All Forum Posts by: Lee L.

What a story! Would love to see some pictures! 

@Bryant Hull It might be better to use EBITDA multiples than just multiples of gross receipts. That way you can also factor in expenses.  Companies can vary widely in how they do things, the types of liabilities they have such as staffing, rents, notes, among other things, which play significantly into profit margins. You might also want to look at how established the company is,  how established their accounts are, and whether or not the company is growing. If it's a newer company,  and projected to grow, you might consider their projected discounted cash flows to evaluate the company. Try to use a few different techniques to see which one is a better fit for you. 

@Andrew Cordle Looks great. The window solution is really neat. What did you do for flooring in the rest of the house? I thought about the wood-looking tile from HD for a bath or kitchen, but was afraid it would clash with the other types of "wood" flooring in the house. 

Hey @Joseph Theriault I think this youtube video might help. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neDUOYk8hyU

@Joseph Theriault I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but have you tried the "text to columns" function in excel? You can set it so that the data starts in another column after a comma, space, period, dash, or whatever. Once you have all the info in the right columns, it should be pretty easy to mail merge? 

I agree with what others have said, especially the importance of the rent to value ratio. I also like to read the comments section on websites such as curbed.com. They provide insights on the “vibe” of a neighborhood, and how the area is perceived by renters. It also kind of provides a profile of who your target customer might be, along with what types of features/amenities they like or expect. I also like to compare rental rates from websites such as zumper and try to analyze how much more rent I can achieve by making certain upgrades.

In L.A., where I’m from, there are plenty of rental markets where crime is high, and schools are terrible, but still fetch top rents. I guess the question is, what is driving that? It’s not the high crime or bad schools. I would say that fancy amenities such as coffee shops, yoga studios, Whole Foods, etc. do play a contributing factor in making a neighborhood great along with many other things, but are huge in creating a good "vibe". (at least to certain target markets, especially younger millennial folks, who are more likely to be renters).

Also, when looking at rental markets, I try to find places where it would cost substantially more to rent a single family home than it is to rent an apartment. Otherwise, I'd have to compete with SFRs, which tend to have more yard space and parking, and just bigger in general.   

BA Political Science & Art History; MA China Studies; MBA Marketing and Entrepreneurship concentrations. CA RE license a few years ago.

Worked in journalism for a couple of years. Now do product marketing. I have a couple of projects, RE being one of them. Hopefully coming out soon with an awesome gym device!

@Chad Duncan That's fantastic! Thanks for serving our country!

@Justin C. I love those Harbor Freight coupons and use them at Lowes, per their "accept competitor coupon" policy ... I usually can get 10% off one item with those, even though the coupons are for 20% off one item at Harbor Freight. Haven't had much luck using them at Home Depot 

I also like to bundle my Home Depot purchases to $2K so I can get the Pro Desk discount.

I also like buying stuff off Amazon rather than ebay because of the reviews and 2-day Prime shipping, and then having them mailed directly to my contractor's house for security and to save time.   

Also, I can't imagine remodeling without water. To me, it poses a safety risk. How do you go to the bathroom? How do you mix stuff? (those are more rhetorical questions)

Welcome to BP, @Yvonne Lau