There is a reason Buyers Club Live case studies always hit. Real investors. Real numbers. Real lessons.
On a recent Buyers Club Live call, Riley Schobel and Audrey Schoem walked through one of their most recent flips: a large Florissant property that turned out to be one of their easiest projects and one of their strongest outcomes. What started as a cosmetic rehab on a busy road became a fast-moving sale with real buyer demand.
The deal at a glance
| Location | Florissant, MO |
| Property | 4 bed, 3.5 bath, roughly 2,300 sq ft |
| Strategy | Cosmetic rehab, no gut |
| Conservative ARV | $350,000 |
| Final sale price | $370,000 |
| Over asking | $20,000 |
A cosmetic flip with big potential
Riley and Audrey picked the house up with a conservative plan, knowing it sat on a busy road. The layout, the large fenced backyard, and the overall condition gave them confidence anyway.
They modeled the deal around an ARV of $350,000, stayed close to their rehab budget, and sold for $370,000. That gap between a conservative model and the actual result is the whole story here.
Watch the full conversation
Riley and Audrey walk through the whole project on Buyers Club Live: the numbers, the finish choices, and what went sideways.
Why this deal worked
The biggest reason: it was mostly cosmetic. The roof was new, the windows were newer, and several major systems had already been updated. That let them put the budget into finish work instead of surprises.
If you are financing with a hard money loan, that distinction matters more than almost anything else. Short-term money is priced for speed, so the fewer unknowns behind the walls, the better your numbers hold.
Instead of gutting the property, they focused on the updates with the biggest visual return:
- Refreshed kitchen finishes, the kind Premium Kitchen & Bath supplies at investor grade
- Updated bathrooms
- New flooring, an area Evans Flooring handles for a lot of local investors
- Fresh paint throughout
- Trim work
- Select window replacement
- Design upgrades that made the house feel finished rather than flipped
The design details helped it sell
Audrey brought a real design eye to the project, and it showed. Small choices matter most when buyers have options: accent walls, trim, backsplash, cabinet upgrades, clean finish work. Those are what separated this house from the typical quick flip down the street.
You do not need to be a designer yourself to get this right. An interior designer like Ricco Design, a stager like Eclipse Staging, or a listing photographer like Property Flix can carry that load on a flip where presentation is doing the heavy lifting.
The challenges they ran into
Even a smooth project is not a clean one. Riley and Audrey hit three things worth learning from:
- Permit issues late in the project. Requirements shift from municipality to municipality, and finding out at the end is expensive.
- Plumbing leaks that damaged the ceiling below. Exactly the kind of problem a sewer and drain contractor would rather catch early than repair twice.
- Financial tracking headaches from running several projects at once.
That last one gets underestimated. Once you have multiple deals open, sloppy tracking quietly eats margin you already earned.
Sold for $20,000 over asking
The house generated strong activity as soon as it listed. Plenty of traffic, multiple offers, and an accepted contract at $370,000, which was $20,000 over list.
That is what happens when you buy right, stay conservative, and execute. It is also why investors tend to want a local lender who knows the submarket and can actually move when a deal is worth moving on.
What investors can take from this flip
- Buy conservatively. Do not lean on a stretched ARV to make a deal work on paper.
- Cosmetic flips can still be strong deals. Not every profitable project needs to be a full gut.
- Details matter. Thoughtful finish quality helps a property stand out and sell faster.
- Know your municipality. Permit requirements vary and they will find you eventually.
- Stay organized. Once several deals are live, tracking is a profit issue, not an admin issue.
Build your team before you need it
Every trade in this story is one that flippers scramble to find mid-project. The Buyers Club Vendor Team is our vetted list of local lenders, contractors, suppliers, property managers, and service providers, put together so you are not searching for a plumber at 7pm on a Friday.
Vendors relevant to a rehab like this one: Premium Kitchen & Bath for cabinets, Evans Flooring for hardwood and LVP, Martens Painting, Ricco Design for interiors, Eclipse Staging, Property Flix for listing photos, and Warrior Sewer and Drain for plumbing.
Working on a flip that needs funding? Bring us your next deal and we will look at the numbers with you.
Want the full vendor list? See the Buyers Club Vendor Team.
Want to sit in on the next call? Join Buyers Club Live, Wednesdays at noon.
