My First BRRRR! With Pictures!

My First BRRRR! With Pictures!

Investor · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2016 · 222 posts · 294 votes

I have completed my first BRRRR successfully! It is a 2Br 1 Ba small SFR (Pictures Below). It took me about 4 months to complete this Rehab in from start to finish. I Hired out Most of the Big items : New roof, driveway, furnace, siding, and fence. I performed ALL other work by myself with occasional help from Family members: Complete Electrical Revamp (New wires, Panel, Meter Base, outlets, etc), New Pex plumbing, Shed revamp, Landscaping, Windows, flooring..and basically everything else. I did all of this while working full-time at my day job, and going to this house everyday after work for 2-3 hours and working on Saturdays and Sundays. I have learned so much and I now know that I never want to do most of the work again. I only want to perform the work that I am excellent and efficient at, and that is basically the electrical stuff only LOL. I'm good at everything...just not efficient. I am so glad I was conservative with my numbers at first, because There were a bunch of things that I did not know I would have to fix/replace. But since I was super conservative, it worked out great.

I funded this deal using a HELOC from my parents house, because I made a deal with my father that I would completely renovate his kitchen for free labor on the entire thing, if he would setup the HELOC for me to use. He was so happy with his kitchen that he set up the HELOC with no more questions asked. I completed his kitchen a year ago, and this HELOC had been setup for me to use for over a year now.

I found this deal because I heard an elderly lady passed away down my street, and heard that her relatives (the executor of the estate) were staying there. So I went over to the house and knocked on the door and spoke with them. I asked if they would sell to me and told them my intentions for the house. We really got along great and they decided to sell me the house. This house hadn't had any maintenance on it since the 80's, and was in complete disrepair (the before pics don't do justice). On top of that, the lady that had passed away was a chain smoker, and the place stunk sooo bad.

Here are my numbers:

Purchase and closing costs: $102,000

Rehab and Holding Costs: $53,000

Refinancing costs: $8000

ARV: $230,000

Total Equity in the end: $67,000 +/-

I have not found a renter yet, as it is winter and I just finished 2 days ago :) But even on my low end rent estimate I should cash-flow $100/mo+, and my high end $400/mo. Below are the before and after pictures. I used the same view as the before pictures, I did remove a wall between the kitchen and LR, FYI.

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Investor · Roseville, CA · Member since 2016 · 893 posts · 1k+ votes
7y

Great job @Cam Jimmy!  I think my favorite part of your story is the creative solution to raise your capital with your father.  Way to think out of the box to get to your goal!  

Just curious, how did you go about negotiating the purchase price?  

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  • Member since 2018 · 1 post · 1 vote
    7y

    The house looks great. Congratulations! Dealing with families that have just lost a relative can be difficult. You obviously handled yourself in a respectable & honest way, otherwise they would've shut you down almost immediately. Keep moving forward, your snowball is gaining momentum!

  • Marietta, GA · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy great work!
  • Lien VuongBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · Boston, MA · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    Amazing story and bargaining story! This is the first of many I am sure!! You've caught the bug! Make sure you capture all the moments for your little one. Congratulations on your success :)

  • Developer · Houston TX · Member since 2018 · 423 posts · 400 votes
    7y

    @Cam Jimmy Congrats on this first BRRRR. Smart using a portfolio loan so you dont have to season it. Once you get it rented out you will be addicted to the cashflow especially if you can aim for middle to upper rents.

  • Realtor · Mililani, HI · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 19 votes
    7y
    • Wow. It looks great. Awesome job.
  • Member since 2018 · 10 posts · 5 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy congrats. Looks great.
  • Investor · Lebanon, PA · Member since 2016 · 62 posts · 65 votes
    7y

    @cam jimmy, totally understand  you when you said, i probably  wont do all the work myself in a rehab. I myself been doing a rehab on my second  flip, been working so many hours a day after my full time job, 4 months already, sometimes it is frustating but in my mind all i see is that house completed.

  • Loubert AntoinePro Member
    Bridgeport, CT · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 27 votes
    7y

    Looks great fam....keep it up!!

