Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Jacksonville.

Purchase price: $100,000

Cash invested: $50,000

historic renovation built in 1924

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I have a passion for historic homes and development of Jacksonville’s urban core. This deal was great because it was located right by downtown in the trendy riverside area. Although the property needed a lot of work, the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and roof were all circa 2007 allowing me to do a live -in Flip, taking advantage of homestead exemptions and casually renting the spare room to friends before renovations got too involved

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found on Zillow, it was a short sale and needed a lot of work so I negotiated down from $125M

How did you finance this deal?

FHA initially, conventional refi to pull cash out

How did you add value to the deal?

SWEAT EQUITY, I had extensive construction experience at the time of purchase but no money( thanks student loans). I have personally rehabbed every aspect solo with the exception of drywall (yuck) and removing load bearing walls (had engineering plans drafted)

What was the outcome?

Current value is approximately $220-250M If I sell or would command rent of $1,600 a month vs $900 mortgage if I don’t.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I picked a very difficult property for my first deal that had all  the usual challenges that come with renovating a 100 year old house. Biggest lesson is that you should never do every thing yourself, My time as an investor is too valuable to be replacing siding personally. I will be letting my money do the heavy lifting (literally) next time and focus on developing my skill set as an investor, using money and my network to generate wealth while compressing the time it takes to get there.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Radek Goodman, he was originally my mortgage officer for Acopia but is now an agent working for Exit Real Estate Gallery. I had to do minor repairs on the property in order clear FHA loan requirements and he personally helped me pulled rotted siding.