This will be a continuously updated step by step BRRRR post. I stole this idea from @Lesley Resnick so I first need to give her some credit. I really enjoy reading about her progress and it inspired me to do it as well. This is my very first BRRRR although I have several rentals already but they were more paint and lipstick projects. I am about through demo currently so there will be a lot all at once in this post and then the follow ups will be shorter.

Purchase price was $108K off the MLS. I had watched the property for a while and it was originally listed around $140K and had dropped over a few months. Was at $118K when I put an offer in. I offered $100K even and eventually closed at $108K. Property is in Titusville, FL. My estimated ARV is $215K. Yeah, a big increase but man am I working for it. Quick story on the negotiation, during my inspection period I found a bunch of stuff I didn't originally notice and tried to negotiate from $108 back down to my original $100. Seller basically came back with oh you found issues, cool story man, the price is $108. And I said great! But on the inside I said Booooooooooo. Well, you never know until you try. Oh also this house was listed as a 3/2.5 and its 1900 sq ft. This is easily (I am very casually throwing that word around) converted to a 4 bed and there is already a 3rd full bath, it just wasnt listed correctly. 4/3 here we come!

As this is my first BRRRR I wanted to do something relatively easy (there is that "easy" word again) but life really doesnt care what you want and sometimes you are given lemons (or something like that). This house needs everything. HVAC, electrical, roof, plumbing, love, attention, flooring, bathrooms, pizza, kitchen, you name it its in the rehab. 1st ever major rehab, what could go wrong?! (Foreshadowing?) Rehab budget is 55K. Ha! Rehab budget WAS 55k is more like it. Im at 65K currently. But I was suuuuper conservative in my numbers to start with so I went from getting all my money back out during "R" 3 to leaving some in the deal. And did I mention that I am doing most of the work myself. Basically if it doesn't require a permit, I'm it! And I have a full time job. Hence why I am writing this post at 4am on a Sunday. However, I am a program manager in my real life so Im used to managing resources, budgets, milestones, headaches, etc. So while this is a major rehab and its my first its really just another project Im running.

Moving on.  Heres where I am at
1. Security system installed. I am leaving a lot of my tools at the house, this was great piece of mind. Plus I can use it at my next BRRRR. Of course the 1st system didn't work though. Which I found out AFTER I installed it. Always read the directions kids. The directions even said to test it before installing it. Who puts that in the directions? People who have crappy products, thats who. Literally the very first thing I did with this house and I am already having problems. Good times
2. There was a fuel tank buried on the property.  Removed it no problem, no leaks!  I really gambled on that one b/c if there was thats BIG remediation money.  There was even 100gal of fuel left in the tank.  The house was converted to electric so long ago that the current owner didnt even know it was there.  How is that possible?!
3. HVAC installed.  Woo Hoo!  Its FL, its like living on the surface of the sun, you bet your booty that went in first, errrrr 3rd.  Whatever.  There is also an addition that has a through the wall unit that needed replacing.  I got a new one of those too.  And after installing it and firing it up you guessed it!  Doesnt work.  Im noticing a trend here.  Kids, make sure to test the 80lb product before lifting it up and installing it.  At least I had no one to help me so thats good. 
4. All new well equipment installed.  Filters, pump, more filters, well stuff (my first well,can you tell?).  Well guy leaves and two days later....you guessed it again! (man you guys are good) No water.  How important is water though, maybe my tenants will bring their own. There is a whole other posts worth of info about that one (the well, not tenants bringing their own water) but to sum it up: dry well bad, expensive fix
5. Tile removed, bathrooms gutted, moldy drywall removed.  Oh yeah MOLD!  This house has mold too!  Forgot to mention that.  Just add it to the list of "easy" fixes. Leaky roof + rain + FL heat = mold.  Its in the garage area though so as far as mold goes its as good a situation as it gets.  
6. Guest bath tile was reglazed.  First thing to get put back together!  Yesterday was last day of demo.  I am now moving on to actually making the house look nice as opposed to gutting it. 

