All Forum Posts by: Russell Davis

Hey All, 

I wanted to provide an update on our first flip. We worked weekends for the most part on a property that was roughly 40 minutes away. We had a personal family tragedy that put a stop to the flip activity for about 6 weeks. We then spent several months dealing with the estate and preparing another property for sale. 

We got back to 100% on our flip during the summer. It feels like we've been in "one more weekend" mode for about 2 months, but we finally got it on the market. We bought it for $20k, put another $71k into it, and listed the property for $169,900 on 1/4. It received a full-price offer on 1/8 (less $3k closing costs and $600 home warranty). 

We are looking for the next property. I've already had several people approach me about getting in on the next one. 

Hi Michael,

Thanks for asking...No, we have not completed the flip. In January, my parents died and everything stopped for a couple of weeks. We got back in the saddle and started up again, but only 1 weekend day at first. We have full-time jobs also and the property is a good 40-minute drive away. We have made decent progress:

• Replaced a foundation wall/shored up the main floor
• Put a 416 sq ft addition on the existing 2nd floor
• Removed all stucco exterior
• New siding
• Replaced windows
• Replaced doors
• Removed rotted front porch and replaced with covered front porch
• New steel roof
• Knocked down a tree in the back yard that caught a power line and ripped the neighbor's mast off their house on a Sunday morning.
• Replaced the stairs to the 2nd story adding an L so you don't bump your head at the top of the stairs
• Framed 2 BR and a full bath in the 2nd story addition

Right now we are sitting at $20k for the house, with another $37k in repairs and carrying costs. We still have a long ways to go. We've talked to several local Realtors and they are estimating $140-150k when we are done, so we are expecting to net $125k. Expecting another $25-30k in repairs and carrying costs. 

We wanted to flip our first one hands-on to give us the experience to understand what it takes to flip. We have talked about what is next and we definitely want to BRRRR. We found an 8-plex that if it is still around we will probably get into, but contracting more of the work. It isn't nearly in as bad of shape either.

Good luck on your project,

Rusty

UPDATE: Looking at the assessor's site after the property eventually sold, we were still the high bidder by $2,000 if we stuck with it.

In other news, we were able to secure a property. It was also through propoffers.com. This time we relaxed and stayed patient. If it worked out great, if not on to the next one. We ended up getting an accepted offer. It took 30 days to close, which seemed slow for a cash offer, but we finally purchased our first investment property! We are now 2 months into renovations, a total gut job inside and out. Most work is happening on the weekend, so it's taking longer. We expect about 2 months before we are ready to put it on the market. The neighbors are curious and very appreciative. I take daily progress videos/pictures and hope to get a YouTube video posted shortly. 

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this post. It really helped me calm down and lower my expectations of the prop offers web site and REO properties in general.

Today I received a couple of texts from my agent. First one is the that the listing agent indicated the seller had not reached a decision yet. 

Second, the listing agent received a text from the other buyer's agent indicating the property was in a 100-year flood zone. The listing agent disclosed that information to us. I asked my agent their thoughts on trying to sell that property after flipping it and in a flood zone. Their response was it would be harder to sell.

This transaction is our first flip. We know nothing will go perfectly. The last thing I want to do is hold a property that won't sell because it is in a flood plain. We withdrew our offer and are working another offer on a different property. Unfortunately, the listing agent is the same!

Thanks for your input! I appreciate it. I better get used to it, because most of these properties we are looking at are REO.

From my understanding, my agent sent us an updated contract to sign which she then uploaded to the Prop Offers site. I'm not sure if they submitted like it was a new offer. It wasn't until later that they received the email about multiple offers. But it sounds like my agent, or the seller followed the protocol you indicated. 

We are hopeful we have no reason to worry. The home was on the market for nine months and had no activity that interested the seller. I don't know if they received any offers. I'm sure there were a lot of showings. My agent indicated they expect a call from the title company tomorrow.

We sent it to the title company (Prism Title in Florence, KY) the seller indicated. 

My initial thought was contacting the real estate association/multiple listing service. If that didn't go anywhere, I was expecting to contact a real estate attorney. After calming down, I realize that I have to be patient. 

A more significant concern is if this is how the digital real estate age is happening, I'm not a fan. With digital transaction processing, how are these web sites able to accept/counter and accept new offers when the time-stamped events are part of the timeline?

My post was more rant and did not include my question. Right now, it appears I have to sit back and wait because our offer may be accepted. If not, what recourse do we have?

New to the Bigger Pockets community and starting our journey into real estate investing. We thought we would start with a flip. Found a house that we could pay cash and offered. It is a foreclosure and the offer process is managed by PropOfferes.com. This site is ridiculous. Feedback is painful. Timely replies are non-existent. Contact information is not available. The selling agent is not involved in the PropOffers.com site and not responsive to my agent. We submitted our first offer a couple of weeks ago. It was rejected. We re-submitted another offer. They countered we countered, they rejected. 

They dropped the list price of the home. The next day we submitted a new offer which they countered. We accepted this offer. They expected an increased amount of earnest money via certified check. The agent went into the web site and clicked the button to accept the counteroffer. We went to the bank and sent our agent a picture of the check and dropped the check in the mail. We then received the docs to sign online. The agent uploaded those docs and received an email that there were multiple offers and to submit the best and final offer.

We are in limbo right now and can't get anyone to tell us what is going on with the house. There is no customer support number and we are not getting anywhere with the seller or the seller's agent.