All Forum Posts by: Jiri B.

Yeah as @Shaun Palmer mentioned, this will bring about 1,500 blue color jobs ($10-12/h).

I usually get the most excited about hi-paying jobs from an investment perspective. This is still good and it should bring more people to Garner. Earning $10-$12/h would qualify you for about $600 in rental property.. This is just more traffic and low income.

The construction has already started. It will be on Jones Sausage Road and close to i40. This will just bring more traffic so there will be some infrastructure improvements in that area..

@Kendall Mercer I honestly don't even know where to start. If you are having so much trouble with this contractor, then don't use him again or just pay him for what he has already completed and hire someone else.

I don't know what exactly what you had him painted and why, but if say for example you are only replacing part of siding, etc then repainting those parts to the original color is very common. If he only charged you $1000 for the exterior pain and trim, that seem extremely low unless its a tiny townhome. In most areas, you also have restrictive covenants (HOA) so any time you want to paint a property different color, you have to submit that paint color for architecture review. So i'm not sure how those things would get missed unless there was a complete misunderstanding on what you wanted to do and what he quoted you for.

I'm not picking anyone's side, but having those things in writing is important especially for those type of issues. I don't like when people start through lawsuits and courts around. It is not as simple as you might thing and if you have nothing in writing, you might get really hard time with that.

Personally, I think most of those issues for new investors  comes from watching HGTV shows. They see investor walking though the property for 5 minutes, pointing fingers on items and then show up 2 weeks later and everything is done exactly as they wanted. That is simple not that case and that is probably why the first property is usually the most expensive to flip because you learn those things.

When choosing a new contractor, i ask other investors or realtors for references and i make sure the contractor is licensed and insured. Getting someone on craigslist with the cheapest bid is not always the best idea. I also stay very involved and hands on when working with new contractors to make sure everything gets completed as intended and on time. Even if you have everything in writing, you still will miss few things.

Also estimates for work are just estimates. Usually getting large items done for that exact price does not happen and its not the contractor fault. For example you might get a new roof big and its 9k. If the contractor is good, they will also specify stuff like "includes 4 sheets of plywood, any additional is $50".. etc. So that you know what to expect and they don't really know until they get started. But if you go though the process you will learn those things.

Or higher GC and they do that for you but its really up to you. I personally like to stay very involved but i also have the time for that.

Sorry if this is not what you wanted or hoped to hear. I had issues with contractors as well, but that was usually because i did not know better when i started and just went for the cheapest quote.

UPDATE:

If you are very unhappy with his work, just pay him for what he has already finished and what you agreed on and then higher someone else. The chances are that if you pay him fair for the work he has already done, he will just move on as well as you and learn from that experience. If nothing was in writing, neither of you have good grounds to go to a court. Also i would not go to a court over small amounts, it would just take me more time and money and the outcome would not even be guaranteed.

@Mark Goodson Every investor is different and everyone has different goals. If that is what you want, then that is fine. I personally prefer to acquire a properties that also have positive cash flow.

I also prefer to purchase properties away from busy roads. Especially if those roads are going to be widen which might have negative effect of the value of the property especially in a residential zonings.

I would suggest talking to a local realtors about the property or even other properties in that area to get a better / professional advice.

It's really hard to predict the future or the potential appreciation of such properties but overall, those are not a positive factors i would want to hear especially if that is your first investment property and you are just getting started.

Hi @Kendall Mercer, sorry to hear that. It is always a good idea to have everything in writing, including the scope of work and any details relevant to the project before any work even starts especially if you are working with a new contractor. That way it would be very clear who is at fault.

Painting exterior of a property is not a cheap few hundred dollar job so im very surprised this would happen unless both you and the person you hired is not experienced enough / licensed.

I don't want to make any assumptions or point fingers, but it sounds like it just your word against his. You might just have to pay for the new paint and take it as a learning lesson. And maybe next time, higher someone more experienced / professional and make sure everything is in writing.

Yes, the market is a little overheated although it is slowing down.

I personally don't think that there is a good or bad time for real estate investing. It really just depends on what your goals and strategies are. If you are investing for the long run, then the cyclical market might not be such a big deal.

I personally don't want my equity or cash sitting around, i rather have it invested and have nice cash flow.