Here are some pictures of the house.    They are sideways b/c I enjoy the thought of people reading this post and then turning their heads to see the picture.  Or maybe its b/c no matter what I do I cant get them to rotate.  Any geniuses out there know how?  The large untouched room is where I will add the 4th bedroom.

Oh man I forgot about electrical.  Whoever wired this house was just mean.  There are switches everywhere and I spend about 10 min every single day Im at the house trying to figure out what they go to.  I have several that I still dont have a clue what they do.  And I have had to rewire a few b/c they were done wrong.   But that just adds to the excitement right?! (no)   I did make some major headway though when I realized that the previous owners basically just lived in the dark.  Because I think 1 maybe 2 light bulbs in the entire house worked.  Its hard to tell if a switch works if all the lights are blown out!

I also need to mention my neighbors.  They are super nice and SUPER nosy.  They stop by, want tours of the house, ask me what Im doing.  But nosy neighbors are great when you arent around.  They will keep an eye on the place and I will make the place look great again.  Win Win!  I have also been shoveling all my appliances and anything worth keeping over to them for free so that might help too.

Thanks for sticking in all the way to the end.  Here is a picture of my lazy coworkers as a reward

Originally posted by @Tim Bradley :

This will be a continuously updated step by step BRRRR post. I stole this idea from @Lesley Resnick so I first need to give her some credit. I really enjoy reading about her progress and it inspired me to do it as well. This is my very first BRRRR although I have several rentals already but they were more paint and lipstick projects. I am about through demo currently so there will be a lot all at once in this post and then the follow ups will be shorter.

Purchase price was $108K off the MLS. I had watched the property for a while and it was originally listed around $140K and had dropped over a few months. Was at $118K when I put an offer in. I offered $100K even and eventually closed at $108K. Property is in Titusville, FL. My estimated ARV is $215K. Yeah, a big increase but man am I working for it. Quick story on the negotiation, during my inspection period I found a bunch of stuff I didn't originally notice and tried to negotiate from $108 back down to my original $100. Seller basically came back with oh you found issues, cool story man, the price is $108. And I said great! But on the inside I said Booooooooooo. Well, you never know until you try. Oh also this house was listed as a 3/2.5 and its 1900 sq ft. This is easily (I am very casually throwing that word around) converted to a 4 bed and there is already a 3rd full bath, it just wasnt listed correctly. 4/3 here we come!

As this is my first BRRRR I wanted to do something relatively easy (there is that "easy" word again) but life really doesnt care what you want and sometimes you are given lemons (or something like that). This house needs everything. HVAC, electrical, roof, plumbing, love, attention, flooring, bathrooms, pizza, kitchen, you name it its in the rehab. 1st ever major rehab, what could go wrong?! (Foreshadowing?) Rehab budget is 55K. Ha! Rehab budget WAS 55k is more like it. Im at 65K currently. But I was suuuuper conservative in my numbers to start with so I went from getting all my money back out during "R" 3 to leaving some in the deal. And did I mention that I am doing most of the work myself. Basically if it doesn't require a permit, I'm it! And I have a full time job. Hence why I am writing this post at 4am on a Sunday. However, I am a program manager in my real life so Im used to managing resources, budgets, milestones, headaches, etc. So while this is a major rehab and its my first its really just another project Im running.

