Successfully Flipping During a Pandemic (almost $80K PROFIT)

Successfully Flipping During a Pandemic (almost $80K PROFIT)

Tara S.Pro Member
Real Estate Agent · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2019 · 125 posts · 60 votes

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $64,000
Cash invested: $35,000
Sale price: $186,500

Contributors:
Justin Sullivan

Flipping this house during a pandemic was not ideal but it was such a great deal on the front end it still worked out!
Here are the numbers! Purchased from a wholesaler for $64k (being a realtor I got $1,000 commission at closing too!)
Original Reno Budget-$42k
Original Time Line - 3 months
Actual Budget-$35k
Actual Time Line-7 months (Work stopped for 3months due to Covid-19)
Carrying Costs-$6000
Pending Price-$186,500
Realtor Costs-$5,162
Closing Costs-$2,000
Projected Gross Profit-$74,338

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

We knew as soon as we got to the property that this was a fantastic deal. We didn't even leave the driveway yet before calling the wholesaler and negotiating the deal. The condition of the house looked worse then it was & the numbers were just fantastic.

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

We found this deal through a wholesaler. He was originally asking $68,000 we offered him $60,000. He countered back at $64,000 and we accepted. Also with me being a realtor we got $1000 back at closing for my commission.

How did you finance this deal?

We paid $9,600 for the down payment cash. We used hard money for the balance & the renovations.

How did you add value to the deal?

We opened up the entire first floor to create an open concept.Beautiful new white cabinets, counters, vent hood, pot filler (its the details that count), floating shelves.We converted a 1/2 bath that was in the kitchen into a walk in pantry for extra storage. Upstairs we expanded the bathroom a foot to give it more space so we could completely update it. We built a custom vanity with vessel sinks & stylish tile shower & floor, same with the 2nd bathroom. We also installed a modern metal railing.

What was the outcome?

As soon as we listed the property we were over whelmed with interest. There were multiple offers the 1st day. We decided to wait a few days to gather all the offers and finish the showings that were scheduled. One of the offers was very persistent and didn't want us to wait to decide so they gave us their best & final and we accepted!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The lessons we learned on this was was to watch over the guys working more & make sure when we hire subs that they are responsible for cleaning up all their trash and left over materials. We went through 3 dumpsters and ALOT of clean up because subs and workers were not cleaning up when they were finished.

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

Justin Sullivan - General Contractor
Tara Sullivan - Realtor
Justin Eaton - Dwell Safe Inspection & Engineering
Eileen Mazza - RCN - Hard Money Lender

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Most Popular Reply

Lender · Milpitas, CA · Member since 2016 · 376 posts · 248 votes
6y

@Tara S. congrats, this is a HUGE win! Investing in the Pandemic is scary, kudos to you for having the guts to go through with it. 

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  • Rental Property Investor · Mechanicsburg, PA · Member since 2018 · 281 posts · 176 votes
    6y

    @Tara Sullivan Congrats Tara! Sounds like a great opportunity and you were able to execute it during an unusual time. Nice job putting yourself in a position to see what others maybe couldn't in the property. Pic looks great. Curious how the work stoppage played out. Did you have a bunch of things / contractors going then the 3 month stoppage or did it sort of wrap up nicely before COVID hit and then you could pick up 3 months later on different part of house.

  • Tara S.Pro Member
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2019 · 125 posts · 60 votes
    6y

    @Justin Schreibeis

    Thank you!! So when it first hit we didn’t want to risk anyone so we gave everyone the opportunity to choose to continue working or stop during the quarantine. Some stayed & worked but for the most part it was all just paused. The deeper we got into the pandemic sub contractors decided to disappear and stop working all together, we lost some money there because there still no where to be found. So it was def tricky to navigate through that. Luckily my husband is a contractor so he ended up do more the he planned on doing himself and I also do some things too so that def benefited us.

  • Rental Property Investor · Mechanicsburg, PA · Member since 2018 · 281 posts · 176 votes
    6y

    @Tara Sullivan Sounds like some points of high stress there, way to move it forward. We were starting redo's of 2 bathrooms in our primary house when COVID hit. Just had some sinks and a bathtub in the living room for a while :) - but luckily they hadn't started demoing yet. Congrats again for juggling all that.

  • Tara S.Pro Member
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2019 · 125 posts · 60 votes
    6y

    @Justin Schreibeis

    Yeah it was defiantly a learning curve. Have you done any deals yet? 

  • Rental Property Investor · Mechanicsburg, PA · Member since 2018 · 281 posts · 176 votes
    6y

    @Tara Sullivan Nice. I have done some buy and hold deals in Cumberland County, PA. Actively looking for other buy and holds (SFH or small multi) or maybe try a flip. I may in interested in the virtual meeting. I started a small RE group myself - we had 3 meetings, last one in March but haven't regrouped since COVID. Cheers

  • Tara S.Pro Member
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2019 · 125 posts · 60 votes
    6y

    @Justin Schreibeis

    That’s awesome! What I do when looking for a deal is if the numbers don’t work as well as rental I run the numbers as a flip and see if it works that way and that determines what way we’re going to go with it. 

  • Contractor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2018 · 78 posts · 54 votes
    6y

    @Tara Sullivan - Hey Tara!

    Congrats on the flip!

    Nice work pushing through the deal despite all the challenges. I know a lot of projects are just starting to recover or are still on hold!

  • Tara S.Pro Member
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2019 · 125 posts · 60 votes
    6y

    Matt Lewis,

    yeah it was def a struggle. Now that the $600/week stimulus money stopped all our subs are willing to work again LOL! Every investor I came across was struggling to find subs who wanted to work. Its a crazy time were living in rite now. How are things in your area?

  • Lender · Milpitas, CA · Member since 2016 · 376 posts · 248 votes
    6y

    @Tara S. congrats, this is a HUGE win! Investing in the Pandemic is scary, kudos to you for having the guts to go through with it. 

  • Tara S.Pro Member
    OP
    Real Estate Agent · Mesa, AZ · Member since 2019 · 125 posts · 60 votes
    6y

    Sean Pan,

    Thanks! It was definitely not an ideal situation but once your in your in all those late nights were definitely worth it in the end. Hows the market in your area with the pandemic. Inventory here is so low and everything good is selling for over ask.

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