August 9, 2023 • 34 mins
Ever thought of flipping houses post-retirement? Meet Isabelle, a retired teacher in Austin, Texas, who turned a dream into a reality, and made $26,000 in just three months on her first house flip with us.
In this episode, we hear all about Isabelle's flip:
- How she found it
- How she financed it
- Her BIG payday!
- Her fears going into this
- The challenges she faced during this project
...and so much more!
GOODIES
1. THE book on women flipping houses is here! Click here to grab the digital download of my new book for just $4.99! Just as everything else we do is different, so is FLIPPED: Lessons and Stories of Women Flipping Houses and Facing Their Fears.
2. Sick of sitting on the sideline watching other people do the thing you want to be doing? Are you FINALLY ready to do what it takes to flip your first house and want incredible step-by-step training and support to get you there faster? Click here to see if we may be a fit to work together.
3. Follow That Flip! Follow this 8-part video series as we flip a house!
4. Our goal is to inspire 1,000 new women each month and we've been achieving it with help from loyal listeners like you! If you are getting value out of this podcast will you kindly leave us a rating and review and help us spread our message?
5. Are you a real estate agent tired of chasing the same potential clients as everyone else? Sick of the roller coaster commission? Get the REI Agent Pro Certification! Click here for info and to join the waitlist.
Debbie DeBerry | The Flipstress®
Leaving people and places better than we find them.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to the Flip Houses Like a Girl
podcast, where we educate,empower and celebrate everyday
women who are facing their fears, juggling family and business,
embracing their awesomeness andwholeheartedly chasing their
dream of flipping houses.
Each episode delivers honest togoodness tools, tips and
(00:21):
strategies you can implementtoday to get closer to your
first or next successful houseflip.
Here's your spiky hairedbreakfast taco loving host,
house flipping coach, DebbieDePiri.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey, how's it going today?
I'm excited to share thisconversation with you that I had
with one of our flip sisters inAustin.
Her name is Isabelle and sherecently retired from teaching
and jumped into this world offlipping houses.
This is her story of her firstflip and how she made 26 grand
(01:10):
in just three months, which isjust amazing.
She's going to share with uswhat her fears were going into
it, what the issues were thatshe had to resolve and the
challenges of this specific flip.
They all have challenges.
(01:30):
Let's just get into it.
Let's hear Isabelle's story,let's go.
Let us know who you are, whereyou are, what you're up to in
the world, what you used to do,what you do now that sort of
thing.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
My name is Isabelle.
I live in the Austin area inTexas, just north of Austin.
I am a newly retired teacher.
Taught all my life middleschool, high school and I just
retired last night and startedthis program last April.
Actually, that's what I do now.
I'm looking for houses.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, so how long were you a teacher?
33 years, wow, were you alwaysin the Austin area.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
No, yeah, pretty much actually, except for the first
three years.
I was at UT as a graded studentand then in the Round Rock and
then, yeah, always in this area.
That's so cool, yeah, so thisis the first school year where I
don't have to worry about aschool calendar ever.
I'm not entirely lucky.
(02:39):
I've always been either astudent or a teacher, always,
ever.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
What was that transition like?
Was it easy or was it like howdo I fill my time?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It was easy in the summer because it's the summer,
right.
But then about mid-September,about the end of September, when
school would be in Ann, maybefor four or six weeks, that's
like, oh wait a minute.
But then by then we were in ourfirst house, so we got busy.
So it was good yeah nice.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And is your husband retired also?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
He's still not retired, pretty much Nice.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Nice, y'all are just in your sunset years here doing
your thing, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So yesterday something came up like hey, you
want to go down there, let'sjust go.
And then we went, love it.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And we'll go home today sometime, whenever that
freedom is beautiful, nice, yeah, okay.
So you were a teacher, you werein the Austin area, and what
made you interested in flippinghouses?
So?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
that's something we've always wanted to be All
right, some kind of real estateof some sort.
At some point we actually didone flipped a house about five,
six years ago, which was a verybig learning experience.
And so once I decided that Iwas kind of getting ready to
(04:02):
retire it's like I needsomething to fill my time and
then I was kind of lookingaround and I totally stumbled on
your program, just totally bychance.
So I guess I was looking toomany real estate stuff and then
your ad came up, what they doyou know, and then yeah, and I
just it was just like somethingwe've always been interested in
(04:24):
and kind of kicked ourselves forabout doing 20 years ago you
know stuff, now we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, now's the next best time, right?
Yes, okay, so you joined andtell me about your first, the
first flip you did with us.
How did you find it?
So we found it in the MLS.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, so the timeline is kind of interesting.
So we found it, so I got in theprogram in April and then I
decided to retire, and so then Iput everything on pause until I
could get through the whole endof the year, school, all that
mess, and then I got back intoit.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Wait, can I interrupt ?
So you didn't know you wereretiring yet?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
No, I had not decided I was retiring at that point.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Oh wow, Interesting Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Cool.
Okay, that's a whole otherstory in itself.
Yeah, that would be a wholeother conversation, okay, but
yeah, so I joined the program.
Then, not long after that, Isaid I was retiring in the year
school and put everything onhold a lot of things to do
actually when you retire,especially when you decide that
in April.
And I liked to do things likejust I'm like, okay, I'm doing
(05:40):
it now, that's it.
So we started, I started lookingin Jean, I really got into the
bodgers and stuff and startedlooking and around the first
part of July decided, okay, Ineed to look at houses.
So we went, looked at severaland came across this house and
that's like you know, I likethis house.
It was full of things where youcould not see the floor, you
(06:05):
could not see a lot of the walls, it was not like junk, I mean,
it was not like animals andstuff like that, it was just a
lot of stuff.
And so we went and looked at it.
And then we went and looked atit again.
Then we went and looked at itagain with a contractor, went
and looked at it again with adifferent contractor and finally
(06:28):
got nervous.
I was like, okay, I got himwith an offer and I made an
offer and I was pretty muchright away I said no, we're not
going for that, like okay, fine,and then kept looking.
So that was.
So we looked at the house firstof July, made an offer in the
July and the guys said no, Isaid fine, and so then we
(06:51):
started, you know, lookingaround for more houses, whatever
.
And then about in of August myagent calls back and said hey,
you know that house.
They call back, said is yourbuyer still interested?
Sure, I am.
So, yeah, yeah.
(07:11):
So we made the offer again andfor actually so the original
offer was 300 in July and theycame back in August and said
would you revive both for threetan?
I'm like okay, we'll one forthree tan.
And then got an inspector inthere and then, as you know, by
(07:32):
the end the market was kind ofdoing its thing and so the ARV I
felt had changed.
So when we first looked at it,you know last May, probably put
a sale to 500.
By the time in July we decided,you know, like closer to 480,
and then by the end of August,like 460, like it's going down
(07:53):
right.
And so the inspector came in.
