All Forum Posts by: James Barnes

Any input on this after 4 years? In a similar situation and I've always steered clear of these types of foundations but I have a potential deal with one...

What Spencer said. I'd do exactly this if I were in your shoes.

Not sure I agree with a "crash" per se. Slow down..yes. Homes in my area are still flying off of the shelves. Investment properties are still flying off of the shelves at prices I personally cant make work. More risk adverse investors seem to be making these deals work...and ultimately are getting rewarded with appreciation while more sound/by the book investors are sitting on the sidelines.  

It definitely makes me re-evaluate what a "do-able" deal for my company is and makes me question the tried and true math that all of us have been using. I.E. Am I really okay with making a 30k profit for a flip? If you're not, you are going to get beat by alot of others that are..

I'd rather have a chair when/if the music stops but that mentality also forces me to miss deals. 

My last flip was incredibly over budget due to rising electrical(3x) and lumber prices (2X), luckily appreciation during the hold time bailed me out and we made a very nice profit. So, I WAS that investor that beat everyone out, overpaid and still made out. I didn't know I was taking that risk at the moment but it worked out. Seems like that's what is happening with current over payers.

@Nathan Yarnell Especially for you just starting, I believe the best advice is to make sure it cash flows well. Leave the speculation to those with big cash reserves that are able to be without a chair when the music stops playing. Could you take the risk? Yes. Would it most likely cashflow and be a good property in the future? Yes. But again, if you buy with this criteria you better hope you're already "set" or have multiple exit strategies when the music stops. It's easy to forget the hardships that happened years ago, especially when the market hasn't done much but increase in most of our lifetimes. 

To the point of "the investor makes the property cashflow". I agree, but then that's where you COC comes into play. What return are you willing to deal with the headache for? 5%? 8%? 12%....To each his/her own...

From what I'm seeing "investments" sell for on the market today I believe that some "Investors" are betting highly on appreciation and tax benefits as well. My guess is that they are taking on risk and not accounting for expenses, management, repairs, vacancy. It's absolutely frustrating. More power to them...

I said for Investments. Approved. Tell the truth.

Just reached out to my lender to check on financing "issues". Ill update with the info I receive  

Thanks Simon. I do see the ease of just having piers. My concern was that its just not the "norm" around here. It was a common practice back in the day but am concerned with it alarming buyers. I appreciate the input.

Id rather not "find" an issue blow it out of proportion but I heed on the side of caution because I have alot of $$ on the line lol.

I do believe I will need the "Dug Well" replaced...

I rolled right over that in the parenthesis, apologies. Yes, very good point, ill reach out to my lender to see what his take on it is.

We'd be targeting the first time home buyer in this price point and it would take a pretty terrible agent to not recommend a home inspection. "AS-IS" is a possibility as I've seen as it listings still go fairly quick, as long as nothing major is wrong...

Darius, Yes I would expect the cost to be up there, probably very close to your number. 

Financing will not be an issue, at least up front because id be using Cash from a HELOC. If I wanted to refi out later for the BRRRR Process then this could potentially be an issue.

Thank you for the advice on the engineer. Ill look into it.

Whats up BP. I currently have a 1947 home under contract to be flipped.The home was built on brick piers instead of on a foundation. The home seems stable but the home being on piers is definitely out of the normal in my area which concerns me for resale; we'd be targeting the first time home-buyer at a price point of 240k most likely. I've already had an expert out to look at it and he said if I'm wanting to install a foundation it would most likely be north of 20k; Lifting home, hand digging, installing foundation etc. This is not in the budget and is not an option.

Would you close on a home like this?

Would you be concerned with re-sale potential?

Cons of doing so?

Keep it as a rental utilizing the BRRRR strategy due to the unknown nature of resale?

Skirting around the exterior for rental?