Moving on.  Heres where I am at
1. Security system installed. I am leaving a lot of my tools at the house, this was great piece of mind. Plus I can use it at my next BRRRR. Of course the 1st system didn't work though. Which I found out AFTER I installed it. Always read the directions kids. The directions even said to test it before installing it. Who puts that in the directions? People who have crappy products, thats who. Literally the very first thing I did with this house and I am already having problems. Good times
2. There was a fuel tank buried on the property.  Removed it no problem, no leaks!  I really gambled on that one b/c if there was thats BIG remediation money.  There was even 100gal of fuel left in the tank.  The house was converted to electric so long ago that the current owner didnt even know it was there.  How is that possible?!
3. HVAC installed.  Woo Hoo!  Its FL, its like living on the surface of the sun, you bet your booty that went in first, errrrr 3rd.  Whatever.  There is also an addition that has a through the wall unit that needed replacing.  I got a new one of those too.  And after installing it and firing it up you guessed it!  Doesnt work.  Im noticing a trend here.  Kids, make sure to test the 80lb product before lifting it up and installing it.  At least I had no one to help me so thats good. 
4. All new well equipment installed.  Filters, pump, more filters, well stuff (my first well,can you tell?).  Well guy leaves and two days later....you guessed it again! (man you guys are good) No water.  How important is water though, maybe my tenants will bring their own. There is a whole other posts worth of info about that one (the well, not tenants bringing their own water) but to sum it up: dry well bad, expensive fix
5. Tile removed, bathrooms gutted, moldy drywall removed.  Oh yeah MOLD!  This house has mold too!  Forgot to mention that.  Just add it to the list of "easy" fixes. Leaky roof + rain + FL heat = mold.  Its in the garage area though so as far as mold goes its as good a situation as it gets.  
6. Guest bath tile was reglazed.  First thing to get put back together!  Yesterday was last day of demo.  I am now moving on to actually making the house look nice as opposed to gutting it. 

Here are some pictures of the house.    They are sideways b/c I enjoy the thought of people reading this post and then turning their heads to see the picture.  Or maybe its b/c no matter what I do I cant get them to rotate.  Any geniuses out there know how?  The large untouched room is where I will add the 4th bedroom.

Oh man I forgot about electrical.  Whoever wired this house was just mean.  There are switches everywhere and I spend about 10 min every single day Im at the house trying to figure out what they go to.  I have several that I still dont have a clue what they do.  And I have had to rewire a few b/c they were done wrong.   But that just adds to the excitement right?! (no)   I did make some major headway though when I realized that the previous owners basically just lived in the dark.  Because I think 1 maybe 2 light bulbs in the entire house worked.  Its hard to tell if a switch works if all the lights are blown out!

I also need to mention my neighbors.  They are super nice and SUPER nosy.  They stop by, want tours of the house, ask me what Im doing.  But nosy neighbors are great when you arent around.  They will keep an eye on the place and I will make the place look great again.  Win Win!  I have also been shoveling all my appliances and anything worth keeping over to them for free so that might help too.

Thanks for sticking in all the way to the end.  Here is a picture of my lazy coworkers as a reward

Wow, Thanks for the kind words. Glad to hear that I inspired you!

I do like that you waited out the property for your price. I see plenty of people who think on the first day of someone marketing a property they are going to get it for $108 from $140.

Looks like a great project and your ARV has a great spread.

As far as the pictures have had the same problem. If you use an Apple double, click on the photo, so it is in its own window. You can drag and drop it. You may need to rotate it around 360 degrees once and that usually fixes it. After it has been in its own window then if you navigate to it from the directory, it should show up correctly.

I am at the BP conference in Nashville if you would like to meet and discuss BRRRR.

Sunday night Oct 6 update.  

My wife is in between semesters for her masters degree so she helped me out today.  That was super nice to have her at the house with me.  Not the exact phrasing she was using at the end of today but I could read in between the lines and heard the love being reciprocated. 

1. I removed an old outside dog cage and 4,983,027 cinder blocks that were just laying around.  Apparently the previous owner was going to build a replica pyramid or something.  Scrap metal from dog cage went to my awesome nosy neighbor Jerry.  He was happy.  Task done, easy, Im sure everything else will go just as well today.....   

2 & 3.  I am lumping these together as they are tied for stupid.  The wife painted one room while I skim coated another.  I chose the first color to paint.  I wanted a nice definitive grey and not something so light you didnt know it was grey.  And boy did I get grey.  I got HEY LOOK AT ME IM GREY!!!  It looked like crap.  But luckily she only painted AN ENTIRE ROOM before we both decided it looked awful.  Plus this was supposed to be the whole house color so I of course bought a 5gal bucket.  We go to lowes, she picks the new color.  Light, happy, a little whisper of look at me Im grey.  She paints the room again and of course.  It looks awful.  Well not awfu.  Its grey as in a little mouse whispered into a gallon of white paint and suggested it be grey.  If you turn all the lights off and squint you can kind of tell its grey.  At least thats what we are telling ourselves.  Ok its white, just white.  So now we (haha "we," I mean she, love you babe!) has painted the room twice and still have to go back to lowes and find a new color.  Ill keep you posted on that one.  So while she was painting I was spackling.  The master has panel board and I am attempting to save time and money by not removing it and just skim coating the grooves and then adding texture later.  It should look just like sheet rock.  Haha save time.  Two coats later and you can still see the joints of the panel board.  So to recap we have painted a room twice and still its not right, have skim coated another room twice and that one is also not right.  Rehab is great kids.  You should totally do it!!!  