There was a few things, nothingmajor.
But that gave me an opportunityto say, hey, I can't do three
tan, and so I said the ARV.
You know, I had a longconversation with my realtor and
the agent I was working withand back and forth, back and
forth, I said so I lowered myoffer, and then we went back and
(08:16):
forth and then we finallyagreed on 295.
Then that's what I bought itfor Nice.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
And okay.
So when you bought it, you werethinking ARV 460.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
When we bought it in, yeah, for the August, yeah,
when we actually went through itwas 460.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, okay, so you got it for 295.
Okay, so what were you thinkingthe repairs were gonna be?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
So my first bid was right at 50, give or take couple
of hundredths.
But then that didn't include,you know, like the ceiling fans,
all the hardware, you know thetoilets, all that stuff.
And I was like, wait, whatYou're not taking care of that
part I have to.
So then I added all that up.
You know like okay, 60, 60 iswhat we put in the spreadsheet.
(09:04):
I put 460 for the ARV, I put 60for the rehab, so that was my
number, and then 295 for buying.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Okay, Okay.
So when did you close on it?
September, September 14th, Okay.
And how did you finance it?
Hard money, Okay.
Did you finance the purchaseand the renovations?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yes, cool.
So they did 85% of my totalcost buying and rehab.
Now, the rehab that I put inwith the HTML, I only put 54 in
their numbers, Okay, and therest of it I knew was gonna come
out of my pocket, Got it okay,so you, just you guys floated
(09:51):
the balance.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yes, okay.
Okay, so this is so fun.
Okay, so you get into it.
And were there any bigsurprises?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
There were not any big surprises.
Oh, I forgot to say in ourcontract we put our stipulation
was the house had to be empty.
Yeah, because, so you know, itwas an older gentleman I
actually I don't know how old hewas, but Widow Widower and
there was a lot of stuff leftand he got it all unloaded.
(10:30):
He didn't do it, but somebody,he got somebody else to do it.
But there was like dust, likelittle.
You just take all stuff.
I mean we found a window.
There was bookshelves in frontof it.
There was an extra window inthe living room.
Yeah, I was like, oh well,there's a lot more light here.
There was a couple of windowsthat were frosted that we didn't
notice at the beginning.
We had kind of noticed one, butthere was a second one.
(10:53):
There really wasn't reallythere was a, the one we sent the
inspector.
It was on a Friday.
We sent in the inspector duringour option hearing and he got
there the water was off and sohe couldn't do the inspection,
(11:14):
so he went back.
We had a new inspection thatTuesday after the time, the
water on, and the reason thewater was off is there was a
little bit of a leak under thekitchen sink.
Oh, we'll just turn off thewater, they won't notice.
Yeah right, well, gotta have aninspection with water.
So we ended up extending theoption period about 24 hours and
(11:34):
, oh, a whole other story withthe inspection.
So got the inspection probablydone on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday night we get the reportand then like, just no, nothing
really major at all, no bigsurprises at all.
And but the air of the headchanged and I'm like we can't
pay 310,.
We have a couple of extrathings to do.
We gotta, you know, bring themthing down.
(11:55):
So on Wednesday, so our optionperiods ends at five o'clock on
Wednesday.
No, wednesday, after we gothrough it thing, we have a big
conversation with the wheelchair, whatever.
We put in an offer for 270.
Crickets all day long, and Ihad this is my lesson.
(12:19):
Number one is so we talked backand forth, right, and she's
like well, okay, 270 is youroffer.
Well, they're not going to gofor that, we don't know, right.
But I like by this time I'mreally invested in this house.
We make the offer at 270, right, crickets all day, and the, the
people that are out there.
(12:40):
So and I'm like, well, we'regoing to grow.
The number one is our, our, our, our, our, our house.
Five o'clock is our bed line,right, so like four o'clock or
it.
Like on the phone, and myhusband, tars, is out of town on
doing something, you know, I'mlike it's like I've got to make
a decision when I do.
I want this house, I want thishouse.
So right, I'd like for 15.
(13:04):
I should have stayed to my 285,but we said, okay, 295.
Okay, so we're done to 415crickets.
So at 445, like, okay, pull theplug, we're done pulling out.
And that's where I should nothave even countered my own offer
(13:25):
, right, Anyway, that's, youknow, don't do that.
So at 445, like, pull the plug.
So we pulled the plug, right,she sends me the stuff.
I sign off on it, like we'rebacking out, and then that's it
done.
And then so this is 445, right,that's probably clock is our
(13:45):
deadline.
And then 730, I get a phonecall.
She's like, guess what?
I just bust out laughing.
They had never signed on theirend.
I don't know how that works,but like we'll go if you want to
do it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I just bust out laughing the joys of the Texas
option period.
It's so stressful.
You know what, though?
Here's the thing that deadlineused to be 1159 pm and us
realtors were the ones having todeal with right, so they
changed it to five.
Thankfully, like that was likethat was our evenings, trying to
(14:21):
get things done.
No, no, no, no, no, have aclock.
You got them down to 295.
After all of that, geez, weneed.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
So then we had a three week week.
We gave them a three weekwindow and it was not for them.
It was for me, because it wasmy first one and I needed that
breathing room of getting allthe stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think there's a fine linebetween too much time, where you
can talk yourself out of it andfreak yourself out, and too
fast, where you're feelingtotally chaotic.
There's a nice little balancein there where it's like okay,
that feels good, I feel like Ifeel prepared, I feel I've got
things lined up Like.
This feels like I don't knowabout prepared, but Quotes.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Right, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, so no major surprises.
No, no, you didn't havefoundation issues, you didn't
have any plumbing issues.
You don't really have anythingmajor.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It was mostly cosmetic, it was purely cosmetic
, like the big thing we did isit had those 90s kitchen counter
, a huge kitchen, but it hadthat counter that came around
with that extra like up therebar thing, so we cut that off
and when we did that and theyput that porch countertop on
(15:35):
there, that kitchen looked twiceas big.
It was huge.
Yeah, that made a hugedifference.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Oh, I love that Nice I'm trying to think of, if I
remember the pictures, thekitchen, before I'll have to go
back in the group.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
The pictures before are just some that I took, and
there were I mean, there's acouple that were on the MLS, but
yeah, it was kind of dark too,so it was only that one, those
two neon lights not neon butwhatever and it was only one of
the tubes that were working, soit was really dark.
So we took that down and we putin let's see three recess
(16:13):
lights above the bar.
In the end, I don't know, Ithink we put seven lights in
there total, yeah, because I hadeight and the last one into the
master bathroom.
So, yeah, yeah, nice, so theymade it really bright.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah and okay.
How was it working with thecontractor you worked with?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
It was good.
So he was.
I found him through my realtor,because so the two other ones
that came in to be in one waslabor only, which he didn't form
on me about that, and then likeI don't know what to do, so
like I can't do that on this one, so he was out.
