First Flip Profit of 28k While Working Full-Time

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 and wholeheartedly chasing their dream of flipping houses. Each episode delivers honest to goodness tools, tips and strategies you can implement today to get closer to your first or next successful house flip. Here's your spiky hair to breakfast taco loving host house flipping coach Debbie DeBerry!

Debbie: 

Hey there, thanks for hanging out with me today. So I'm really excited to share this conversation with you. I know I say that every time but they are all really good conversations. This one is with dorray, one of our flip sisters in Tennessee. She is taking us on her first flip journey. And she's sharing all the things that we always want to know, right? How she found the deal, how she financed it, the problems that came up, how she solved them, the profit she made, which was outstanding, all of those things. But the biggest thing you're gonna get here is one of the best pep talks anybody has given us on this podcast. All right. If you don't walk away from hearing this episode, totally inspired. And knowing that yes, you freaking can, then guess what, you've got to listen to it again. And you've got to turn up the volume. Because this is pure fire here. All right, let's just jump into the conversation with Doray. Here we go. So how about we just start with you telling us a little bit about you like where are you? What do you do for a living? What made you want to flip houses, that kind of thing.

Dorray: 

Hello, my name is Dorray. And I'm from Jackson, Tennessee. And I work for manufacturing facility. I'm a designer, Bill material. Mechanical though, and electrical. But I'm not an engineer, just a designer. And I remember that. I'm going to show my age. Back in 1984. We bought this house for $27,000. It had holes in the floors and old windows. It was built in 1929. Wow. And we've lived in that. Because we've just gotten married, we didn't have any money. We lived that way for seven years, you know. And then we put about 25,000 in it. And we lived in it for another you know, 15 years. And I sold it for 75,000. But I loved it. I was like oh my god, I love doing this. We just took this beautiful little house it you know, I saw it as a beautiful house even with the holes in the floor. Okay, right? Yes. And it just was, you know, I was like, Oh, this is wonderful. So then I bought the house I'm living in now with the intention of flipping it. But I didn't get to because my sister and my mother needed a place to live. So we live in it and got it. And but when I saw your program, you know, come over the dice book. I was like, This is my chance. I'm gonna learn how to do this. And yeah, here I am. It's taken me a little longer to go through the program because I'm, you know, working full time. But do in the house. It was just like, I love this. You know, I was stressed out. I'm not gonna lie to you,

Debbie: 

for sure. I mean, yeah. It's stressful.

Dorray:

Because it's a learning experience. You know, when you go into a new job, you have to get to know the ins and outs and all of things but with your program, you gave me a better training manual than I could have ever dreamed of having and the step by step. So I'm going through it again. Right now I have another house I'm looking at, and I'm gonna walk with the contractor Monday and see what I can do.

Debbie:

Okay, so you recently closed on the sale of your first flip.

Dorray:

Yes, I did. Tuesday afternoon. 

Debbie:

Congratulations on that. That's huge. So let's talk about how it went. How did you find Okay, wait, when did you close on the purchase?

Dorray:

I closed on the purchase of it January 14.

Debbie:

Okay. And how did you find it?

Dorray:

Okay, so, I was looking for a realtor. Jody is her name and she's been around for years and she's called the coach realtor. Yeah, she's big into basketball and everything. So I knew her very cool back when my daughter was playing softball. And anyway, so I, you know, called her up, talk to her and went the other office. And then, you know, just like within the day, she called me, she said, this house, do you wanna go look at it? And I said, Yeah, well, it was actually Saturday morning. And I said, Yeah, sure. She said, Well, you know, I'm out and about get breakfast, you know, do you want to just meet up with me and get the keys? And I said, yeah. So I went in the house was in a nice little neighborhood convenient to a lot of things. But it had been vacant for several years, because the the people, you know, the lady had a stroke, and they had to move to Texas, close to her family. And then it had got, well, you know, they were having upkeep to it, you know, like spraying and everything, but it had termite damage. So I went in there, and I looked at it and then my contractor looked at it and a termite. I didn't know this. There's two different kinds of termites. And the I got lucky the one that I that we had was just soft, they like soft materials. So it was mostly just the baseboards that they ate away at. Nice. Okay, well, that's like cosmetic Yeah, but we still had to take you know part of the wall out to make sure that the the studs and baseboards and everything, you know, the what do you call it? So sailboard weren't that were damaged? You know, so we did that we did that whole house, a whole parameter and did that. And then, when I went in and looked at the house, it's a small house. It was dark and dingy. It like had one little wall in the living room and, and a door and I was like, oh my god, this is so like a dungeon to me. Yeah. So right off the bat. I was like, we've got to get some light in here. Yeah. So I had windows put in. And, you know, we one of the things like, you talk about those surprises that you have, uh huh. So one of the surprises was that the air conditioner did not work at all, but the heat did. Okay, so I ended up having to replace I replaced the whole thing. And but it wasn't bad. It was like a $5,000 because it's a smaller house. And it had the duck work and everything. So that was $5,000. But that kind of ate away at my budget because I wanted new cabinets and everything you know, but that was okay. I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna roll with this. You know, what, what can I do? What can you know, because I believe in improvising and adapting to whatever your situation is. So don't let it get you down. As Okay, I'm going to paint these cabinets and I'm going to put a new countertop in and new appliances. We're going to you know, clean this up. We put new floors in. And it just it was a beautiful little house anyway, you know, so this was like a cosmetic, you know, but for a first flip. Awesome. It was awesome. Yeah.

