Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
The house was formerly a duplex and I decided it would make more sense to turn it into a big single family home and try to flip it.
After all, the TV shows made it look so easy.
I’m a frickin’ genius, right?
I started work on it (yes, physically) and myself and a few friends spent the next nine months remodeling this monster of a home. Hardwood floors, granite counters, open concept, new windows, new drywall, new doors… pretty much everything was re-done.
And it was beautiful.
I put it on the market at $170,000 and waited for the offers to roll in.
But they didn’t.
Month after month I waited, dropping the price slowly until I was at my break-even point. It finally sold after almost 52 weeks on the market, and I ended up clearing nothing. After two whole years, I had nothing to show. My Hard Money Lender made a lot of money. My friends (who I paid as we worked on it) made a nice profit – but I made nothing.
I’m thankful it wasn’t worse- I didn’t lose any money. However, I lost almost a year of my life physically working on this home.
And you know what?
All this could have been avoided had I simply been smart.
This brings me to my #1 tip today for avoiding the mistakes I’ve made and find more success in 2014.
Are you ready for it?
Here it is:
Sign up for a BiggerPockets Pro.
“What?” A commercial? What is this… Little Orphan Annie and the Ovaltine Decoder Pen?
Well, sorta. But hang on – I have a point here.
Are you still with me?
Good, cause this is important.
There are a lot of reasons why you should upgrade to BiggerPockets Pro – but there is one reason above all else why I think that becoming a BiggerPockets …read more