Worst FIRST FLIP: LOST OVER 100k

Worst FIRST FLIP: LOST OVER 100k

Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Sacramento.

Purchase price: $350,000
Cash invested: $50,000
Sale price: $415,000

It was the worst first flip because we hired the wrong contractor who wasn't licensed. Ended up losing close to $100k including rehab, holding, commission costs.

Definitely the best learning experience on what not to do.

Since then, I have upgraded my own house.Learned to do cosmetic changes myself so i can be ready for my next flip. It's been a year and I have cash saved up to invest again :) 

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

BiggerPockets inspired me go out and get into flipping ..

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

Myhousedeals.com

Negotiated it myself. It was a good buy- we just messed up on the rehab part.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional financing. I am a loan officer so it was cheap to finance.

How did you add value to the deal?

We wanted to give it cosmetic changes but the contractor had plans of his own. He left the house in a worse condition than we bought it in.

What was the outcome?

Lost over 100k in holding, labor, rehab costs. Sold it to another more experienced investor in the area through a wholesaler.

We couldn't sell it through conventional ways because it was not going to get any type of conventional financing.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Watch the contractors- only hire licensed recommended contractors. Be at the sight every day, buy the material yourself, don't be afraid to do the work yourself. DO NOT TRUST ANYONE WITH YOUR MONEY.

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JD MartinBusiness Member
Moderator
Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
6y

I'm a little confused by your numbers. You say purchase of $350, 50 in rehab, sold for $415. That's $15k to the plus side. I assume you must be leaving things out if you lost $100k. 

Skyline Properties
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  • Andrew SyriosPro Member
    Moderator
    Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    6y

    That sucks, sorry to hear that. Yes, contractors can be a big problem, unfortunately. But we all have some bad ones so worry not. Just learn the lessons and move on. Best of luck on the next one!

  • CA · Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 0 votes
    6y

    @KIran K. Wow, So many thanks for coming out and sharing this lesson. Why would not it be subject to conventional financing? I am new and may be asking an obvious question.

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Alla Kassianova

    Because conventional lenders require the property to be safe as in livable.. I am a loan Officer so I knew only hard money, cash, or private money could finance this deal. It was tough so be careful :)

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Andrew Syrios

    Lesson learned! On to the next :) thank you!

  • Santa Cruz · Member since 2020 · 11 posts · 2 votes
    6y

    Great to have my pops be my contractor. A blessing and way to get back up from this learning curve.

  • Andrew SyriosPro Member
    Moderator
    Residential Real Estate Investor · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @KIran K.:

    @Andrew Syrios

    Lesson learned! On to the next :) thank you!

     Good to hear! Far too many people take the wrong lesson and give up after a rough deal. Best of luck on the next one!

  • Member since 2020 · 201 posts · 118 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @KIran K.:

    @Alla Kassianova

    Because conventional lenders require the property to be safe as in livable.. I am a loan Officer so I knew only hard money, cash, or private money could finance this deal. It was tough so be careful :)

    So you never got to renovate the house?

  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    6y

    I'm a little confused by your numbers. You say purchase of $350, 50 in rehab, sold for $415. That's $15k to the plus side. I assume you must be leaving things out if you lost $100k. 

    Skyline Properties
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  • Member since 2018 · 161 posts · 152 votes
    6y

    wow, I'm sorry.  That's a big loss in Indy.  I am also in Indy.  But I am buy and hold strategy.  I am local and don't have the funds for flipping.  Curious, in what neighborhood was this flip located?  What is your feeling on the Indy market currently?  I may be selling a property soon, but my tenants are still in place.  I am hoping they will find a new home soon as I would rather sell it empty.

