All Forum Posts by: Kevin Moules

Also, do you know how I know that I am a real estate investor? When rental property looks 10X better than my personal residence!!! Someday they will help me make my home look this good. Until then we continue with 1970's design. FI here we come!

Hello Folks,

Sorry for lack of updates, there just has not been much going on. However just got back about 2 hrs ago from spending 3 days at the property. A little closer to being done. We are on track to have this thing ready to rent Aug 1st! Unfortunately car problems reared their head again on my way home once again. Maybe its a sign? haha. This time car overheated and had to pull off and shut down for a while. Limped my way to autozone for coolant and made it home finally. At least this time it was 8:30 instead of midnight like last go around. Anywho check out the progress!

Note to all, open boxes of stuff at the store before you take it home! Bought 4 light fixtures and 2 had glasses broken. grrrr. So until next time... This go around was focused on all the details to get the inside finished up. Light fixtures, vanity install, swap all plugs/switches, finish bathroom, install doors and start baseboard. Unfortunately was not able to start baseboard or doors as other things took longer. Also, i officially met my contractor for the first time. He was a pleasure to work with over the last two days. Great personality. Truly blessed to find him. I hope to use him again for future properties. Having convos with him probably slowed me down as well. He finished counter top and bathroom and had a few loose ends and his job is complete! Then its all me. 

Since the place had a floor this go around i slept in the house instead of my truck, much more comfortable. :). Working till 11 or so at night i went outside several times and noticed roaches everywhere again, the whole yard is loaded and lots of places for them to live. Had a pest guy come out today on moments notice and sprayed the property and house. Those buggers were dying everywhere. Seems like I may have to repeat application for the next 6 months just to stay on these guys. Previous tenants had the most amazing living conditions for them so its going to take a while. Was grateful he came out so soon, was a referral from the contractor. 

I spoke with the contractor and his wife, who does the paperwork side and learned that they do not buy materials for any of their jobs. They don't want to pay for it out of their pocket and the added confusion or sourcing everything. They want customers to purchase everything and they will pick it up. I thought it was interesting, they are not interesting in making some money on material mark up. Interesting model and it does simplify their business. Going one round with them they were grateful for the communication and the trust we had placed in each other. I'm just a guy on the other side of the line. They did a lot of work and were trusting that I would pay them for their labor. I was trusting they were doing the work. I did have my agent drop by and take video for me as an update. This was helpful! They asked for a yelp review since they get a lot of business from there. I assumed as much and that's why I chose them initially as Yelp is about 50% of my leads as well.

Sorry for all the info but this thread is called investor diaries. I want to be as transparent as possible for all the new folks like me out there just trying to figure it out! Enjoy the pictures!

@Ruben Morgan, your welcome!

Currently pursuing another lead for a flip property.

@Account Closed, thank you! I pray your search for a flip property turns something up sooner rather than later for you guys! It was great meeting you guys the other night. I hope you guys come back, i know its a drive :(. Would love my wife to talk to you!

The white grout at least did not turn out too bad! Thank goodness. 

New back door has also been installed and learned that 42" top cabinets are not off the shelf anymore so I have to go with 30" uppers. Its not what I wanted but to move things along ill go with it. They looked good in our flip property which we sold friday!!!

Latest news: 

The contractor I have yet to meet has been going at it for a couple weeks now. Bathroom is almost complete except for flooring. I have been spending the last week dealing with lowes and getting cabinets figured out. Its been a pain because these are in stock unfinished cabinets that are popular and don't last long. Then trying to order stuff off the phone has been kind of difficult. However, purchasing all materials myself there is no markup on materials from the contractor. I also get either 5% or 6 month interest free financing for purchases over $200. There is several benefits to purchasing materials myself. Is it scaleable? Not really, but starting out its a good way to keep more money in the bank. Cabinets to be picked up tomorrow for install. 

