All Forum Posts by: Ray Slack

I will call and ask for Jack he's the owner of the company. Explain your entire situation and ask if they can do it

That seems unreasonable. Are they giving you some amazing deals the financing? How do you say few different lenders for hard money but I think your best bet would be Dominion out of Baltimore. There rates and points are reasonable and they're what I would call a common sense lender I believe with new clients you're looking at about 12% + 2 - 3 points. If you do a few deals with him they cut you a better deal. They generally do 90% purchase price and 100% of rehab cost. As long as you're under 65 or 70 percent of aRV

Are you using the same title company for closing the loan that you used to purchase the property? If you are the delay in recording shouldn't be a problem.. Who is your HML?

I 100% agree with @Ray Johnson  

1. WHY HAMPDEN?  Many newbie investors choose an area they would like to live in to invest in.  In my opinon this not always the right move.  Hampden may be good for a flip property but your return on a buy and hold would be much better in a middle/lower income area of the city that rents well. 

I also agree with Ray that you construction numbers seem off.  Most of your rehab money will go into things you can't see.  Systems/ electric/ roof ect.   Your kitchen should be costing you about $15k MAX bathrooms $7500 MAX  what is your $10k for walls? that seems hight as well. While I disagree with some of your specific prices I think $50-$60k is a resonable reno cost for a rental on this.   I would also point out this property has been on the market almost a year 10/15 as you can see on zillow without much of a price reduction.

If you aren't local and don't have a trusted boots on the ground right hand person I think your decision to hold off is the correct one. I live about 45 minutes outside the city and decided to invest there.  I spend a year researching neighbors and narrowed it down to 2-3 different ones then spend a couple of months driving those neighborhoods and looking at properties before buying anything. Baltimore is really NOT for an absentee landlord without a trusted crew in the city. 

Cost of living has nothing to do with construction costs in an area. It's more linked to unemployment and the amount of construction jobs that are available in your area.   It's supply and demand really.  If there are few plumbing  jobs and a lot of plumbers in your area the plumbers will reduce their prices in order to get the fewer jobs.    I would recommend homeadvisor true cost guide.  google it. its free.

But again the only real way to determine price is to meet with several local contractors and then post the prices here and we'll tell you if they are fair.

@Aaron R.  I actually ran a crew in Miami Beach for about 15 years. So I speak construction spanish. That coupled with a bit of charades and they usually understand what to do.  I think the construction end of the flipping business is the hardest part to get right.  Having a bad contractor or one that is charging top dollar is a sure fire way to doom a flip.

30 years in the business .. Have bought and sold homes with loans in other's name and sold them with loans in my name. Violating the due on sale clause. Never had a problem.  The only time I have ever heard of them being called due is if the payments fall past due. 

+ 1 for No problems in real world experience.

Labor costs vary SO much by area and also by level of professionalism.   If you want to round up a bunch of skilled misfits that you need to babysit daily and check their work you can save generally 25-30% off a job.   Or you can pay a general contractor to do that for you.   In my area my rehabs cost me $35k to $40k while my competitors are paying $50k to $60k for the same job (I'm dealing with the subs myself) and since labor is genrally 20-30% of your rehab cost that can effect you drastically.  I know my costs $3,500 for a bathroom gut rehab, $10k for a full kitchen rehab, ect.  If you are not in construction you really need to develop a relationship with a contactor that can give you qoutes or give you rough numbers to enter into your software/spread sheet

Depends how confident you are with your selling price of $214k and how the market moves.. I like to make a best case return and also a "Fire Sale" price I know I can sell the property for in 1-2 weeks.   I usually do 2 sets of numbers.   My Fire sale price must be 10-15% but I usually go by my total cash into the deal unlike others in the forum.  Meaning Sales Price Plush Closing costs, Plush renovation, plus carry costs.   My Firesale price is usually 5% below my expected selling price.. For instance most homes I am doing I know if I price them at $299k they will sell within 1-2 weeks.. sometimes I'll price them at $314k and get it..  But my firesale price would be $280k.