And then the second one was henever replied and so he never
(16:56):
sent me his bid.
He wanted to do all these extrathings and move this door to
over here.
Like no, no, no, no, no, no no,we're not doing it so I went
with the one.
He was fine.
So come to find out later, likewhen we're almost done, he'd
actually never worked with aninvestor before.
He had flipped houses himself,but he'd never worked with an
(17:20):
investor before and and he'smore of a commercial rather than
house but it worked because hehad done some for his himself.
So he's like, well, I know,chloe, right, so like help me,
said, well, I normally use thisquartz and these tiles and like
(17:41):
cool, that's what we're doing,done.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, how long did you think?
How much time did you a lot forthe renovation piece?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
So we had thought, you know, four to six weeks, and
it took exactly six weeks andit should have taken five.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, was it the detail stuff at the end?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
that took a while, that last week it was like oh my
gosh, just come out bring twoguys and just get it done.
Always, always.
And I I mean I still had asubstantial amount to pay him
and I was not paying him, but hewas like just come out.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Finish, finish it.
Do the.
They don't like the details.
They love the big stuff, butthat details of finishing
touches are just like oh.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I know.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, and they're the most important right.
It's like yeah, Okay, so sixweeks, so then you go on the
market in like.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
November.
It was right beforeThanksgiving.
So I also I also, on my end,totally misunderstood how much
time the the stature needed tocome and take pictures and stuff
.
So I was waiting until we weredone to call in a stature.
My welter actually takes careof the staging as part of her
(19:14):
commission.
But yeah, I was great, but Imisunderstood.
I thought, okay, once you'redone, you call me.
In.
A couple of days later she doesit.
Well, no, it's like a couple ofweeks before you're done, you
call and so she can come andtake measurements.
And it's like, oops, it workedout.
It worked out because I calledand I said, okay, we got it,
(19:35):
we're done, we like we've got toget this thing on the market.
It's just so happened that thestature had an opening, so she
came in early and like withinthe week of me calling, she was
able to stage it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
So like oh nice, yeah , you lucked out there, I looked
out very so she stage.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
She came and measured like home and like a Thursday
or something, and she actuallystage on a Tuesday.
Wednesday they took pictures,thursday was listed.
I mean it just worked out.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's amazing, yeah, that's.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
And after all of that and after the open house and
after we run the contract, wewere still in there changing the
last two windows.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, so you listed just before Thanksgiving.
Yep, what was the traffic?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
like so we had an open house that Friday that I
was actually we listed the daymy grandson was born, so I was
not even there and that Saturdaythere was open house and it was
raining.
And that Sunday we had an openhouse and it was not real pretty
and I don't really know.
There was only like one or twocame in Saturday.
(20:41):
There was only like two orthree, maybe four that came in
on Sunday, but one of thosepeople was super interested.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And weekend before Thanksgiving, or was this
Thanksgiving weekend?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Okay, because I was adamant it was going to be
listed before that week.
Okay, so the 17 is one of thestudents Got it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Oh wow, so the first weekend there was interest.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yep, and he started asking questions.
It's like, okay, this guy'sinterested, we need to get this
to work.
And and then we were on thecontract that Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Okay, what did you?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
listed at so I got coffee and I said no, we're not
listening it for 460 or 465,we're gonna listen for 450.
So we did we listen for 450.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Nice.
And what would?
What did you?
What was the offer that youaccepted?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
It was well what we finally accepted it.
It was 439 five Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And that was the same guy.
Yep, that original that.
Did you get multiple offers?
Or was it just that one hotbuyer?
Nice, that was it.
Telling you multiple offers arehard, like one solid offer is
all I need.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Yeah, and I mean we went back and forth and then he
got real nitpicky with hisinspector, you know, and there
was some things like, okay, fine, those that should have been
done, that should have been done, we fix them all.
But there was a few things weended up having to call plumber
out to fix.
You know, at the street there'sthe meter for that, for the
city, and then there's the thing, the handle for the, for the
(22:18):
owner, and that's that reallywas my fault.
I forgot that it was, thehandle was broken and we never
fixed it.
So we ended up having to call aplumber and get that done and
everything else.
There was a few things.
There was like a plate missingon one of the plugs.
That was, you know, stupidstuff like that.
So you know, but that was it.
There was nothing else major.
(22:39):
Everything else we had told himlike this is it, everything has
to fix.
I don't know what else you want.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Done it all, Okay.
So from purchase date to thesale, the sales date.
How much time was that?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
like the day we actually closed.
Yeah, it was three months andseven days from purchase to
close.
Yeah, because then we bought itSeptember 14 and December 30.
December 21 is when we signedand we had the offer in hand
November 21.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yeah, that's amazing and we're the only ones in the
whole neighborhood that sold,like everybody.
There's still a house therethat's still on the market.
That went on about a monthbefore ours.
They're overpriced, right.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Geez and stubborn if they're still sitting there.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, that's a want to sell,maybe one day, not a need to
sell.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I wanted to sell.
My goal was to get one done anddone and sold by the end of the
calendar year.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, that was it.
I always try to be in and outin three to four months, so much
less can go wrong, yes, okay.
So what did your profit end upbeing?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Right at 26,000 and change.
That's awesome, Congratulations.
The goal was to go in and wewere both in like, if we can, we
need a break even.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Okay, and now I know that you're out making other
offers, yeah, and making thingshappen, yeah, and hopefully
you'll be under contract onsomething soon.
I'm sure you will, becauseyou're making.
I'm so excited for you guys andI'm just, yeah, I'm just
sitting over here cheering y'allon because you're out there
doing it.
You're just doing it and you'remaking moves and you're doing.
(24:32):
You're not just talking, you'rejust doing.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I'm doing and I'm very slowly building my team.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, here's the thing about team Like it.
It it evolves.
If your team can look like thisone day and it can look like
that the next day or the nextproject, it's.
It's a very fluid and it'salways kind.
Of people come in and out andthey might come back later.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Right, and you know, trying to find the contractor
that's.
You know that we're going to beable to work with really well,
and I really liked the othercontractor, but and we got by
the end where we were able tocommunicate a lot better.
But, um, like, but what if Iwanted it this way?
You know, I don't want this tohelp, yeah, so, yeah, well, the
(25:27):
first one I was fine because Ididn't know, but now I have a
better idea.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, well, that's the thing you did, your first
one in a way that makes you wantto do another one.
Yeah, and you made money.
And I made money, like come on,that's awesome.
Yeah, yeah, um, what were someof your?
Did you have some fears goinginto it?
Yeah, like so.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, like so Losing money, Right Cause you have to
borrow money, which I'm a lotmore comfortable with that.
Like I don't want to use all ofmy money, I don't want to be at
zero in the bank account, soI'm okay borrowing money, you
know.
And it was 12%, yeah, but likeyou always said, it's, that's 1%
(26:12):
a month, I don't need thatThree, four months?