Had a learning experience on friday though. I was out of phone reach. Contractor tried calling me 3 times regarding the grout color we chose.  Because i did not answer he went ahead with grouting the shower. Now we did choose the grout and tile color so he did not need to call to start with. We had originally thought white tile but changed to a greyish. We picked out white grout for the white tile but forgot to change for the new tile color. He called to double check if that's what we truly wanted. No answer on my part, he asked his wife her opinion, and had a guy standing around and have the go ahead and then sent me the pics. I was a little upset he did not wait, but at days end it was my fault. 

Lesson learned, gave contractor wifes number, so process is call me, then her, and if no response leave project as is until there is a response. I also finally asked if contractor invests and he said he has a separate business that does flips and rental properties. He has has good questions and input on the project and now i know why. Plan is to have place done mid July, thats a month out. I will be going down end of month for 3 days with my dad to tear up more of the yard and cut down trees as well as start on the finish work in the house. Pics here are that the contractor sent me as a progress report. 

IT IS FINISHED!!!!!! First flip complete and in the books. We closed escrow on Friday. I drove by Friday afternoon and new owners were already moving in. Honestly kind of sad knowing I may never step in that house again. A lot of sweat, blood, and tears were involved with that place, tears compliments of my wife :) . But it is awesome to know we made a good profit on our first flip thanks to the guidance of a wonderful partner, and awesome sales agent. Also blessed to sell at the right time of year as well as the market being hot for sellers.

Here are the final numbers:

Sold Price: 280,000

Purchase price: 155,000

Rehab/Construction costs: 58,502

Holding costs: 4,729

Selling costs: 16,628

Net Profit: 44,475

Partner: n/a

As you may recall we brought in a local investor to guide us through this journey. I am not disclosing what our agreement was for their sake and privacy. I will say that we are not going to be taking 44K to the bank but we ended up with a profit and that was important to me!

Thank you all for your comments and support along the way. Time to find another one to finish by years end. Currently have a neighbor of my parents who's mother has abandoned her home and its been broken into over the last year or so with no one watching it. Ill be reaching out tomorrow to see if they may be interested in selling it! 

If your interested in learning about my first BRRRR deal that we are currently in the middle of a rehab on check it out here:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/522/topics/70...

@Jenell Poncabare, thanks for the shout out! @Samuel McQuinn, come join us tonight. We CA real estate as hot as it is out of state investing is very appealing. I myself will be looking out of state sometime this year. The numbers make more since. 

@Ryan Wamsat, looking forward to seeing you guys tonight. My wife is actually coming ! :) 

@Alex Jones, thanks for the kind words! i am just a newbie trying to help others who my be 2 or 3 steps behind me. I really enjoy helping/teaching people. Its the reason why I am a handyman, I also was a teaching assistant in grad school, and was an adjunct at a local junior college for 3 years. Like Kiyosaki i learned I don't like regular teaching, however I can talk to folks about RE all day. 

I am currently reading the book as well, chapter 4. There is just so much stuff David has learned over the years its hard to take it all in. However, there are things that I read in his long distance book that I am trying to implement even on this project. Even things from this book will help with this house. I hope you find your BRRRR deal soon. I see you are in NY, can you make the BRRRR strategy work where you are at? I cannot do it in my hometown that's why this place is an hour and half away.

Well good news, tent is off and we have a ton of dead critters! Contractor went in and took measurements. My wife choose flooring for the house and tile for the shower. 

After doing some research here on BP for rental flooring we ended up going with a vinyl plank that is waterproof and lasts many years. We will be doing the same floor throughout the house instead of changing it in the bathroom and laundry room. Contractor will lay it down quickly. 

Also learned that house is actually 650 sq ft. instead of the listed 480 sq.ft. So i have some investigating to do. Will be reaching out to city planning to pull any past permits. I have a feeling that the laundry room may have been added at some point and never recorded. However when I crawled under the house I don't recall seeing anything added. If its all legit or if I can make it legit the value just went up! It looks promising to have the place done by end of July. 

On another note we should be closing escrow on our first flip next week! Fingers crossed!