All Forum Posts by: Maria Bakaj

@Gabriel Salata  There's a lot of great book suggestions you've been given.  Outside of diving into these, since you're considering building, I'd start familiarizing yourself with zoning in the areas you'd be interested in building. If you know this ahead of time, you'll be able to make a move quicker and know for certain when you find a good lot.  Also, start looking into the numbers of deals that are already done.  If your dad works with any builders, maybe start picking their brains on actual costs.  If you need a start with any of this, feel free to reach out and I can send a couple of deals and the numbers I know!

@Rob Singles I can give you a starting point on this one, potential cost, and things you should look into/consider.  PM me the address and we can go from there.

@Bryan S. Besides looking online, maybe go to a local paint store and ask the employees who they would recommend.  Or, if you go early in the morning, you might run into some painters picking up paint and you can talk to them.  

I've found that most painters in my area, who are reasonably priced, don't have an online presence.  Good thing about going to a local paint store is you know who is up and at it early in the morning.

I like Benjamin Moore paint, rather than your usual Home Depot or Lowes brand paint, and I've talked to my local paint store that carries Benjamin Moore paint about painters they'd recommend and they had some.  One happened to be there at the same time picking up paint for a client.

@Siddharth Mankikar I can't speak to DFW, but you are correct that many tech workers from the Bay Area are making their way to Denver/Boulder.  I have a Software Development background, so I've seen the tech scene grow immensely over the past 7 years. While we don't have all the big tech companies, we do have; Amazon, Google, Uber, Apple, Slack, and a small Facebook Office.  In addition to software, aerospace has a huge presence in Colorado.  

With all this being said, buying a home sub 400k is certainly possible in metro Denver, and if in good condition and priced right, you should not have any trouble renting it out.

@Alex K. You should also take into consideration vacancy rates, historical price increases, income increases, rent increases and population increase/decreases. I would recommend following @Stefan Tsvetkov as he has some good materials on overvalues markets.

My husband and I spent a lot of time doing analysis and came up with our top 2 markets.  Stefan's data and the sources he used gave us a great start.  

@Mitchell Wade schmidt Now that's drive!  Do you know what areas of the US you're interested in?  As you contemplate this and potential investment strategies, be aware of FIRPTA.  FIRPTA can quickly eat away at profit.

Good Luck! I love Australia and can't wait to return one day!

@Bryan S. Paint!  I like tropical colors in a tropical airbnb but not the colors you currently have. Lighter, more neutral tropical colors with white furniture and linens would be nice. Or white walls with wood tones to help warm the room up would also be nice.  Outside of looking at what others in your area are doing, google "luxury tropical rooms".  I recommend trying to go classy rather than kitschy. You don't have to spend a lot to achieve a timeless look.

@Johnny Situ My GC's fee is 10% but I have heard that some charge up to 20%.  I have never seen a quote with a flat fee, but I can see some going that route.

I think at least 10% is fair.  If you want to incentivize, you can offer a bonus based on the timeliness of the completion of the reno.  Obviously you need to monitor to make sure corners are not cut if you chose to incentivize in that way.

@Account Closed First step is to check with zoning/your city to see if this is allowed.  There may be restrictions on minimum lot size or build restrictions.

If you can do this, I think it's a great idea!

@Fradel Barber The most important thing with communities is whether or not rentals are allowed.  Many HOAs/gated communities have restrictions on rentals.  Outside of that, I  can certainly see there being an appeal to a gated community for some, but I would use rentometer to determine where or not people in your area value a gated community.