First Year; four flips, two evictions, then I bought a rental
Hi! I’m Lauren!
I’m a newish investor and really never introduced myself. I live and work in Asheville NC. I was able to find a great investor who took a risk with me because I found great deals. I started my first flip with a partner who had cash for the Reno. On the second flip, I did it on my own using business and personal credit cards since the first hadn’t closed yet. One I had cash I kept using hard money for purchase and used my cash for renovations.
First flip;
Bought a A 2000 ft doublewide in dec 2017. Bought for $55,000. Put $22,000 into it. A partner and I did most of the work ourselves excluding carpet installation and a septic repair. Under contract in 4 days and sold for $171,000 ($6k over asking!)
The story; previous owners had 45 days post -occupancy agreement. They were scheduled to be out mid January 2018. They did not leave. (Fortunately we held back $10,000 in cash with a $100/day penalty for holding over. ). I had to file an eviction. The boyfriend came to court with seller and stated “the buyer gave us 3 months!” But mysteriously he couldn’t find the paper. I however, had the post occupancy agreement stating 45 days and eviction was granted.
A few days later they left , with an apology from the boyfriend - turns out the owner forged my signature on her own handwritten “agreement” she had presented to the boyfriend to convince him they had more time. I suspect her delay was because she had already spent all the cash from the sale and had no money to move.
Second flip ; “the cat pee house”.
Another 2000sq ft doublewide. Purchased in feb for $67,000. I started work on it right after I finished the first flip. Repairs $17,000. Sold in July for $149,000.
The story in a nutshell; I learned a lot about how to remove cat pee odor, and also that I will never have a male cat.
First rental and third flip purchased same day!
Third flip; more trailers!
Purchased two lots, each with a single wide trailer on them for $30,000 with 10% down and owner financing. I thought I’d clear the trailers and rent the lots for $300/mo ea as they already had septic and city water. But funds were getting thin and I had found two new projects so I found a buyer for this , cleared the trailers off ($5k) and sold for $55,000.
The story; another eviction! One trailer had a tenant - the seller’s baby daddy! And sellers mom was collecting his rent. Tenant wouldn’t respond to my letters and calls request to inspect trailer, sign lease and start paying me rent. So I had to evict. That’s a long story in itself.
My First rental;
Purchased a "habitat for humanity" house outside Asheville (rutherford county) for $25,000. Repairs $12,000. Rented at $800/mo. ARV and tax value $60k.
The story;
The day before closing I was calling people for help to pack these people because they hadn’t bothered to move yet. I was ready to go on this and wasn’t about to waste time on another eviction, so I rented a UHaul and personally packed this couples stuff into a UHaul and then moved them to a storage unit I rented in their name. They weren’t eager to leave as they had found nowhere else to go yet, ( I gave them a singlewide but they hadn’t made any headway on moving it). The next morning - closing day - we closed , finished moving them out, then I went back to Asheville to close on the other trailers.
Reno took 5-6 weeks. Reno’ed bathroom, installed new lvp flooring , lots of paint (it was extremely heavily smoked in) LOTS of cleaning and new appliances.
Fourth “flip”;
paid $100,000. Comps put market value at $250-270. Will invest $30-40k.
A live-in flip - a real actual house! The margins are too good on this one so it will be my primary for two years.
This was time sensitive, so I couldn’t wait for a bank loan. I bought it zero down, with hard money, and refi-ed with cash out three months later. The seller had a 45 day post occupancy agreement and left so much stuff behind; I filled a ten yard container in two days with just contents. (AND donated a ton!)
Before refinancing I painted the 70s wood paneling and replaced flooring. I’m in the middle of my next flip but will get back to working on the bathrooms and kitchen shortly. I plan to AirBnb the downstairs.
Fifth flip;
A townhome in south asheville. Paid $275,000. Invested $10,000 in carpet, appliances, labor and landscaping. Listed at $449,000.
It hasn’t sold so I didn’t want to count my chickens just yet, but yesterday we listed this property and hope it will sell by the spring.
Thanks for reading and thank you all for the valuable education. I have learned so much here and continue to do so.