Mary Derman

Got Your Back Real Estate Group, LLC in Oak Forest, IL

Mary Derman with Brynn McNicholas,Zachary Shuta

This rehab deal came to us via a high equity direct mail campaign. The first visit to the property we immediately knew there was potential for the property. There were hardwood floors under the carpet, the layout was desirable, the siding and roof were recently done by the seller, etc. We completed the walk through with a vision similar to that of our other projects - gut kitchens & baths, take down the wall to create an open concept, remove paneling in the basement, etc. We planned for a $65k rehab. As we met with the sellers, we offered them $100k for their home. Not to our surprise, they were shocked at the low offer. It was a pleasant conversation but we realized that our number was not near their number. While leaving, they disclosed their number was $160k, but again with the rehab we mapped out this was not our number. Immediately following the meeting, we reviewed the comps and data one more time. Something clicked in that second review of the data. The house was already in great shape and similar looking as-is properties were selling around $200k. We re-strategized and had to decide what our offer price would be if we spent less than $5k on the home to clean it up and put it right back on the market. We approached the seller one more time and negotiated a purchase price to $140k. They accepted and we closed in 3 weeks! Because we were doing things differently, we decided to be the contractors on this project. We painted some rooms, ripped up the carpets & refinished the floors, and freshened up the powder room. $4500 and 3 weeks later we were back on the market. We wanted to sell anywhere between $185-205k and after 8 market days we were under contract for $205k...AS-IS! The total project length from close to close was a little less than 4 months with an overall net profit of $22k. Biggest lesson learned here - NOT ALL REHABS ARE CREATED EQUALLY! This experience has allowed us to approach projects with different visions to help bring solutions to sellers and new opportunities to our business.