On the first brownstone deal, you buy for a million, build for a million, and sell for 3 million — so you make a million bucks in less than a year.
Mark shares the financial structure of his first brownstone flip: buying and building for about $1.6 million total, selling for over $2.3 million. ✦ AI generated
Mark O'Brien · My First Million · 2026-07-21 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 7:58
“How much had you took a loan out?”
The numbers on the first one and the numbers back then were basically you buy for a million, bill for a million, and sell for 3 million. So, you make a million bucks. This house was 800,000. I built it for about 800,000 and I made a lot of mistakes. I sold it for like two two three or something over less than a year.
verbatim transcript · starts at 7:58
7:39I've got and I've got other projects like in Crown Heights, one over here on Jane Street that I I um act as the owner's rep. So, I don't own it, but I I you know, run the project. And then before that you were just selling real estate. >> No, but I borrowed against my house so I could buy another one. >> That's insane that you would get into
7:58this business without knowing anything about >> and at a big high level. I mean, you know, >> did it how much did you how much had you you took a loan out? What was your >> So, all right. [music] So, so the the numbers on the first one and the numbers back then were basically you you buy for a million, bill for a million, and sell for 3 million. So, you make a million
8:15bucks. So, this house was 800,000. I I built it for about 800,000 and I made a lot of mistakes. I mean, crazy. >> So, you were in for 16. >> Yeah. And I sold it for like uh two two three or something >> over how much time? >> Uh like less than a year. >> So, that's like a double, right? Is that a double or is that a home run, right?
8:36>> Uh I mean it could have been. Uh but the next one I made a million bucks. I was like >> that's a home run. >> I was like I like this. >> Okay. So, you're like I'm good. I'm good at this now. >> So, I started doing more. I did four. I would get like four going at a time. I'd buy a piece of property. I would go I'd
8:50run with my kids in a stroller, three of them. And uh I'd see an old lady. I'd be like, "I love your house. I got these all these kids. Look at these kids. I'm trying I'm always I'm looking for something a little bit bigger. I live over on Rocky Point right now. Looking for something bigger." And this [music] woman patch like, "Oh, yeah. Hi, kids." And you know, yeah. Well, give me your
9:06number. And I can I give her a number. And I would do that. I put it in mailboxes. I just It was a numbers game. >> So, it's it's kind of like boom and bust a little bit. >> Yes. Very much. And it's [music] funny. I I mean, >> does that make Does that stress you out? Yeah, but I I've I've gotten good at it. I think, you know, I do a lot of yoga.
9:21[laughter] >> I thought it was going to be like Amber [ __ ] all day and it's like fun. >> No. >> You want to go see the >> Yeah, let's hit it. [music] >> This is huge. How big is this one? >> Yeah. So, this this I bought like uh two twoish years ago. So, this has taken me way too long. >> What's the total square footage?
9:48>> So, now it's like 4500. >> Okay. So, you paid 28. How much you going to put in? >> Uh, I'm putting in 1.8. That's turning into more like 2 million. >> And what can you get for it? [snorts] >> 62. >> It's pretty slim. >> So, check this out. This is This is super cool. This I just discovered it like maybe maybe uh three months ago. I