First pick is the LOOK AT ME IM GREY as well as mouse fart (I mean whisper) grey.  Second pic is the skim coat over the panel board.  I did it in the closet too, you can see it through the doorway.

@Lesley Resnick wont be at the conference

@Tim Bradley looking forward to following your process...I'm in the process of buying my 1st BRRRR

Monday October 7th update

1. I pulled down some panel board and there was a surprise hiding for me.  A LIVE wire buried in the wall.  Oh joy.  This will actually work out since I am adding a wall there though so it will just be an outlet

2.  The two guest baths were reglazed.  Im making constructive progress finally!!!

This is awesome. If the BRRR doesn't work out you can become a writer.

Tim how did you finance this project? What kind of loan did you get? Love the posts!

Originally posted by @Ryan Smith :

Tim how did you finance this project? What kind of loan did you get? Love the posts!

I did a cash out refi on my primary to pay for the purchase and a hard money loan for the rehab. 

Update Oct 8, 2019

I took a night off. After 3 weeks of 7days in a row work on the house I actually took a night off.  The wife and I had a nice date night dinner.  And of course afterwards we went to lowes to look at tile.  Shes a total keeper.  Which is good since were married.  The lowes trip was a total jackpot too.  We found a backsplash for the kitchen marked 90% off!!  It was a great night.  

Oct 12th update

1. Started framing in the 4th bedroom. Adding the 4th for ARV and rent increase. Since I have never done framing before this is really slow going. But no worries, its not like its Saturday and I'm burning my weekend on this. There are doors and electrical in the walls too. I know, doors. I'm really going all out with this rehab! I don't have a framing gun so I am using screws. I thought this was going to be a pain but it has actually wound up to be a real blessing. Because screws are better you ask??? Ha, no. Because screws can be backed out just as easily as they are put in. And around the 4th time I built and then tore down the wall I really started to appreciate those screws. Oh and guess what doing something for the first time means?? New Tools!!!! Woo Hoo! If you don't get excited about new tools then rehab is not for you my friend. Got a sweet new mitre saw. It's awesome. Anyway. I only got some of the wall up. I need to put down some self leveler tomorrow as there is an uneven mess that needs attention.

2. I went in the attic this morning, ya know when it was only 194 degrees in there since I live in FL.  Anyway I am seriously reconsidering any future electrical work up there.  There is only about 2 ft of clearance and after about 45 min up there I was questioning exactly what life choices had brought me to my current circumstance or who I pissed of in my former life.  But then I found a flashlight that someone left up there back in 1972 or so and it pretty much made it all worth it.  At least that's what I told myself so I would stop crying.  So long story long, the uncentered ceiling fan bothers me a whole lot less than it did before I low crawled the attic this morning.

3. Our master bath vanity was delivered.  It came in a crate that looked like a mummy was inside.  Meaning it was HUGE.  The delivery guys let me know it was too big and they weren't going to be able to get it in the house.  I countered with, cool story bro, it's coming inside and you are putting it there.  Oh and here on the contract it clearly states you will deliver inside the threshold of the house.  Magically it all of a sudden became possible to get it in the house.  Go figure.  

Oct 13th update

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the devil switch.  This switch is evil.  It serves no other purpose than to mess with a new homeowner.  This A-hole of a switch turns the power off to all the outlets as well as switches located in the garage.  The converted garage mind you which is more of a FL room.  Its FILLED with outlets and switches.  Why would this switch exist?  What is its purpose?  Why is it located 2 rooms away over the hot water heater?  These are all great questions that have no great answers.  After literally an hour of troubleshooting why there was no power going to the garage I finally traced the source back to the devil switch.  I have since labeled it so no one else has to go through the misery that I did today.  I also did a bunch of other stuff today but that switch is really all I can think about. 

