Estimating rehab costs during initial lead generation and triage

[Carlos Feliciano II]

Hi All,

As I slowly stack money away for my first future rental purchase, I have a few questions regarding estimating rehab costs when going through practice reps.  I'm basically going through properties on Realtor and Zillow to run through the cost estimators.  

I understand there needs to be further analyzed for properties by actually reaching out to contractors, agents, etc. Still, at this time, I'm currently just taking practice reps at finding and analyzing properties. 

Is there a rule of thumb when it comes to estimating rehab costs on the calculator that is on the safe side?  I'd rather have a large margin/buffer for error when calculating these rehab costs.

The current process I am using:

* Using realtor or Zillow to find properties 

* Running through the rental calculator and making a spreadsheet to track

* Leveraging this video and deck as my starting point: https://biggerpockets.s3.amazo...

[Dan Portka]

hey Carlos, as with lots of things "it depends". Where are you looking to invest and what types of finishes (rental grade, high end, etc) are you going for? Some people use the sq ft method while others might just estimate every individual job (floors, paint, cabinets, shower, etc). J Scott wrote a great book titled The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs which i've found to be a great reference guide.