All Forum Posts by: Sean Kollee

@Bruce Woodruff rising market helped a lot. This was actually a better margin than my typical new builds which require more time and a larger construction budget. I’d do one of these again if the right deal is there. But if I do another it will be from a hole in the ground no renovation.

To keep it brief, I landed a good deal last fall on a very involved renovation on a small house, nobody else wanted it, so I got my price.  I soon realized nobody wanted it because the footprint was too small to add enough value to justify the cost of the work and the house was in need of everything.  It resulted in a pretty major rehab, lots of trouble with permitting that slowed me down quite a lot, and some really spectacular before and after photos.  Building this year has been really, really tough, so kind words only please.  

all pics from the same or similar vantage point

very poor kitchen design back in the 60's

foul master bedroom had an ensuite added 

ceiling trusses 

foul interior ceiling was removed and replaced with vaulted trusses

horrible basement got a gut 

nice new basement 

some upscale finishes added and complete

eventual buyer wanted a home office so we did that too

It is hard to call it a flip when you do so much work it becomes a new house.  

I was thinking about those flipping ARV details like buying at 80% of ARV less renovations. I think this one doesnt follow that. Purchased price was 41% of retail sale value, repairs cost 300k. purchase price was 70k less than ARV x .8 - repairs.

@Abi Carleigh first you start with a sample process where physical samples are removed and sent to the lab. The most common asbestos containing areas are attic insulation - vermiculite. You can see this with the naked eye quite easily too.

Next is compound in the drywall joint material or the texture. This is almost a guarantee in old houses. After this sheet flooring products have a lot of asbestos. Sometimes wrappings of ducts. Stucco or siding often contains asbestos too.

Since I’m demolishing my houses I don’t really care how destructive the sampling is as the end result is removing the material and bagging it up and putting it into the dump. I have a crew that does the work for me and they can issue me the proper documents so I can pull the demolition permit. I’m sure many people do renovations inside the city but don’t sample for asbestos or remediate it properly. Remediation can be a racket as well as there are many scammers and companies that charge huge sums for what can be modest removal requirements.

@Abi Carleigh you are asking some specific questions about a highly specialized profession and for me to come up with these sorts of answers is really hard. I don’t know anything about the property nor do I know what your capacity is as a manager or investor. Launching a mixed use style commercial building is beyond the capacity of 99.9% of your typical investor. Building a semi detached infill project is potentially a place to start you need deep pockets and significant financing to tackle something like that and likely partnerships as well.

@Abi Carleigh hi every home I have bought in the past few years has asbestos. You must expect it has asbestos and sooner or later someone will have to pay the bill to fix it. If the home is over 1975 old expect 100% asbestos in drywall compound, floor material, stucco, attic insulation. Often you cannot see it you need a lab. Small asbestos bill is a bonus for me.

@Abi Carleigh why do you need to change the zone. I also think any mc designation comes with a density or height number, 1 or 2, or g for ground oriented. Given an existing home you don’t need to Rezone it unless you’ve got plans for a major commercial building. Since that doesn’t seem likely just save the money and spend it on rehab or legalizing a suite.

the challenge right now is the high cost of commodities and low availability of skilled labour which is making any build to rent deal trickier, plus land is way up in calgary.  still better than most other places, with potential for appreciation as we are basically at 2014 prices right now.

@Josh Kurasevich sounds like a flaw if it make you input a zip code. 90210 isn’t a great proxy for a postal code. Much of bigger pockets is for USA investors which is the main reason I don’t sign up for pro - you can’t use the features.

@Nathan Johnson I’d reconsider the u of c and in particular a non industry relevant major. If I was my 18 year old self I wouldn’t set foot in that school and just start In real estate and get a long head start. Don’t find a university education necessary to hustle for deals or grow a rental property business, many of the most successful calgarians with a fleet of cars and a huge house - maybe finished high school? I don’t use my degree and I wouldn’t hire a recent graduate from u of c.

@Cole Felske totally nuts in calgary. You can get a nice home for 400 k that would be 2 m in Vancouver or Toronto. Save 5% and get a .99% loan and if you can’t swing that then become better at earning and saving rather than use a program like that.