All Forum Posts by: Jared Benson

Foundations are a huge issue in DFW so a good foundation repair company will be very important. I work for perma pier foundation repair(check out our website, google+, or FB accounts) so I'm probably a little biased...

ARV is determined by the market. If the house next door sold for $140,000 and is almost identical, this house should be valued at $140,000. If 2 houses on the street over sold for $105,000 and are almost identical then you can be pretty comfortable knowing this house is worth close to $105,000 Ideally you should find 3 VERY similar houses and base your ARV off the averages of the 3

The problem you will find in the DFW area is you will have an incredibly hard time finding deals(if at all) at 70%(or below) ARV. Most deals are gonna be around 80% ARV with repairs factored in. That will bump your out of pocket up considerably. I was looking at property's with HML's and the minimum out of pocket I could find looking at properties between $100-140k was approx. $20,000. That was about 3-4 months ago, so maybe the market has changed but I doubt it has changed that much. The Mansfield market is so hot that MLS listings are selling in hours.

Which company are you using?

You said "no more than 12 inches"...we normally tell people 10-18" because if the hose ends up against the foundation that can cause issues as well. The key is to maintain a consistent level of moisture. The back and forth of dry, wet, dry, wet etc... Causes most issues and is compounded by the 3 year drought(going on 4) that north texas is experiencing. If you have any other questions feel free to send me a message. I work for one of the larger dfw foundation repair companies and would be glad to help out if possible.

1. Absolutely. Compare their fees as well. When I purchased my personal home I found a lender that was $1000 less in fees and about .5% less on interest. I gave the original loan officer the chance to match and he dropped his fees but couldn't quite match the rate. He lost my business. 2. I'm not experienced enough to give a good answer on this but having this loan on a portfolio could benefit you in the future by not counting against your Fannie Mae limit...

Kyle Critchnau where are you located? It's really not a great idea to make guesses on foundation issues unless you are pretty well seasoned. That being said, piers are generally spaced 2 big steps apart(6-8ft). If you are able to determine about where the issue starts and stops, you could walk it off and count your expected piers. Then you just need to know the average pier price for investors in your area. You also want to add $400-$600 for permits, plumbing tests, and engineering reports depending on what you exit strategy is...all of this is assuming it is a slab foundation and you don't need internal piers... If it's a pier and beam, you almost have to get someone to go look at it for you.

Tim Bishop is right. French drain is the absolute best option. It just tends to be expensive.

Thomas engineering consultants is a great one in dfw or I've also done work with SK choudry with E.D.A. Engineering. You can message me if you can't find their contact info. I've also met an Adam green who owns crosstown engineering. He seemed like a young hard working guy but I've never done any business with him.

I'm curious as to how many houses you would have to buy to make it worths someone's effort...or will the same person be bird dogging both ends? Finding you sellers AND buyers?