How many of you rehab your properties yourself?

[Eric Wang]

Hi all, I'm quite new to investing and am jumping in feet first with a full time job and part time student. I've looked to Turnkey in the Midwest to get my first deal, but now am looking closer to home as that seems to be how most of y'all recommended and have done. I'm looking into the value added type of properties, but am reluctant to take most of my free time to work on the properties myself, especially when most properties are incredibly far away (my research pointed to Spokane with my budget) and me not being quite handy myself.

How many of y'all rehab your properties yourself? Is it efficient monetarily enough to exclusively hire contractors to rehab the houses into rent ready conditions?

[Brenda E.]

If you're not knowledgable about rehabbing, and you are going to trust it to a contractor, make sure it is a contractor you can trust and get EVERYTHING in writing, and make sure it's close enough for you to stop by to see what he's doing! I am not trying to be negative, but there are many frauds out there.  Make sure he's licensed; ask the building inspector(s) in the town(s) where he works, about him. If he is bad, the building inspector knows him.

Before you hire contractors, you have to know how much is the going rate for something is. Then it's simple math: Does the sum of the parts equal more than the sum of the whole?  House: $100K, bathroom $5K, floors $10K, kitchen $10k, new windows $5K, paint,$3K, landscape $2K and 20% for error ($7K) - Total $142K; that's your breakeven point. If you can sell it to cover that and make yourself the profit you need to compensate for all the headaches that you'll have had encountered, then do it. 

And make sure you know your market. Where I live a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath, 1400 sqft ranch goes for $325,000 in one town, but 15 miles down the road either way, you're lucky if you could get $250,000 for the same house in the two abutting towns.