First BRRR Deal!

First BRRR Deal!

Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes

First BRRR Deal

The Buy

This property is literally just down the street from my personal residence. I have noticed it for the last year since we have moved into our house. The paint was chipping and it was just obvious no one had lived in the house for several years. One day on my way home from work I noticed a few people painting the exterior. They didn’t look like professionals so I guessed they were the owners. So I pulled over to talk with them and the conversation went a little like this.

Me -“Hi my name is Jake, is this your house?”

Owner – “Yes it is”

Me – “Do you mind me asking what you plan to do with the house?”

Owner – “fix it up and sell it”

Me – “How much are you asking?”

Owner – “Well Taxable value is $38,000 so that makes it worth $76,000 so that’s what we want”

Me (trying to hold back excitement) “That sounds fair, do you mind if I take a look inside?”

After a brief look inside I see this is a 4 bedroom 1 bath house built in the early 1900’s. It needs a slight rehab and some updating done. I went home and grabbed my girlfriend to show her the house. We chatted with the owners for about an hour and agreed to a purchase price of $75,000.

The house ended up appraising for $115,000 and we closed on 8/14/2015.

Purchase price $75,000

Closing costs $4,000

Estimated rehab budget $15,000

All in for $94,000

ARV $150K-160K conservatively.

The Rehab

The rehab was pretty smooth and came in just a bit over budget at $15,600 and we finished about 7 weeks after purchase. We used a mix of contractors and ourselves to do all the work. We hired someone for drywall, HVAC,  a glass block window, carpet and a flat roof replacement. Everything else was done by us. I also was able to experience our first time having to fire a contractor. The flat roof they installed was done poorly, it still leaked and they caught my house on fire. Luckily it was caught early and no real damage occurred. I guess you should screen your contractors like your tenants (lesson learned).

Renting – This is in a nice suburb of Grand Rapids, MI and we were able to rent it within 1 week of posting it online to a nice family with a couple of kids. Property rented for $1,300/month tenant covers all utilities, yard and snow removal. Tenant moves in 11/1/2015.

Refinance – If we decide to refinance this after the 6 month waiting period for my bank it should appraise for a minimum of $150,000 but more likely upwards of $170,000 this spring. At 70% LTV that is $119,000 in cash I can pull out if I decide to. If we refinance my monthly payment with taxes and Ins. Would be right around $1,000 per month and the property would still cash flow positively.

Summary using simple quick math

Purchase price $75,000

Closing costs $4,000

Actual rehab $15,600

All in for $94,600

Cash invested (rehab + down payment) $30,600

Rented for $1,300/ month.

Current payment of $530 including taxes & ins.

Less any other expenses (vacancy, maintenance, etc.) $100/month

+$670 per month in cash flow.

If refinanced cash flow will go to $200/ month but we will have $119,000 in cash to work with.

Probably the best deal we have purchased this year.

See below for some before and after's.

18Reply
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Most Popular Reply

Rental Property Investor · Phoenix/Lima, Arizona/OH · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
10y

Nice job, but I have a question:

If your expenses are currently $530/month, and if you decided to refinance $120,000 which would add about $680/month in debt service at 6% over 30 years, your monthly costs will be close to $1,200, leaving you with CF not worth mentioning...

Now, I may be off by $200 - let's say I am. In this case your choices are:

Sell the house for capital gain of $50,000+, or

Hold it for unleveraged CF of whatever you say, or

Hold it for leveraged CF of $300 or less (or less :)

So - what makes you think that putting a tenant into the house and holding on is the best option? Do you anticipate huge appreciation? You can't reasonably afford to leave your money in the house, so I am assuming you'll pursue the refi. But, there's no sense in holding for $100 of CF unless there's is going to be appreciation. What's the plan?

See this reply in the discussion

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  • Rental Property Investor · Shawnee Mission, KS · Member since 2014 · 205 posts · 136 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Jake Thomas:

    @Cliff Harrison Thank you. The carpet no carpet for a rental was a topic of debate for 2 weeks. We got to a point where we can buy decent carpet and get it installed for under $1.30/sq ft compared to covering the whole house in Traffic Master allure at $3/ sq ft. (Installed by us). I can always change it between tenants if it doesn't work out.

    Thanks again.

