All Forum Posts by: Crystal Em

Not sure how much you're spending, but I would definitely paint the brick a nice creamy-white color. Not too bright, but not the dirty beige it is now.  Light painted brick is very "in" right now.  

Paint the doors and shutters a muted color, or change them out for stained wood (again, depending on your budget). 

With the brown roof, I'd go for a muted green color for a "cottage-y" look. 

Some color palette ideas that might work:

Never tried it myself, but I like the idea of doing tile above a one-piece shower/tub surround in a rental.

It gives you the option of going with a higher end/more expensive tile since you're using less than if you tile the whole surround, and it seems to be a "tenant proof" option since it's less likely to get dirty or damaged.

Some examples: 

We got a bid before-hand but, I was trying to keep a long story short. 

Basically, We got an "all-in" bid on this first phase of the project, and now we aren't seeing eye-to-eye on what work was included in the bid (despite providing a scope of work and doing several walk throughs). 

We're working on our first project, a SFH flip in Houston, TX.

Our contractor presented us with a price list tallying the work he's done so far. The two largest items being replacing some windows and reframing the roof of a pre-existing 400 sq. ft. back addition to the house. 

He is quoting $3000 in labor and materials for replacing 10 windows (including one small window over the sink in the kitchen) with standard vinyl replacement windows. 

For the roof work, he is quoting us $8000 in labor and materials for replacing the previous flat roof, reframing it to match the pitch of the rest of the house, and raising the ceiling inside the addition to match the 8' ceiling height of the main house. 

What do you guys think of these prices? They sound like a lot to us, particularly for the roof work since it's only 400 sq. ft., but being newbies we have no frame of reference. Maybe we're actually getting a steal. 

I've added some pictures to give a clearer understanding of the work. 

Wow that's got to be the best marble-look ceramic I've ever seen.  You willing to share the name of the collection or retailer?

Can anyone suggest a good resource that lays out how to write contracts when hiring contractors and what sorts of terms and conditions should be included?

I haven't really been able to find a resources that goes into decent detail about this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

If vinyl siding, go with the same colors. Like @Manolo D. said, it would reduce waste. 

But if you're using a paintable siding like hardie or smartside, I say why not paint them different colors? A gallon of paint costs the same no matter what color is on the inside. It would add some visual interest and make your duplex stand out.  

@Manolo D.

The big name wholesalers will all have lists of "big name buyers" who have deep pockets and lots of funding. Those are the ones that get first crack at their best and most profitable deals. 

Then the little guys get whatever's left of the deals and the duds. I long decided to give big name wholesalers a wide, wide berth because even the ones who don't fudge their ARV/rehab numbers (and in fairness, some of the big guys don't), will still have provisions in their contracts that ensure THEY make money no matter what, such as requiring a $5,000 non-negotiable, non-refundable deposit to "lock up a deal".

If you are going to deal with wholesalers, I say work with independent ones, or small wholesaling companies.

Or better yet, become your own wholesaler and start direct mail campaigns and knocking on doors yourself. 

Gorgeous result @Account Closed! Would love to see the numbers on this one. 

Hey guys, I just wanted to remind everyone to make sure to independently confirm the square footage of any potential property against county or municipal records. Don't rely on the seller or what's in the listing.

Yes, it seems like a no-brainer, but when you are new to investing and trying hard to snag your first "deal", things can fall through the cracks.

We nearly purchased a property that was listed "per seller" as being 2570 sq ft. We could see on the walkthrough that it needed a LOT of work. Everything from the roof to the foundation would need to be touched.

But with the potential price/sq ft possible in that neighborhood, we could still make some good money even with all the repairs it needed.

It was pure, dumb coincidence that the house happened to be only 100 sq ft smaller than our own home, and had the same number of beds and baths.

We have a den (about 100 sq ft in size), and the property didn't, so I was able to make a mental 1:1 comparison between the other rooms in our home and those of the property and realized that every bathroom, hallway, closet, etc in the property was markedly smaller.

It was then I got the bright idea to actually confirm the size of the property on our county appraisal district website and saw that the county had the property at only 2065 sq ft!

If not for the fact that we happened to live in a house of nearly the same size, I don't know that I would have even thought to confirm the size. We were ready to go forward with a project that we would never have made money on without that "extra" 500 sq ft. We might have lost thousands, all because of a lack of basic due diligence!