All Forum Posts by: Dan White

I think so. Kitchen and bathrooms seem to be the most picked over for looks and appeal. It also depends on your strategy...flipping it (Yes), BRRRR (Maybe), STR (yes)...just don't crazy on the reno costs.

I would reach out to a title company or two in the area that you are looking at and share your contract. Make sure it works for them as they represent the contract in the transaction. 

How are you buying it? Hard money or your own money.

Great answer @Sebastian Hernandez.

Communication is key and having a clear and concise scope of work. Problem is when you start getting into things and taking stuff out...you find an issue or issues. The contractor is not going to handle that for free. So, this is where you knowing how to troubleshoot those issues with a good contractor helps. But you should expect to pay for a change order.

While you may feel this is 100% bad luck with contractors, you should try and evaluate yourself as well. "What can I do better?" "How can I better communicate what I want?"

We have had decent luck with contractors but it was a process to get to the point where we are now. Only 2 or so that we don't work with over the last 2 years and dozens of projects. 

We found our guys through referrals from some of our great other tradespeople. We found our HVAC guy (who is awesome) through our plumber. They know who is good and who isn't.

Just my 2 cents.

Great answer @Greg R.

Being a realtor is tough and highly competitive. But you will get some opportunities to buy and sell homes from your circle of people you know. It will take a while to make good money doing it full time. You could join a team of realtors that have the lead flow to keep you busy in the short term. 

I would get my license and have that and see what the W2 world brings to the table and go from there.

We usually offer with the seller paying their closing costs and us covering ours. Sometimes we will cover there closing costs if we are negotiating as a sweetner for them. 

As far as contingencies go, that depends on your contract. We note that we are buying as-is with no contingencies in our contract. The main obstacles after that are the title work and HOA resell certificates(if it is in a HOA.)

Great answers from both @Andy Sabisch and @Victor Matias

Depends on the property. The tax assessment will help guide you a little bit on apples to apples comparison. I usually do the neighborhood if possible. I am looking at 2 townhomes right now and they have a decent amount of sales over the past 4 months. End units go for a bit more than interior units. So, it is easier to compare. 

The big thing about ARV is trying to see where it will be 3 to 4 months from now. The market is trending down so I taking 10-20% off my numbers of recent comps and adding holding times.

For example: One of townhomes I am looking at had a similar size and sq footage sell for $350k a few months ago. Same style is now sitting at 315k. I ran numbers at an ARV of 300k for my offer.

If you have a rural property, those are way harder to comp since they be one of a kind with their acreage and house style.

Quote from @Gabriel Tarran:

Hi All,

I am curious if any of you have thoughts on the benefits/drawbacks of becoming a licensed broker as an investor. Is there anything to lose from doing this? Seems like a good way to learn about the industry and potentially save some $ on future sales.

Agent - maybe, Broker - no.

Being a full time house flipper, the money I save by being an agent pays for itself x10 or more by being able to save those commissions. 
We have a pretty competitive broker environment in the Washington DC metro area. A lot of brokers will do flat rate fees per contract and 100% commission. I pay $295 per deal to my broker. So, not worth the time or energy to go and save that 5 or 6000 per year for that.
So, if you are doing enough volume to make it worth it, get your agent's license. 
Just my 2 cents.

First of all - that sucks. We had a client that I was worried about not leaving after closing so we held money - around 30k to ensure that they were motivated to leave. 

@Account Closed nails it - I think the best route is an attorney and write up that you are taking action as this was not the agreement. From what you describe you have acted in good faith and fulfilled your obligation to the contract. Now the seller is acting in bad faith. 

Nice one - way to go!