All Forum Posts by: Dave Vona

Thanks @Bill S. I am looking into generating leads so we can at some point bypass the middleman (aka wholesaler) but that will take time.  If we can go direct then we have a chance to include our own contingencies if asbestos or lead are found, and renegotiate.  I've been doing some research and for asbestos you're required to do testing if you're disturbing more than a certain square footage or linear feet, and it's very minimal.  Once you test and asbestos is found, then you're required to have a certified asbestos contractor perform abatement.  We were just performing a rehab and an inspector found asbestos containing material in the dumpster.  We weren't fined but the cleanup is going to run close to $20K.

@Greg Dickerson and @Avery Heilbron I agree that the best thing to do would be to have an inspection done before placing an EM deposit, but I'm wondering how you bid on these projects when, in Denver at least, you need to put up $10K down without any contingencies when purchasing from a wholesaler. There's no time to have the inspection done first, there's only a few hours before these properties are sold.

Thanks Greg. I know several larger flipper talk about using these types of incentives/penalties, such as J Scott, Than Merrill, as well as a coach I had last year, on SFR, however they use this approach for GC's. It just seems much more difficult if you're acting as the GC to use this method of incentives.

I wanted to understand what other house flippers are doing to account for the cost of asbestos and lead abatement when purchasing a property.  The costs can be significant if there is asbestos and lead throughout the home.  I know testing can be done, but in Denver many of the wholesalers require a $5K - $10K non-refundable deposit.  And, if I was to assume an extra $20K-$30K of additional costs for any flip that requires significant demo work, then that would really kill most deals.  Do I need to become more familiar with what to look for in a home and then estimate the amount of the abatement costs more accurately instead of using a worst-case number?  Thank you.

When creating a Independent Contractor Agreement I've seen where someone that is flipping properties will include terms around the completion time of the project. They'll include an incentive for completing the work on-time or early, and a (weekly or daily) penalty for not finishing on time. I can see this being useful when a General Contractor is involved but is this a strategy that can be used if you're utilizing sub-contractors for all the work. It's much more difficult to set individual completion timelines for each sub-contractor when there are so many dependencies between everyone working on the project. Does anyone have any thoughts on how this could be structured? Thanks.

I'm looking for suggestions anyone might have on creative financing/owner financing a home that requires $50-60K in rehab. I would prefer to see if I can do a buy and hold with this property as opposed to a flip. I understand how the owner financing part would work if there was no rehab, but even if I had the funds to do the rehab, how would I turn the home into a rental and recoup the rehab costs in a reasonable amount of time. The only approach I could come up with is to use a private loan but, unless that loan financed over a long period of time (i.e. 20-30 years), paying the owner his P&I plus repaying a 3-5 year loan on the rehab doesn't seem like a viable option. Does anyone have any experience with owner financing when rehab is involved?

Thanks.

@Jerryll Noorden Thanks for the explanation.  I do like the idea of using technology to get leads, considering this is 2019.  I think it's something I could get done on in the evenings and weekends since I'm still working a full time job.  

I'm planning to get that first deal with my partner to flip through a wholesaler, just so we can focus on one thing at a time.  Then, I'll start planning on how to market so we'll be prepared for the next deal.  So is SEO consulting a side business of yours?

@Jerryll Noorden thanks for reposting.  I saw a video on youtube of that exoskeleton, pretty amazing.  But the funding was cut?  That's really unfortunate.   I had to look up the concrete canoe, I hadn't heard of those races.

I think you've convinced me, SEO is the way to go.  Although it sounds like you also propose using direct mail, PPC, etc once the website is up an generating leads.  It's more of a comprehensive marketing approach when the other methods are included.  I just need to decide when I should start this.  My partner and I are planning to buy from a wholesaler just to get started so we can focus our attention, and then I had planned to begin marketing once we generated some capital.  Thanks for all of your input!

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this post.  I was trying to respond to Jeryll on another post.  My apologies.

Hey @Jerryll Noorden, thanks for your input.  I was checking out your website, sounds like you had an exciting career in robotics.  I'm an engineer as well but can't say it's as fun as that sounds.

So SEO I always thought of as more of an "advanced" approach to lead generating and that you had to start with direct mail, bandit signs, etc.  Doesn't it require a lot of time to generate the amount content needed to start bringing in leads?  Do you recommend one of the training courses that the lead carrot-like sites offer when you purchase there packages (in addition to reading your blog posts, of course)?