All Forum Posts by: Ben Stout

@Darrell Shepherd This is a $70k house, so it's not a huge purchase. I thought the survey would be ordered by the mortgage broker, if needed, and then put on the HUD-1, sure... but this really blindsided me. Thanks for your input.

Hello BP Community, 

I've been out of the country and had a short sale purchase approved before I left. I've just gotten back and am ready to close. My realtor informed me that I had to have a survey that she ordered and it was $475. I noticed on the HUD-1 that no survey was noted. When I asked the title company and credit union what the deal is, they said no survey was required as they already had one. My realtor claims the title company said they didn't have one, so she was being proactive and ordered it to expedite the process. The title company then told her they had one, but weren't sure it would be usable. She didn't cancel the new survey. Now I am being asked to pay $475 for a survey wasn't needed. Who should pay for this mistake? Thanks.

There was somebody on here before who asked if there was anyone who had been doing this long term that could comment. After doing my 2014 taxes and looking over all my spreadsheets, etc... I noticed a trend that carried over from last year and the year before: 

Proforma ROI for these Sub $30k properties is usually around 25%. I usually end up getting around 20%, but with 1 out of every 5 suffering an eviction or other issue that brings its ROI down to 5%. This pulls down the average, but we're still talking 17% for the group of 5 vs around 10-12% for more upscale properties.

Note: This does not involve leverage. If the higher-valued houses were leveraged, it would of course create a similar return in a good year, but a much worse return in a bad one. I'm also still not convinced that the flaw is with the business model itself and not a property management-related issue.  

@Michael Hicks

 Is it tough to learn to put in carpet? I've always wanted to be able to lay it myself to save time and energy. 

@Steve B.

 That sounds like a good deal. I've been looking at the 12mm stuff lately. I guess the negative side is it can't really be cut with a laminate cutter and you have to use a table saw ... seems like it would be slower, but probably better quality/longer lasting. 

Looks great. I wish I could get one of those big sales again. Don't you hate when people walk on your glue strip? :) 

@DL Martin I have to get one of those!! Wow, all the way to LA for flooring... I know a guy who did a lot of flips in California and he'd get his cabinets the same way. 

@Bryan N.

 Awesome recommendation. Do you use a laminate cutter? The guillotine style one? They look to make the process super fast. I'd imagine with a jigsaw and a little experience, one could get pretty quick at dropping floors. I have seen a guy go so fast with a chop saw that it made my head spin, but I was also very sick of cleaning up sawdust after a while. 

If anyone has this in stock in their zip code, it looks to be a great buy @ $.63/sq ft. 10% off coupon would bring the price down to less than $.57/sq ft. 

http://www.lowes.com/pd_66801-35938-LF000560_1z11o...

@DL Martin That is great advice. I didn't know that about Home Depot... I will say that I've seen some pretty cheap stuff there as late. The problem I've had with the 7mm is that a lot of it doesn't seem to snap together well. I think that's the weakness... if it doesn't snap well, I think it will definitely come apart over time. That's great thinking on the 12mm. What's the cheapest you've been able to find that? 

Thanks for the compliment about constant reassessment. I believe it's so important in terms of what we do. I don't try to reinvent the wheel, but I'm always ready and willing to learn something. I have developed different preferences in colors, trims, etc over time and that's something that comes with experience I believe. Preferences always change as well. I also annoy myself... like last week when I went to my friend's new apartment and started inspecting his floors to see what they were using. I also scan grout lines in public places to see if they're straight. :)