All Forum Posts by: Chrystal T.

@Derrick Williams

Interesting. Why is it that homeowners in pre-foreclosures aren't thinking about selling? 

 Do you have some examples of those landlord-tenant laws?? WA can't possibly be worse than CA, can it?

@J. Martin, I would feel comfortable going to meetups, and I feel that in some ways, being a woman is an asset because *some* men find it intriguing/refreshing to see women appear in a heavily male-dominated industry, so are more inclined to chat and help - with or without ulterior motives is another story.

But what I do find concerning is the stigma that sometimes comes with a female investor... because real estate investment is looked at as a "masculine" activity which is perceived as unconventional for women to dabble. Women who are in it are by default, "masculine," "tomboyish," "manly," "aggressive," or their husband/partner's sidekick/support.

@Erick M., most lenders I know would require you to keep it under your personal name to obtain the loan, and then deed to LLC, unless your LLC already has 2+ years records. Otherwise, the lender may require you to deed it back to your personal name to obtain the loan.

I'm sure there are other lenders out there that might do otherwise, and if you come across any, please let me know! :)

@Michael Peters, not really a good idea to put multiple properties under one LLC, otherwise it defeats the purpose of having an LLC unless you have very little equity in each of those properties and your assets are all hidden elsewhere.

it also depends on how your LLC is structured - will it be a single member one? If so, it will essentially have no distinction from you as an individual...

Large umbrella policies, an LLC management company, and land privacy trusts will be good... structure depending on what your primary concern is

What do you mean when you say "the market is not efficient"? 

And how much would it cost to build a modern 2500-3000 sf house?

@Miguel Loza Maybe we should!!! Spring is always a good time to farm because the flip would ideally be completed sometime over summer, when market is hot hot hot!

@Steve Babiak , sorry lit major by training. can't shed off the rhetoric

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

@Account Closed : agreed that transparency is completely important. And he had been sent a full set of plans and specs, but even then he refused to give a clear bid and his figures constantly changed. If we think about it, his only justification from the 40% increase from his original bid (at which point he already had the plans and specs) was the $8500 windows. The windows were the only difference that came back in the county's plan check. Another contractor gave a $4500 bid on the exact same windows... and $8500 is much less than a 40% markup... so his numbers simply don't make sense.

Anyway, it's clear I won't be going with this guy but I just wanted to rant. Thanks for listening everyone! :)

I just find his attitude really interesting and entertaining. He clearly wants the business pretty badly but he's giving me some **** attitude and still thinks he has a solid chance at the job.

#contractors_are_shady

A contractor who was working with my architect to complete blueprints for the county's plan check always took his time to provide necessary information, and refused to give me an itemized bid because he is "just a general contractor" and thus cannot afford the time/resources into providing an itemized bid because it runs the risk of me finding specific tradespeople for tasks he subcontracts and marks up. Because he thought he had the job for sure, he would always throw out random numbers - and they would always change for the same task. So I sought other opinions, and when he found out, he gave a bid  lower than what the others estimated. 

As sketchy as it sounds, I was considering going with him because I know he works on a smaller scale which might justify the price difference. But after the architect sent out the final plans this morning, he - who has always been slow to respond to emails - texted me immediately with the following message, "based off the blueprints, I'm estimating construction costs to be $45k because windows are an additional 8500. Once I get a working set of plans I can give you a proper bid, this is why I said i should be in the loop"

That's a 40% increase from his original bid, and none of the other contractors' itemized bids for windows came anywhere near 8500. And when he was kept in the loop, he wasn't performing, so now that he knows his job is threatened, he is complaining about being out of the loop? What allows him to feel entitled to do so? In fact, his delayed responses caused a lot of delay in obtaining the building permit - plans were supposed to be submitted prior to the holidays but because he was lagging, they didn't get submitted until mid-January. 

I didn't respond to his last text, and he had the courage to proceed and say "If you're gonna want me involved in this project I'm going to need to know I am starting to get very busy"... Excuse me? This project was supposed to start four months ago, but he clearly had not been in a rush to lock down the project until now. 

Should he still have a shot at the job?