It is possible after all! After months and months of learning, I decided to dive in to the world of flipping. After a month of searching and offering on properties, I found the winner. I bought it off of the MLS (10 other offers on the property day 1 and I got it.) Ballsy to pay more than everybody else? Probably. I'd like to think that it was the personal letter / picture of my cute dog that got me the deal...But it was an awesome deal even at the price I paid. (363K) I know, I know, that's very expensive in most markets. When I do new things in life, I always go all in.

This property needed a full renovation which I estimated to be 110K, and the after repair value was estimated at 520-550K depending on the finishes. The house needed all new HVAC, decks, siding, railings, flooring. I still went for it!

I shopped for a good HML for 2 weeks and finally found one with relatively good terms that was willing to lend to a first time flipper. I knew nothing about home construction, but decided it would be best to learn as I go. After 3 months of hard manual labor, financial stress, managing subs, the rehab was complete! I had 3K left to my name, 2 maxed out credit cards, 4K a month in holding costs. Like I said before... all in.

The property had multiple offers on the first day and closed 2 weeks later for 536K. I came in under budget, too! :) 

Salt Lake City is a tough market and really hard to find good deals, but if I can buy one on the MLS, use hard money, AND pay realtor fees aaaaand still make money? Anybody can do it.

Now I'm completely addicted.