All Forum Posts by: Brian Pulaski

No matter how you plan to list it, I would make sure your attorney gives it the green light. Of course you can do as you please and people will tell you all kinds of things are legal/illegal, however they won’t be there to help you out if you get in trouble for it. 

If I were you I would as YOUR attorney (the one who would represent you), but at face value... I assume no. How would you advertise your contract unless you use the house address?

Even seasoned investors need to view the property. Most wont need contractors or bids, but you do need to see what the house looks like. I could make anything look good in photos, yet there could be mold/rot/termites/broken pipes/aluminum wire/broken this/damaged that... all things that a photo won’t show, but very well may need to be addressed and may cost $$$.

Seller may say roof doesn’t leak, and photos look ok. You get there and there is rotted sheathing, 4 layers and it is 40 years old. 

Wiring looks good in photos and seller says it’s good, until you see a Federal Pacific panel after you get there. Not a huge expense but thousands in my area. 

Replacement windows in photos... awesome. Get there and they have busted seals, were installed wrong and don’t shut, leak, need to be replaced. That could be a $10,000 miss.

These are just a few things I have had happen when I see photos and then see the house. I personally run my spreadsheet via photos. I then go to the house and confirm what is good/bad and adjust the spreadsheet from there. The initial spreadsheet has me determine if I even want to see the house. Then it’s tailored and an offer goes in only after I have been able to inspect.

Wholesalers don't sell properties... they assign their position in a Purchase and Sale agreement. Anyone who won't show you the P&S that you are purchasing the rights to I would move on. That's basically telling you to give them money before they show you the deal they have agreed to.

These $/SF budgets are a quick way to sink a renovation before it starts.

In just this post we have one person saying $30/SF for a gut rehab and another saying up to $100/SF.

Unless you have done a lot of projects, keep track of your rehab numbers and then use what you have seen over the years, these numbers aren’t a great way to estimate what renovation will cost.

Two 1500 SF houses could need a roof. One can be done for $4500 (two story house with an easy tear off and redo) the other could cost $15,000 (hip roof ranch with 4 layers and wood rot). Your random $/SF won’t catch this.

Are you only painting the inside? I’ve painted doors white for the most part, however I’m not a fan of white flat slab doors. A recent flip I did I painted the doors a darker shade of the wall color. I liked the look. Hard to see in this photo but it complimented the wall color well.

 He should be providing them with a detailed scope of work he needs done if he wants it apples to apples. Not so detailed as to tell them how to perform the job, but detailed enough that they are bidding the work he wants/needs completed.

I’m not defending his actions...

But that is rigid foam, not drywall. That entire load probably weighs 50 lbs. That explains why the car has no issues with it and the string can hold it.

If I had to guess, this house probably had less mold than most other houses out there. This does sound like a thorough job to mitigate, remove and replace what was damaged. I would call a mold inspection place and see what they say for testing, but I wouldn’t be afraid of a purchase like that.

A couple of things I would confirm with the bids (if you can get more I always like more). Double and triple check with them regarding their machine room. I had a project many years ago where we were doing a new build and the elevator companies all confirmed the machine room was acceptable. After award and in the submittal process (no turning back as elevators have very long lead times) it came to light the machine room was too small for his equipment and the required clearances. This was a metal framed building so simply changing structural steel members (especially around the elevator shaft) was not an option. It took a LOT of work and us as the GC had to eat quite a bit of charges from their errors but we did get it figured out.

Without knowing the specifics of your project it may be fairly easy and not a massive deal. These were just some takeaways from when I was in the commercial game and had some stress filled late nights worrying about how to make the machine room work!