It was a spur of the moment thing. I saw a townhouse in a familiar development (we also own a rental property in this development). I quickly sent off an email to my real estate agent to try to view it that night. She was game. We both were a little hesitant because it was a HUD property – something neither of us had considered before. I called Rob and he met me there on his way home from work. What we found was nasty carpet, scuffed up walls, and the overwhelming smell of nicotine. That same nicotine was literally seen in drip marks down some of the walls. We could hardly breathe, but we all saw potential. We decided that night to bid on the property. I remember telling Rob that most likely we wouldn’t get it anyway so don’t worry.

The email I got the next morning congratulating me on my winning bid sent me into a fit of laughter.

The Fox Point Townhouse was my first go at buying a property for the sole purpose of flipping it. For years, we’ve been buying or building houses with potential and living in them while we tweaked, painted and redid. But this time was the first time I had no intentions of living in the space. At night, I slaved over spreadsheets and timelines and shopping carts. I had it planned down to the day. I knew I’d be doing a lot of work myself. The only things I hired out were the paint, replacing the carpet and the granite. I ripped up carpet, I layed laminate. I stained cabinets, I tiled floors, I soaked and bleached blinds.

It took me about a month to transform the place into a sleek modern townhouse. I was within my budget and excited for a quick turnaround! We listed the townhouse in December. First mistake. Who wants to buy and move in December? I think because of this initial mistake, it took a price reduction and until March to off load it. My initial profit estimates were a little off, but I still made about a 15% return on my investment in 4 months. Off to the next!