All my beginner questions in one post!

[Danielle Hinderliter]

i am looking to do my first deal. i have no connections really and no money for sales ads, driving around, or other expensive "huge" marketing plans. I only want ONE house right now so i think that means 10 real sellers and maybe 50 or 60 total contacts of people who call me or are selling (you know qualified/semi qualified leads). I DON'T think the ROI is worth the (expensive) newspaper ads or sending out flyers or what not.
Anyways...I DO have a friend (my kids playgroup) who is a realtor. She helped us buy our first house (2 months ago) and her dh is a mortgage broker (I personally will use a hard money lender though). As a first timer who only recently got a small taste of closeing etc and who has no contacts; would it be more beneficial for me to have her help me find a place on the MLS and through her contacts? The only downfall I can see is that I can't personally meet these sellers and therefore help them realize I am trying to help them out and not just "lowballing". I see the HUGE value in meeting face to face, having a SIMPLE contract and closing QUICKLY and letting these owners see that I am an honest person who is only trying to help both of us.

Another question which may be premature but I'll ask anyways! When you hiring contractors...well i guess its smarter to use SUB-contractors right? Do you use the phone book or do you look for laborers from local building projects? As you may notice I live in Tucson and theres an abundance of "moonlighters" heck we live in a BRAND NEW tract and our person who comes out for problems suggested MULTIPLE times that if we needed an installation of whatever to call him up "there's plenty of guys who do cheap moonlighting after building homes on this site". :shock: My only qualm is that...well i don't speak spanish and language barriers can/could be expensive. :lol: Also would it be safer to use a licensed but small contractor from the yellow pages?

If you use a contractor from the yellowpages do they buy the materials or do you? Do you look for deals on your materials or are the contractors going to have the best deals no matter what? (if you can't tell i am a "coupon shopper"...every time i see a TV REI show and they go to home depot i wonder if they used a coupon! :D)

I constantly see (on tv :oops:) that having several groups of people in the house at the same time can be hard...is this generally a no no or at the very worst to only have 2 seperate groups or something?

For your first few rehabs how did you estimate repairs? I have no knowledge of costs and certainly no previous knowledge of even USEING/CALLING a contractor even for personal use. No concept of it whatsoever. About all i know is a general sized (1500 sf) home costs about $5k to carpet. lol.

Where do you get your contracts for the house AND the contractors? I do have some typed up from a few years ago i BELIEVE from a carlton sheets info book that i had "previewed" for a while. I don't really have the money for an attorney and since this is my first house I am not really trying to protect assetts (ok well i hope you understand what i mean!). I simply want a good contract that allows me to put a house under contract that protects my interest, provides the buyer a sense that things are happening, but also allows me to back out in case something is found out etc.

Hard money lending~ i found a local hard money lender that seems to be a good fit.

Non-Lendable / Foreclosure
Max LTV: 80%
Points Range: 3% to 5%
Interest: 10.00% - 14.95%
Term: Up to 6 months
Prepayment penalty: 2 months interest

Renovation
80%
3% to 5%
10.00% - 14.95%
Up to 6 months
2 months interest

Quick Cash
80%
2.5% to 4%
10.00% - 13.95%
Up to 6 months
2 months interest

is this standard? i have not heard any stories about hard money lenders so would appreciate even a glimpse of the goings on. We will certiainly NOT qualify for a conv. loan so this is the only way to go for me.

How much time do you spend at the job site? How much work do you personally do? In answering this also do you have another full time job or is this your job? I do have 2 small kids and my own home so I am not sure how obsessive i should be....

Ok I am sure more questions will pop up but I am going to peruse a while and see what else i find!