Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 43 posts · 11 votes
I am a DC native in Pittsburgh, decided a few months ago to finally jump in and try a house flip. I had run a property management company in Western PA for about a year and had gotten to know the basics of the rental business, and more importantly, met some very skilled tradesmen. We bought a vacant property, completely renovated it, and are now waiting on what will hopefully be a quick offer.
I am very interested in learning about strategies to buy, renovate, refinance, and rent properties long term. Flips are great, but building a portfolio of rental properties is more appealing to me from a long term financial standpoint.
I am hoping to collaborate and learn as much as I can on this forum. I have a great crew of guys waiting on the next project, and there are quite a few opportunities in P'burgh to buy wholesale properties to renovate and rent.
Flipper/Rehabber · findlay, OH · Member since 2015 · 118 posts · 46 votes
10y
Congrats and welcome aboard Neil! Sounds like a mirror image of our first. We also listed early August and had planned for an early July listing to market. We kept adding items to the home as we worked because we were behind schedule. This led to our thinking that we could fall into the next best level of value.
We had our first open house 3 weeks in and couldn't keep people out of the house! We thought for sure we were getting an offer. Wonderful feedback.... Everyone loved it..... 22 people walked out house and signed oir books however a week has past and not one offer. This tells me the price may be a bit too high for the area. With this being said, we dropped 10k and punted today hopefully that offer will roll in-in the next few days or week.
We will still make a great profit for our first, but will be no where near where we thought it would be after all was said and done. I think of it this way, our loss is now out gain. More or less like tuition. Had we not done what we (you and I and everyone here on BP) have done since day 1, we would not know nearly what we do now. You're never broke if you make a profit!
I too would love to get into rentals. Right now, not sure if I am ready to take the leap as I would like to build equity to pay cash for a few more flips prior to jumping into the rental business. If you think otherwise or have a plan you wish to share, I would love to hear as it may be the missing link to boost all motivation towards the rental genre.
With this being said, and my apologies for the long story and the hijacking of this thread., I wish the best in your endeavors and to a successful journey that lies ahead!
Valencia, PA · Member since 2016 · 27 posts · 6 votes
10y
@Neil Metzger curious if you bought your first flip via wholesaler, auction, MLS or other? Read like via wholesaler. If so how was that buy experience?
If not MLS, any learnings you can share you wish you'd done differently?
Middletown, DE · Member since 2015 · 52 posts · 11 votes
10y
Welcome to BP @Neil Metzger . Congrats on getting the first flip knocked out! Hopefully it will be sold soon and your off to picking up rentals. Spend as much time as you can educating yourself on buying rentals, scaling your business, and areas. What you learn will today will set the tone for tomorrow.
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 43 posts · 11 votes
10y
@TerryGillis - I bought it from an owner that had sat on it for about 18 months. They bought it at an auction back in 2014, then lost interest in it. The buy experience was easy, and very lucky - right place right time type of thing.
As basic as it sounds, what I learned from doing the flip was to set a plan, stick to the plan, and not deviate from the plan. Sounds basic, and it is, but when you are doing the work it is so tempting to start adding things as you go. For us, that ended up delaying our time to market, and we listed in early August instead of early July.
Flipper/Rehabber · findlay, OH · Member since 2015 · 118 posts · 46 votes
10y
Congrats and welcome aboard Neil! Sounds like a mirror image of our first. We also listed early August and had planned for an early July listing to market. We kept adding items to the home as we worked because we were behind schedule. This led to our thinking that we could fall into the next best level of value.
We had our first open house 3 weeks in and couldn't keep people out of the house! We thought for sure we were getting an offer. Wonderful feedback.... Everyone loved it..... 22 people walked out house and signed oir books however a week has past and not one offer. This tells me the price may be a bit too high for the area. With this being said, we dropped 10k and punted today hopefully that offer will roll in-in the next few days or week.
We will still make a great profit for our first, but will be no where near where we thought it would be after all was said and done. I think of it this way, our loss is now out gain. More or less like tuition. Had we not done what we (you and I and everyone here on BP) have done since day 1, we would not know nearly what we do now. You're never broke if you make a profit!
I too would love to get into rentals. Right now, not sure if I am ready to take the leap as I would like to build equity to pay cash for a few more flips prior to jumping into the rental business. If you think otherwise or have a plan you wish to share, I would love to hear as it may be the missing link to boost all motivation towards the rental genre.
With this being said, and my apologies for the long story and the hijacking of this thread., I wish the best in your endeavors and to a successful journey that lies ahead!
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 43 posts · 11 votes
10y
@RickTruman, We just did the exact same thing. We listed at 185, knowing we were pushing the limit, then cut to 175 after 18 days. On Day 20 we got an offer and settled at 171.5. On the one hand, I hated giving up that much money, but on the other, I had to take the deal. We were still profitable, and being this was our 1st flip, I wanted to get some positive momentum going. In retrospect, we didn't do as good a job on finishing touches as we should have and I have no doubt that hurt us a bit. Long story, but I chalk it up to 1st time flip issues. So, we are actively looking for the 2nd one.
On the rentals, I am working on a package deal with a wholesaler. He has 3 properties all from the same owner. I am trying to get a deal worked out where we will purchase the properties very cheap, sign a contract that gives us 120 days to make a larger payment, and during the 1st 90 days rehab them, then on day 90 pull some equity out of them and use that cash to pay off the wholesaler. My fear, is that I don't know too much about companies like B2R that will do 70% LTV at the 90 day mark. Do they intentionally appraise values low? Or will they provide a fair valuation? My fear is being stuck with a bad appraisal and not pulling enough equity out on the refi to get the wholesaler paid off. So, researching that.
Flipper/Rehabber · findlay, OH · Member since 2015 · 118 posts · 46 votes
10y
Well my friend, I do not have to much experience with companies other than what I have used locally. B2R would be new to me so I do not have any insight for you on them. I know the company I used was 80/20. Was a little rough at the beginning, but as we progressed, everything was smooth sailing. When you started reaching out to wholesalers, did you find them on BP or did you run into him elsewhere? How did you go about working with them?
We are at day 29, which would be 3 days past the drop from 219,9 to 209,9. Our agent should be contacting his list of guests that walked and other interested clients to obtain feedback from their walk as well as update them that the price has decreased. I just hope we don't have to way another month to get an offer. I'm starting to think perhaps our picture quality could be what's hindering that initial push to get them to walk. I just did a little research on that and may be throwing new ones up in HDR as other Brokers are doing. Follow the trend right? Anything other than dropping the price that you did to spark more interest perhaps staging and re-posting photos? Thanks @Neil Metzger and keep me posted on your new Wholesale/rental gig!
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2016 · 43 posts · 11 votes
10y
Rick, I found them on Zillow, looking for for sale by owner properties. There are quite a few where the owner owns them outright, they need repair, and they are trying to unload them through a wholesalers. I feel your pain on the listing, time seems to creep by waiting for the agent to call and provide news.