All Forum Posts by: Doug W.

Sherwin William's Agreeable Gray is very popular around here. 

In four years of doing this in Virginia I have never had to provide a business license to a settlement company or lender. 

I live here and love it. I'm looking at buying rentals in Alexandria in 2018 as well. We have a lot of commercial and residential development still underway. I was recently at a neighborhood information meeting with a developer is who putting up buildings 2 and 3 (of 3) in 2018-2019 and they were very eager and excited to begin breaking ground this year. And that is just what's on my street.

I rehab in the city of Alexandria and while the prices are, as you are aware, much higher than some surrounding areas the quality of buyers is that much better IMO. It's also a higher demand area.

I use a project manager and it has been great. He is responsible for all of the scheduling of work and being onsite each day. I call him the "adult babysitter". I now have three rehabs going on simultaneously and he covers all of them.

I still manage the layout, design, and procuring of finish materials. I also manage a handful of sub contractors myself but that is only because they are friends of mine and I like hanging out with them. On a side note these subs handle hard & landscaping and fences and decks so they really aren't ever going to be in the way of the subs that my PM manages.  

The only issue I have is that when some subs see me onsite they sometimes ask me questions that I would prefer they ask the PM. It's not that I can't answer. It is because I don't want to confuse them with instructions that may not align with what the PM said. One sub likes to ask me questions and it quickly became clear that he was trying to do it to upsell me. I say this because he would ask/say "it would look better if we did it XYZ way" and I would respond in the affirmative. Hours or days later my PM would say to me "George said that you authorized this change and his price has now increased $X". So I finally had to tell George to refer all questions to my PM.

So the big pluses for me is that I can do more rehabs and do them faster, I am not the one receiving calls/texts late at night or on the weekend from multiple subs, I don't have to be onsite as often or for as long, and I am generally freed up to find more houses to buy. 

I hope that helps. 

4 years @Account Closed

It partly depends on how your entity is set up @Patrick Philip. Are you doing this under your personal name or an LLC or something else?

Talk to your accountant. Your best bet may be to list your tools, etc. purchases on IRS Schedule C. 

I look at my competition's (other homes for sale and recently sold) and I try to step up my finishes. My goal is that when it comes time for an open house I want a potential buyer to have visited 3-5 houses that day, including mine, and for them to take note that my finishes are better/nicer. Over an entire house this may mean $1,000-$2,000 in additional costs to me. But if that helps me sell faster and/or for a higher price then the cost is totally worth it.

Also keep in mind that you want to appeal to as many buyers as possible. So when you design and think "I would want this in my house" keep in mind that it won't be your home. Try to appeal to the masses. In my market that is white shaker cabinets, hardwood floors, and gray interior paint. 

@Account Closed

I have done my rehabs 3 ways:

1) did a lot of the work myself and subbed out some others (electrical, plumbing, HVAC)

2) acted as the GC and subbed out the majority of the work while only doing smaller tasks myself. I also made lots of material runs

3) hired a GC and now only manage him while still being the designer and having final say.

For #1 if I wasn't there onsite work was not getting done. I was putting in about 50 hours a week for one house.

For #2 I was putting in about 20-25 hours per week per house. The rehabs took longer than I had hoped for.

For #3 I am putting about 10 hours per week per house. I currently have three rehabs in progress and all are moving along at a very good pace. 

I like #3 the best because it allows me so much more freedom. I am now spending a lot more time at home with my family which makes the cost of hiring a GC so worth it. 

40%, 20%, 20%, 20%