All Forum Posts by: Don Gouge

Were these problems not obvious to you when you made your offer?

As an old contractor said to me when I was griping about a subs quote "how long would it take you to do it?" If you feel the price is too high get some gloves and sledgehammer and dumpster and go to it.

You aren't going to get a bank loan with no income. As to a friend loaning you money, people tend to disappear when. It comes time to write check. If you are going private money then I would say that you need at least 20% down and as far as interest rate goes maybe 8%. The lender will probably want you to eventually refinance so they can get paid off. Will you have adequate income and credit to swing a bank loan in say, two years?

You can always put the property under contract subject to getting it rezoned for a duplex. The best thing is to actually go to the zoning office and discuss this with them. See if there might be some type of grandfather  cause. 

Why have you already paid the agent?

What would be your terms for a fixed 30 year be? I don't think money will ever be cheaper than it is today. Locking in a fixed could be attractive even with closing costs if rates rise on a heloc.

It all comes down to your skillset and objectives. If you have extensive construction knowledge and access to good subs and the time to manage the project then you can save substantial money. If your knowledge base and time is less you will probably end up better of you are using a contractor.  If you are doing multiple projects at a time you will either need to use a GC or project manager.

As has been said above, raising money is the key to large scale flipping.  It isnt hard to find someone that will bring you deals and you can also find project managers of the pay is right. Cash is what keeps the machine running. I knew a very successful businessman who had started a company and it became quite large and he turned over daily operations to an underling. He told the underling to just concentrate on daily operations and he would deal with the bank and keep the money flowing.

Estimating rehab costs but square foot is about like estimating the cost of a car by how many foot long it is.