The brownstone flipping economics are tight: $4.8 million in costs for a $6.2 million sale over three years yields only about $500,000 per year in income.
On his current Brooklyn project, O'Brien bought for $2.8M and will put in roughly $2M, totaling $4.8M. Selling at $6.2M after three years nets roughly $500K per year — decent income but slim margins for the risk and effort involved. ✦ AI generated
Sam Parr (host) · My First Million · 2026-07-21 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 16:28
“This place, how much did you spend on it again?”
This place, how much did you spend on it again? >> 2.8 to buy it. And then about two I'm sorry, about 2 million to build it. >> So that's 4.8 in. And you're going to sell it for what did you say? 62. >> 6 6.2. >> 6.2. And that's over 3 years, right? >> So you'll make something like $500,000 a year.
verbatim transcript · starts at 16:28
16:11profile. >> All right, I'll try. Are you goofing with me? >> Not nearly as good, but it >> was good and aggressive. You were just like right cuz you cuz you could probably do it on your skateboard. >> No. >> You know, I can't do that on my skateboard. >> No, till you try. Well, I know I can't do that. Okay, we looked at his Manhattan place. We just looked at his
16:37Brooklyn place. This place, how much did you spend on it again? >> 2.8 to buy it. And then about two I'm sorry, about 2 million to build it. >> So that's 4.8 in. And you're going to sell it for what did you say? 62. >> 6 6.2. >> 6.2. And that's over 3 years, >> right? >> So you'll make something like $500,000 a year. So if you want to buy a $6
16:57million4,500 ft², right? >> Yeah. home in Fork Ring. This place is awesome. >> Around the corner from Spike Spike Lee. >> I mean, what a good time for him. >> Deal of the century. >> All right. Thank you. Veryospitable. We're going to get our subway. All right. God bless. See you soon. >> All right. Thank you for everything. I'll talk to you a little bit. >> All right. We just got back to the
17:17office. Let's give this thing a score. >> Okay. So, I've divided this thing up by business and lifestyle because they're both important. We're going to do money, machine, and mo. And first of all, I love Mark. I'm going to hang out with Mark again. But in terms of money, this business was a pain in the butt and I don't think it made that much money. I'm going to give it a three. Basically, I
- ·$2.8M purchase + $2M build = $4.8M total cost
- ·Sale at $6.2M after three years
- ·Net ~$1.4M total, or ~$500K/year
- ·Slim margin for the risk and effort involved
- ·~10% annual return on $4.8M invested
- ·Three-year lock-up with construction risk
- ·Host calls it "slim margins" for the effort