"Ball-Parking" your real estate repair investment costs

[Loyd Ramsey]

These are some "rules of thumb" from another real estate investor by the name of Danill Kleyman.  They look pretty helpful to me:

"

• So in order to do that, you need to set up some basic “ballparking” rules of thumb. For example, in my market I know that:
  • Total gut rehab with both exterior and interior work will run me on average $60/ft for a rental and $70-$75/ft for a nice retail flip
  • Total gut rehab with only interior work will run $40/ft for a rental and $50-$55/ft for a nice retail flip
  • Cosmetic rehab for a rental will run around $20/ft (baths, kitchens, flooring, etc)
  • If I look at a property older than 40 years and it hasn’t been updated in decades, it’s a definite gut job (have to tear everything down to the studs)
  • Etc etc
• Setting up these “rules of thumb” will massively speed up your deal evaluation process, while preventing you from making costly mistakes.
• Go through this exercise one time and you will make massive progress in your ability to estimate repairs and value deals!"

It would seem to follow to find out from about two or three local contractors what things would cost on a square foot basis to just get a "ballpark" figure for your particular market.