Nice mitre saw, bro! My first flip I did some framing with a circular saw, but for my second flip I bought a mitre saw and it was a total game changer. Thanks for keeping us updated and entertained!

October24th update

1. 1. Roof install started. It’s a roof, not that exciting other than my Florida room wont leak anymore. Its also really expensive to put a new one in.  No pic of this one.
2. 2. Well repairs were completed (for the 3rd time). I drank the most delicious, most expensive water ever yesterday. My suggestion is if you are buying in Titusville FL steer clear of any house with a well. I didn’t. Oh well, you live and learn (see what I did there)
3. 3. Shower rebuild started. I hired this part out b/c Im not a machine and cant do a $70k rehab completely myself. And Im glad I did b/c after the cement board went in there was a leak the next day. I just smiled, took a pic and sent it to the contractor. He was out the next day to fix it. No damage to the house as it was a small leak and the floor is all concrete now anyway
4. 4.  I learned how to drywall and then completed the 4th room I added. Drywall sucks. Its not like putting up framing. For drywall once you’re done with one side there is a whole additional side waiting for you. Total BS man.  Oh and you have to drywall the inside of a closet.  Felt like a total waste of time.  I almost didnt do it but then the wife stepped in and let me know I would in fact be doing it.  Next up is taping it all. Im not great with finish work so this should be interesting. Not great meaning Im impatient and drywall finish work is like 5 steps and 5 days. The opposite of work I like to do.
5. 5.  Electrical panel went in. No pic, no excitement, not cheap, no bueno.
6. 6. We started painting. For the 3rd time. I still don’t like the color but I give up. That’s the final color of the house. 1 room down, 64 to go. Perhaps Im exaggerating here.
7. 7. Things are about to pick up. Shower is getting tiled this week, next week the kitchen remodel starts, painting, drywall finishing, roofing oh my!
8. 

I'm looking forward to following this BRRRR! Good luck!

@Tim Bradley this is the best post to follow!!! Very entertaining and educational!

Oct 30th Update

1. 1. Shower is done! I mean done enough to say done. Stop nit picking here guys. Just have to install the fixtures. I had the awesome good old boy doing the tile. He liked my country music I played while I worked. You could here him sing along.
2. The year is 2389. I'm still drywalling. Never again, never, ever, never again. Not ever (will I eat green eggs and drywall). I am not patient and this is REALLY trying my patience. Taping and mudding takes fffoooooorrreeeevvvveeerrrrrrr. So many steps, and they are basically just the same thing over and over until you either make it look nice or lose your ish. I am pretty close to the later. Just to make my life more interesting the walls are ¼” drywall and then like ½’ plaster. So you either double up the drywall or slather on the spackle. Ill just leave it up to the imagination what I am doing. Anyway, I'm in the “make it look perfect (haha perfect, yeah right) or good enough” stage. I figure 2 more days of sanding and coating. Then texture and paint!
3. 2. Kitchen demo started. Really opens up the place and looks awesome. However they removed a load bearing wall and didn't support the ceiling. There was a 4” sag when I got there at the end of the day. Was pretty nerve wracking. I immediately put up some support columns. I called the contractor and gave them a WTF and they tried to convince me it was just drywall sagging. Um, no. I mean how do you even leave the house with a huge sag in the ceiling and think to yourself “yeah, that looks fine, its miller time.” There was some back and forth for a while but we got it straightened out (or leveled out, Bahahaha I'm hilarious) and they are going to have things well supported once they are finished.
4. 3. Its time for Tim BRRRR to take a TimBRRRReak! I have been going 7 days a week on this for 5-6 weeks now. And I also have a full time job. I'm pretty burnt out and drywall finesse is not calming me. I have the next 1.5ish weeks off from this due to work travel and a bachelor party. Oh man, I have to take a break b/c of a bachelor party, damn. Hopefully the ceiling doesn't fall down while I'm gone!

