We closed on our first fix & flip here in the Tampa area in October (we’ve done one before years ago in GA). We also have two rental properties in north Florida, but for this investment we wanted to do something different. Our goal was to get it back on the market within 30 days. My husband has big goals. Unfortunately, if you’ve ever watched other house flipping shows on HGTV, things happens that sometimes slow down the process. It actually took us an extra 4 weeks because of a few things:
- It was hard finding the right contractor or just a great person to do what we needed. Either they didn’t want the job or they were too expensive, so somethings we ended up doing ourselves. A tip: Find a good contractor before you close on the property. When you start looking after you close, that bites into you time.
- Wrong measuring. When we removed a few things and bought new items, we learned upon installation that they were measured incorrectly and we had to reorder new items. Thank God Lowe’s took back the wrong items. Tip: Measure, measure and measure again. Also, you also might want to measure once you remove the actual piece (cabinet, tub, etc) because sometimes things could be a little off. Check to see if what you need is even still sold. We needed a certain size door but the house was so old, they didn’t make those sizes anymore.
- Holidays & trips. People seem to slow down in November so that was a time delay plus my husband and I went on a 5 day trip to Mexico in October, then a weekend trip to Alabama which also delayed work. Tip: Even if you plan to go out of town, if you have a trusted contractor, you can give him access to the house while you’re out so work can still get done.
- Unforeseen mishaps. One day we came to the property and a big chunk of the ceiling in the garage had fell in! We don’t know why, but we had to fix it. That wasn’t in the plan or budget, but it had to be fixed. Tip: Keep a buffer of $10k – $20k for unforeseen mishaps, we didn’t spend that much on the ceiling repair but you just never know what could happen.
Overall, the experience wasn’t bad. The house was actually only 10 minutes from our home, so we could go back and forth quickly. The worst part of the house was the smell and how filthy it was. The previous owners had 3 dogs, cats, 3 big birds (with 3 different cages), and 2 ducks. The smell of that house stopped you at the door. Not to mention the bird boop everywhere. The house was dirty and out of date. It really just needed a GREAT cleaning and a refresher. My husband saw the vision, because I didn’t initially want to do it. After I thought about it, I agreed the time is now. If not now, then when.
After 8 weeks, we completed the job and it went on the market right before Christmas. Here are a few are the before & after pictures. And here’s the listing, if you want to purchase it too!
