All Forum Posts by: Jason Barrett

As per the title, I need a drywall sub for a residential project in the Warren, OH area 44481. Split level 1800 sf and need to refinish all the upstairs and tape / mud / finish the lower level. Other projects available too if they are more general, but I need the drywall done first. Anyone have someone they like? Looking to get some bids ASAP.

I just want to take a minute to comment here and second @Account Closed just gave you a reference point that said 9-24 months. I am a little unclear if he is saying he only does commercial, but you should at least be checking with others who work in that area about what time frames you should be expecting. Harassing folks will get you a reputation which will hurt your future projects. Tread lightly. 

I happen to have a permit system open on another screen right now, but clicking back to a couple of old permits so you can see timelines. . .  These are not in your area and not necessarily the same kind of projects so grain of salt. They both used an expediter and at least the one used a third party review process. The first one from 2011 was just to clear out some brush and garbage on a lot so it could be used for parking, NOTHING ELSE, no building, no anything, and that took 6 months for permitting.

This one went very smoothly. It was a renovation job and it took 9 months to get a permit:

Neither of these are horror stories. They are just what I had open for other reasons and are more than common for their location. Ideally if you have a good architect and contractor on board early in the process and you ask them the questions and they are part of the team, they will help guide you through this. I know an architect and contractor were both hired for this project, but a limited scope of service where someone drafts your plans for a few thousand dollars and the cheapest contractor you can find is not what I am talking about. You hire an architect or a design / builder and pay them as professionals. They have invaluable experience that you need - especially when first starting out. If you think you can swing it without their expertise, then that's fine, but you will have a learning curve, so budget with some extra padding. Permit response times will also vary so if you are only doing one or two houses a year, you may not see it. Someone who is juggling lots of jobs will have a better pulse on the current response time.

Good luck getting your permit! Hopefully all the pain will be worth it and you'll make out like a bandit in the end :)

Unless there is a specific reason you need to be with that broker, you may want to consider finding another one. You could ask if they have a partner or referral for you for someplace closer. Most likely it won't be profitable for them to spend the money to join associations that are not in their coverage area without a plan to expand there.

Hi, all. We went to see a HUD property this morning with our realtor. At about 1pm we called the realtor back to put in an offer. He said he was on the site filling in the paperwork for us when it disappeared. The listing agent said they had accepted an offer eight minutes ago (In the middle of the afternoon) and that he was canceling the other three showings scheduled for that afternoon. The bidding process is supposed to close every night at midnight so what gives? We don't usually go after HUD properties, so the only thing I can come up with is that they accepted something based on the offers from previous days and just didn't take down the listing. Another realtor came through during the showing who is known for bullying his way into getting properties. I have no idea if he was involved or not, but something just seems off about this one. In the end maybe we would have gotten the property and maybe we wouldn't but since we were putting in an over asking price offer it seems like the letter of the law should be enforced. Has anyone else had this experience?

Yank the drywall above, but be careful not to cut the lap on the waterproofing when you do. Backerboard, lap the membrane, and install all white tile above the bull nose. If you cut it, you won't have anything to lap to and then you will need to remove the bull nose anyway.

I'd probably pull out the window and replace it with something frosted. Redo the waterproofing around it though (shower waterproofing on the inside that is) because if it was original or not done the tenants will just pour water down your wall cavity. Block looks tacky and dated to me and it is worse from the outside of your house. If you leave a sill, get one that is waterproof because that is where they will stack all their soap and wet washcloths. 

2009 is irrelevant. Lots of places still sold then for 2x what they do now. Find some recent comps to make sure you are still in the right ball park. How long are houses in that area taking to sell usually? If you are looking at 10-20k for repairs it might be better to get it done right away. Renting as a second exit strategy is nice to have in your back pocket, but if your goal is to flip and this purchase is going to tap out your nest egg then maybe you could just use a home equity line of credit so you can do another deal when this one sells? Cash flowing rents are good, but they take a while to rebuild the pot. Do the numbers work to rent it if you put the renovation money in at the beginning?

I agree, walk away for now. Wait till your father is done with it. Maybe things could be handled better/differently, but he is satisfied with the way things are done so it's just the way it is. From his perspective he has a cash flow. He'd be willing to set you up with the property at a discount to get your started, but he doesn't want you to just turn around and dump it. He could do that for himself if he really just wanted to get rid of it. Making 5k on a wholesale deal is the same as him doing nothing for the next 4 months since the house is already paid off. In most cases, the drama and hurt feelings of involving family and close friends in deals far outweighs any upside. I'd put in some overtime to come up with the DP if you still think you want to take it or just look for more properties you can wholesale. Maybe you can use your dad's connections to find other landlords in the area who are looking to retire.

You'd better find a partner if you want to pull that one off unless you have a LOT of capital saved up somewhere. . . Also, where did you find the 5.5% figure? That looks like a residential number.

You might want to check a calculator to find a ballpark for how much of a loan you can get because 3M is WAY WAY outside what most lenders will think about (in your situation) and they aren't going to line up to give you money if you have no background in doing what you want to do. Unless there is something significant I am missing I think you should do some more reading and research so you can find a project that will be both attainable and profitable for you.

Sounds like a dangerous precedent to set if they can pay you whenever they feel like and you have 18 more to go. . . Do you have a written agreement on any of the work? Did they accept your bid? Is the contract with her or with the owner? It doesn't make sense to me that the realtor would be involved in any of this quite frankly because she doesn't own the property - that said I have no experience with trashouts or wholesalers so someone else may want to chime in here.

Also, wholesalers aren't going to want to put money into the project if they don't have to so she may be stalling on their behalf while they locate a buyer. That said, if she knows "they" are soliciting other bids then 1. She did talk to them. 2. She knows more than she is saying because she would logically be the one taking the bids since she did from you.

Would you lose more by doing all the work and not getting paid for a year or would you lose more by not doing the work? Worst case you could take them to court but if it is enough that smalls claims can't handle it then you are going to lose some money some money no matter which way you slice it.

I was on his lists for a while. Some ok webinars, but he kept dropping his sales pitch. While I'm sure there are some great people there it seemed more like a guru camp than an investors association.