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Flipping stories. The good, the bad and the ugly.

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Services for Real Estate Pros with BeatYouThere.com

Best Real Estate Flip.  

I am interested to hear a story from my readers who have either participated in or known someone who has made a substantial profit flipping a property.  I would also like to hear about a disaster story.  This is so we can learn from each.  I feel that more people need to share their ups and downs in real estate. 

Here are a few of mine. 

I bought a property from an 80 year old man who wanted to sell and move to Florida.  This apartment was in Connecticut and I bought it for 80,000.  I told him I would arrange financing and that I was going to rent the property.  I then decided that I didn't want to rent it, but instead flip it.  He had given me the keys because I wanted to redo the kitchen floor before I moved in (risky on his part).  I then showed it to a buyer, she liked it and then I simply assigned my contract to a first time homebuyer and sold it for 104,000.  The entire process was only one month long.  Net:  $24,000 that was 1031'd into another flip.  I took that money and bought one in the same building from a guy who was getting transfered, (NOBODY IN THIS BUILDING KNEW THE VALUE BECAUSE NOT MANY HAD SOLD).  He sold for 94,000 and I actually closed on that one, showed it for about 3 weeks and found a buyer for $135,000 all cash deal.  $41,000 (hold time of 1 month).

I have a few other stories that are comparable, but those are the best real estate flips that I would like to share.  

I want to hear about real estate flips from all over the country, and don't be ashamed to post a horror story, it happens to everyone and just look at it as an expensive lesson. 

Thanks for sharing.  
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Kris Wales
Keller Williams Realty - Lakeside Market Center - Macomb, MI
Real Estate Blog & Homes for Sale search site, Macomb County MI
Quick question:  Did you inform the first seller (the 80 year old man) of what you felt his condo was worth? 
Aug 07, 2007 10:18 PM
Mark Langowski
BeatYouThere.com - Stamford, CT
The man came to the super and said, I want to sell quick because I want to move to Florida.  Selling quick takes out about 2/3 of the market.  So he needed a cash buyer, which brings the number of people that can do that to almost zero.  I provided a solution to his problem and he was happy.  I think the reason there is a hang up here with my story is because he is 80 years old.  If he were 35 years old nobody would be saying anything to me.  Correct?
Also, at that time, thats what units WERE going for in the building, but I saw more value to the building.  After I started buying and selling in the building, thats when the values went up.  So at the time it was comparable with what was selling with the building.  I didn't explain that as well as I should have before.  
I just knew the local market and knew this building was undervalued.  


Aug 08, 2007 08:47 AM
Mark Langowski
BeatYouThere.com - Stamford, CT
Believe it or not, it was that easy to make money back when I was flipping. 
I live in Stamford, CT.  45 min outside of NYC.  About 3 years ago, when the rest of the country was doing very well, so was Stamford.  Many didn't believe it, but I started buying everything under 100,000 and its paying off now and it paid off then.  There hadn't been many sales in the building, so the most recent sales were from a few years ago and people were using those as comps instead of "market" comps.  Life was good then!!

Aug 08, 2007 09:16 AM