“Checking” Your Analysis Work

[Nicholas Anderson]

Hi Everyone,

New investor here. I have a Finance/Cash Management background and per the advice on the forums and podcasts, I am currently trying to analyze a large volume of properties in the market I’ve selected before making any offers.

The main problem I'm running up against is "checking my work" for the rehab estimates I'm selecting. For all of you seasoned investors how did you get to a point at which you were comfortable with your rehab estimates by just looking at a property on the MLS?

I’ve bought J Scott’s books and go through them line by line when doing rehab estimating but it again goes back to my problem of not being able to verify that those numbers are correct. There is also the problem of this approach taking quite a long time.

I understand that I will be performing inspections to confirm my assumptions but I feel like I might be missing something here. What’s the point of analyzing properties if you don’t know of what you’re doing is correct?

Thanks for your time!

Nick

[Tim Herman]

@Nicholas Anderson i would analyse the houses as rent ready. If the numbers make sense then see the house. Get 4 or 5 houses that meet your goals and go see them. Call local sub contractors and get an estimate for various projects. Flooring in my area is $3 sf + cost of materials. If it is a major rehab I would pay a contractor to walk the property and get a better idea of the cost. I would never try to estimate cost from pictures.