All Forum Posts by: Brian Turnbough

You have to be careful spending a lot of money on upgrades. Like expensive appliances or countertops. The cheapest route you can take is to hire an appraiser to come in and tell you what your house will appraise for AS IS and what you could do to increase the value (if any). Remember that if the appraiser says you need to buy granite counters and remodel bathrooms, you have to take into consideration the cost for the upgrades and what value it adds. If it costs you 15k for upgrades and increases the value by 20k probably not worth it. But if it increases the value by 50k then it may be worth it.

 How would you do that? 

I am looking at buying several SFR at once. What are the best loans to use to buy them?

Three will be to buy and hold and one to flip.

It sounds like you have spent a lot of time researching turnkey and cash flow. Now that you know the markets you can get the best return in, you should start researching contractors in those areas. Look for contractors (General or Specialty) that are licensed (if state requires) and insured. Call them and try to get references to call and ask if the customer was satisfied with the work they did. Cost and time it took to get the work done. Would they hire them again? If a contractor won't give you any references move on to the next one. 

Don't be afraid of confrontation. My wife used to be but now she can keep the contractors on task. 

Spend more time on researching insurance, property management companies and contractors. Then once you find all of them buy a property.

That is the best alternative to turnkey. Otherwise, provide the note side.

 Thats good to hear. Hopefully you'll get a new tenant like her in there. 

I like to hear how the story ends. 

Sorry this happened to you. I can't figure out why so many people get involved with these Guru's or how they can justify spending so much money with them. I saw the other day a guy complaining that his couch was not living up to his end of the deal. He had already paid him in advance for services not rendered and was mad for not getting taught how to buy a property quick enough.

Please don't read that wrong, I do believe you are a victim of that scam. I hope it hasn't made you change your mind on investing in real estate and I wish you success on retrieving your money.

 How did it go this weekend? Property still in good shape?

You can take measurements of the existing countertops and take them to Lowe's or Home Depot and they will order them precut with the end caps on them. The joint will come with bolts that you tighten. Then slide the countertops in place. Don't forget to get the caulk that you will put between the pieces to seal any gaps. It is in the same area as the pre-made tops. I believe they will even cut out the sink. Takes about 30 minutes to do the entire job. My wife and I have done this about five times now on rentals.

As far as granite, my theory is only if you can sell the house for more than 250k or rent for 2500/month.

Thanks

 George, do you have to be an Accredited investor to get into those markets? I personally haven't looked anywhere else but Texas. Do you have aNY websites that I can go to to look at properties in those countries?