All Forum Posts by: Al Mac

 Thank you for the link, it gives me the parcel number.

I guess I can take the parcel number and search around the county's website for the name of the owner and his mailing address, which is actually what I'm after.

Thank you so much for responding and for the info.

 I'll check again.  I might have looked in the wrong page. 

Thank you for the info.

THank you Adam Detig.  I'll check my county's web site again.  I'll look for GIS map and see if they have anything like that.  I'm in Santa Barbara county, and I didn't see anything, but I could have been looking in the wrong page.  I'll check it out again.

Thank you so much for the info.

Hi,

I'm looking to get property owner info of a few properties in my area that I'd like to talk to owners about selling them.

I'm a small investor, but this time I'm looking for a property with at least 1/2 acre for myself, and would like to send inquiries to owners of a handful of properties that I like.

I know professional investors use big websites to get big lists of owners info, but that cost a lot of money.

Since I'm just interested in a handful of properties I would like to find a website that just provides name and mailing address of the owners of the few properties I'm interested in.

I know I can go to the recorder's office and get the info for free, but I would not mind paying a small fee just to get the name and mailing address on line.  

I have googled it, but all my searches return only the big and expensive websites.

I'd like to pay on a per-address basis, not a monthly/yearly subscription for hundreds of dollars

Any info anybody?

Thank you.

Hi BP,

I was wondering if out there someone had a list of items that go into building a unit. I have this lot where I can put 2 additional units on it, and am thinking about building now, and trying to come up with a list of items for building so I can start estimating prices for everything to see how much I will need to complete the 2 units.

I don't want to just get a general contractor to do it all for me for one single price, I want to try and hire the trades contractors myself. I have owned rentals for over 15 years, and have done a decent amount of remodeling and rehabing myself.  Although my intention is not building the units myself, but to manage the contractors.

So my first step is trying to figure out how much money I will need to get the 2  new units built up and ready for rent. Once I have an itemized list of everything that will be needed (i.e. framing, flooring, kitchen, bathroom, roofing.....etc. etc.) then I will start calling contractors and get bids for every item.

Any lists, spreadsheets, or any tools, info or advice anybody could provide will be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you all for the information, and the tips.

I will keep them in mind as we move forward.

Thank you all.

Al.

Hi all,

I'd like to get some advice on the following.

I own a couple of properties in central California with potential for building up additional units on each one of them.

The first one is a tiny single family home (~800 sf) on a big R3 lot where I can get a permit to build 2 or 3 additional units (although the cost of the permit per unit is much higher if I build 3 or more units, so I might stick with 2)

The second one is a duplex, 2 1-bed small homes on a big R2 lot where I can build at least 1 more unit.  For the existing units I could also convert the garage (legally) into a second bedroom to make each unit 2bed/1bath and increase the rent in addition to the 1 new unit.

I haven't run the numbers yet, and I know without numbers is hard for anybody to provide advise, but I was just wondering if experienced investors would generally lean more towards using the existing funds to build the new units, or forgetting about building and use all the funds to purchase more properties. I have rehabbed a couple of my rentals in the past, and although I have not built anything from scratch yet, I have general contractors in the family and I'm very familiar with the whole building process.

Could anyone advise please?

Thank you. 

Hi Benjamin Ervin

I have a couple questions for you, I hope I'm not repeating any questions that have been asked before.

1) What kind of material did you put on the ceiling?  It looks like you went from popcorn to laminate? is that similar to laminate flooring?

2) You mentioned in one of your responses that you got your funding from a family member.  Did you pay any interests for the funds? or did you share your profit with that person?

Great job on the remodeling, keep it up.

Congrats @Thea Linkfield ! When you say "we" I think is only natural for me to assume that you mean you and your significant other. If that is the case, then I can relate 100% with what you went through with your first flip. My wife and I just renovated 3 of our SFR's back to back, and the same as in your case, there was a LOT of cursing, arguing, disagreeing, etc. etc.. but at the end of the day we were very proud of what we accomplished. The same as you, we only contracted out some tile, granite and carpet, but we DIY everything else, and the same as you, we could only work evenings and weekends. It took us way too long doing it that way (an average of 1.25 months per unit), and we did have lost rents too. I haven't run the numbers yet, but I estimate that our actual savings (DIY vs. contracting the work minus lost rents) is still in the positive. However, I don't really feel the savings will be high enough to justify all the weekend time we put into it. The same as you, we learned a lot of new tricks along the way, but I don't think doing it that way is sustainable or scalable. We have been in buy/hold mode for some years, but are trying to get into flipping now, and the renovation we did on our rentals was actually a "test run" to get a feeling of the actual net costs/labor of rehabbing.

I appreciate very much that you shared your fist flip story, and hope you guys are getting ready for your next deal.  Wish you the best of luck.  Post more before/after pictures.  I find that very motivating and inspiring.

Thank you all for your comments.

Your input is very much appreciated.

It looks like I will have to absorb the cost of the items I mentioned above and just move on.

Any ideas where to buy rehab common items in bulk to get better prices? (e.g. smoke alarms, CO alarms, exhaust fans, ceiling lamps, room door hinges and knobs, cabinet hinges and handles, faucets, bathroom wall light fixtures, etc.? I know those items are not very expensive at Home Depot or Lowe's, but they still add up and inflate the rehab costs.  For units with a low positive cash flow every bit that can be saved in the tenant turn over helps keep the unit in the positive.  Any ideas will be much appreciated.

Thank you.