All Forum Posts by: Christian Wathne

Like everyone else; I feel your pain! I'm looking for flips, so in need of holes with big margins and in need of rehab; my agent had been bringing me to homes which were in nad but still move in condition. I had a meeting with my agent and walked him through my flip calculator ( calculates buy/sell/financing costs + rehab) and said I'm looking for deals that are minimum $30k profit. He now does the work of finding the arv based on comps etc; then we tour those which meet the basic criteria and I fill in rehab budget and verify the arv's My agent was very cooperative about doing the extra work, and we signed a deal a couple weeks ago on a sfh

@Tim West Thanks Tim. I've reached out to a few craigslisters (heard that was a good way to find wholesalers) without any response. Do you have contact info for wholesalers I can talk to? I can give them clear criteria for deals, and purchase with cash. 

How many offers did you receive? If you have 3 offers at x dollars you can show those to the appraiser; the price is what the market will pay. Generally my experience is you need 3 offers at a price to convince an appraiser to bump up.

Typically the moment you get the money interest starts to accrue. Why take out a loan before it's getting used?

Do you guys see real long term market opportunity here, or are others concerned that these tiny houses will be a passing fad? Seems to me like a hipster mobile home park, except even smaller homes. 200sq/ft may be fun for a few months but I have a hard time imagining that anyone would want to live in a 200sq/ft home outside of a city. Studio apartment downtown sure, I see lots of reasons to want to live in one; but 'tiny/mobile home' 200sq/ft outside the city... not so desirable. 

Thoughts?

I'll go at this from a different angle; I've had very good success with this strategy. 

Kick it back to all 3; tell them... "there are 3 very good offers on the table, please come back to us with your best and final"

Everyone has their own style, but in my opinion... I understand where your going; but to me the whole point of a pm is to not deal with tenants. By doing this your setting a bad example and will cause tenants to go around the pm. No need to thank anybody. You may be setting yourself up for getting walked on. If you want to talk to tenants why not just fire the pm and save money?

@Jake Navarra This may help; here's a renovation budget sheet I just completed for a house I'll be closing on in a few weeks. Its a small 3br/1ba rambler in western washington. We'll be gutting the thing and replacing most every surface; however the layout is ok so we wont be doing anything in the way of moving walls/etc. The below spreadsheet may give you an idea of costs. Note; on this deal I have partnered 50/50 with a contractor; he is not being paid for the work; essentially he is renovating for free in exchange for 50% profit, so my labor costs are very low (bringing in subs for some small items and day labor to help, but no large labor costs). Another note; these are estimates and not perfect. 

Inspection Checklist	Repair Cost Calculations	Estimate Repair Cost
DEMO	demolition	dumpster rental ($800) + day labor	1400
ROOF	gutters / downspouts	2 of 40ft runs + 4 downspouts	500
ROOF	roofing	13 squares ($270/square)	3500
EXTERIOR	paint and exterior trim + small bit of accent cedar shingle siding over carport to tie new wood front door	1100sq/ft single story	2500
EXTERIOR	exterior front door	nice wood door + poly	600
EXTERIOR	exterior windows (if needed) + back slider (if needed)	may not need	2500
EXTERIOR	lanscaping/ grass/ tree trimming	seed grass; boxwood bushes; general clean up / pressure wash / etc	1000
EXTERIOR	fence	145ft ($15/ft)	2200
EXTERIOR	deck	concrete top coat on patio	250
INTERIOR GENERAL	electrical and plumbing	minor work	2000
INTERIOR GENERAL	framing and drywall/ texture	expect minor	1000
INTERIOR GENERAL	closet systems for 3 bedrooms	$300 buget per closet	900
INTERIOR GENERAL	interior doors	8 doors + hardware	1600
INTERIOR GENERAL	interior trim	fjp base + door + window trim	1500
INTERIOR GENERAL	flooring	1100 sqft; costco engineered wood $2/ft + install	3000
INTERIOR GENERAL	prime and paint intierior	flat white for ceiling + walls // satin white for doors + trim	1200
KITCHEN	cabinets	Grey Shaker installed	4500
KITCHEN	fixtures	faucets / garbage disposer / cabinet handles	1500
KITCHEN	counter tops	quartz installed	3000
KITCHEN	SS appliance set	fridge / dw / mic / oven	2800
BATH	bath 1	small full bath (gut and replace)	3500
LAUNDRY	included in above flooring/trim/door estimate	not buying washer/dryer	0
CONTINGENCY FUND	contingencies (water heater / furnace / electrical / plumbing / anything that goes really wrong)	MISC	4000
Total	Total	Total	44950

Kerry Brooks ok, makes sense. What do you think about the appreciation of that home in that area? If most of the homes around it are larger it may end up just turning into land value and the home structure could become worthless so renovations may be money down the drain so you should buy and sell now. However if you think the home and structure will keep value and appreciate it may be worth buying at the 125k and renting/holding.

How is your sale closing cost only $5500? Are you going to fsbo? I typically figure 8% cost to sell. King county (Seattle) has a 1.8% flat tax on the sale plus 3% commission to the buyer agent and 3% commission to the selling agent.