That should buff right out....

@Tim Bradley

Love following along, plus your entertainment value in your descriptions are superb. Best of luck on your journey!

What a bear of a rehab! You're learning a whole lot about the entire process with this first one and the next one you'll know what you're up against. Enjoy the bachelor party!

And keep us updated! 

Keep up the good work; it's looking great! I'm really enjoying your updates!

1. Roof is complete. No more leaks! Wow, how low is my bar that I am excited my roof doesn’t leak.
2. The outside door is closed up and my fancy new slider is in. And by fancy I mean lowest cost option of course. But it looks great! Oh and the ceiling is no longer sagging. Support column was installed. Right where I suggested. What do you know, it wasn’t just drywall coming loose. Go figure. Maybe the engineer knew what he was talking about.  Actually I think a 4th grader could have figured that one out.  Oh and one more thing, they cut power to the entire garage when they put in the slider.  Psh, who needs power anyway.  Whats that?  How is the garage power connected to the dining room area.  Ha!  Logic has no place in the wiring of this house people.  
3. Electrician ended his job. Notice I used the word ended there instead of finished. As in I don’t have power in one of my rooms. As a general rule I like to have power in all rooms of the house. That’s a real delighter for tenants. Fingers crossed that he hasn’t returned my calls bc it was the weekend and today is Veterans Day. Yeah. That’s it I’m sure. I went through home advisor though so I might give them a call to see if they can help out. UPDATE (yeah I know I didn’t actually post this yet so its not an update rather than the first time your reading this, just bear with me as I wrote it, then this happened, then I updated, then I posted. Moving on). So I texted the electrician one last time (this is after 1 voicemail and 2 other texts trying to get him to come back out) reminding him that I hired him through home advisor and will just work with them to resolve the issue. The phone literally rang 2 min after the text went though. Magically the issue will be fixed. He just pretended like he wasn’t dodging my calls/texts and we are BFF’s.
4. I finished drywall! Oh my god that was awful. Some lessons learned. If your framing isn’t perfect it’s ok, there’s drywall. If your drywall install isn’t a work if art don’t worry there is mud, tape and joint compound. If your mudding and taping isn’t up to par don’t worry, I have good news, there is sanding. But also bad news, there is sanding. Lots and lots and lots of sanding. And just when you think you’re done there is more. I probably did more than I needed to since texturing seems to cover a lot but it was still a lot of work. Like a lot. I’m not doing that again.
5. Texturing. Oh how I wish this was on film. The sprayer had a bad seal to the hopper so the mix was leaking out a little. Then it was leaking a lot. Then it moved on to ridiculous. I was literally running through the house to apply the texture before it leaked out everywhere. Such a mess. It was on the gun, the floor, the applicator (as in me) it was everywhere. About 30 min into this comedy show I stopped and said to myself “self! This is not how this tool was designed to work. You are clearly not doing this right. Stop and reset you damn moron.” So I did. I cleaned up and started again. And what do you know I didn’t attach the hopper correctly the first time. Comedy show over, no more leaks, slow and smoot texture application. I was making some amazing progress though during the first go round.
6. I started cleaning. Cleaning!! Woo hoo! Why am I so excited about cleaning? BC after cleaning comes paint and flooring and major visual progress. Maybe the end isn’t in sight yet but the idea of the end is starting to form.
7. Gutters go in today. I am putting in super sexy black gutters. Plan on doing a grey and black paint scheme when done. Maybe some white in there too. Should really pop! I know I know, Florida and black? Shhhhhhhh. Just don’t think about it. Fashion is painful ok. Work with me here people!
8. 

Sanding. Joy. Good times for the while fam.

Fancy new slider!  Also you can see the door closed up here

Keep it up Tim. 

Looking forward to read more as you progress and some final numbers at the end to see how spot on or entirely off your estimates were.

Fingers crossed!

That is one heck of a project you have going on. Keep up the good work and thanks for the entertaining story. Hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel is near.

Can't wait to read the next update. No matter how much money I think that I might save, I always hire out the drywall.....:) .