All Forum Posts by: Bryan H.

Great insight everyone

Great insight Robert and Harry. Thank you

Thanks Aaron! I love how you said "...referrals from people that have used them consistently over a decent amount of time." We learned the same thing the hard way. We used some referrals early on and had poor experiences with the work. Afterword they mentioned they only used them once which changed our referral criteria to multiple experiences with craftsman.

I wonder how contractors respond in states and/or cities that have not fully rebounded as strong as Denver. North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and Las Vegas seem like they are recovering but not sure they have the same demand for construction with the booming population in Colorado. 

Anyone else want to weigh in on the my poll? 

BP Community,

I live in the Denver Metro city of Centennial, Colorado.  It boggles my mind how many contractors come to do a site walkthrough, promise to provide an estimate within a few business days, and never send it! 

We had several home projects that we requested 3 different company estimates: hardwood floor refinishing, baseboard installation, enclosing a porch to insulate with electric to add square footage to house and have sunroom, sprinkler system, outside deck/porch installation, paving of driveway, move a fence, possible foundation repair, structural engineers to clear no structural damage, inside painting companies, and attic insulation among others. 

90% of all the estimates were never sent at all, or required 3+ calls to estimator and/or manager to have estimate finally sent. These were requests to fix up the house we live in that will be a rental soon. Maybe my project is not big enough, maybe they don't want to do the job for whatever reason, but why did they waste their time in the first place?!?

Is this your experience as well? Obviously once you find the right company you hold onto them and pay them well, but I am curious to hear others experiences of lack of response and why this is happening within the industry.

Bryan H.

Hey Michael, listen to the Podcast with John Fedro. Excellent podcast with a lot on the subject from a subject matter expert.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/06/19...

Hey Matt, what parts of Southern Colorado do you like? Pueblo or further south

Thanks!

BH

Welcome Eddie! BP is a wealth of knowledge, and everyone is very helpful. Welcome!

Thanks J

BP Community! 

What is your opinion on wholesaling a property that is above the median home price not fitting the 1%-2% model with rent? 

Through marketing, I found a property in Denver Metro (Centennial, CO) that would retail at $470k based on comps with a seller suggesting $400k purchase before negotiations. I can probably get him down to $380(ish), but it has tenants on a lease until 4/2015. The deal is there with room, but it comes with the tenants which don't meet the 1% rule with their rent being $2,500 a month. He said buy it now, get $25k over next 10 months, then sell it. 

I can get this under contract, but not sure the end-buyer pool for a property like this. Regardless, it is a deal but not a great scenario.

Regards,

Bryan 

Hey Chris! 

I had the same problem at first on how to organize my data. I was putting notes, sending myself text messages, emails. and thinking I would remember.

I started using Evernote as my sole location for notes, taking pictures of houses, street signs, and notes from calls with customers. Life has gotten a lot more organized and I have access all the time. Also, like Jenny mentioned, if you use an App to find the property you can favorite the house and get alerts on it through Zillow or Redfin. I started doing that about a month ago with every house I found driving for dollars or when a prospect calls me from a letter. This is done to gain insight into the area, the house status, and learn something about price, terms, etc if I lost the house to another investor. 

Lastly, I have a master spreadsheet for my marketing that I have my leads I purchased through ListSource and a tab called "Driving" with houses to send letters to. Every couple days I research those addresses, and who to send to. 

Hope this help!

BH