Debbie:

So your was it listed on the MLS? Or was it not listed yet? And it was something your realtor knew about?

Dorray:

It was not listed yet. She knew about it because she's actually sold the people the house originally back in 1994. So yes,

Debbie:

Yes. That's why relationships are important, right? Yes, yeah. Not just everything on the MLS but your Realtors no other things sometimes. Exactly. Yeah. Okay, so you bought it on January 14. What did How much did you pay for it?

Dorray:

I paid 100,000 for it. Okay.

Debbie:

Now, when you first got into it, what were you expecting? What are what had you planned for the renovation cost to be?

Dorray:

I was oh, well, I was thinking 30,000 And I did go more. But there was okay because it turned out great. So So

Debbie:

okay, it was initially 30k What did you end up spending?

Dorray:

I spent about 42.

Debbie:

Okay, and part of that was a $5,000.AC surprise

Dorray:

Yes. But it was okay.

Debbie:

And then you had some termite damage?

Dorray: Yeah, no, the termites were gone. The termites. It already had a termite letter. I mean, a termite contract on it

Debbie:

Oh, got it. You just had to do the repairs. Yeah, got it. Any other big surprises?

Dorray:

ell, when I first went into the house, I didn't realize that that, you know, I walked out in the yard around here in West Tennessee, you know, it's not surprising that the the yard is wet, especially during the wintertime. But then the more I looked at it, the more I looked at it, after I, you know, had bought it, it was like too much water. Okay, so we, we what we did one of the last things we did I know you say do the yard first. But it was wintertime, we dug a dry well, what you call dry will, so that the water will go into the dry? Well, you know, so it will collect there. Oh God instead of and then we covered it with gravel, because when you go in, when we would go in and out of the gate, it was muddy as like the water is just standing there, you know. So anyway, but that's what I can afford. And that's what we did. You know, tried to remedy it. Yeah. So yeah.

Debbie:

How much does something like that cost? 

Dorray: 

Well, all told what I what I did, because he did the whole landscaping everything for me. You know, mulching and pulling out trees and cutting down trees. I spent about 3000. But usually when I looked at a how much it would normally cost. It's usually like 75 to $90 an hour for somebody to do that. But I didn't go there with him. I just said hey, look, this is what I want. Done. Yeah. And how much are you going to charge me?

Debbie:

Three grand for all of that. That's pretty good deal. Yeah, yeah. I feel like that's pretty fair.

Dorray:

Yeah, yeah. And he did some painting for me. It's nice that so yeah, I was like, Cool.

Debbie:

Yeah. That works. Okay, so. Any other surprises?

Dorray:

Yeah. Well, when we did have one surprise, the really, it didn't surprise me. I kind of figured it was gonna happen. But in the back room bedroom, where I think the termites were getting in, you know, there. The whole wall, the whole back wall. And it had one of those ceilings that it didn't have sailing, you know, it just goes up in the arches of the ceiling. Yeah. When we went in there, we that hole, all the studs had to be repaired in that wall. Okay. And, and I think what causes that a lot of people don't think about it, when you let grow vines and stuff grow on the side of your house, they will get in there and eat away. And so that, you know, that's what happened. So we repaired all those the beds and, but really, nothing more. No more really horrible surprises. Actually. I just feel so blessed.

