All Forum Posts by: Richard Evans

@Manuel Acuna Sorry I dropped off the planet for a while. The house is coming together slowly but surely. My little brother and I redid the roof, got side paneling up about 1/3 of the way, and turned the carport into a garage. I just got a truck yesterday so that will help a lot with getting materials and hauling away trash. Hopefully I'll be making some real progress soon.

I found out that the reason my bill was so high is because the broke-up the initial startup fee into two payments. Tim Czarkowski, Thank you very much, I haven't started anything yet, but I've finally got enough saved-up for the roof. I forgot to ask my realtor for comps... I was actually kinda nervous to ask him. I'm starting a new job as an HVAC Service Apprentice on Monday, I'll be able to do so much more in the real-estate world once I get good enough to make decent money. Pretty excited!

Originally posted by Kristin Britt:

Nice house Dave,
It's going to look great once it's freshened up. If I were doing it, I would see if the wall between the kitchen and living area is load bearing, and if it is not....then I would knock out the top half of that wall to open it up and create a breakfast bar there. People always seem to like those. :) Good luck. Can't wait to see it finished.
Kristin

I checked it out and found out it isn't a load bearing wall, that sounds like a good idea to me! I'm kinda bummed, I just got my gas bill and I owe $70 this month for a house i'm not even living in yet! I must have a gas leak or something, It doesn't smell like gas at all around the property though.

Originally posted by Dave Meyer:

Perhaps, but your agent can send you a detailed report of everything that has closed in the immediate area. Important to consider proximity, beds/baths, condition when making any comparison.

Also, you need to consider selling costs. If you spend 10k to improve and pay realtors 2.5k you have less profit.

I'll have to asked my realtor for one of those reports. I know went on a site that showed the prices for the houses all around it,( Maybe estimates) most were over 70k some were 150k. My house is older than most of the houses around it though. Totally forgot about the realtors fee, definitely can't forget about that when adding up the expenses. I appreciate how how helpful all of you are. This is really an awesome online community.

Originally posted by Dale Osborn:

Google Mojave County AZ Real Estate Investors Group for more info. Asking a real estate agent about an investor meeting will get you the answer above. Check on your own as you have the desire to learn and should not take no for an answer.

Wow, thank you Dale. I'm checking that site out right now. Seems like it's for professionals, I wonder if they will let me in their meetings, lol. Thanks again Dale!

Originally posted by Manuel Acuna:

Richard Evans, first thing I'd suggest is get some good comps to see if the ARV is correct (the $45k).

Good comps:
-Similar (Age, bed/bath, story, sqft, etc...)
-Close in proximity (1/2 mile or less)
-Recent (3 months or less)

Then tell us what you get, and we'll all help you decide!

Manuel

Is there any sites you would use to do these comps? I know the zillow estimate for it is 42k, is that accurate at all?

I guess I just wanted to work for a real estate office so I could get in touch with other investors in my area, I would love to find a mentor. I was talking to my realtor about finding someone to work under and asked him if we have a real-estate investor association or something like that here, but he just said "No".

Originally posted by Chris Topher:

Man I sooo wish that I could get that much real estate here for $21k. Nice grab!!

Thank you Chris, it is a pretty awesome deal!

Originally posted by Dave Meyer:

Originally posted by Richard Evans:

Yea, it's vacant for now. I though about having my sister move in with me and she would just have to pay a couple hundred a month. I'm kinda lost now, I just want to keep on the path to success, I'm afraid if I just live in it myself It will take forever to fix it... I only make 9.65 and hour.

I remembered you don't make a ton of money, but you need to decide (as others have posted) what the best use is. What would it sell for, and what would it take to get it there? What would it rent for, and what would it take to get it there?

Or live there free and have your sister pay tax and insurance, possibly maintenance, via her couple hundred a month. You did save the 21k pretty quickly if I recall, so if this is attainable in your area you could just get another one pretty quickly.

Have you already done each of those calculations? If not, before you spend a ton of money it may benefit you to do so. Example, don't put granite in as if its your dream house only to rent it out to tenants who don't care.

If you want, post questions here and you'll get tons of different opinions.

Hey Dave, I actually think I would rather flip it than use in as a rental. I was told I could probably get at least 45k out of it If I fixed the roof and did some cosmetic stuff, I was thinking about trying to turn that carport into a garage too as I think that might boost the price a little. I was told by my realtor, who flips houses, that as long as I don't spend much over 10k on repairs, I should do pretty good. Now if I actually did do that and got about 45k from it, I would either want to buy a little more expensive house, maybe 30k, than use my extra 15k to fix this one even faster! These are all just thought though, probably a lot easier to say than do, how does that sound to you Dave?

Hey guy (and girls)! I was just wondering if real-estate offices have any entry-level jobs? When they put a listing on a website, do they just go and take pictures themselves, or do they pay someone to do it? (probably a dumb question, don't know why they wouldn't do it themselves.) Also, I enjoy making and editing videos, do you think and offices need a service like this?