My First real flip

My first real flip was in 1991, Youngstown NY.

I had talked my mother in law into buying a house as my father in law and I could repair most anything in a home.

This flip we came out a little bit on the good side but only about 5k each.

The problem was two fold. The market was not that hot, and we put too much money and time into the house.

We also paid a little to much for the area , not a lot to much.

The home was a foreclosure. The home was 1100 sq foot and a 3/1. We picked it up for 57k, and then evicted the tenants who were squatting there.

• We essentially added all new cabinets and ceramic tiles to the kitchen.
• All new carpeting in all the rooms and living room
• New roof
• New siding
• Painting and wall papering throughout (the wifes did this as we were working on the outside)

We sold the home 4 months later for 83k. 10k of materials or so. I dont remember the exact numbers

Even though we made some money we would have made a lot more if we had done all the work as contractors from someone else.

The good --- we made a few dollars

The lessons -

1. Dont buy a complete makeover at that price point , we left ourselves no room for good profit
2. We could have saved a few extra dollars by using a lower grade siding, 3 tab shingles, and maybe paint the cabinets instead of putting in new ones.
3. We thought that it would sell a lot faster so we did not know the market very well at that time

This is my third real-estate transaction, I was 30 years old.

Tony