  • Rental Property Investor · Bellefonte, PA · Member since 2018 · 73 posts · 30 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy great study! Your very inspiring! I have contracted out most of the work at my properties but I am starting to learn how to do some things... thanks to YOUTUBE! Thanks for sharing your story! 🙏🏽
  • Rental Property Investor · Allentown PA, United States · Member since 2016 · 567 posts · 442 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy great job on the rehab and adding a ton of value, you guys did an awesome job. Just curious why you’re deciding to rent this place out instead of sell as a flip? While it’s awesome you captured a ton of equity in the 67k, it’s hard to imagine getting a strong enough return from cash flow on that equity to justify holding a 2BR. While I admittedly don’t know your market or your investing strategy, it’s hard to imagine achieving the 1% rule of $2,200 a month in rent for a 220k ARV on a 2BR home. If you were to cash out at 75% LTV, even at nearly 1% of all in cost of say $1,550 a month and say maybe $200 a month in cash flow, that’s less than a 4% return on equity. In other words, I would personally look to flip the property to avoid the opportunity cost of not using that 67k for a better cash flowing property with a higher return. Just playing devils advocate here and maybe provide you with some feedback to re-evaluate strategy. No matter what, building 67k in equity is an incredible feat that I commend you for. Keep at it
  • Rental Property Investor · Apex, NC · Member since 2018 · 66 posts · 10 votes
    7y

    Great work and thanks for sharing! Love hearing about others creativity and success!

  • Real Estate Agent · Memphis, TN · Member since 2018 · 10 posts · 3 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy congrats!! These look great!!
  • Rental Property Investor · Long Island, NY · Member since 2018 · 19 posts · 6 votes
    7y

    Wow! Good job! This is an inspiring story. Where did you learn to do all the work that you did? 

    I would be interested in doing this just to learn to do a lot of things. Love learning. And to see your work be completed is so rewarding!

  • Rental Property Investor · NJ (nj) · Member since 2018 · 23 posts · 14 votes
    7y

    Great work @Cam Jimmy.  Love how you found a solution to get the capital.  It's a great story of resourcefulness and hard work to be proud of.  Way to see it through!  

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Gulfport, MS · Member since 2017 · 3 posts · 5 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy Thats great to hear I am getting my mother started with a BRRRR for her retirement. Keep it up
  • Investor · Surprise, AZ · Member since 2018 · 156 posts · 110 votes
    7y

    @Cam Jimmy, amazing! Congratulations!!!

  • Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 221 posts · 188 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy Vert impressive work you and your wife have done with this property. Wishing you guys many more success and Congratulations on baby on the way! #OnToTheNextOne
  • Flipper/Rehabber · Chandler, AZ · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 7 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy fantastic way to go!!
  • Specialist · San Jose · Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    @Cam Jimmy Awesome job! Congrats to you and your wife!

  • Mustang, OK · Member since 2018 · 154 posts · 110 votes
    7y

    @Cam Jimmy Outstanding job on this property and all the work that you did! Thanks for sharing your success story and what you learned from it.

  • Investor · Anchorage, AK · Member since 2016 · 222 posts · 294 votes
    7y

    Wow, Thanks everyone!

    @Brian Dennis I paid labor costs on big ticket items listed in my original post only. If I was to guess the amount of labor I would have paid for what I did..I'd say $20,000 more. In that case, flipping would have been the way to go with this one instead of the BRRRR

    @Lien Vuong Thank you.. and Excellent LLC name By the way :)

    @Rafael Zavala Definetly Man, Keep thinking of the end game!

    @Bill Goodland I hear you man... If I was to sell at appraisal amount, I'd have to pay $20k just to realtors and closing costs. and on top of that, I'd have to pay taxes on the 47K in profit after that. Since my wife and I work full-time I'm sure we would have to pay a crap ton in taxes.  I'd rather rent the place out for a year and 1031 exchange this house into a fixer upper duplex/tri/4-plex. This is my reasoning for renting...at least for now. However ive been brainstorming this for the last week or so. There are just so many paths I can go with this. Thank you for the feed back. Much appreciated.

    @Alvin L. Thank you. I went through an apprenticeship and was around other trades. picking peoples brains, and Youtube. Also trial and error lol. Yes it is very rewarding...but very hard work.

  • Investor · Harrisburg, PA · Member since 2015 · 63 posts · 6 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy you did a great job!
  • Waipahu, HI · Member since 2018 · 121 posts · 81 votes
    7y
    @Cam Jimmy that is awesome. I hope to be doing this in soon. Thanks for sharing.
  • San Diego · Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    @Cam Jimmy Congrats! This is so inspirational! What was your strategy in terms of the sequencing the repairs? Is there a general rule of which repairs come first and which ones come later?

  • NYC, NY · Member since 2016 · 619 posts · 456 votes
    7y

    Excellent.  Good job.  And congratulations on completion of your first project.

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