All Forum Posts by: Jason Tougas

Thanks Chris for your feedback. I ended up passing on the buy (4 years ago!) Crazy how fast time goes by. 

I agree with your opinions on the liability. That was not something I wanted to gamble with. 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $145,000
Cash invested: $45,000

Purchased 4 bed, 2 bath distressed property with intention to fix and flip. Plans to complete and list by 3/31/23.
Home required more restoration than initially anticipated and has exceeded rehab budget of $30,000. Working to determine best approach on whether to hold or sell. Purchased with hard money loan. If refinancing, Id likely need to come out of pocket to cover the extra expenses.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I was wanting to do a fix/flip to generate revenue to invest in another deal. Looking for working capital and not cash flow. Also running into DTI issues with refinancing due to number of properties.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

wholesaler.

How did you finance this deal?

hard money lender

How did you add value to the deal?

complete renovation including foundation repairs.

What was the outcome?

TBD

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Dont hire bad contractors.
Supervise contractors throughout the project to ensure work quality
Add additional contingencies or budget to account for mistakes or unknowns
improve scope of work estimates and improve contractor estimates

@David S.

I like your idea of the panel installs. One of the major reasons I replace the tub/surround is to get at and upgrade the plumbing. Many of the homes I purchase are old/dated. They have the 3 knob style mixing valve which dates the home, regardless of the tub finish.

Personally I don’t like the inserts. They feel cheap to me and although they are tough they are easily damaged. Onyx makes some nice panels that adhere to the wall which significantly reduces the time required to tile and grout the surround. They also work well when properly installed to prevent moisture intrusions. The downside is they are expensive when compared to tile. But, labor and time are also expensive so you just need to weigh the options and make your decision.

Hope this guys opinion helps! Good luck!

@Andy Sabisch

Incredible transformation.

I’ve never been a fan of refinishing until now. Well done!

@Jacky Johnson

Call and report it. We often have stolen vehicles abandoned pretty much everywhere. The law will be dispatched, run the serial number and registration information through the database and handle it from there.

Even if it gets towed, nobody is going to retaliate against you because they won’t know it was you who called or if anybody even called at all. Police often look for suspicious vehicles while traveling a neighborhood. They are trained to find these types of things and run their checks on them even without anonymous tips.

You don’t want to waste anybody’s time, but also want the issue resolved.

@James Hamilton

Welcome to BP- you couldn’t have come to a better, more welcoming network of supporters.

Love that you set a goal. That’s huge man! Congratulations on everything you have accomplished so far.

I also love some of the suggestions others have provided. VA loans and FHA are great options for low down payments. It would be super nice thing if you're able to househack using one of these Loan types to keep you cash flowing.

I learned about hard money loans a couple years after getting started. Great way to secure cash fast, but it’s expensive. The other benefits to hard money is that it’s asset based and many lenders will help you verify your deal actually makes sense and helps prevent you from buying a bad deal.

Hope that helps! Good luck, be proud of yourself- you’re killin it already!

@Plato Asadov sounds like a great deal. Where did you find this? How did you arrive at getting it under contract? Cold calling the list/ door knocking etc?

Congrats!

curious to hear any feedback from the group on this topic. I am contemplating purchasing a membership but would like recommendations from anybody that has used them. Also considering Real Estate IQ as another option in case anybody has experience with that one. 

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

What is wrong with taking out the fan/light combo completely and covering the hole with a plastic cover?  Your tenants can purchase a free standing fan that plugs into an outlet and comes with a remote.

I’m a huge fan of lighting, although I like the ability to have various lighting options. 
i think most of your suggestions have all been pretty solid. 

i don’t think I’d spend the $2k to change this on any rental house. Perhaps my own home, but never a rental.

my suggestion is to perhaps replace the fan with a light fixture or just leave it as is. The pull cords give the tenant the ability to turn on/off aspects they do not want. Only downside is that they cannot sleep with the fan on unless the lights are blasting down into their eyes. 

again, not worth $2k in my mind. Especially since my properties only cash flow $100-$200 a month. Basically you’re working for free for a year…  

@JD Martin

Totally agree with you! The dirtier, smellier and uglier the better- course the house comes at a discount when in that state of distress.

Do the math and if the numbers work then the right person can tackle any renovation.