Rehab process and due diligence for BRRRR and flips

[Jack Wang]

I'm quite new to real estate investing, and I have 0 experience with remodeling. In fact, I'm clueless when it comes to the ins and outs of construction, so I'm planning on relying on general contractors for my future projects. I'm perfectly fine with paying more than an investor who is super dialed in and babysits his contractors. I'd prefer to stick with what I'm good at, and that's the numbers and the financing.

I'm currently thinking through what my process would be when I identify a property that could make for an interesting BRRRR or flip. So far, this is what I'm thinking of doing after finding a lead:

1) run preliminary numbers to see if the deal could make sense and what rental strategy to pursue or a flip if BRRRR doesn't make sense

2) do a walkthrough with someone who knows construction (I'm considering paying a retired general contractor to accompany me on these walkthroughs to give me a rough sense of what I'd need done and costs)

3) make an offer

4) hire an inspector to do a formal inspection

5) negotiate further

6) offer accepted

7) get bids from general contractors

8) close

Does this seem like a reasonable approach? I'm just trying to visualize what the process could look like. What would you recommend a newbie with basically 0 knowledge of construction? Please do let me know if my above process is dumb and how I can improve it.

I'm having a ton of trouble finding a good general contractor. It seems like many contractors have large backlogs, too, which only further complicates the process. I've seen more dated recommendations for investors to ask 3 contractors to walk the property with them before even making an offer, and that just doesn't sound realistic at all from where I'm standing.