  • Investor · Marin County California · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    6y

    @KIran Kaur Thanks for your candor.  Few on this site admit to losses!  Flipping well requires a dedicated and well-vetted team at a minimum + a lot of supervision.  You will likely find that the problems you encountered will be magnified when trying to invest thousands of miles away from home.  You can't "just drive over" like you can from Emeryville to Sacramento when you encounter a problem.  Also, you will likely encounter the attitude that "all Californians are rich," and receive above market quotes/prices for materials and labor.  I would encourage you to stay closer to home now that you have the experience you do.   

  • Real Estate Agent · Winston Salem, NC · Member since 2014 · 486 posts · 303 votes
    6y

    @KIran Kaur sorry to hear this. Thanks for being transparent and sharing.

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Leonel Lerena

    It’s either that or DIY (take on a smaller project) lol but that’s dope!

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Juan Pardo

    We renovated .. he just ruined our material so the house was in worst condition than when we bought. Nothing was working from plumbing to electricity. Idk how he messed up the electricity. I’ll add photos for reference

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @JD Martin

    Oh yes ma’am I definitely am lol

    Holding costs... we held the house for over 9 months paying $2456 per month =22,104

    Material costs - around 25k (this is why you go buy your own material)

    Labor- around 30k

    We had to pick up loans for the rehab and we were paying $1200 a month for that too. Times 7= $8400

    These loans cost around 4k to get because we were first timers.

    Commissions around 5% of the pp ..415k *5%=

    Purchase price was actually 370k (made a typo)

    Selling price was 415k

    Total lost was $110,254

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Angela Smith

    This was in Sacramento california not Indi!

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Darius Ogloza

    Oh yes very well aware of that. My family lives there so I will be staying with them over the term of the flip watching it very closely. This time the plan is to buy smaller and start fresh ... most of it needs to be diy.

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Jaquetta Turner

    No problem! Thank you for reading :)

  • Peter MckernanBusiness Member
    Residential Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    So sorry to hear that it was a huge loss, and something that created a problem that ultimately created a huge net loss. The big take away here is that you are ready to do the next deal, and there are valuable life and business lessons in this investment (I still think it was a massive investment). The reason it was something that you are still going to be successful with is that you have the ability to see what happened, use all that knowledge from the bad experience with an unlicensed contractor to needing more of a spread with the purchase verse the ARV. Many people would take this as a L and walk away from the whole real estate industry and let that narrative dictate the rest of their life.

    Good for you! keep up the hunting!   

    The McKernan Group4.957 Reviews
  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Peter Mckernan

    Thank you so much :) it was tough at first but I took about 8 months to bounce back! Lol I used to hear stories on bigger pockets all the time about the losses and I would think “wow you gotta be really careless for that to happen” then it happened to me and I didn’t even see it until it was too late!

    We could have easily just held the property for like 3 months and made a profit without even doing anything to it. It was a good buy.

  • Rental Property Investor · Amityville, NY · Member since 2018 · 351 posts · 441 votes
    6y

    @KIran Kaur

    What made you choose this contractor over any others you interviewed?

  • Specialist · Plano, TX · Member since 2020 · 2k+ posts · 861 votes
    6y

    It's unfortunate that you lost a big chunk of cash, but you gained a ton of knowledge that guarantees you will not be making the same mistake again. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. 

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Keith Resnover

    Indianapolis

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 300 posts · 417 votes
    6y

    So so sorry you had this experience @KIran K.. We've had our fair share of not so good contractors, but not to that degree. Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm glad that there was at least a little silver lining in this situation - you've gained a level of knowledge that only that kind of experience can bring. Best of luck to you on your future investments!

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Erik B.

    A recommendation from a realtor “friend” of ours. Truthfully we were too careless, naive, and excited.

    Didn’t think anyone could have been so negligent and dishonest. We tried to go through litigation to get some of the money back but the man doesn’t have a dime to his name. Overall it was our bad and paid a hefty price for our own carelessness.

  • Investor · Sacramento · Member since 2020 · 47 posts · 67 votes
    6y

    @Marlen Weber

    Indeed! Thank you..

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