All Forum Posts by: Michael Crist

Posting to try and bump this up a bit!

Hello! 

I’m pretty new to real-estate investing. I have one property that was silly easy to work with because my partner got it from his family a decade ago for a fraction of what it goes for today. 

I’m looking at getting another property to do a “live-in-flip” while my girlfriend is finishing graduate school. The home is owned by her mother. 

It appraised for $180,000. This is the price her mom wants to start at. 

The updated comps in the area are going for $252,000 to 278,000. I suspect it’ll go for much closer to $270,000 because the range seems to vary based on the sq footage. 

The thing that I’m really trying to understand is what the appraisal takes into consideration. The home needs a lot of work. It needs a complete kitchen and bathroom remodel. The floors need to be re-finished. The windows are from the 1950s. The HVAC is approaching 20 years old and has 3-5 years of life left. The roof is also approaching 20 years old; however, I’m unsure how much life is left. The electric box is only a 100 amps. It may need to be upgraded to handle the size of the home/modern appliances. Even after all these things, the garage still needs about $2000 in repairs. The concrete porch is starting to crumble(it is a small porch tho). I’m sure I’m missing somethings that’ll be uncovered as I’m over there more. 

So, my question is, did the appraiser take all of this into account when they gave us the $180,000? Or, are we suppose to have it inspected, have these things pointed out and then negotiate downward on the price?

We plan on doing a lot of the work ourselves, but even then, it feels like all of the work needed could make it to where we just break even at the end. 

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. 

 How do you dollar cost average in real-estate? Would that be similar to buying properties slowly throughout the year, or over years instead of buying 4 or 5 in a very short period? I familiar with the concept in the stock market, but not so much in real-estate. 

 The property is in Clifton Heights/Ellendale neighborhood. I'll check out the questionnaire! 

Gonna leave a post here. Plan to be refinancing towards the later end of the year. 

I'm very new to the investment scene, but I live in Saint Louis. So, take that in mind with what I say. Stay out of North and East Saint Louis. The crime is quite bad and it'll be hard to get quality tenants in those areas. 

South Saint Louis is where you want to be. I "think" Dutchtown and Carondelet are up and coming areas where you can find pretty run down properties for cheap. However, Dutchtown is still having some issues with crime. If you can afford to get into any of the Tower Grove areas, that is a very good investment. South and North Hampton are good. Bevo mill is good. Princetown is good. Lafayette Square is outstanding, but probably doesn't have any homes left. Central West End is good, but doesn't have homes left, or is too expensive. I "think" west of kingshighway (a major street) is generally a good place to be. The further north you get of Delmar (a street) the riskier your investments become because of crime. 

I'd love to have some investor friends here in Saint Louis, so if you want to connect and talk more, let me know! Hopefully, I can provide some kind of value for you as we head towards the future!  

 Hello Nathan,

I'm in the process of reading the book you linked! I'm currently on the rehab portion and hope to have the book finished this week, but will likely refer to it often. 

I will most certainly DM you! Thank you so much! 

 Thank you for your response! I'll start checking out those guides ASAP!

The alerts function is pretty neat, actually. I set up alerts for Missouri and Saint Louis, my target markets at this time. Do you have alerts that you like to use that are less obvious?

 Hey! I appreciate your input! What do you believe is a strategic way to plan for the unexpected? For example, if you are confident the rehab cost would be $25,000, would you tack on an extra $5,000? 

Hello Everyone!

I'm a registered nurse who is getting into real-estate investing! I really like the idea of BRRRR process and have been spending most of my time learning about that! I'm starting to look at finding properties in the Saint Louis area (home) by driving around and using websites like Realtor.com and Zillow. I'm also trying to learn a lot more about estimating rehab costs because in many places of Saint Louis, the buildings can be found cheap, but need ALOT of work, like full gut. So, I'm trying to do my best to learn about rehabbing costs. Eventually, I'd like to find homes outside of Missouri, but it'd be nice if my first couple were nearby.

I just recently came off of a travel contract, so I'm taking time off of work, but will eventually start working in a non-bedside RN position, hopefully. My dream would be to have enough rental properties to support myself while I pursue a doctorate degree 5-8 years from now. 

My plan is to have my first property being rented by the end of the year! I have a decent amount of capital to start with (I think) and a potential lead for a property. 

I'm hopeful that I can get to know many of you, learn a lot, and hopefully provide some value in return!