All Forum Posts by: Donna Welschmeyer

Chin May, I've flipped properties both ways (by investing that sweat equity every night and weekend and by hiring contractors). While having the ability to step in and finish a project when a contractor disappears has been very helpful to me on my flips, it seems to me that many investors are indeed making money on flips without investing sweat equity. It's mostly about the numbers! 

If you do your homework, purchase the property at the right price, factor in the cost of contractor(s) when calculating rehab costs, flipping can still be profitable, even for the first-time investor. 

Of course, my profit may be lower when I hire contractors, but when I factor in the time saved (I can flip much faster when I have someone working on the property full-time, thus reducing holding costs and increasing the number of flips I can do in a given period of time) and the fact that while someone else is working on the project, I can be working to find my next one, at this stage of my short career in flipping, I vote for the somewhat lower profit margin that keeps me from spending every waking moment either at my "real" job or working on my flip!

We are under contract on a house that has not been updated since it was built in the 1950's. The doors are, of course, flat panel but fit, open, and close perfectly; the door and baseboard trim is original but painted. 

I've always replaced flat panel doors, even if they are in good condition, with 6-panel doors, and have always replaced door and baseboard trim with more contemporary styles of trim. However, both the doors and the trim in this house are immaculate. 

I am looking for opinions, please, on whether a buyer would look for the more modern styles of doors/trim, or whether, because these are in great condition, painting them would be an acceptable option.

Greg, the contractor and I were pretty much "even" on the work he had done and payment he had received, but he no-showed me and then just left his tools on the job site. He did eventually get back in touch with me and picked up his tools. 

Steven, that is too bad! Our situation was annoying because 1) he disappeared and 2) I had to move his tools three times, but at least he eventually got back in touch with me. I hope your situation works out.

Have any of you here in Colorado experienced a contractor abandoning both the job and his tools? I have tried for a couple of weeks to get this contractor to get his tools out of the property we are rehabbing after he abandoned the job, but though he has agreed several times to meet us at the property, he has never made it. What are my options for getting his tools out of the way so our other contractor doesn't have to work around them and I don't have to be responsible for them?

I am curious--what would be your advice as a starting point if not flipping? 

In the last 5 years, I have only had one buyer ask for a home warranty. The inspection report had a vague comment like, "there may be something wrong with some or all of the appliances," so the buyers asked for the warranty. We chose not to offer one, and the sale went through without it. The only time I would likely offer a home warranty (especially in this seller's market) would be if I knew major systems were reaching their endlife (HVAC, for example), but did not replace them in my remodel for some reason.

Depending on whether your contractor is willing to work with used materials and if you have some flexibility in how the cabinets go back into the kitchen, consider shopping for cabinets, sinks, and even faucets at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore or one of the other home improvement "extras" places. We've done this in several of our flips when we had the option of moving some things around and it has turned out quite well. . .and was considerably cheaper than even the off-the-shelf cabinets from the big box stores. We also have found very reasonably priced lights there.

We also buy used appliances from either re-sale stores or even Craigslist, and we've been pretty fortunate to not have any issues. However, that can be dicey because from Craigslist you naturally don't have much if any recourse if the appliances don't work.