All Forum Posts by: Joshua Watson

I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Hope life is treating you well Mack.

Hello, 

I'm thinking about buying an out of date duplex. When thinking about buying it, it brought up some questions. The duplex has out of date light fixutures, flooring, cabinets, bathroom. It could definitely benefit from some new modern things added to it. Now, the thing is, the rental would rent fine as is. So my question is, do you still update it? It may improve the rent 100 dollars a month but not much more. 

Here is a link to the duplex, really curious what you guys think as far as if it's worth updating it.

https://www.realtor.com/reales...

Thanks for taking the time to read this and provide feedback

Hello, 

I just wanted to say, i've been looking over real estate for about 6 months. I love it, i've been inside houses and put in offers but I can't seem to land a deal. I've started driving for dollars and cold calling but still struggling. The Main reason for this post is to try and pick up some tips on how to evaluate a property once you're inside.

I look for several things when I enter a house, usually in this order. Let me know if there is anything else I can add to the process. 

1. Walk to each corner seeing if the subfloor waivers or is soft, while looking at the ceiling trying to identify any potential water damage. 

2. Look at door frames and see if they are unlevel and which way they are leaning.

3. Look at all the essential systems. Water heater, AC Unit, Electrical, Plumbing if possible. 

4. Scan Foundation outside and look for anything that looks out of place (still refining what i'm looking for here)

5. If it has a crawl space, I look inside with a flash light a bit and see if I can see any termite tunnels or damage to the under neath.

Let me know if you guys have additional information to add to this. 

Also, A different topic but one I am also interested in, with the unemployment rates so high, and the market so high, it seems like now would be a bad time to enter the market unless the deal was really conservative, do you guys agree?

Thanks!

This was an awesome reply. I enjoyed the before and after videos and example. I appreciate you taking the time to help me learn. 

Location is important for rentals. "Location, Location, Location." The first 3 rules. However, as I wait for the right opportunity to arise, and scowering the market daily. I wonder if it's okay if I found a good opportunity, low price, still the cheapest house in the neighborhood, a lot of potential to get fixed up, but it's located in the not so good parts of the city. Should I explore this? It will still go up in value from rehab, would still get a renter... But when selling it may move slower because of location. 

Also, How do you tell the real difference in a Blue Collar Neighborhood vs a Ghetto? Sorry for the odd questions, just really trying to apply everything and get some minor clarity.

Thanks,

Joshua Watson

Hey thanks for taking the time to help me find you guys! What location do you guys currently meet at? I figured with the low cost on real estate in Springfield, there are a lot of opportunities. Now to figure out how to locate and take advantage of those opportunities. 

Hello, I’m new to real estate and have been preapproved for some rental investments. I was hoping to start meeting some local people to get a stronger grasp of the local market. I read some older posts, about a meet up every 3rd Thursday, is this still active, and if so, where?

Thanks for your time,

Josh