Got my first house...what can I be doing to prepare for closing?

[David Robertson]

I close on July 5th on my first rehab project, what are some things that I can be doing in order to be ready to hit the ground running come July 5th? What do you typically do to prepare yourself for the rehab?

I have already established a preliminary schedule, I would like to walk some subcontractors through the house and get some quotes. Can I do this or do I have to wait until closing to walk the house with subs?

Thanks.

[James Vermillion]

As long as the current owner does not mind you can (and should) take contractors through the property and start getting quotes (we have done this for every property). By the time closing rolls around you should be fully prepared to start the rehab (but I would not start any work earlier as some people might suggest).

I would make sure that you have a timeline setup, a list of contractors you are going to use, a very specific budget, a method to track and account for expenses, etc.

I would have a dumpster scheduled to go in place the afternoon of the closing and my demo guys scheduled for that afternoon or the next morning. You want to get started in an organized, well thought way...nothing is worse than a bad start.