All Forum Posts by: Daniel Guas

I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to do some landscape work on one of my rental properties. I received close to 30 responses, but I'm getting cold feet on if I should use someone from Craigslist or not. I've read some of the horror stories on BP about the people who have tried to hire GC's from Craigslist and it ended up not working out. Now, I figure there's a big difference between landscape work and house rehab work, so maybe I could have better luck with this.

Has anyone used someone from Craigslist to do landscape work on one of their properties and it worked out well?

Also, any suggestions on how I can find a good worker from the responses? Some replies included a resume, which I thought was a nice touch. Most included their phone numbers, but some asked me to email them back with the address and the time that I wanted them there. I found the lack of providing a phone number to be odd, so I crossed them off the list. 

Thanks in advance all the help!

@Jessica Hood, What brand of laminate do you use? In the last few years as tenants have moved out of my rental properties I have been replacing all the rugs with laminate flooring. It definitely holds up much better than carpets do. I like to use Traffic Master and it has held up well for me. 

Great topic! Thanks for starting it. I have also been giving some thought to getting my RE license. Once you are licensed can you start selling right away and getting listings on your own? My local broker said that you have to work under another broker for 2 years getting very limited commissions and after that you can go out on your own and start selling on your own. Can anyone verify if this information is correct? 

@Kathy Henley What type of vinyl flooring do you use for the bathroom? I've looked into this in the past, but everyone says that vinyl does not hold up in bathroom. I am curious as to what your experience has been with this in the past. Do you have to replace it when the rental becomes vacant and you have to rent it again? 

Do you do the work yourself or do you hire a general contractor? I'm very handy so I do like to do a good amount of the work myself. Thats a good way to limit what my total expenses are going to be for the rehab. It does take me longer to rehab a house since I'm doing a lot of the work myself. I'm curious as to what the rest of you are doing. Is the additional expense of a general contractor worth it? Or do you do a lot of the work yourself?

Soh, Thanks for your response. Have you used any type of SW paint? If you have, do you use the HGTV paint?

I've noticed a trend on BP that a lot of people like to use SW paint. I always use Behr paint for my rental properties and I always use white for the walls. I've noticed a few people recommended the SW Realist Beige color, which I want to try. I noticed that SW offers the HGTV paint with primer, which is their least expensive paint. Is this the one that most people are using? If it is not, then what type of SW paint are you using?