Debbie:

Right, right, right.

Okay, so how long were you planning initially for the renovations to take? How long did you give yourself? Before putting it back on the market? Were you were you anticipating?

Dorray:

Well, I, I was thinking, Okay, this is gonna take it could take six months, because you recommend your first one to be at least six months. But, you know, it didn't take me six months, because, you know, he just my contractor was wonderful. He just went in there and he started doing

Debbie:

well. What I do with the six months is people know, I recommend not that it takes six months, but to at least use six months in the deal analyzer. Right? Because most people are like, oh, yeah, two months in and out. And then like, oh, let's be on the safer side. And let's use six months. Yeah, and you sell sooner, you just got a bonus. Exactly. But if you don't, yeah, if you have to use that six months, you've already accounted for it and you're not going to be stressed out and freaking out. So yeah, that's why I say the six months to be more conservative because a lot of people are like, oh, yeah, two months, it'll be totally fine. I'm like, oh, let's not do that. Okay, so, how long did the renovation part take?

Dorray:

Okay, so he started like, right away. And we finished trying to think we finished, right. Actually, I was finishing the day I put it on the market. I don't even know what day that was. I don't remember what that day was, but it was May. Yeah, it was the beginning of May. So we went from January 14 to like the first week of May.

Debbie:

Okay, Okay, nice. Okay, that's good to me. So then you put it on the market and Well, let me ask this. How did you feel when the project was completed? And you're about to put it on the market for sale? How what were you feeling?

Dorray:

I was anxious because I was thinking, okay, so I based it on this after repair value. And but everybody, like I said, family, family is crazy, you know? Oh, you have to ask 200,000 for this house, you have to ask, I would ask to 20 You know, and I was like, I was like, you, you have to realize the neighborhood you're in. And, you know, there's so many other factors that are in there. And so they were bombarding me with that. So, you know, I was stressed out anyway, but I calm down totally when I talked to my realtor. And she really was leaving it up to me what I wanted to ask for it, but I was like, Well, I don't want to underprice it because it's beautiful. Yeah, you know, and but I don't want to overprice it, because I don't want to knock those people out that could afford it, you know, so I need to be realistic about it. And I even put it on the market for less than the after repair value. Because I was like, Okay, if, you know, I do get offers, it'll probably be up there where I want it to be. And lo and behold, it was like 10,000 over. And so I was like and, and that was also a strange thing was like I got 13 offers, and they were all really close to that same price. So I took the I took the easy one, the full cash offer no appraisal, no inspection, you know, they waived all of that. And, and I said, No, I need to take that. So I took it, you know, you said take it, so I did.

Debbie:

Yeah, yeah. So what did you list it out?

Dorray:

I listed it at 180 490. No, no, I'm sorry. Excuse me. 174. Nine. And I got 180 494

Debbie:

got it nice. Really like oh my gosh

Dorray:

whoa, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So the interesting thing that I, you know, my realtor she's experienced and everything. So I had 13 offers within 24 hour period. And we went over each and every offer and this one, she was like, she was explaining to me all the different, what each of the different offers meant. And, of course, I got one offer for 190,000. But they wanted like 8000 in closing. And she said, I'm not sure you really want to try that one. Because it seems like they probably may not be able to get that money, and you're gonna end up going back and forth with them. So this kind of cash offer was actually for the way they wrote it was like, you could have it based on your highest offer. Oh, right. We'll you know, we'll pay you based on your, your, your highest offer, but we won't go over 184 Nine. And so I was like she said, Well, that just his offer opened me up to get that offer. And I was like, Yay, I know the universe is saying yay. Go for it. So I did.

Debbie:

Nice, nice. Okay, so when you went under contract, was there anything that came up between contract and closing?

