All Forum Posts by: Ben McMahon

I bought a house less than 3 years ago. It's a small single family. A realtor I knew asked me if I was interested and at the time I was really focused on 1% rule. It was listed for 125 and I told them if it was at 100 I would take it. They came back a number of times over 4 months but I wouldn't budge. They couldn't sell it because it was in a flood plane. Ended up getting the house for 100. Got a new elevation certificate and reduced the flood plane. Have a great tenants and haven't missed a month, and I am under contract to sell for 155k cash buyer closing in a week. Moral of the story is you make money on the purchase. This has happened on a number of occasions, and I keep winning in purchase negotiating.

Send me a pm and we can talk on the phone

That sounds fun. Just get some cheap labor. I am jacking up a house and redoing the foundation right now. Just make sure you have the right tools

There is no downside to getting that credit. You can bet if they replace the windows it's going to be the cheapest possible ones, so I would go for the credit. It's not turnkey if the windows are cracked. While the risk is minimal, I would go ahead and get it taken care of.

I bought a house with foundation issues. I had an engineering firm come in and take a look. They came up with a remediation plan that was totally over engineered. So I got another firm for a second opinion. He gave me a much more reasonable plan, and did some drawings for me. We followed the second plan but not the first. When we sell it, do I need to disclose the first inspection report? I'm in Virginia. Thanks

It's the last frontier of D.C. The Wild West. Send me pm. If you want to chat

Jonathan Weaver I'm living and investing in front royal. I would highly recommend you come out this way and look. The numbers are far better than the metro area. Let me know if you want to meet up.

I know of a very good finish carpenter. Pm me if you want his info. He's done some work for me.

Welcome Scott. I'm right down the street. Best advice I can give is to do your first deal. So many people want to do this business, but most people never do because they don't act. Feel free to reach if your really ready to take action.

I agree with @J Scott and @Michael P.

However, I do know what its like when your the GC and your sub comes in with a change order.  Of course he is going to kick that cost to the owner.  It might be worth talking to his electrical sub and seeing just how much more his bill cost, and why.  Sometimes unforeseen things happen, and there has to be some flexibility in your budget for that.  I would dig a little.  Maybe the electrician is part of the problem, and it could be solved with a simple phone call.  

I will say that my personal opinion is this is a very typical contractor, and its a classic scenario.  Contractors are always late, and always cost more than they are supposed to.  That is going to happen again, I can guarantee it.  1900 bucks isn't worth going to court over in my opinion, so I would probably just make his life difficult until he drops it.  One letter from a lawyer scares the heck out of these guys.  

Where in Upstate?  Hopefully not my hometown of Gotham City..... I mean Binghamton