     If you have one around watch out for Lumber Liquidators specials. At my local store they have two nice interlock vinyl plank options for 1.59 and 1.69.  Chestnut and Teak. Also peel and stick and adhesive options for much cheaper but those are much thinner and feel cheap.  

  • Investor · Tromsø, Norway (Europe) · Member since 2015 · 431 posts · 194 votes
    10y

    @Jake Thomas Grand! And I love how to you wrote down parts of the converation with the seller. I think it's exactly what many of us newbies need to see.

  • Rocky Hill, CT · Member since 2014 · 200 posts · 56 votes
    10y

    @Jake Thomas - There is no luck involved here. Way to talk directly to motivated sellers and take ACTION. Good luck with the property. 

  • Investor · Bellingham, WA · Member since 2013 · 210 posts · 138 votes
    10y

    Way to go!!!!

  • Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2013 · 476 posts · 294 votes
    10y

    @Jake Thomas  Nice reno Jake, especially one that's just down the road.

    Question - how the heck do you get up to $1k/mo on a $119k mortgage (if you were to follow through with the refi)?  You're going commercial or a shorter term?  Even with typical MI taxes and insurance on an older home, I'm puzzled to see your payment that high?

  • Darren SagerPro Member
    Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    Way to go @Jake Thomas! Always great to see something so cold (BRRR) be so HOT! Great job! May it pay dividends to you for a lifetime!

  • Rental Property Investor · Phoenix/Lima, Arizona/OH · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    10y

    Nice job, but I have a question:

    If your expenses are currently $530/month, and if you decided to refinance $120,000 which would add about $680/month in debt service at 6% over 30 years, your monthly costs will be close to $1,200, leaving you with CF not worth mentioning...

    Now, I may be off by $200 - let's say I am. In this case your choices are:

    Sell the house for capital gain of $50,000+, or

    Hold it for unleveraged CF of whatever you say, or

    Hold it for leveraged CF of $300 or less (or less :)

    So - what makes you think that putting a tenant into the house and holding on is the best option? Do you anticipate huge appreciation? You can't reasonably afford to leave your money in the house, so I am assuming you'll pursue the refi. But, there's no sense in holding for $100 of CF unless there's is going to be appreciation. What's the plan?

  • Residential Real Estate Broker and Investor · Irvine, CA · Member since 2015 · 90 posts · 28 votes
    10y

    Whoa nice!  Great job @Jake Thomas . Would like to do a BRRRR in the near future. This post is motivation.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2014 · 461 posts · 262 votes
    10y

    Thanks for sharing your story @Jake Thomas. The deal itself is inspiring to hear about but what really got me was the fact that you own a golf cart! Hah! 

    Keep up the good work. 

  • Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes
    10y

    @Ben Leybovich What if I could afford to leave the money in the house that I already invested and not refi and still cash flow at $600-700+ per month? Rent should increase every year and the property will appreciate based on the area its in. I estimated my payments to be around $1,000/month based on the taxes and insurance I pay if I refi based on a $150K valuation at 70% LTV.

    What would you do if you were me? 

  • Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes
    10y

    @Doug W. thanks for the kind words, the golf cart was a great investment. We drive it around town looking at properties we want to pursue in the future.  I just hope my CPA says I can use it as a write off :)

  • Rental Property Investor · Phoenix/Lima, Arizona/OH · Member since 2012 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Jake Thomas:

    @Ben Leybovich What if I could afford to leave the money in the house that I already invested and not refi and still cash flow at $600-700+ per month? Rent should increase every year and the property will appreciate based on the area its in. I estimated my payments to be around $1,000/month based on the taxes and insurance I pay if I refi based on a $150K valuation at 70% LTV.

    What would you do if you were me? 

     There are a couple of points here, Jake:

    1. $700/month might happen for a few, but not forever - little thing called CapEx. But, even if it did happen, that's only $8,400 of cash flow on a $95,000 investment. That's less than 9%, and I think you can do better... And, again, if you hold for 5 years, $700/month will never average.

    2. So, the way you increase this rate of return is through leverage. If you leave about $20,000 in the deal, and still cash flow $300/month, right there you are generating 18% return. This is leveraged return, though, which makes it riskier and there will be times when you won't break even...

