Well, here goes! My first trial at real estate investing was a huge undertaking. My partner and I bought a gutted row house that was about 2,000 sq ft. After six months and almost every weekend, we had finally finished it. We paid $55,000 for the property and had about $80,000 in repairs for a total of $135,000 in the house.
We tried at first to sell the property ourselves at $229,950. It took about three weeks, and we had a contract at $211,000. We were thrilled! Then it happened. The contract fell through with one week before closing. At this point we were very grim about our investment. So after some thought and a few more showings, we decided we needed some professional help!
We found the closest “big name” real estate agency and went to their top producer and negotiated a 5% fee. With 3% going to the buying agent and 2% to listing agent. We had many showings and a few bad offers. Then after about six weeks, we got an offer $1,000 below asking price of 224,500.
No problems at all, and we finally received our hard earned pay day. After all expenses and fees we earned a profit of about $75,000. Since then, we have completed four additional deals with a real profit of $140,000. (That’s $70,000 each.) WOW!
Our latest deal has been our best! We closed on a property on a Friday for $102,700, and by Monday we had it under contract for $135,000! That will work out to about $15,000 each in three days! If only they were all this easy! Well, that’s my success story, and I’m still in my first year of doing this! I can’t wait to see what the future brings! Good luck to ALL!