All Forum Posts by: Jessica H.

very leary of giving any money upfront, it is too easy to get burned. I think that most contractors should be able to cover the cost of materials and then get paid for work completed at scheduled intervals. However, it seems it this biz. that a lot of contractors can't even afford the materials cost upfront so we either buy the materials and they get paid for work completed, reimburse them right away when they deliver the materials to site or some will go with them to buy the materials. if anyone has another effective way of doing this would love to know.

Honestly I can't speak to the turn around of a 3 bedroom over say a 1 since we mostly are focusing on flips right now, but generally I think people think the turn around is less with a larger unit because there is a good possibility they have kids ( or lots of stuff) and are a little more committed to staying for a while. Not always the case..just my 2 cents.

Thanks for all the replies!I really like Ikea Adel in white but can't get over the melamine, I think I can get the same shaker look from an online source with real wood. Plus I do plan on doing granite on counters so I wonder if it is not real wood how well it would stand up?

Thanks, Martin, I will have to check them out. Currently, I have a place that I can get granite from for about $30/sq foot but they have limited selection I wasn't crazy about.

An investor I was speaking to has all 1 bedroom units and he says he frequently gets calls for people wanting 2-3 beds. Even if they only need one themselves for sleeping they will often use the 2nd bedroom for office/guest room/hobby, etc.

Gotta love these old houses in winter time! We have dealt with similar issues on the flip we are currently working on. It had an oil boiler and we wanted to do a gas conversion but in the end we went with 2 heat pumps which was about the same price but we got rid of the nasty looking radiators and now have air for the warm months as well. Might be something to consider....We have the same goals as you with this flip, so far things are going ok, ran into a few extra expenses but we had planned for that and we are learning a TON. Absolutely invaluable education! Best of luck!

I must agree with you I LOVE the look of Ikea, my only drawback is aren't most of the cabinets particleboard and melamine? Those are cheaper quality materials and I think the buyers would notice they aren't real wood, right? This is for 200k price range.

David, can you tell me about the countertops and flooring you used?l ooks great btw!

Hi, I have heard from a few people that IKEA cabinets are better then they used to be and actually quite nice. Has anyone known this to be true? I do like the look of them but just wondering about the quality.

Excited for this thread as we also are kind of dealing with the same thing. Waiting with anticipation for the continuation....

As we grow and things get a little more hectic I am contemplating some sort of assistant to help with marketing, daily tasks like phone calls, acquisitions, etc. So my question is who did you hire first in your biz and what things did they do? How did you work out compensation, did you pay per hour, or did they get a commission of sorts? Has anyone taken on a realtor to work for them doing marketing/aquisitions? If you have how were they compensated? Was it someone with experience or someone you trained? Just trying to figure out the next step...right now it is primarily my husband and I and we have a realtor, who is not in our biz,but assists us with finding properties.

I know how you feel, when we started we talked to 3 realtors initially and they all said pretty much the same thing. We found out later that one of them was actually buying up a lot of undervalued properties himself and rehabbing them..I guess he didn't want any competition. Shake the dust off your shoes and move on. Don't let anyone stop you from pursuing your dreams.

I think the majority don't understand investors, don't want to waste their time....but there are some who do understand investing and are willing to put in some time with you. We have a few at our local REIA. I would say when you do find one treat them well and try to have all your ducks in a row to be able to make an offer. At first it might be a little slow as you are still learning but for subsequent ones be ready to move quickly.

I second what J says about getting licensed, we are still working on that. I wonder if any realtors can tell me if other realtors readily "accept" newbie realtors who are mainly in it for investing? Do you find you are able to locate and secure properties as well if not better being a realtor yourself? I know some investors work with a network of realtors in different areas, I wonder how effective that method is?