All Forum Posts by: Brendon K.

So I'm in Texas and am overhauling a house's siding, roofing, and windows all at once. Initial thoughts when I read this are:

• What's the worst that can happen under this? Well, "your" (their) unqualified minimum wage worker uses a tool that wasn't meant for removing siding and ends up vibrating half my wall down and you're claiming it's not your fault?
• Or worse, maybe they use a reciprocating saw incorrectly on the wrong beam and it splinters and tears a hole into one of the people inside. You're saying that you're not responsible for death caused by massive incompetence?

I'm looking around for options still but I'm just curious if contractors are always this insane when avoiding legal obligations

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General Limitation of Liability

Any liability of [COMPANY NAME] to you and any third party (the "Person") will be limited by the provisions of this Section. IN NO EVENT SHALL SAID PERSONS BE ENTITLED TO RECOVER ANY CONSQUENTIAL, CONTINGENT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS FOR ANY PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH OR FOR ANY PROPERTY LOSS WHETHER OR NOT SAID DAMAGES ARE CAUSED, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, BY ANY FAULT OF [COMPANY NAME], OR ANY BREACH BY [COMPANY NAME] OF ANY OF THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS CONTRACT OR THE WARRANTY.

You agree to hold harmless [company name] and its representatives and contractors for damage to property caused by work performed under this contract that is not caused by [company name]'s sole negligence such as (but not limited to):

1. Damage to sheetrock caused by vibration.
2. Driveway damage (many driveways are undermined and [company name] cannot predetermine this condition). 
3. Realignment of satellite television dishes.
4. Water or A/C lines hit by normal nailing of shingles or accessories, or any subsequent damages that occur from such
5. Siding damage caused by changing of wall flashing.
6. Homeowner is responsible for HVAC connections on all hot water heaters, A/C and heating units that extend from the top of these units to the roof line inside the attic. [Company name] will be responsible for extensions that extend outside the roof line to be properly sealed.

Currently buying a house to live in, closing on the 15th. The idea is to get something more than I need (3b2.5b), get some roommates or airbnb out the other rooms (would rather roommates, less annoyance), save enough to buy a tiny home, put the tiny home in the back yard, live in the tiny home and rent out the rest of the house as a single unit to one of the crowd hotel sites.

I need home insurance that will be cheap as hell initially and then can still be cost effective as I get into the hotel idea. I know that I could go through the normal underwriters (geico etc) but I'm curious as to what the investors actually use. 

Thanks!

I just need a place to live right now, not looking to flip so much. Just trying to get into a place where I can have a few roommates, keep my costs down, and bank as much as I can so I can do flips in the future. It's also worth noting that I really want to move as soon as possible due to a pretty miserable current living environment.

Super long doc but wondering if someone wouldn't mind skimming it? Comps in the area are at 275k. Here's my current target, I have a contract on it until Monday:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7R6k93WIBwYZnZCW...

The seller had the property at 285k, no one would touch it except for a low ball investor (good try, whomever on here did that). I offered 265, the seller put out 270 and I settled on it. This being before this crazy inspection report. I spoke to my stepfather who is pretty knowledgeable about construction work like this and he was quick to respond DO NOT BUY. Being the investor mindset that I am, I was more apt to the phrase "it's not about whether you buy something or not, but how much would make it worth it to you", so we talked and he thought a minimum of 50k less would suffice, but I went down 40k so the offer was at 225. No dice, the seller countered at 260k.  Here's the rationale I was working with:

• Completely new siding: 10k. The inspection report guy said that he would firmly need the entire siding redone because of the water damage that came from having an incorrectly installed roof (no lips on the ends, no sealant) and no gutters on the majority of the ends. There's obvious insect damage in a few parts.
• Completely new roof: 10k. Patching if possible, probably at least 4k. I have no roofer that can come on such short notice to verify so it defaults to 10k. There's also some demolition that would need to be done to get rid of the incorrect materials in the back porch.
• Interior walls have major insulation problems, most likely from insect damage. This was confirmed with the heat mapping. Another 5k because changing out interior insulation isn't cheap.
• Unknown insect damage and insect proofing. They didn't have any insect work done the entire time they lived there. (Wtf?? It's Austin! Come on!) Active red ant colony going *into* the house that you can see clearly in the inspection pictures: 5-10k
• Electrical work: 500 just to get current, probably another 500 behind the walls if there is water damage.
• Code violations. Easily another 10k to remove that attic if that's the only way to fix it. The problem is that the windows are too high up and aren't suitable for fire escape. If I end up making this into a homeaway rental, that's going to need to be fixed for sure.
• Lots of other stuff that would be considered "negligent" by the seller, but it's hard to put a price on.

The last thing I want right now is to be put in a position where I'm taken advantage of because of my lack of knowledge. Can anyone give me some advise?

Sorry, yes, I'm trying to estimate monthly expenses so I can make sure that once I move out it'll be a cash flowing property. Expenses that come to mind:

• Lawn (I think it's around $50-100 /mo)
• Repairs (budgeted per month, no idea how much to budget)
• Insurance (Got a quote from geico for 1100/year for one property, can get more quotes as I need to)
• Capex
• Potentially others that I'm not aware of
• Property management (seems 8%  is common)

I was looking at this blog post but was hoping to get some local weigh-ins on it.

Yeah good luck. Unless you put in a substantial amount of startup cash or have some sick networking skills you're not going to get any good deals in Austin. 

Do you put in a budget for repairs in your monthly expenses?

Just wondering what a good ballpark would be while I'm looking to get my first duplex, thanks

Same ol story, I'm not a construction guy and have no education on pricing out repairs. I'm pretty confident that the podcast and the calculators don't go over specific repair estimates because prices vary so wildly between different regions. For example, the stuff I can buy here in Austin would be 3x the price of the stuff I can buy in Michigan where I'm from, but labor prices would be even more different because of the high amount of immigrants here (versus the terrible government in Mi, who knows what would be better).

I've found a number of books on the subject. Dewalt has a book that gets fairly in-depth for estimating materials needed. Of course we have Jay Scott's books, which are also pretty good. But what they can't really put into the equation is both the cost of labor and of the profit margin for the construction companies themselves, cause you know they mark up prices substantially.

I'm left wondering how the heck I'm going to figure this stuff out! What was YOUR turning point for getting accurate ballpark figures without actually purchasing the house? I don't want to trust any realtor as I've only found one good one in our area so far and I'd like to be able to be more cynical about any estimates that come my way.

About to buy a duplex, guy is asking too much for the area and I'm hoping to support my numbers with a spreadsheet. Monthly expenses I'm not sure about are, for example, pest control fees, insurance, I think property managers go for around 7 - 8%, trash, water, city cleaning fees, anything else? Just looking for some specific number examples, thanks

I feel like property management should be pretty much automated. Tenant has a problem toilet? They call a number or go to a website and put in a request. That launches automation to summon a repair person who isn't you, or maybe it IS you sometimes (when you want to deal with it) but then you can switch it off or on. 

I've heard of a few services from the podcast. Which do you use, why do you like it? Would you recommend it to someone who's just starting out who needs to save every dime he can? How does it work with the people who actually do the work? Are there any pushbacks?