Dorray:

No, not not a thing. When I knew, like i i had to buy a garage door opener with two remotes on it because the one that I had in there got messed up. And I never terrible. I didn't have time, but I didn't go in there put it in, you know. And so I when I was at closing, I said well, I didn't fasten the dishwasher. I know you say don't do this. I didn't fasten the dishwasher and it was in it was installed. But I was afraid I was gonna mess up the cabinet's because I didn't know how to do the clips. And the lady said, you know, we don't care you know, I said the clips are there the remotes there everything is there in the drawer next to the stove. I just didn't get to it. And she's like, Oh, we don't care we're gonna have our handyman come in and do it anyway, but thank you so much for leaving it in the drawer, you know, so I'm telling off on myself. But I won't do that again. I'm gonna make sure you know because in my mind, I keep saying the details right the details, the details. I love it, but I love it. I love it. Anyway, it turned doubt good. It turned out good. Yeah.

Debbie:

So okay. January to June. So, six months? Yeah. Yeah. A little less a little less than six months. Nice. Okay. Now, you bought it for 100k you put 42 into it. Oh, wait, the financing. How did you finance it?

Dorray:

Okay, so interesting thing back in back when all of this real estate stuff was happening my next door neighbor sold his house like in three days for over 100 that $100,000 Over there what he paid. So I knew my house had some equity in it. So I went and you know, per your program, you said hey, go to the bank and see what your options are. So I went to the bank. And I asked them, hey, you know, I want to try for a HELOC. And they came out and they appraised it. So I got I have a $70,000 HELOC. And the way I financed it was I went to a yeah, my local bank, an investment bank. And she was very sweet and very kind. And you know, I filled out the paperwork and everything like you said, do your homework. And when the House came up, I called her up and I said, Hey, you know, I'm interested in this house and I need a letter, you know, a finance letter saying that I'm good for what she saw. Okay, I'll get that for you. Well, she knows the realtor really well. So she just faxed it over there, too. I didn't really have to do much anything, you know, except for closing and yeah, that was it. Yeah. So

Debbie:

you use like a local bank for the nice,

Dorray:

right. So I purchased it and I use my HELOC for my downpayment. Nice and my rehab. So it's all you know, and when I got that check is day before yesterday, I took it and I put it in the bank. And now I'm today I'm gonna go pay off everything and have my little check. Nice.

Debbie:

So what will your profit be?

Dorray:

I still have a couple of little bills I have to pay but I am estimating I will walk away with $28,000

Debbie:

Not bad. Not bad at all. Wow. That's a safe team person. Almost. Yeah, about 50% profit. That's amazing. Congratulations. 

Dorray:

Thank you. Awesome. Yeah. And what? What can you do to make that extra money in? You know, in your year? Yeah. So I'm like, my sister are like, well, we need to do more houses, you know, because I want that free life where I'm not chained to a desk and you know, yeah, yes, I do. You know, I do know my why my why? Yeah. Yep. Go see my grandchildren whenever I want to come to Disneyland.

Debbie:

Yes. That's Those are good wise, right there. Yeah. Yeah.

Dorray:

So what I did, you know, one of the things that I did learn, you know, I, you know, you say, Go walk properties with contractors and stuff. And I didn't, I only walked with one contractor. And you know, I really honestly being in the business that I'm in. And usually I always get three quotes, you know, maybe that's just your best, but I didn't take the time to do that. And because I actually had the house, I didn't close on the house till January 14, but I had since December 14, to go and do all that and walk all those and do all my due diligence. So I'm going back through the modules. I'm gonna do that. And make sure that yeah, it turned out to be a real bus thing. But I feel like, it could have been so much more if I would have followed your program a little closer.

Debbie:

Well, here's the thing. You want to do another flip? Right? Yes. So that's all that matters. Really, right? You do it in a way you do your first one in a way that makes you want to do another one. And everyone's looks different. And you have like the foundation, right from the program, you have all the foundations. And then when you go out and do you're gonna You learn so much more by doing like, That's right. You can learn as much as you can learn from reading and watching videos, but the doing is so crucial. And you went out and did and you learn some things and you decided, Okay, I'm gonna try this differently next time and I'm gonna, you know, I did this great. I'll do this again. Like, that's the whole point. And you did it.

Dorray:

I did it. I did it. And, but it's also Uh, you know, going through the Facebook pages and reading everybody's experiences and everything. And then the mindset, the mindset is so crucial it really, you know, like the one where you were saying, you know, unless they're doing it unless they're in there doing it. Yeah. And they don't mind giving you their opinion, you know, and then it will really, really, really take away from your confidence if you, you know, have that person. Yeah, constantly. So you by you saying, hey, unless they're doing it, you know, tell them just to go away, or just shut them off? Yeah. You know, you got to protect your mind. Yeah. And yeah, doing the thing, doing hard things and having the confidence, all of that mind. Mind exercise, you know, or, or thinking and changing your way of thinking. And building your confidence. Yeah, I can do anything. You know. It's great. It's wonderful. So

Debbie:

awesome. What did your friends and family think? Did they know you? Were? I guess they did, because you brought them in to do some work. So they knew you were doing You weren't like doing this in secret, right? What did they think about your first flip?

