All Forum Posts by: Jason Fant

Let your contractor do it. If you don't do it every day, it will take you forever to do it. Never forget that time is money.

Try goo-gone or goof off to soften it before you scrape. Acetone may also work. In any case the scraper is going to be your best bet. Your re-finisher is right, the pad will completly gum up his pads. He'll be able to sand any hardened glue residue, but you need to get that pad material off. Unfortunately it's just one of those jobs that requires a lot of elbow grease. Good luck!

Personally, I don't like it, but that's just my taste. qkjones is right in that it's a eco-friendly product which makes it desirable for a good number of people but it's not as durable as other hardwood flooring products so there's a trade-off. It's definitely a more clean/contemporary look, so make sure if your using it, it fits the character of the house.

IMHO, if you really want hardwood, you can't go wrong with a good old fashioned site finished oak floor. It's tried and true and won't usually draw strong opinions from folks (like or dislike) like some of the more exotic materials do, which makes it a safe choice for a rehab. I like a 3" plank rather than the 2 or 2.5" strip as it just adds a subtle little something different to make the house stand out. Darker finishes are all the rage here in the south, but that may be different up in NY.

In addition to your estimation, you should have your GC estimate the repairs if you are going to be using one. Since you mention that this is your first rehab you're not likely to estimate the work correctly to begin with. Have your GC (or a few if you don't already have someone you want to work with) walk the property with you and itemize each piece of work and have him estimate it. If a his estimates seem too high, be honest and ask him why. It's likely you'll find that you didn't account for all the details. It's VERY common to underestimate rehab work because all the little things can add up. If you need to lock up the property before you can get the contractor there, get the property under contract at $xxx,xxx minus repairs. If there's a short fuse on the deal (short enough that you can't have your GC look at it) and you can't get it under contract with a repair cost clause, then move to the next deal. You'll be better off than if you rely only on your estimate and blow it. Please don't be offended by that statement, it's not meant to insult, but if you haven't done this before, you likely won't estimate repairs correctly and it could cost you big.

Now, having said that, like I mentioned before if you don't already have a trusted GC as part of your team, get some referrals and schedule a day where you have several come out and give the estimate. Make sure they are itemizing out the work so you can check to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. You don't need to play them against each other, but let them know that this is a competitive bid. If you have one that is way high or low, make sure you talk to them to make sure they are accounting for the same work as the rest. Since this is a huge ordeal I don't recommend doing this all the time, but just until you have a GC you are comfortable with. Once you have that, just invite him out to bid the property and if you want to compete him, do it once you've closed on the property.

*** OFF TOPIC RANT ALERT *** :D

I know this next bit is a little off topic, but since we're on the subject of GC's and it was mentioned earlier in the thread, I wanted to give you my opinion on something. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread to beware the guys with $40k trucks and office space. This is a pet peeve of mine, especially when it's a GC trying to convince me that he has "low overhead" to save me money. 9 times out of 10, the reason the guy isn't driving a $40k truck or doesn't have an office is simply because he can't afford it, and usually they can't afford it because they aren't really adept at running their business, which makes me suspect of their ability to run my job. Does this always mean they are a bad contractor? No, but it does make me wonder.

In my experience, the contractor that pulls up in a decent truck and has a physical place of business, is usually a contractor that has enough business acumen to run a successful company. And, if they can run a successful company, it makes me more confident that they can run my job site. I know its just appearances, but really if a guy pulls up in a beat up 78 ford and hands me a business card without an address (or worse, one printed out of an inkjet printer), it makes me ask myself why.

Now, I'm not advocating falling for appearances only, but it is a good initial indicator that the guy you're talking is a professional and not a fly-by-night. I'm also not advocating for dismissing a GC because they drive an old truck (I'm sure there are good GC's out there that do), but if they start feeding you the line about keeping overhead low and warning you about the "big guys driving fancy trucks with fancy offices", they obviously are trying to make up for their inability to sell you on the value they provide by trashing their more successful competition. If it were me in that situation, I'd be suspect at a minimum. I'd more likely thank them for their time and move on to the next contractor. Just my $.02

It's hard to tell what the repair costs might be without more detail. The best advise I could give you without knowing more is to have your contractor take a look and give you a firm estimate on the repair costs. Don't let that stop you from getting the property under contract, just make it contingent on the chimney repair estimates not to exceed $xxxx.xx. Then get your contractor over quickly to assess the situation. If the repair estimate(s) are too high, then either walk away, or use it to negotiate further.

awebber is pretty decent from what I hear. Constant Contact is pretty much the leader in the space.

There's others as well, but awebber and CC are the two I hear about most often. I used CC when I was building houses and I was really pleased with it.

You want to avoid mass mailing from your own computer. ISP's really frown upon that because if you don't follow all the rules you can get their mail servers blacklisted. In addition, these mailing services are really good a getting your mail delivered rather than caught in a spam filter somewhere out in the ether.

If you're not doing campaigns and are just concerned about sending an email out to a list without exposing the list to the recipients, just put all the recipients in the BCC field rather than the To field. You can't personalize the email, but if you're just blasting a new deal out to your buyers list, it's a cheap option.

You just have to be really careful when advertising for private money. You don't want the SEC sniffing around and claiming you're soliciting investors for a security. I'm weary of anything that comes from a guru, so if you're using techniques taught by a guru, make sure you run any advertising you do surrounding soliciting private money through your attorney to make sure you're not violating any securities regulations. It sounds silly, but sadly it's a reality.

LOL. If my photo didn't chase them away, nobody's will!

Anyway, welcome Bob! I hope to see you around BP. It's a great community and you'll find that there's pretty much someting for everyone.

-- Jason

Amen Will. In MD a licensed contractor can't take more than 1/3 of the contract value as a deposit by law. 10% is the max I would pay, and I try to never pay that, especially if I'm supplying the materials. It's too easy for contractors to disappear and when you find them they are notoriously judgement proof. If your contractor is not financially solvent enough to start the job without a huge deposit, it's probably not a contractor you want to be working with.

Having said that, I have no problem paying for progress or even working in bonuses for better than scheduled progress, so most contractor's I've worked with like working with me.

This is a fun topic! Here's my response:

1. What was your first deal?
135 year old duplex to SFH conversion. We went all out with a full gut rehab, all new plumbing, electrical, 2 story addition, foundation repair, the works.

2. What were your goals when you first started out?
To become a Fix and Flip investor.

3. How did the deal end up?
Good, but it took forever. We weren't planning on doing as much as we did, but we bought the house dirt cheap, and thank god we did because we went $90k over budget :oops: It took over a year but we made close to $60k, which certainly wasn't great for that much effort, but I think of it more as getting paid for getting an education :D We certainly left a bunch of money of the table with it though.

4. What kind of deals are you doing now?
Fix and Flip

5. How is what you are doing now different from what your goals were when you started?
Nothing really, but it has been a wild ride in-between. I got away from investing for a while and started building in-fill houses right as the market tanked. I've recently comeback to my original goals after my home building business nearly wiped me out.

6. Is there any advice that you would have given yourself when you first started to help yourself from making a mistake or wrong decision?
Yes, plenty. The biggest 3 are:

1. Time really is money, so make sure you use good contractors.
2. Stick to your goals and keep a rational head. Getting greedy can blind you to risks that should be obvious.
3. Use debt only when absolutely necessary. Use other people's money as often as possible (just not in a debt situation)