patrick.net

The guy is an aeronautical engineer.
Maybe people should have incentives to, you know, do some work.
Instead of get rich quick schemes.

I happen to know these two young guys in the article. Sean Pan who lost $400k on his 2nd flip in Sunnyvale, and Bryan Pham who estimated to lose between $50k-$100k on his $1.1M flip.

Sean has two partners so the loss is split 3 ways. They made $300k on their first flip so it’s not too bad when the net loss of $100k is split 3 ways.

Sean is going all-in and has put in his resignation. His last day at the job is May 31st. I had lunch with Sean last month and we’ll hang out next month when he has more free time.

The same with Bryan Pham, who has a partner on his flip so the loss will be split 2 ways.

Both of these guys are great kids. I don’t like their flipping formula. It’s too aggressive for my liking, and when the market turned like last fall and winter, they were left holding the bag. They’re smart kids. They’ll figure it out and will make it all back and more. I’m willing to bet on it.

I’m much more conservative and don’t want to go for a home run by flipping million dollar homes during this part of the cycle. Here are my two flips:

1) a 2/2 condo in Union City. Paid $355k, spent just over $30k on rehab and sold for $540k within 3 months. It turned out that last spring was the peak of the market. I got lucky on that one. I thought the exit price would be $475-$500k, but the market carried me. Cleared over $100k net profit.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.redfin.com/CA/Union-City/109-Camino-Plz-94587/unit-139/home/1175911/amp

2) a 3/1 in San Leandro. Paid $435k, spent just shy of $50k on rehab and sold for $610k this spring. Cleared $70k net profit.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.redfin.com/CA/San-Leandro/15306-Dewey-St-94579/home/1381961/amp

I’ll share my current flip once it’s closed if anyone is interested. Just got into contract last week. Expect to close next month. I’m just an average Joe who is trying to make some spending money on the side. My main gig is in apartment investing in downtown San Jose. That’s a much more profitable gig. We’re looking at making $400-$800k equity per deal. However, we only do one to two deals per year as good deals are hard to come by.

It’s not all gravy, but it’s not all bad. Some make money and some will lose money. It’s just the nature of the biz.

Thank you for a very well written story about "flipping!" I live in Mountain View, which when I was young, was, according to my Dad, "the most densely packed region in the United States. Packed with what, you ask? Ha! I like keeping people in suspense and sorta dragging things out. OK, if you've read this far--Apartments! By dragging it out, well, I kinda hoped to give emphasis to APARTMENTs! Hmmm, looking back ... maybe I shoulda just used ALL CAPS?!

OK! Next to the Bank of America, within a short walk of where I live, they (the stupiidheads running Mtn. View) are building a HUGE apartment complex, It covers 2 whole blocks and is 3 stories high. Ha! And across the street from Klein Park, they have almost completed 250 chicken coops for (my guess is H1-B visa ppl) Idon'tknowwho! And I guess a "developer" bought the Chevy's Restaurant (which I ate at frequently) and is turning it into more apartments.It is easier for me to walk to the WalMart than to drive, on accounta the parking lot is always full. The traffic around Mtn. View is terrible.

I sense a "Gold Rush" mentality and fear it ain't gonna end well.


www.vMKNUylmanQ

Your cautious approach sounds better than swinging for the fences.

Actually, I talked to a Mtn. View govt. person and suggest that they build a HUGE Hong Kong type skyscraper on the Google campus and be done with it.

A friend brags that his house in Mtn. View is worth over 2 million. I keep telling him that he should sell and move to Nevada and invest his profits in either NVDA or GBTC. But he won't listen to me :)

Hey, you sound like a nice guy. I do wish you luck :)

PS: Why do they build all the chicken coops within 3 ft. of the sidewalk. A setback of 10 feet would look so much nicer. OK, it's rhetorical, I know the ans: GREED!