All Forum Posts by: Luke Terry

Over the summer I've gone through lots of headaches trying to find and manage the right contractors.

Here are some tips that have worked for me that I thought I'd pass on:

1. Find a project manager - I have a full time job and no contracting experience, so of course I should have known I was going to whiff on hiring a contractor and properly evaluating them during a project.  Through my real estate agent I was able to find a project manager who I pay for each project and is responsible to establish the initial scope of work, hire the contractor, and manage the contractor's performance over the course of the project. 

2. Use city registered contractors - Most if not all cities have a registered general contractor list that you can google.  I had about a 15% interest rate by texting them, explaining what I was doing and that I had found them through the city registry.  After doing a preliminary interview I then had my project manager meet them to interview them at their job site and then to meet at my property to provide a quote.  These sites could be an effective way to find a project manager as well.

3. Fall is a great time to find contractors - with the summer slowing down, busy contractors may have openings now that you don't get during the spring and summer.  By establishing good relationships and projects now, you can be a priority for them for the upcoming year when things get more busy.

I need to tear out bushes, trim others, cut down a couple trees, and have grass planted

Hey everyone, any good recommendations for landscapers for flips in Cuyahoga County?

I'm wondering if anyone's had success lowering their property taxes and if so, what were the steps they took to be successful?

Property taxes can be a huge impact on your cash flow based on the city you buy in.  From what I understand if you buy a distressed property at a good deal and the county has the home valued higher than what you purchased then you have got a good case for the county to lower it to your purchase price.

I'm going through the process for the first time now.  Here's what I did:

1. Used county records to see what the house is valued at https://myplace.cuyahogacounty.us/

2.  Since I was able to purchase the home for $25K less than what was valued, I submitted a form through the county

https://treasurer.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/contesting-property-value.aspx

Now I'm just waiting.  

Let me know what experiences/ tips you may have with this.  Thanks for your help

Thanks

Hi Nicole, not sure if you need this but this is a great resource for understanding tax history, purchase history, appraisals, etc for homes in Cuyahoga county.  It has more reliable info than zillow to verify taxes since zillow will lump past due payments into the tax statement so it can be harder to see how much is actually paid.

https://myplace.cuyahogacounty.us/

Additionally, if you get a deal on a house and see that the county has your house valued much higher, you can challenge the house value and they will bring it down to the purchase price, although it's not a quick process

https://treasurer.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/contesting-property-value.aspx

The two best ones I've worked with are: 

Terra Blue Title - http://terrabluetitle.com/ (ask for Abbie)

Chicago Title - https://www.cttohio.com/North/Strongsville.htm?id=10 (ask for either Andrea or Beth)

Signature Federal Credit Union does 100% LTV on owner occupied and 75% of non-owner occupied at prime + 1%

They are based in Virginia but service all states

They've been great to work with.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for feedback on a rehab estimate for a property we're looking to flip in Painseville. 

Here is a video recording of my walk thru for the house.  I'm estimating about $55K in rehab.  For the deal to really work I'd like to spend $45K but not sure if that's possible.

Specifically I'm interested if you agree with my rehab assessment, if there is anything you recommend I not overlook or that you think isn't that important, and how you might approach the rehab if this was your project.

Here's the property:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/9612-Madison...

Here's the video walk thru:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DhoC0NiVsA

All feedback is welcome.  Thanks for your help

Hi Jeff, are there any events planned in the next couple weeks? I'm in town through 7/10 and would be interested in attending if there is an event.

Thanks for your help

Thanks Ryan.  Could you send me a link to the FB group?  I wasn't aware of one