All Forum Posts by: Corbin Lane

What are some red flags you’ve noticed when hiring contractors? What are some of the nasty games they’ve played with you?

Based on a few bad experiences, here are some that give me pause, especially when there are more than one of them:

- Cases out my financial situation - asking questions (usually early on in the conversation) that seem to be aimed at figuring out how much money I have.

- Asks for a deposit up front. This can be for legitimate reasons but also, as I’ve learned the hard way, gives the contractor way too much leverage over the situation and opens the door for all kinds of abuses.

- Pressures hard for a commitment immediately after giving an estimate.

- Pushes hard for scope creep, trying to enlarge the initial project commitment. If someone is trying to swindle you they don’t expect to be doing more business with you on subsequent jobs. My preference is to start with the smallest possible project and see how an entire project cycle goes before committing to the next one.

- Attempts to obtain commitment or begin work without providing a complete written description of the work to be done, including specifications and dimensions of things to be built. I had one contractor keep trying to raise the price, claiming that his (ridiculous) understanding of what was to be done was different from mine.

- Displays any negative emotion whatsoever, particularly anger or aggression - no matter how subtle. I’ve had contractors get scary with me and act physically threatening because I failed to recognize this early enough. At the slightest hint of this I will carefully remove them from the job.

- Asks to use any of your tools or household items. Or worse yet, does so without asking.

- Acts disrespectful at any point. Failure to respond to this has resulted in escalation to more aggressive behaviors.

- Wants to start work immediately, and seems uninterested in the details.

- Requires payment in cash. This is a huge red flag and I now am careful to be upfront that payment will be made by check or credit card only.

Again, I think that many of these things are excusable individually but the more flags involved the more consideration is warranted.

Originally posted by @Jonathan Stone:

@Corbin Lane

Great point about inflation helping real estate. Honestly I don’t have a problem with inflation and think it’s necessary in economic cycles. I also don’t think raising the minimum wage will raise the standard of living as inflation will eat away at that.

I didn't know that we were talking about Minimum Wage - isn't the topic of this thread about the present day effects of actual market forces, the influences on them by covid and stimulus, and not about govt-mandated minimum wage? I'd be happy to chat about that but it's a different topic for a different thread, especially since at this point it may not even happen.

ITT: People who own real estate during a time of mass appreciation and are set to benefit enormously from anticipated inflation, who are also mad that jobs are plentiful and pay is up.

If I'm ever making more than 1M a year and still finding time to cry about capital gains tax I hope a piano falls on top of me because I am truly a miserable sob.

@Matthew Brill thanks for explaining these nuances.

@Wayne Brooks thanks for the insights, I guess with all included I will need about 10% even at a 3.5% down. How possible is it right now to get the seller to agree to cover closing costs by raising the bid an equal amount? On my last purchase I was able to roll in almost all of the closing costs by doing that. Would the current market preclude doing that? I was also thinking that I could use lender credits if necessary. However the lenders I've talked with didn't seem to acknowledge these options. Maybe I would have better luck starting with a buyer's agent who knows how to negotiate all of this?

I'm trying to find financing for a 2-4 unit house hack and I seem to keep getting the same answer back from lenders - to come back when I have at least 10% of the purchase price. I was hoping to put 3.5% or, at most, 5%. Is that kind of financing just not happening right now or have I been asking the wrong lenders?

@Kesean Diamond Get a multi if at all possible. Renting to roommates can be more trouble than it’s worth. From what I’ve seen no sfh on the west coast will rent at 1%. Can you imagine 500k houses renting for 5k a month? The best I am seeing is around .5-.6% for sfh and duplexes, and maybe as good as .7-.8 in 4-8plexes.

If another 2008 is coming I’d rather have as many cash flowing rentals as possible so that I have supplemental income.

I've been renting out my home for a little over a year now. Originally I was hoping to get some help from a tax pro last year but with covid it got sent to the back burner. I'm sure I've missed a lot of deductions and made a lot of mistakes, and missed a lot of opportunities to record spending. I'm really not great with taxes and especially with real estate related stuff. I've been looking at remote CPA firms but it seems like most of them are not set up to work with smaller clients who are clueless and need to get set up.

Would it make sense to first try out QuickBooks and see how far I can get with that? Has anyone tried their consultation services?