What I Did Right (& Wrong) On My First House Flip—Part I

I Was Scared.

My first house flip in La Mesa California, over a decade ago now, feels like yesterday. I’d studied the market. I knew what renovated houses sold for. I believed I knew what it would cost to renovate this house, but I’d never renovated a house before. I backed into a purchase price that gave us enough room for a margin for error and a profit.

What I did right was surround myself with people that had been there, done that before. I hired a licensed general contractor. I also partnered with a realtor (the first of many deals we did), who knew the market cold. I hired a draftsman who submitted plans to the city and got plans approved by the city, to add a master bedroom in the space in the back of the house. I NEVER pretended to know anything about construction around the crew. And finally, hardest of all, I took action.

Our purchase price was $255,000. We had a loan in place with a few of my private investors, to whom I paid interest every month, so we reserved for that. Our renovation cost $55,000. Next time, I’ll write about the things that went wrong/not to plan including a neighbor with an unusual hobby.