All Forum Posts by: Annie L.

Sorry for the stupid question but the property has a oil tank and has been heated via baseboard radiators and it has a chimney to allow for outside heat loss. I'm trying to decide if I should demo the chimney for the roof replacement... if we were to demo the chimney, can we still use the existing oil tank for heating the house without the chimney? I'm trying to figure out if we will be shooting ourselves in the foot if we demo the chimney but then find out later that we can't switch to gas or electric heating

I've used Springfield Abstract in Flourtown but its in Montgomery County, PA 

Hi Dan! I am in the Montgomery/ Bucks area. If you are looking for a good REIA to join, we are a part of DIG http://digonline.org/ and it's an awesome group where everyone is super helpful. There are subgroup meetings that are smaller and more intimate and there are larger meetings like one that is going on tonight - the DIG trade show. Anyhow, good luck and maybe we'll see you around!

Hello! Long story short, we were trying to wholesale a property but ended up closing on it instead. It's our first project and we want to do the BRRR method. Problem is, the extent of the renovation is HUGE. It's a 1870 house and has structural issues in the foundation and retaining walls around the house. There's mold because water has been getting through a hole in the roof. There may or may not be termites and there seems to be poison ivy draping over a retaining wall on the side of the property. And there's stuff everywhere from the prior residents who abandoned it 5 years ago. People always say that as newbies, you shouldn't take on anything extensive but alas here we are. I would really appreciate any guidelines people have about the order of steps needed to rehab something like this. I have J Scott's Flipping book and Estimating Rehab Costs book but there doesn't seem to be a guideline on order of events. There has already been a home inspection and yesterday we had a structural engineer come out to assess the structural issues. He basically told us that we should get it cleaned out and gutted first then bring him back because he can't see everything with all the obstacles especially in the basement. He also advised that we get one side of the roof redone as early as possible since we don't want any more water getting in. We also brought a contractor to give us an estimate but again I guess you can't really tell what needs to be done until all the stuff is out and we gut the place down a bit. J Scott basically says get a Scope of Work figured but that is only if you know exactly what needs to be done. At this point, we can't see everything and there seems to be other issues that need to be addressed sooner right? Any thoughts on how we should approach this?

Here is the link to more pictures:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xujxwl05ad2quw2/AAC4b4D...

purchase price: $35K

ARV: $170-$190K based on ur own estimates and confirmed by other investors.

We're hoping the large spread provides enough cushion room for us.

why would they be scared away? Just explain to them what you can do for them and see if they are open to the idea. You'll be talking to a bazillion sellers before any of them are up for it so for now you're just getting practice. It doesn't matter if you mess up the first couple phone calls. You'll get the hang of it eventually and the fear will go away. 

Hi Eric, I don't think the court house is responsible for providing you all the information about the liens on a property. If it's just 1 property that you are looking into, you could potentially just pay a title company to do a preliminary title search which costs ~$150. 

Hi @Account Closed I'm not sure what the answers are to those questions though I can let you know that there might be a REIA meeting that you can attend to help address those questions http://www.meetup.com/Philadelphia-Real-Estate-Inv... There is also another REIA http://digonline.org/ where you could potentially find people to answer those questions. There is a general DIG meeting this Thursday night  if you are interested http://www.memberize.com/clubportal/EventDisplayNew.cfm?clubID=2082&EventID=228857&mo=3&tDate=%7Bd%20%272016-03-30%27%7D 

@Rick H. would you say then that you would avoid pursuing probate in general for leads? When would a probate lead have good prospects for wholesaling? Maybe you can just link me to a previous discussion board so you don't have to retype everything that you've already mentioned elsewhere. I appreciate all the advice :)

Yeah, so I directed the PR to work with the rehabber not with the law firm. The rehabber will help the PR reduce the mortgages on the house and get the property through probate with the intent of buying the property when probate closes. Yes, I do want to avoid the whole legal mess having the PR work with the law firm. 

Hi everyone thank you for your responses. It was just made aware to me that the only way the law firm's offer benefits the PR is if the PR declares bankruptcy in the estate and thus the PR would walk away with some cash in hand by transferring title of the property, legitimacy of the transfer being questionable as pointed out by @Bill Gulley . It is probably not the best route for the PR. Ugh what an awful first wholesale attempt.