Dorray:

Well, all of them, you know, they're like, they are all very, very supportive. First of all, they were very supportive of me. And they all want to know how to do it. The way I feel like if they have a problem with me, this I'm not ashamed of it. And if they have a problem with it, then I really believe it's their problem, because I think I can make this work full time. You know? I have confidence.

Debbie:

Yeah. That's huge. That's huge. That's, I love hearing that. That's the goal. Full time. Yes, yeah. Yes. Do you have a timeline in mind? Or not? Really?

Dorray:

Honestly, in the next two years, probably, you know, I'm getting to the point where I need to do I need the creative outlet. I need the learning experiences. I need all of that.

Debbie:

Yeah. It's good for your brain. 

Dorray:

It really is. It’s good for your life

Debbie:

Yeah, definitely. I totally agree. Is there anything that we didn't touch on that you that you wanted to? 

Dorray:

Not honestly, that I could think of? Yeah, no, that?

Debbie:

Well, what were initially what were some of your fears? I forgot to ask that like going into this in general, what were some of your fears?

Dorray:

Well, I know that sounds crazy. But you know, it's a HELOC. And like I said, I have good equity in my house. And the fear was, Oh, my God, am I gonna lose my house? You know, I mean, it's a false fear, because, you know, we're totally able to pay, pay it. But, you know, I worry about my mother, and I'm worried about a sister because we all we're all together, you know, and never want to jeopardize that, you know, but if you don't take a chance, then you don't, you won't ever realize your dreams, you know, but they were totally supportive. So, you know, that was good. That's a good thing. Yeah. Other fears? Maybe not fears, but I have that. I don't know why complex. I don't know what you would call it, but where you compare yourself to other people. You know,

Debbie:

we all do. We're so bad about that.

Dorray:

Really is. And you know, I think you know, when I look at the beautiful work that I see some of the other ladies doing, I think, oh, you know, but then I think you know what, I can do that. I'm just yeah, I'm gonna get there. I haven't done it yet. But I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna do it. But I still compare myself hoping Oh, I'm not doing so good right now. But you know that yet? Yes

Debbie:

Yes, Means a lot.you know 

Dorray:

Don’t cut yourself off. Don't Don't sell yourself short. You can, you can really do so many more things than you allow yourself to do if you just let your fears get in the way. And so you just need to push past them. And like you said, you got to walk in the fear that it's gonna be there. Yeah, it's there. But it's a good thing. It's a good thing. Yeah,

Debbie:

yeah. That man that three letter word, yet. It's such a powerful word. Such a powerful word. Oh my gosh, this has been so awesome. Thanks for your time. Thank you for your time taking time out of your day to to hang out with me. A little bit and tell us your story. Thanks for sharing your story.

Dorray:

Okay, I hope it was. I hope it's good.

Debbie:

It's awesome. Like the cool thing is, is you will inspire people when you have no idea. Right? It's really cool.

Dorray:

That's awesome. You made me feel so good. Thank you.

Debbie:

Good. Thank you. And congratulations. You did it. And keep us posted on your next one.

Dorray:

I  will. I will. Awesome.

Debbie:

Thanks for your time. Okay, thank

Dorray: 

Thank you

Debbie:

What did I tell you? Did she bring it or did she bring it? Such a great conversation? Thanks again. DeRay. That was awesome. All right. So if you're on the sideline, and you've been sitting on the sideline for a while, and you're just stuck there, but you don't want to be stuck anymore. How about seeing if we're a fit to help you on your own house shopping journey? All right. We walk you through all the steps, we do all those very obvious things. The biggest thing we do is every single day, we support you, and we guide you and we help you we are there every single day for you. All right. So if you want to see if we're a fit, go to her first flip.com and apply there. All right. Until next time, go out there flip houses like a girl. Leave people in places better than you find them and make it a great day. Bye, y'all.