That's.
That's not right.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
That's not exactly.
Thank you, I'm so glad oneperson gets that Nothing.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Well, I talked back to you so, but but yeah, I mean
that that's that's not much.
You know I can handle that.
So, but losing money, becauseof our history, With the first
one losing money was a big oneand then Then, once we got, we
got a lot of money and when wegot a lot of money.
(26:50):
We were like okay, we need tolist it.
Then I freaked out a little bitwhat if it doesn't sell?
Yeah, because there was a lotof houses that were sitting but
they were priced wrong or they.
There was nothing done to themfrom from what they were, they
were priced wrong, right?
So when we listed it, weactually listed it for sale and
rent at the same time.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, Just in case so , and I really didn't want to
lease it so, but I think that'sthat's a good point.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
So obviously you were just going to refile it into a
rental.
Yeah, yeah, I was starting tomake those phone calls and
that's, and that's why, andthat's why I kind of pushed to
have it listed for a little bitless than what she thought we
could potentially get an offeron.
And then we made a special,like I asked us like you've got
to put in the places where onlyrealtor see, like, make offers,
(27:37):
just just make me an offer.
Yeah, I'll entertain all offers, right, so that part is scary
yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
That was when it go, when you listed.
That's the.
It's the hardest part still forme.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
And it's like I don't know what are they going to do?
I don't know.
Are they going to like what wedo?
Right, are they going to makesome offers?
What's going to happen?
Kudos to you for not onlyhaving a backup strategy in
place in mine, but alreadystarting to execute it, just in
case.
Yeah, it's not like you're atmonth seven freaking out oh my
God, now put it on the rentalmarket.
(28:10):
And so now it's been sitting onthe for sale market for months
and now it's for rent.
It's like, oh my God, thisperson is straight up desperate.
And then you put an offer for$100,000 less Exactly.
Yeah, what about your husbandWas?
Was he so?
Oftentimes in a relationship,there's one person that's like
oh yeah, this is like we gotthis, we're good.
And then there's another personthat's like, oh, kind of
(28:33):
pulling back, like I'm scared,I'm scared.
Are either of you that way oryou all both kind of like it's
going to be fine, we got this.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I think we're both.
It's going to be fine.
I think I did more freaking outa couple of times than he did
and he was kind of and hedoesn't like hard money at all,
so I have to, you know.
So we balance each other outand he's been in the
construction world a lot of hislife.
Okay, but I kudos to him.
(29:02):
He made me make some of thephone calls.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Nice, good.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes, kudos to him, which was good for me, yeah, but
he did, he came and helped andyou know he and I put in those
two windows and we did a fewthings and a few things that
we've learned, that you know,time versus money, yes, and
there are things that we willnot do.
In the next one, I will pay.
I will pay Lo's to put up allthe blinds, because that's a
(29:27):
pain and a half and this cheapthose blinds.
Oh, you know, after the fact,after I spent like two or three
hours in Lo's, you know, waitingfor them to, you know me asking
questions and going back to thehouse and measuring and then
going back and having them cutit and then picking them up and
taking putting.
I like wait after that.
(29:48):
I think, wait, you charge $99to put up nine blinds.
What the heck am I doing Right?
So they will put the next ones.
Yes, yes, yes, they will comeout and measure and get it for a
hundred bucks.
Absolutely, you do it.
Yeah, like I love all of it.
(30:08):
I like being there and makingsure things are done.
Could I do some of it?
Sure, if it was my house.
Yeah, do I want to do it onthese houses?
No, I'll pay.
I'll pay somebody to do it.
They'll do it faster, moreprofessional.
I don't want to do it Exactly,I want to get it done fast.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Time is so important, especially in any kind of like
it's.
It's just so important, yeah,so important.
There's just like I saidearlier, there's so much less
that can go wrong.
Yes, In a shorter amount oftime.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Right and you know, like the whole windows thing, by
the time we finally got to me,well, first of all I had to
order them right, and then, ofcourse, one of them didn't come
in until like two weeks laterthan they said, and then it was
raining, then it was, you know,the grandkids, and then it was
raining, then it was this, andit was that, like, it took us
three weeks to get these thingsin, like, why, why, I'm paying
(31:02):
somebody else next time.
You deal with it.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Any other things, any thing we haven't talked about
that you wanted to talk about,or lessons learned, or anything
I think.
Well, I did set the one.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
like you know, stick to your number.
That spreadsheet is awesome andyou've got your max offer.
Stick to that number.
That's lesson number one, andthat's what I will definitely
implement on this one.
And then the second one, whichI've already implemented on this
one with the contractor is,instead of walking in because I
noticed, you walk a house withcontractors and they have that
(31:38):
little book in their hand, butthey hardly ever open it.
They just walk around saying oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So this time I typed up on thespreadsheet like I want, okay,
this, this, this, this, this iswhat we're doing in the kitchen,
this is what I'm doing here.
And so when I met with thecontractors with this new house,
I each gave them the same sheet.
(32:00):
And this is what we're doing,yes, yes, so I don't have colors
, I don't have those kinds ofthings, but I have.
You know it's gonna be two, notjust all white.
This time we're gonna have twocolors and you know we're gonna
put the quartz countertop andwe're gonna do this, and you
know so that, and they were bothvery grateful for that.
(32:22):
So hopefully that helps.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, I always show up with that too.
I always show up with my listCause, first of all, I'm gonna
forget, I'm not gonna remembereverything so.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
I need to have it Right.
We still forgot to talk aboutthe backsplash and then the
other things I had forgotten andI remember you talking about
that.
Some point was stupid doorstops.
Like I had to go back twice toget door stops and then at the
last minute I knew I waschanging all the door knobs
right, and at last I was like Igot to change all the hinges.
(32:54):
The hinges look crappy now thatI've changed all the doors and
stops, the door knobs, like.
So so that's in the budget forthis one, yeah, you know.
And and then the plug ins.
Like we should have changedmost of the plug ins and we
didn't Because they've lookedkind of a little bit yellow.
So I took all the plates and Icleaned.
(33:15):
I cleaned all the plates butthen some of the plug ins were
like it's too late now.
So Keep collecting all theselessons, keep collecting, yeah,
but the two big ones are, stickto your price and have a list of
you know, all those, the scopeof work that you want to get
done upfront, and those two,those two are probably the two
(33:37):
biggest things that I learnedoff that house that I wasn't
ready.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I was just like oh, okay, let's do that.
Those are great lessons.
Yeah, you did it oh so excited.
I did it Well.
I'm super excited for you guys.
Thanks for hanging out with meand thanks for sharing your
story.
Yeah, no, this was fun.
Yeah, awesome.
All right, we'll have a greatrest of your visit with your
(34:00):
daughter and your grandkids.
Thank, you.
Yeah, bye, isabel, all right,goodbye.