If you are flipping, then hot market is actually good in my opinion because home buyers are paying above property value just to get move in ready property. (they are typically buying for the long run since that is where they are going to live so they might not really case as much about the cyclical market neither).

Yes, you can get into a flip just when the market crashes and you are screwed but you might not be able to predict that  time anyway so my advice is to move as fast as you can and do as many flips as you can while it lasts to save up some cash for when the market is down, then start getting a great deals.

I think the worst thing is to keep waiting.. The market cycles are long so if you wait for "great" market to purchase or flip, you might be sitting around for 10 years.. That is lots of missed opportunities in my opinion.

I don't want to get into the what will happen with the market, but i don't think it would be anywhere close to what it was in 2008 and i don't think it would happen for at least a year or two. Most likely the market will just slow down or stagnate for a while..

You can't be an investor if you are too worried about loosing your investment.

I think the rent roll is more of an initial step to see if you should even dive deeper into analyzing the property.

I also like to ask for all the lease agreements and for each tenants ledger. That way you get better idea of the quality of the tenant, whether they pay on time etc.

Talking to the tenants is also very good way to get feel for the property, if possible.

Also keep in mind that any document the seller provides you is a material fact. If worse comes to worse and you purchase the property based on what the seller gave you and then later find out, those documents were not correct, you have legal rights to take steps against the seller. (this will require a lawsuit but you can get some many back, discounts or even rescind the entire purchase and get all your expenses paid back)

But if you find something shady during your due diligence then you have to make the call if its even worth it. If there is one thing, there will likely be more..

@Mike Jones Yeah i totally agree with your point of view. Working with a bank as the seller is the worst thing that can happen to a property or to the buyers. I once had a REO property under contract that required $300 worth of fix in order for my bank to approve the loans. The seller's bank would not fix it, and would not even allow my to just pay cash to get it fixed. Eventually the property sat on the market for 4 years before a cash buyer purchased it.

You can get a really good deal with those kind of properties because they make it very hard for a traditional buyer to jump through the hoops. 

Since you are the buyers, i would say find a realtor who have experience dealign with this. It wont cost you anything and it should make it easier for you to have someone else doing the heavy lifting.

Before i was a realtor and only an investor, no one would talk to me directly or give me any info, now, being a realtor, this is no longer the case. For some reason if you don't have a real estate license, the seller's thing you don't know what you are doing and don't want to waste their time, when it fact, many regular buyers actually know way more then the realtor..

If the property is already scheduled for an auctions, they bank might not take any offers anyway and just wait for the auction. Keep in mind the price the property is listed for, might not even reflect the price that the bank would accept. I've seen many properties entered in the MLS for auction for a fraction of the price just to put it there.

So if the property is a good deal, it would be prepared to end up paying more of the market value. And that is probably why the bank just want to do the auction. Plus the person who is handling that account is probably just going by the banks rules.

In my opinion, if the buyer is actually planning to occupy the property, then the bank should prefer them, not an investor. Even if the offer would be lower. (And im an investor but i believe in homeownership and home affordability)

Anyway, good luck to you! Hope it works out for you.

@Mike Jones If you submit an offer, the listing agent is required to present the offer to the seller. However, if they are asking for proof of found, the seller will likely just reject your offer. But either way, the listing agent has to present your offer no matter what the offer is. They cannot "screen" the offers. All offers has to be submit to the seller.

Also note, if they are asking for it, and you really want the property, then do what they are asking to make your offer stand out. Usually not providing those items indicates that the buyer is not serious. 

For auctions, you usually need to have proof of founds (cash or cashiers check) to register for the auction.

@Andrew Clark great input!! Definitely agree on the explaining your tenant what is going on, what rights they have etc and no surprises. Making the whole situation very professional and polite. And actually creating a hostile situation or making threads to the tenant can turn against the landlord or property manager.

Are you using the NCAR 410-T forms? I believe this or similar language you mentioned is already part of the section 17b (Landlord’s Right to Possession) and d (Acceptance of Partial Rent)?

MacBook Pro's for sure! 15inch.. Seems like that is the the most popular choice here anyway. A little overkill for just looking at home pictures and text. But i use mine for everything else as well.

To be honest though, 98% of all real estate stuff, i do on my phone (alway on move, driving, looking and homes etc) so phone is the answer. Laptop is just to write offers and update my spreadsheets..