First Flip / Full House Remodel

[Mussa Kiroga]

Hi all,

I'm considering a full home remodel of what has been my primary residence (SFH, 3/2 1225sqft, built 1930s) located in SJ. I'm considering it as a flip, I would be upgrading every system in the home as well as flooring and paint.

My reasons for doing the flip are:

- I'm thinking of holding it, at least for now and rent it out. A full upgrade will reduce a lot of headaches during the rental period, and if I were to sell I likely would have needed to do a similar scope of work to do so. So do the work now that will carry through the rental period, do touch up if selling.

- I considered a partial upgrade, but it looks like they will need to touch plumbing and electrical for bathroom and kitchen anyway. And since it's an old house, why not do it once and get it over and done with. There is probably a lurking problem waiting to surface while tenants are there.

- I'm near downtown SJ, which is anticipated to become a major transportation hub. I'm aware that investing based on speculation is risky, the plans may not happen, they may be delayed, and even as they arrive, they may not be what they are expected to be.

Reasons for not doing it might be:

- Why do it? Just sell as is, bag the gain (homeowners exclusion gain) may be buy something else that does not require a remodel.

- Home is in a flood zone, in a primarily blue-collar neighborhood, so the eventual sale may still be low.

My asks:

Suppose I decide to go through with the plan:

- I'm reaching out to construction companies. I'm assuming that having one general contractor do everything is preferable to hiring individual contractors. Is this what you also figure?

- I have come across this blog post by Mike LaCava here on BP on top questions to ask a contractor. Are there other things I need to think about to avoid pitfalls and frustrations during the renovations?

- I'm planning on collecting bids from ~ 5 contractors before deciding on one. Any general guidance on navigating quotes, pricing, costs etc. Some contractors provide 'rough' estimates with a rough outline of the work, some have told me they can produce a bill that can directly be executed on.

- Any comment on reasons to flip or not to flip :)

Thanks,

Mussa