My first deal as a buyer is a cosmetic flip and I picked the hardest market I could find

The part that's never written a check this big is the part worth listening to. I co-own a quarter of a mixed-use building in Karachi through a family syndication, never set foot in it, and the number that wrecked our first year wasn't the carry cost we modeled. It was an 11-week delay between scope-complete and tenant-ready that nobody budgeted for. Ninety days in Torrance with permits and any one subcontractor going dark is a tight window.

The carry is real but honestly the points are what bite first-timers more than anything else because you've already spent that 14,300 before a single contractor shows up. I did a cosmetic in Hawthorne in 2021, thought I had 60 days of cushion baked in, permit for the electrical panel swap took 11 weeks because the inspector kept kicking it back, and I burned through an extra 5,400 in interest I hadn't modeled. Torrance comps move fast but they also get picky fast, and buyers in that pocket notice if the kitchen faces don't match the hardware on the new doors. Your 48k scope is tight for that market if anything comes back once you open walls, even cosmetic flips in older ranch stock find surprises.