Estimating repair cost

[Patrick Philip]

I just started a new wholesaling campaign. I have been receiving many calls. Do I have to physically go look at every house? I plan on expanding to the point where this would be impossible in the near future within the next few years.

How do I estimate repair cost without going to see the house? Do I use a certain dollar per square foot? If the home owner says it's in "good condition," what do I put for repair cost?

[Steven Leigh]

@Patrick Philip You can eventually get to the point where you are doing "virtual wholesaling" but even then you are having contractors, appraisers, or your own foot soldiers going through the houses.

I'm not big on doing hard estimates on repairs, honestly, because I find that my buyers always walk through and do their own estimates. I just do a ballpark number and document what things need to be done, without doing an itemized estimate. Maybe if you're working with out-of-town buyers a lot I suppose, but I haven't run into any problems doing this so far.

Anyway, one thing I picked up from Sean Terry was to do a quick and dirty estimate based on the overall condition and the square footage, so you multiply the square footage by $8 if the house is in great shape, and $20 if it is totally trashed, and then you have degrees in between. You might find over time that you need to adjust these numbers in your market, but it's a good broad estimate.

Here's some more of his system, and he even shares his comp calculator, which I use all the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqgz5OpqvNU