I know Isabel's story is goingto inspire somebody else to go
out there and do the thing, andI love that.
Now, if you want some helpdoing the thing and you want
(34:22):
somebody to give you all thesteps and show you all the
things and tell you what to doand also support you every
single day, that's exactly whatwe do inside our coaching
program and community.
So go to herfirstflipcom andfill out the application and
schedule the time to chat withour team.
(34:44):
All right, let's see how we maybe able to work together.
Okay, until next time, go outthere, flip houses like a girl,
leave people and places betterthan you find them and make it a
great day.
Bye-bye.
You're listening to the Flip Houses Like a Girl
podcast, where we educate,empower and celebrate everyday
women who are facing their fears, juggling family and business,
embracing their awesomeness andwholeheartedly chasing their
dream of flipping houses.
Each episode delivers honest togoodness tools, tips and
(00:21):
strategies you can implementtoday to get closer to your
first or next successful houseflip.
Here's your spiky hairedbreakfast taco loving host,
house flipping coach, DebbieDePiri.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hey, how's it going today?
I'm excited to share thisconversation with you that I had
with one of our flip sisters inAustin.
Her name is Isabelle and sherecently retired from teaching
and jumped into this world offlipping houses.
This is her story of her firstflip and how she made 26 grand
(01:10):
in just three months, which isjust amazing.
She's going to share with uswhat her fears were going into
it, what the issues were thatshe had to resolve and the
challenges of this specific flip.
They all have challenges.
(01:30):
Let's just get into it.
Let's hear Isabelle's story,let's go.
Let us know who you are, whereyou are, what you're up to in
the world, what you used to do,what you do now that sort of
thing.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
My name is Isabelle.
I live in the Austin area inTexas, just north of Austin.
I am a newly retired teacher.
Taught all my life middleschool, high school and I just
retired last night and startedthis program last April.
Actually, that's what I do now.
I'm looking for houses.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Okay, so how long were you a teacher?
33 years, wow, were you alwaysin the Austin area.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
No, yeah, pretty much actually, except for the first
three years.
I was at UT as a graded studentand then in the Round Rock and
then, yeah, always in this area.
That's so cool, yeah, so thisis the first school year where I
don't have to worry about aschool calendar ever.
I'm not entirely lucky.
(02:39):
I've always been either astudent or a teacher, always,
ever.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
What was that transition like?
Was it easy or was it like howdo I fill my time?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It was easy in the summer because it's the summer,
right.
But then about mid-September,about the end of September, when
school would be in Ann, maybefor four or six weeks, that's
like, oh wait a minute.
But then by then we were in ourfirst house, so we got busy.
So it was good yeah nice.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And is your husband retired also?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
He's still not retired, pretty much Nice.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Nice, y'all are just in your sunset years here doing
your thing, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So yesterday something came up like hey, you
want to go down there, let'sjust go.
And then we went, love it.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And we'll go home today sometime, whenever that
freedom is beautiful, nice, yeah, okay.
So you were a teacher, you werein the Austin area, and what
made you interested in flippinghouses?
So?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
that's something we've always wanted to be All
right, some kind of real estateof some sort.
At some point we actually didone flipped a house about five,
six years ago, which was a verybig learning experience.
And so once I decided that Iwas kind of getting ready to
(04:02):
retire it's like I needsomething to fill my time and
then I was kind of lookingaround and I totally stumbled on
your program, just totally bychance.
So I guess I was looking toomany real estate stuff and then
your ad came up, what they doyou know, and then yeah, and I
just it was just like somethingwe've always been interested in
(04:24):
and kind of kicked ourselves forabout doing 20 years ago you
know stuff, now we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, now's the next best time, right?
Yes, okay, so you joined andtell me about your first, the
first flip you did with us.
How did you find it?
So we found it in the MLS.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Okay, so the timeline is kind of interesting.
So we found it, so I got in theprogram in April and then I
decided to retire, and so then Iput everything on pause until I
could get through the whole endof the year, school, all that
mess, and then I got back intoit.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Wait, can I interrupt ?
So you didn't know you wereretiring yet?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
No, I had not decided I was retiring at that point.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Oh wow, Interesting Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Cool.
Okay, that's a whole otherstory in itself.
Yeah, that would be a wholeother conversation, okay, but
yeah, so I joined the program.
Then, not long after that, Isaid I was retiring in the year
school and put everything onhold a lot of things to do
actually when you retire,especially when you decide that
in April.
And I liked to do things likejust I'm like, okay, I'm doing
(05:40):
it now, that's it.
So we started, I started lookingin Jean, I really got into the
bodgers and stuff and startedlooking and around the first
part of July decided, okay, Ineed to look at houses.
So we went, looked at severaland came across this house and
that's like you know, I likethis house.
It was full of things where youcould not see the floor, you
(06:05):
could not see a lot of the walls, it was not like junk, I mean,
it was not like animals andstuff like that, it was just a
lot of stuff.
And so we went and looked at it.
And then we went and looked atit again.
Then we went and looked at itagain with a contractor, went
and looked at it again with adifferent contractor and finally
(06:28):
got nervous.
I was like, okay, I got himwith an offer and I made an
offer and I was pretty muchright away I said no, we're not
going for that, like okay, fine,and then kept looking.
So that was.
So we looked at the house firstof July, made an offer in the
July and the guys said no, Isaid fine, and so then we
(06:51):
started, you know, lookingaround for more houses, whatever
.
And then about in of August myagent calls back and said hey,
you know that house.
They call back, said is yourbuyer still interested?
Sure, I am.
So, yeah, yeah.
(07:11):
So we made the offer again andfor actually so the original
offer was 300 in July and theycame back in August and said
would you revive both for threetan?
I'm like okay, we'll one forthree tan.
And then got an inspector inthere and then, as you know, by
(07:32):
the end the market was kind ofdoing its thing and so the ARV I
felt had changed.
So when we first looked at it,you know last May, probably put
a sale to 500.
By the time in July we decided,you know, like closer to 480,
and then by the end of August,like 460, like it's going down
(07:53):
right.
And so the inspector came in.
There was a few things, nothingmajor.
But that gave me an opportunityto say, hey, I can't do three
tan, and so I said the ARV.
You know, I had a longconversation with my realtor and
the agent I was working withand back and forth, back and
forth, I said so I lowered myoffer, and then we went back and
(08:16):
forth and then we finallyagreed on 295.
Then that's what I bought itfor Nice.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
And okay.
So when you bought it, you werethinking ARV 460.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
When we bought it in, yeah, for the August, yeah,
when we actually went through itwas 460.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, okay, so you got it for 295.
Okay, so what were you thinkingthe repairs were gonna be?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
So my first bid was right at 50, give or take couple
of hundredths.
But then that didn't include,you know, like the ceiling fans,
all the hardware, you know thetoilets, all that stuff.
