All Forum Posts by: Luke Babich

Hi @Tom Ferris! I may be a good fit for you. 

I'm a licensed real estate agent, but I don't currently work with sellers or buyers as my own clients. 

My real estate tech startup Clever, based in downtown STL, is a licensed brokerage, and everyone on the team had to become licensed agents -- but given that our full-time jobs are at a startup, none of us are "realtors" in the traditional sense. 

I also own 22 units in St. Louis and went to school out in the Bay, so I'd be happy to connect on several levels! I can tell you what I've learned so far, and then *might* be able to point you to a good agent, depending on what you're looking for and if that's the direction you want to go. 

Drop me a PM!

My business partner @Ben Mizes and I are bringing on a GC to help us rehab a 140 sq ft kitchen. 

Here's a floorplan: 

We're planning to remove the yellow counter on the left, and put in a new fridge there. 

We will replace the current fridge with another counter to close in the oven. 

For the work, we are: 

• Removing 4 small metal cabinets above the counter
• Removing one large wood cabinet (where the fridge will go)
• Replacing existing counters with prefab granite counters
• Installing new stainless steel appliances
• Installing and staining 6 new wooden cabinets
• Install backsplash
• Install a new dishwasher next to the sink
• Repaint kitchen walls light gray and ceiling white, fix minor cracks in ceiling

Based on our price shopping, we're budgeting ~$2,400 for materials. 

Here's the kind of look and layout we're going for: 

In your experience, what would you pay for labor for a project of this scale, with those kinds of material costs? 

@Amber Rugan that's really good to know. 

How much cold can your mini-split handle? Down to what temperature in winter will it work? 

I'm with you on the education -- although of course it's easier to educate a tenant about the benefits of energy efficiency than a prospective renter! We are trying to up the rents pretty substantially after improving the units. 

@Russell W. thanks for introducing! Magic-pak looks like a really interesting option. 

How expensive was the unit, aside from ducts and labor? Scouting around online, the prices seem a bit high. 

Is the unit quiet enough in that closet that it doesn't disturb tenants? No noises from the closet? 

Thanks for the great tip!!! 

@Amber Rugan thank you!! We'll definitely research and ask about the potential maintenance issues before buying, that's good to know. 

It sounds like our buildings actually may be a similar layout. Our units average 1500 square feet, there are two on the ground floor, two upstairs, and then a basement below. 

Did you find that tenants valued the zone-specific temperatures? And how will the cost of upgrading to central compare to costs when you first installed the mini-split? 

@Nate Maier thanks, good to know! And you're spot on -- central AC bids have been coming in very high because of the need to rent / operate heavy duty equipment (from what we've found researching so far, we'd need a diamond blade saw to get through the concrete floor). 

New 4-family property.

At Arch Buyers, my business partner and I just bought a 4-family property in St. Louis County. 

The two upstairs units have brand new duct-work. There are furnaces in the attic to provide forced air heating, and we're planning to install central air to both units soon. 

The problem: no duct-work downstairs. 

The ground floor units, on the other hand, have no duct-work. They have radiator heating and window AC. 

Making things trickier, the building has a concrete floor. The only existing gaps through the concrete are (unsurprisingly) already occupied by plumbing or electrical lines. It's a lot of concrete to drill through to install ducts. 

Here's a view from the basement: 

Should we install duct-work or a mini-split? 

The first unit we're rehabbing is 1450 sq. ft. We potentially could install a mini-split AC unit outside, and enter through a window or aperture on the side of the building. 

Would you recommend trying to install the mini-split, or spending the cash to install ducts through the basement? 

Is there another approach altogether that you would try? 

What factors would you keep in mind when making the decision for one of your properties? 

We're turning a basement back into a garage

At Arch Buyers, we recently purchased a new 4-family property in Saint Louis County. 

The building has a spacious basement garage that the previous owner only used for storage. We can add a lot of value by turning it back into a functional garage, providing off-street parking.

The garage doors need to be replaced

The garage door was built on a 90 degree angle, basically with two side-sliding doors that both need to be manually pulled back to enter the garage. Inside the garage, angles are still tricky, since there are load-bearing beams that have to be avoided when driving in.

The opening was built when cars were a lot smaller, so it's a tight fit -- but just big enough to work. 

Which garage door is better: Side-Sliding or Overhead? 

So we're planning to replace the existing, decades-old doors. We want to install a modern remote-opening door, but have the following questions: 

1. In general, which garage door is better: side-sliding or overhead? 
2. If we install an overhead door, would it be realistic to build a door in between the two ends of the current opening (cutting across the 90 degree bend)? 
3. What considerations -- cost, difficulty of installation, lifespan -- should we keep in mind? 

We've undertaken some substantial rehab projects in the past, but garage doors are a completely new foray -- we greatly appreciate your Bigger Pockets advice!