All Forum Posts by: Brent Causey

Hey everybody! I purchased my first flip house back in August of 2016. I held this house way longer than I anticipated due to a full time job, other side businesses, and life being really busy! I contracted out 75% of the work and only did minor things myself such as Demolition, hauling off 15 trailer loads of limbs and brush from the yard, doorknob installs, etc.  

I actually bought the house from a guy who lived out of State. We never met, we only ever texted and never even talked on the phone. He signed the documents from out of state and the lawyer handled everything. The owner hadn't even been to the house in probably 5 years. Diamond in the rough. I'll never find another one this good in my lifetime. I had just bought the house next door as a rental so I got his number from the previous owner. 

A few of major upgrades: Roof replaced, windows replaced, fascia and soffit replaced, floors refinished, paint throughout every square inch of house, kitchen reconfiguration, cabinet doors, all lights replaced, ceramic tile added to office, laundry, and kitchen. Old storage room converted into office. Back deck replaced. Outlets upgraded, all new appliances, all new doors and hardware inside and out.

ROUGH Numbers

Purchase -               80k 
Repairs -                  50k
Closing, legal, etc      7k
Financing                 10k 

Contract Price - $187,500

Profit - $40k

I'm in Ruston! When and where is the meet up?

send us the link and we will tell you 

Andrew - Welcome! I am located in North LA but my Mom has family in Ville Platte and her maiden name is Ortego, so we may be cou-zans. I am relatively new also, my experience has been that anything that hits the MLS is overpriced and the numbers don't work for me. Both of my houses were "word of mouth". I basically told everyone I knew that I was looking and eventually a friend of a friend of a friend called me about a house she was selling. It was an older lady who had bought the home for her grand kids and just wanted to sell it after they got out of school. She knew she was under priced but she didn't want to deal with realtors and showings ,etc. She also got to know me and knew that I was going to take care of the home and not trying to turn around and resell for profit. She'd spent a lot of time renovating the home and putting sweat equity into it, so she had some emotional attachment. I still check on her from time to time. She may have a friend or family member down the road who wants to sell their home, she will immediately think of me. Just my $.02. Good luck!

welcome!! I'm in North La but work in the BR area often 

First thing I would do is check to see if the units are individually metered. If so, I would stop paying their power. Unless these units are just super hard to rent or that's the only way they'll rent at that price point. Same goes for cable. There's another 12k in your pocket just by making the tenants pay that. Just my $.02

I would make my decision based upon what type of tenant they are. You mention they pay above average rent. If they're paying on time and take care of the house, then spend the $ to get the carpet cleaned and chalk it up as an expense. I'd rather have good tenants who pay and spend $100 here and there than have a crappy tenant I have to deal with all the time. 

Welcome Mike, whats up Ross. I'm in North LA as well. 

@Jordan Lagrassa I use logopearl.com they give you multiple options and you can pick and choose which one you like. They also give you multiple edits. 

I am about to purchase 40 acres of raw land in a rural part of Louisiana. I've been told there are some federal programs through USDA that assist with the purchase of land. There are also programs that assist with the maintaining of land (planting trees, erosion control ,etc.) I plan to visit the USDA office for answers, but was curious if anyone on BP has had any luck/history with the USDA programs in regards to raw land. Thanks in advance.