And I was like, wait, whatYou're not taking care of that
part I have to.
So then I added all that up.
You know like okay, 60, 60 iswhat we put in the spreadsheet.
(09:04):
I put 460 for the ARV, I put 60for the rehab, so that was my
number, and then 295 for buying.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Okay, Okay.
So when did you close on it?
September, September 14th, Okay.
And how did you finance it?
Hard money, Okay.
Did you finance the purchaseand the renovations?
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yes, cool.
So they did 85% of my totalcost buying and rehab.
Now, the rehab that I put inwith the HTML, I only put 54 in
their numbers, Okay, and therest of it I knew was gonna come
out of my pocket, Got it okay,so you, just you guys floated
(09:51):
the balance.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yes, okay.
Okay, so this is so fun.
Okay, so you get into it.
And were there any bigsurprises?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
There were not any big surprises.
Oh, I forgot to say in ourcontract we put our stipulation
was the house had to be empty.
Yeah, because, so you know, itwas an older gentleman I
actually I don't know how old hewas, but Widow Widower and
there was a lot of stuff leftand he got it all unloaded.
(10:30):
He didn't do it, but somebody,he got somebody else to do it.
But there was like dust, likelittle.
You just take all stuff.
I mean we found a window.
There was bookshelves in frontof it.
There was an extra window inthe living room.
Yeah, I was like, oh well,there's a lot more light here.
There was a couple of windowsthat were frosted that we didn't
notice at the beginning.
We had kind of noticed one, butthere was a second one.
(10:53):
There really wasn't reallythere was a, the one we sent the
inspector.
It was on a Friday.
We sent in the inspector duringour option hearing and he got
there the water was off and sohe couldn't do the inspection,
(11:14):
so he went back.
We had a new inspection thatTuesday after the time, the
water on, and the reason thewater was off is there was a
little bit of a leak under thekitchen sink.
Oh, we'll just turn off thewater, they won't notice.
Yeah right, well, gotta have aninspection with water.
So we ended up extending theoption period about 24 hours and
(11:34):
, oh, a whole other story withthe inspection.
So got the inspection probablydone on Tuesday morning.
Tuesday night we get the reportand then like, just no, nothing
really major at all, no bigsurprises at all.
And but the air of the headchanged and I'm like we can't
pay 310,.
We have a couple of extrathings to do.
We gotta, you know, bring themthing down.
(11:55):
So on Wednesday, so our optionperiods ends at five o'clock on
Wednesday.
No, wednesday, after we gothrough it thing, we have a big
conversation with the wheelchair, whatever.
We put in an offer for 270.
Crickets all day long, and Ihad this is my lesson.
(12:19):
Number one is so we talked backand forth, right, and she's
like well, okay, 270 is youroffer.
Well, they're not going to gofor that, we don't know, right.
But I like by this time I'mreally invested in this house.
We make the offer at 270, right, crickets all day, and the, the
people that are out there.
(12:40):
So and I'm like, well, we'regoing to grow.
The number one is our, our, our, our, our, our house.
Five o'clock is our bed line,right, so like four o'clock or
it.
Like on the phone, and myhusband, tars, is out of town on
doing something, you know, I'mlike it's like I've got to make
a decision when I do.
I want this house, I want thishouse.
So right, I'd like for 15.
(13:04):
I should have stayed to my 285,but we said, okay, 295.
Okay, so we're done to 415crickets.
So at 445, like, okay, pull theplug, we're done pulling out.
And that's where I should nothave even countered my own offer
(13:25):
, right, Anyway, that's, youknow, don't do that.
So at 445, like, pull the plug.
So we pulled the plug, right,she sends me the stuff.
I sign off on it, like we'rebacking out, and then that's it
done.
And then so this is 445, right,that's probably clock is our
(13:45):
deadline.
And then 730, I get a phonecall.
She's like, guess what?
I just bust out laughing.
They had never signed on theirend.
I don't know how that works,but like we'll go if you want to
do it.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I just bust out laughing the joys of the Texas
option period.
It's so stressful.
You know what, though?
Here's the thing that deadlineused to be 1159 pm and us
realtors were the ones having todeal with right, so they
changed it to five.
Thankfully, like that was likethat was our evenings, trying to
(14:21):
get things done.
No, no, no, no, no, have aclock.
You got them down to 295.
After all of that, geez, weneed.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
So then we had a three week week.
We gave them a three weekwindow and it was not for them.
It was for me, because it wasmy first one and I needed that
breathing room of getting allthe stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think there's a fine linebetween too much time, where you
can talk yourself out of it andfreak yourself out, and too
fast, where you're feelingtotally chaotic.
There's a nice little balancein there where it's like okay,
that feels good, I feel like Ifeel prepared, I feel I've got
things lined up Like.
This feels like I don't knowabout prepared, but Quotes.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Right, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Okay, so no major surprises.
No, no, you didn't havefoundation issues, you didn't
have any plumbing issues.
You don't really have anythingmajor.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It was mostly cosmetic, it was purely cosmetic
, like the big thing we did isit had those 90s kitchen counter
, a huge kitchen, but it hadthat counter that came around
with that extra like up therebar thing, so we cut that off
and when we did that and theyput that porch countertop on
(15:35):
there, that kitchen looked twiceas big.
It was huge.
Yeah, that made a hugedifference.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Oh, I love that Nice I'm trying to think of, if I
remember the pictures, thekitchen, before I'll have to go
back in the group.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
The pictures before are just some that I took, and
there were I mean, there's acouple that were on the MLS, but
yeah, it was kind of dark too,so it was only that one, those
two neon lights not neon butwhatever and it was only one of
the tubes that were working, soit was really dark.
So we took that down and we putin let's see three recess
(16:13):
lights above the bar.
In the end, I don't know, Ithink we put seven lights in
there total, yeah, because I hadeight and the last one into the
master bathroom.
So, yeah, yeah, nice, so theymade it really bright.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah and okay.
How was it working with thecontractor you worked with?
Speaker 3 (16:36):
It was good.
So he was.
I found him through my realtor,because so the two other ones
that came in to be in one waslabor only, which he didn't form
on me about that, and then likeI don't know what to do, so
like I can't do that on this one, so he was out.
And then the second one was henever replied and so he never
(16:56):
sent me his bid.
He wanted to do all these extrathings and move this door to
over here.
Like no, no, no, no, no, no no,we're not doing it so I went
with the one.
He was fine.
So come to find out later, likewhen we're almost done, he'd
actually never worked with aninvestor before.
He had flipped houses himself,but he'd never worked with an
(17:20):
investor before and and he'smore of a commercial rather than
house but it worked because hehad done some for his himself.
So he's like, well, I know,chloe, right, so like help me,
said, well, I normally use thisquartz and these tiles and like
(17:41):
cool, that's what we're doing,done.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, how long did you think?
