All Forum Posts by: Igor L.

What sort of flooring are you looking to install. Hardwood? Laminate? Luxury vinyl plank? Does the old flooring need removed due to the flood damage? Feel free to PM me, may have the guy for you. 

@Marioly Toles

Coretec and coretec plus is top of the line. Rigid and great floors that are not perfectly level. Way to costly for anything a flip.

I can recommend someone. Had done did work in the past. Used by investors so understand the ropes well. 

However, nothing is a sure thing, my experience is this, you recommend someone who did a great job for you at a reasonable price and in reasonable time frame. On another job, results are not as great. All because their workers changed up a bit, a new framer for example causes delay for the electrician, electrician causes delay for plumber and so on... The GC pressed his workers to move faster... To make up the time and quality can suffer in some respect. So you ROI suffers half a percentage point. The worst and what I see most often, which is too many projects with too few workers with not enough hours in the day to manage it all and no system to do so, I see that all the time with GCs, never a good thing... Avoid at all costs, will cause delays you won't recover from. Also, travel times kill contractors and they always fail to factor that in correctly.. Just take that as a given.

Basically GCs don't systemize their businesses, partially because if a system is too efficient then they eliminate themselves as a middle man in that system. It's the nature of their business. 

Feel free to message. 

Tile is anything but DIY... A backsplash maybe. Otherwise hire a pro, it's messy, you need a decent planning and mistakes are costly.. Can't pull it up like laminate. If you go tile, start small with a backsplash or something and don't use mastic, but use real thinset that you must mix. I would suggestion latex modified in most cases, especially with porcelain ... Which means it should cost $20-25 a bag in depot. Best thinset if touched is ardex brand. Thinset is where you should not skimp on money. 

I source my tile and luxury vinyl from a guy. Right now his warehouse is full of kitchens but he sells all sorts of stuff. Private message me, I'll give you his number. He is in Philly. I sometimes sell my surplus of building materials too because I need the space for a project. As for stores, floor & decor has decent deals. 

Ceilings are a concern. How high are your ceilings in the basement? If they are under 7 foot tall... Start digging now, because they will need to be at least 7ft to be considered in your square footage when you sell and now would be the time to do it. 

The key word will be underpinning for you if you have to dig, it's a pain but you are going to live there, do it. 

 Flooring, consider now too.. either tile or luxury vinyl plank. Nothing else makes sense. I did tile, since I have reasonable installer. Tile is more durable and easy to clean. Pet friendly. Throw down a $50 carpet, all complaints of it being cold on the feet disappear. 

If basement is small, just tile bathroom floor and the rest of the space with the same tile.. Makes  space look larger and cleaner. 

Egress is a must, look into an egress window if needed. 

You bring value people come to you. It does not matter what kinds of value. Often one partner brings the money/credit and another is a contractor. Maybe a third partner brings the properties cheap. If you have done some sorta business venture outside of real estate with someone such people  often make good partners. You know who your getting in bed with. Sit down and figure out where your value added is and what kind of partner would compliment that. 

As for rehab costs. 

J. scott's book on running rehab numbers is decent. Basically you see the home as a set of main systems (plumbing, hvac, roof, electrical, even drywall), finish levels (how high end will you go on each system) and fixtures - pay close attention to little stuff like faucets on the fixtures. It adds up if you buy retail. J. Scott's book helps but it's all experience and not finding a major surprise behind a wall, like a ruptured main line or something. 

Final piece of advise, leverage any small tight nit community you happen to be a member of. Be that family, church or a book club you have been a member of for 20 years. 

PS get some negotiation skills asap

And run the numbers on a deal 5 times before buying. 

Head over to the local philly form, there are plenty of us. 

Oddly, had the same question just last week... well that resolves that. Thanks all.

@Alexander Brian Frederick 

Purchased it, thanks for confirming my ARV estimate, I put the ARV at 360K-380K. Thanks.

@John Knisely

2,600 sq ft... sorry.. typo..