    3. Ideally, you will have wanted the deal to be rich enough to combine 1 and 2; to be able to refinance most of the cash out, but be left with more cash flow. This deal is a bit too skinny for that, however:

    4. If you sold for a cool $50,000 profit within 1 year on an investment of $95,000, I think we both know you'd be doing tremendously well. And, not having to leave any money at risk, not needing to deal with tenants...

    If you anticipate dramatic appreciation, fine - keep it. If you have 20 of these, and you want to keep a few un-leveraged, and you think this is a good choice - fine. Otherwise, this is too much money to leave sitting in the deal, in my opinion, for under 9% return on paper, which in reality may be a lot less...

    Makes sense?

    P.S. This is a great problem to have. We are talkig about which way you win faster...

  • Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 107 posts · 47 votes
    10y

    @Jake Thomas @Ben Leybovich Shooting from the hip here but is it possible to lease option to another buyer even if you don't own the property outright?

    And yes, this is a great problem to have.

  • Investor · Brentwood, NY · Member since 2015 · 29 posts · 6 votes
    10y

    wow it's so nice, I can't wait to try out  this strategy 

  • Rental Property Investor · Shreveport, LA · Member since 2015 · 36 posts · 18 votes
    10y

    Looks great! I'm new here can someone PLEASE tell me what a brrr is? 

  • Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes
    10y

    @Ben Leybovich You make some very valid points and I appreciate your input. I will be honest I don't ever want to sell this property as the location is ideal for me as I self manage and it is super easy to rent in my market with. With how the area is growing I see rent getting upwards of $1,600/month within 2-3 years (but that's not a sure thing). Taking some capital out in the spring may be the best play while keeping positive cash flow and replenishing my initial investment. I get to do this all over again. I agree, great problem to have. 

    Thanks again.  

  • Residential Real Estate Agent · Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2013 · 803 posts · 689 votes
    10y

    @Brian Smith

    BRRR

    Buy, rehab, rent, refinance...repeat.

  • Waterville, ME · Member since 2015 · 269 posts · 53 votes
    10y

    awesome job. well done. :D

  • Realtor · Shreveport, LA · Member since 2012 · 311 posts · 58 votes
    10y

    Hey @Brian Smith. BRRR is an acronym coined by @Brandon Turner referring to a certain type of investing strategy. (B) Buy, (R) Rehab, (R) Rent, (R) Refinance, (R) Repeat. Basically buying an undervalued property, rehabbing the property or forcing appreciation, renting the property to make it a performing asset, refinancing the property with a lender ideally pulling out equity  and then repeating the process again. It allows you to continuously reuse or recycle your initial investment capital while growing your rental portfolio. This is a strategy that I have used in the past and worked out well. 

  • Investor · Maumee, OH · Member since 2015 · 48 posts · 23 votes
    10y
    Originally posted by @Jake Thomas:

    @Amine E. Thanks for the response. I have a few options here and I will see how this winter plays out before I decide fully which direction to go.

    I throw the 50% and 2% rules out of the window when the property is under a mile from my house. If something breaks I have no problem driving the golf cart down and fixing it. Sometimes location is more important.

    Thanks again!

     I totally agree with this - The first property we bought is about 3 blocks away from our primary residence. It has already saved a lot time just getting estimates, becuase we can pop over at just about any time.

  • Grand Rapids, MI · Member since 2015 · 12 posts · 2 votes
    10y

    Congrats Jake! It tells me that I should hang out with you more. I wish I was not travelling as much as I am right now. Call it Excucitis.

  • Gaithersburg, MD · Member since 2015 · 13 posts · 0 votes
    10y

    Good job! and thank you for posting pics..

    All the best

  • Investor · Redondo Beach, CA · Member since 2009 · 147 posts · 129 votes
    10y

    @Brian Smith

    @Michael Faulk laid out the foundation but if you want more detail Brandon wrote a full blog entry that lays it all out for you.

    Blog

  • Rental Property Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2013 · 85 posts · 248 votes
    10y
    Jake Thomas nice job. Would you mind elaborating/updating on the refi? My banker keeps saying he will do a 75% LTCost rather than loan to value. This doesn't help me much... To pull out money that is. Sam
  • Investor · Latham, NY · Member since 2014 · 217 posts · 65 votes
    10y

    Looks great!

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