How much time did you a lot forthe renovation piece?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
So we had thought, you know, four to six weeks, and
it took exactly six weeks andit should have taken five.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah, was it the detail stuff at the end?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
that took a while, that last week it was like oh my
gosh, just come out bring twoguys and just get it done.
Always, always.
And I I mean I still had asubstantial amount to pay him
and I was not paying him, but hewas like just come out.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Finish, finish it.
Do the.
They don't like the details.
They love the big stuff, butthat details of finishing
touches are just like oh.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I know.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yeah, and they're the most important right.
It's like yeah, Okay, so sixweeks, so then you go on the
market in like.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
November.
It was right beforeThanksgiving.
So I also I also, on my end,totally misunderstood how much
time the the stature needed tocome and take pictures and stuff
.
So I was waiting until we weredone to call in a stature.
My welter actually takes careof the staging as part of her
(19:14):
commission.
But yeah, I was great, but Imisunderstood.
I thought, okay, once you'redone, you call me.
In.
A couple of days later she doesit.
Well, no, it's like a couple ofweeks before you're done, you
call and so she can come andtake measurements.
And it's like, oops, it workedout.
It worked out because I calledand I said, okay, we got it,
(19:35):
we're done, we like we've got toget this thing on the market.
It's just so happened that thestature had an opening, so she
came in early and like withinthe week of me calling, she was
able to stage it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
So like oh nice, yeah , you lucked out there, I looked
out very so she stage.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
She came and measured like home and like a Thursday
or something, and she actuallystage on a Tuesday.
Wednesday they took pictures,thursday was listed.
I mean it just worked out.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's amazing, yeah, that's.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
And after all of that and after the open house and
after we run the contract, wewere still in there changing the
last two windows.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Okay, so you listed just before Thanksgiving.
Yep, what was the traffic?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
like so we had an open house that Friday that I
was actually we listed the daymy grandson was born, so I was
not even there and that Saturdaythere was open house and it was
raining.
And that Sunday we had an openhouse and it was not real pretty
and I don't really know.
There was only like one or twocame in Saturday.
(20:41):
There was only like two orthree, maybe four that came in
on Sunday, but one of thosepeople was super interested.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And weekend before Thanksgiving, or was this
Thanksgiving weekend?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
Okay, because I was adamant it was going to be
listed before that week.
Okay, so the 17 is one of thestudents Got it.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Oh wow, so the first weekend there was interest.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Yep, and he started asking questions.
It's like, okay, this guy'sinterested, we need to get this
to work.
And and then we were on thecontract that Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Okay, what did you?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
listed at so I got coffee and I said no, we're not
listening it for 460 or 465,we're gonna listen for 450.
So we did we listen for 450.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Nice.
And what would?
What did you?
What was the offer that youaccepted?
Speaker 3 (21:36):
It was well what we finally accepted it.
It was 439 five Okay.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And that was the same guy.
Yep, that original that.
Did you get multiple offers?
Or was it just that one hotbuyer?
Nice, that was it.
Telling you multiple offers arehard, like one solid offer is
all I need.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Yeah, and I mean we went back and forth and then he
got real nitpicky with hisinspector, you know, and there
was some things like, okay, fine, those that should have been
done, that should have been done, we fix them all.
But there was a few things weended up having to call plumber
out to fix.
You know, at the street there'sthe meter for that, for the
city, and then there's the thing, the handle for the, for the
(22:18):
owner, and that's that reallywas my fault.
I forgot that it was, thehandle was broken and we never
fixed it.
So we ended up having to call aplumber and get that done and
everything else.
There was a few things.
There was like a plate missingon one of the plugs.
That was, you know, stupidstuff like that.
So you know, but that was it.
There was nothing else major.
(22:39):
Everything else we had told himlike this is it, everything has
to fix.
I don't know what else you want.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Done it all, Okay.
So from purchase date to thesale, the sales date.
How much time was that?
Speaker 3 (22:59):
like the day we actually closed.
Yeah, it was three months andseven days from purchase to
close.
Yeah, because then we bought itSeptember 14 and December 30.
December 21 is when we signedand we had the offer in hand
November 21.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yeah, that's amazing and we're the only ones in the
whole neighborhood that sold,like everybody.
There's still a house therethat's still on the market.
That went on about a monthbefore ours.
They're overpriced, right.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Geez and stubborn if they're still sitting there.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, that's a want to sell,maybe one day, not a need to
sell.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I wanted to sell.
My goal was to get one done anddone and sold by the end of the
calendar year.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, that was it.
I always try to be in and outin three to four months, so much
less can go wrong, yes, okay.
So what did your profit end upbeing?
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Right at 26,000 and change.
That's awesome, Congratulations.
The goal was to go in and wewere both in like, if we can, we
need a break even.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Okay, and now I know that you're out making other
offers, yeah, and making thingshappen, yeah, and hopefully
you'll be under contract onsomething soon.
I'm sure you will, becauseyou're making.
I'm so excited for you guys andI'm just, yeah, I'm just
sitting over here cheering y'allon because you're out there
doing it.
You're just doing it and you'remaking moves and you're doing.
(24:32):
You're not just talking, you'rejust doing.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I'm doing and I'm very slowly building my team.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, here's the thing about team Like it.
It it evolves.
If your team can look like thisone day and it can look like
that the next day or the nextproject, it's.
It's a very fluid and it'salways kind.
Of people come in and out andthey might come back later.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
Right, and you know, trying to find the contractor
that's.
You know that we're going to beable to work with really well,
and I really liked the othercontractor, but and we got by
the end where we were able tocommunicate a lot better.
But, um, like, but what if Iwanted it this way?
You know, I don't want this tohelp, yeah, so, yeah, well, the
(25:27):
first one I was fine because Ididn't know, but now I have a
better idea.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Yeah, well, that's the thing you did, your first
one in a way that makes you wantto do another one.
Yeah, and you made money.
And I made money, like come on,that's awesome.
Yeah, yeah, um, what were someof your?
Did you have some fears goinginto it?
Yeah, like so.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Yeah, like so Losing money, Right Cause you have to
borrow money, which I'm a lotmore comfortable with that.
Like I don't want to use all ofmy money, I don't want to be at
zero in the bank account, soI'm okay borrowing money, you
know.
And it was 12%, yeah, but likeyou always said, it's, that's 1%
(26:12):
a month, I don't need thatThree, four months?
That's.
That's not right.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
That's not exactly.
Thank you, I'm so glad oneperson gets that Nothing.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Well, I talked back to you so, but but yeah, I mean
that that's that's not much.
You know I can handle that.
So, but losing money, becauseof our history, With the first
one losing money was a big oneand then Then, once we got, we
got a lot of money and when wegot a lot of money.
(26:50):
We were like okay, we need tolist it.
Then I freaked out a little bitwhat if it doesn't sell?
Yeah, because there was a lotof houses that were sitting but
they were priced wrong or they.
