All Forum Posts by: Shawn Thom

I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatched but I got an offer that I accepted on my first fix and flip.

My cousin who is pretty big in the business and has been helping me along sent me this deal. I wasn't super excited about it because it was right next to an apartment complex. In hind sight I probably will not do another deal like it but it was a pretty easy rehab so I took it.

My first lender fell through because they didn't like it being next to an apartment complex. The 2nd option was a hard money. That really squeezed the numbers more than I liked but I had been sitting on the sidelines over analyzing deal for way to long, so I decided to jump in.

Rehab was supposed to take 4 weeks, but took 7 weeks. It was worth the price of admissions as I learned A LOT! I went over budge by about $1500 as I decided to do a tall fence between the house and the apartment complex.

Got one lowball offer that I countered and it fell through.

Got another one 2 days later over asking but wanting us to cover closing cost. I hopped on it.

In total it was on the market almost a month.

We'll see how it goes from here. So far, I'm glad I jumped in because I learned so much and am able to get my confidence up. So far (inspection not done yet) I am on track to make the bare minimum of what I wanted to make but again, learned a lot.

Here are before pics
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.418013768265162.93296.383553101711229&type=3

and a few after pics
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=436690423064163&set=a.436690313064174.96825.383553101711229&type=3&theater

High probability this ad is just to get you to sign up for his buyers list.

If you notice the ad, its says for other deals like this go to his website and sign up.

I just started, in fact I am half way through my first rehab. My cousin is big into rentals and has done some fix and flips. He helped me along the way.

I got on as many wholesaler lists as I could. Most "deals" are far from that. Most "wholesalers" just hock MLS deals or their deals are over 80cents on the dollar. My cousin sent one of his leads my way and I jumped on it. Its not a home run, but its pretty much all cosmetic, so it is an easy one to start on. I bought it for 63K, putting a little less than 15k in it and have a $2500 "uh-oh" budget. I am going to be asking $110k, and I'll be happy with 107

I do have a pretty serious chunk of change in savings, but I wanted to finance this so I could possibly do more than one at a time. My first company I went with decided not to finance the property. They didn't believe my rehab numbers. I have a buddy that is giving my a good deal on the rehab but they still didn't believe it. I had to end up going with more of hard money lender, although its not as bad as some terms out there.

The best advice I can give you is see if you can find some one out there or here on BP to give you advice. I have my cousin, but I suspect you can find some one on here that will lend you a helping hand. figure out your criteria ahead of time so you can quickly figure out a good deal from a bad deal. Good deals will go fast. Have a lender lined up....and apparently (in my case) a back up lender as well. Hopefully you find someone in your area to help you out so they can give you leads on good contractors as well. Once you have those lined up and leads coming in... its time to cowboy up and do a deal. I have been so nervous through out all this but its been a good experience to stare a few fears in the face and chug along. I have already made some mistakes but I'm taking notes so my next one will be smoother. I'm learning a lot and having some fun. I am hoping to have it on the market mid-december.

Good luck, hopefully some of these post encourage you to jump in!

I'm working a rehab & sell on a smaller house that was originally a little over 1400 square feet. It has an addition on it that is about 250sq ft. Tax records still show the 1400 square feet size.

When I go to sell it, how should I show the size? I have seen MLS showing on some houses where it is listed as 1400/tax, or 1650/owner, or 1650/appraiser (assuming you got the square footage from an appraisal).

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

I'm a newbie and wanting some guidance on short sales. I've been looking at a few that are posted on MLS. They don't seemed to be reduced hardly enough that I can tell. I am wondering how successful I could be a low balling these.

I have one I'm looking at that was built in 1999 and is about 2200 sq ft, 2 story. The structure looks like it is in really good condition. It definitely needs some new flooring/paint and some minor repairs. So far nothing seems like it needs major work.

I am thinking after repair value is in the $175k range depending on how you trick it out. They have it listed for $165k. Not much incentive in my opinion.

I know there is no magic answer but , how much can you usually successfully bid those down? Considering all the houses in the neighborhood have gotten new roofs, I think I'd have to be around $120k. It seems like quite a bit to knock off.

Any tips?

@Jon Holdman Thanks for the heads up. I'm still trying to learn the layout here on BP.

Thanks for everyone's help so far.

Thanks Shane. Funny, I found one of your old posts that mentioned them and have reached out to them.

bump

Google investway comps . they provide MLS access in Houston for a monthly fee.

I am tying up the loose ends and am about a week or two away from starting off in my real estate investing (side) career. I'd like to start developing some relationships with some local wholesalers. If there are any in the DFW area please send me a colleague request. My cousin is fairly successful in the area and will be mentoring me along in the process as well.

Initially I will be looking for fix in flips in the area to add to my existing capital and purchase long term rentals along the way.