a house in Vallejo CA. The market in Northern CA is crazy mind you, and after back and forth of counter offering, our offer of $242,000 ($17,000 above asking price) was accepted. 

We had 7 days to close. In these 7 days of insane roller coaster, we managed to arrange some hard money for financing, set up an appraisal to estimate a property we hold for the purpose of the loan approval, arrange an inspection, meet 2 contractors and crunch the rehab numbers so they make sense, find out that the lender can not 100% finance the deal as hoped, get discouraged but somehow, on a late-night phone call arrange some cash from a family member, and all that only to discover a day before closing, that the seller had $140,000 of liens against the property..

The deal fell apart. 

My wife and i felt great. We went celebrating in a nice restaurant..

Why?

Because with all the disappointment (it should have been a really good deal), we also felt satisfied.  we felt that in these 7 days we received the best and indispensable education we could get only by jumping into the water. My main message here is that you don't learn how to swim from books. Books and podcasts are highly valuable education tools, but they don't teach you how does it FEEL to be an investor. How does it feels, and i mean in your BODY, to put your money on the line. How does it feels to work simultaneously on multiple deal aspects in a pressing time frame. 

The only way to get this kind of experience is to actually to DO it.   

What i'm saying is, that no matter how much education you acquire - you will never be 100% ready. You have to let yourself make mistakes. (we did a few for sure). You have to get out there.

We are already looking for our next deal.

Goodluck to you all!

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Mark SpidellPro Member
Glenwood Springs, CO · Member since 2012 · 127 posts · 22 votes
10y

I love the way you composed this post and the positive attitude!  I have interacted with a lot of BP fans lately and have noticed many are struggling to find a way to take action.  It is tough for new folks to get started in a hot market.  A non starter deal can have its upside!  

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  • Jo-Ann LapinPro Member
    Loan Officer · Tustin, CA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 713 votes
    10y

    Well put. It always helps to test drive a situation first and is important you have all your go to's vetted and ready to roll when you are. Keep fighting the fight and find the right deal for the right numbers. 

  • Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
    Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
    10y

    @Ariel Goldenberg  you should have gotten a prelim title back within 48 hours of accepted contract so you knew at that point that the deal had hair on it.. NOt work on it for 10 days waste your time and especially contractors looking at deals that can't close.

    I know its frustrating. and out on the east coast were title I susually done at the end of the transactions I make them run it day one.. you should see the stares I get back.. ( hey why are you doing that ) for the exact same reason you just stated.

    I had my first resi deal in Calistoga cira 1975 and worked on that got ready to close 45 days into only to find out same circumstance you did.. now talk about a  bumbed out rookie 18 YO agent .. LOL... never again.. learned that lesson.

  • Investor · San Rafael, CA · Member since 2016 · 52 posts · 9 votes
    10y

    Exactly right Jay. The listing agent should have known and our agent too.

    But most of all - we should have known to ask for this. 

    Not going to happen again. That's for sure.

  • Mark SpidellPro Member
    Glenwood Springs, CO · Member since 2012 · 127 posts · 22 votes
    10y

    I love the way you composed this post and the positive attitude!  I have interacted with a lot of BP fans lately and have noticed many are struggling to find a way to take action.  It is tough for new folks to get started in a hot market.  A non starter deal can have its upside!  

  • Rental Property Investor · Rockford, IL · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    10y

    @Ariel Goldenberg,

    Just my opinion ...

    Unless the asking price was significantly below fair market value (FMV), you were doomed from the outset. Learning to do a proper analysis before hand might have kept you from offering in the first place.

    As Jay suggests, the preliminary title work should then have revealed the liens. If your offer plus the liens ($382K) are still at least 40% below FMV(=$637K or higher) you may still have had a viable deal depending on the extent of the rehab. I don't have all the numbers, so I'm guessing here.

    So, yes - a bit of "book l'arnin'" would have been valuable here, and you still could have enjoyed the celebration having been proven right by the deal falling through.

    My $0.02...

    David J Dachtera

    "Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."
    - DJ Benedict

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