1st home viewing

[Alexander Zurn]

Hello BP,

I will be looking at my first house (SFR) this coming Saturday and I was wondering what I should keep my eyes on? You should also know I am more than likely not going to buy this but I thought the experience of going into a beat up house might just be helpful for getting some experience under my belt.

I have read posts on financial analysis, pro-forma vs. actual data, income & expenses, ROI, CoC, etc. but nothing can prepare you like actually doing it. How do I determine ERC if I have never renovated something? Do I take note of the bad that stands out and come home to look up how much it would all cost to rehab it? I want to do this so that I can go through the data, the income, the expenses, everything and determine if it is a sound financial investment and then maybe share my results on here to see if people agree. Practice makes perfect!

Thanks!

[Anthony Thompson]

Alexander, take lots of pictures if the owner/agent lets you, then use the pictures later to jog your memory as you work up the #s.

There are lots of sources online including here on BP for estimating repair #s; I think BP has a book (or several) on the subject. But the general idea is you want to do what everyone else does, which is look for the "big ticket" items, like the roof, the boiler, hot water tank(s), plumbing (was it vacant last winter?) and electric (fuses? enough breakers? etc.).

You also want to try to develop, over time, a sense for what's missing. It's a lot easier to notice something that looks wrong/bad and make a note or take a pic. For example water stains on the ceiling.

However it's tougher, and this comes with experience, to notice what you don't see. For example, missing hand rails, or missing downspouts (my favorite, lol).

No, I don't have a comprehensive list of that stuff unfortunately, but it's good you're getting out there and starting to get in houses. The more you go through, the more you'll notice any aberrations (weird layouts are another subtle gotcha for newer folks, easy to overlook in the shuffle but comes back to bite you later when you go to sell or rent).