There was nothing done to themfrom from what they were, they
were priced wrong, right?
So when we listed it, weactually listed it for sale and
rent at the same time.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay, Just in case so , and I really didn't want to
lease it so, but I think that'sthat's a good point.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
So obviously you were just going to refile it into a
rental.
Yeah, yeah, I was starting tomake those phone calls and
that's, and that's why, andthat's why I kind of pushed to
have it listed for a little bitless than what she thought we
could potentially get an offeron.
And then we made a special,like I asked us like you've got
to put in the places where onlyrealtor see, like, make offers,
(27:37):
just just make me an offer.
Yeah, I'll entertain all offers, right, so that part is scary
yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
That was when it go, when you listed.
That's the.
It's the hardest part still forme.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
And it's like I don't know what are they going to do?
I don't know.
Are they going to like what wedo?
Right, are they going to makesome offers?
What's going to happen?
Kudos to you for not onlyhaving a backup strategy in
place in mine, but alreadystarting to execute it, just in
case.
Yeah, it's not like you're atmonth seven freaking out oh my
God, now put it on the rentalmarket.
(28:10):
And so now it's been sitting onthe for sale market for months
and now it's for rent.
It's like, oh my God, thisperson is straight up desperate.
And then you put an offer for$100,000 less Exactly.
Yeah, what about your husbandWas?
Was he so?
Oftentimes in a relationship,there's one person that's like
oh yeah, this is like we gotthis, we're good.
And then there's another personthat's like, oh, kind of
(28:33):
pulling back, like I'm scared,I'm scared.
Are either of you that way oryou all both kind of like it's
going to be fine, we got this.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I think we're both.
It's going to be fine.
I think I did more freaking outa couple of times than he did
and he was kind of and hedoesn't like hard money at all,
so I have to, you know.
So we balance each other outand he's been in the
construction world a lot of hislife.
Okay, but I kudos to him.
(29:02):
He made me make some of thephone calls.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Nice, good.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Yes, kudos to him, which was good for me, yeah, but
he did, he came and helped andyou know he and I put in those
two windows and we did a fewthings and a few things that
we've learned, that you know,time versus money, yes, and
there are things that we willnot do.
In the next one, I will pay.
I will pay Lo's to put up allthe blinds, because that's a
(29:27):
pain and a half and this cheapthose blinds.
Oh, you know, after the fact,after I spent like two or three
hours in Lo's, you know, waitingfor them to, you know me asking
questions and going back to thehouse and measuring and then
going back and having them cutit and then picking them up and
taking putting.
I like wait after that.
(29:48):
I think, wait, you charge $99to put up nine blinds.
What the heck am I doing Right?
So they will put the next ones.
Yes, yes, yes, they will comeout and measure and get it for a
hundred bucks.
Absolutely, you do it.
Yeah, like I love all of it.
(30:08):
I like being there and makingsure things are done.
Could I do some of it?
Sure, if it was my house.
Yeah, do I want to do it onthese houses?
No, I'll pay.
I'll pay somebody to do it.
They'll do it faster, moreprofessional.
I don't want to do it Exactly,I want to get it done fast.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Time is so important, especially in any kind of like
it's.
It's just so important, yeah,so important.
There's just like I saidearlier, there's so much less
that can go wrong.
Yes, In a shorter amount oftime.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Right and you know, like the whole windows thing, by
the time we finally got to me,well, first of all I had to
order them right, and then, ofcourse, one of them didn't come
in until like two weeks laterthan they said, and then it was
raining, then it was, you know,the grandkids, and then it was
raining, then it was this, andit was that, like, it took us
three weeks to get these thingsin, like, why, why, I'm paying
(31:02):
somebody else next time.
You deal with it.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Any other things, any thing we haven't talked about
that you wanted to talk about,or lessons learned, or anything
I think.
Well, I did set the one.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
like you know, stick to your number.
That spreadsheet is awesome andyou've got your max offer.
Stick to that number.
That's lesson number one, andthat's what I will definitely
implement on this one.
And then the second one, whichI've already implemented on this
one with the contractor is,instead of walking in because I
noticed, you walk a house withcontractors and they have that
(31:38):
little book in their hand, butthey hardly ever open it.
They just walk around saying oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So this time I typed up on thespreadsheet like I want, okay,
this, this, this, this, this iswhat we're doing in the kitchen,
this is what I'm doing here.
And so when I met with thecontractors with this new house,
I each gave them the same sheet.
(32:00):
And this is what we're doing,yes, yes, so I don't have colors
, I don't have those kinds ofthings, but I have.
You know it's gonna be two, notjust all white.
This time we're gonna have twocolors and you know we're gonna
put the quartz countertop andwe're gonna do this, and you
know so that, and they were bothvery grateful for that.
(32:22):
So hopefully that helps.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, I always show up with that too.
I always show up with my listCause, first of all, I'm gonna
forget, I'm not gonna remembereverything so.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
I need to have it Right.
We still forgot to talk aboutthe backsplash and then the
other things I had forgotten andI remember you talking about
that.
Some point was stupid doorstops.
Like I had to go back twice toget door stops and then at the
last minute I knew I waschanging all the door knobs
right, and at last I was like Igot to change all the hinges.
(32:54):
The hinges look crappy now thatI've changed all the doors and
stops, the door knobs, like.
So so that's in the budget forthis one, yeah, you know.
And and then the plug ins.
Like we should have changedmost of the plug ins and we
didn't Because they've lookedkind of a little bit yellow.
So I took all the plates and Icleaned.
(33:15):
I cleaned all the plates butthen some of the plug ins were
like it's too late now.
So Keep collecting all theselessons, keep collecting, yeah,
but the two big ones are, stickto your price and have a list of
you know, all those, the scopeof work that you want to get
done upfront, and those two,those two are probably the two
(33:37):
biggest things that I learnedoff that house that I wasn't
ready.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I was just like oh, okay, let's do that.
Those are great lessons.
Yeah, you did it oh so excited.
I did it Well.
I'm super excited for you guys.
Thanks for hanging out with meand thanks for sharing your
story.
Yeah, no, this was fun.
Yeah, awesome.
All right, we'll have a greatrest of your visit with your
(34:00):
daughter and your grandkids.
Thank, you.
Yeah, bye, isabel, all right,goodbye.
I know Isabel's story is goingto inspire somebody else to go
out there and do the thing, andI love that.
Now, if you want some helpdoing the thing and you want
(34:22):
somebody to give you all thesteps and show you all the
things and tell you what to doand also support you every
single day, that's exactly whatwe do inside our coaching
program and community.
So go to herfirstflipcom andfill out the application and
schedule the time to chat withour team.
(34:44):
All right, let's see how we maybe able to work together.
Okay, until next time, go outthere, flip houses like a girl,
leave people and places betterthan you find them and make it a
great day.
Bye-bye.
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