All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I'm going to throw an uninformed opinion onto this as well. My perceived reality, as a median earner -  What wages did the past few years was incredible! Until recently. As someone who circles "some college" on an application, and finding the next little buck or two bump has a bachelor's degree requirement I no longer feel like we're advancing and honestly a bit capped. I do see plenty of opportunities for the bottom to still move up. 

Halfway into a cash only projects flip and we are now stuck. What was once excess each month a year ago is now near paycheck to paycheck living, and I'll be damned to borrow money to finish the flip with the uncertainties that linger. 

To hear that the wealth are hurting is a mild concern. I could be wrong here, but I've always believed wealth is created in bad times by having funds to purchase the once overinflated investments that crash. (08) While income is created in good times. Not having the means to generate wealth for those of us at the median, or maybe having the means but not being in a stable enough position to take risks at this time is a shock from where things were not long ago. 

I could understand the fears of those that are low assets with high income, and high assets with low cash flow. Depends on the beliefs of difference between the definition of wealth and income?

If you are house hacking, does that mean you are also footing a portion of the expense yourself, and are you willing to justify that for the luxury of the pool?

Is this an in ground, or a Sam's club "some assembly required" pool? Is it currently in good repair?

Most of the expense is in repairs and initial filling. Up here we have to drain every fall and start over after the ground thaws. Horrible place to put a pool.If you can run year round, maintain good chemical balance and stay on top of the maintenance it shouldn't be as bad. 

I also assume private pools are like a trampoline or a boat. Lots of fun in the beginning, and a huge liability that just drains money in the yard after the new wears off.

Maintaining a pool for one tenant with no big increase in revenue sounds like a time and resource suck. House hacking an STR with a premium for having a pool sounds ideal. Overall, I think it just depends on what your market base wants.

Nicotine is an oil that clings to surfaces - check out a smokers windshield. Kilz will help block that oil at least on the walls and ceilings. 

Cabinets, doors and blinds, and all that dust in the vents will also hold that odor. Never been a fan of ozone, but heard it works for some. 

Deep cleaning and fresh air circulation will help with the residual odors, but it just takes time. 

Good luck! 

I guess it also depends on what kind of market you want to go after? Helping investors flip? Small landlords upgrading rentals? Large investor properties? 

The problem I run into is finding people to do the small work. I can put a request out to bid siding and have people from all over the place bidding for the work. But trying to get a section of siding replaced on a third level by someone licensed and insured with the proper equipment is a different game. The general I call for that doesn't even get out of his truck, just calls another sub and collects the payment when it's done.

I dont think there is a shortage of people that can do the job, but finding ones that have a couple million dollars coverage, have legal employees that pass criminal background checks and have the patience to sit down and sign contracts and know how to get onto a corporate accounting structure for payments is the real shortage. All just to appease the lawyers, tax codes, insurance agents and sue happy population. Insert GC necessity here. 

Damn I wonder why rent is expensive. 

 To sum up my ramblings, is there a profitable way to have someone take on all of your small jobs while you are off doing the bigger ones?

Understand that time is important to the investor, 24 hours on your time starting mid-week might mean a tenant sitting for 5-6 days without a kitchen or bathroom. 

Find someone who can start with a hole in the ceiling and have it painted, textured and cleaned up like nothing happened within a couple hours. I believe it's called hot mud, and we call for that guy all the time. 

Be realistic, we know you're busy and things are weird right now. If you can't take it on at this time be honest about it. At the same time, if your always too busy and even the phone call sounds like a nuisance on my end - I'll help you out by calling someone else next time. 

If you make the person who called you look good by taking care of their resident, your'e guaranteed to have more work coming then you can handle!

Convert it to a multi-unit section 8?

Hi Hayden,

Just scrolled through a few listings for Amarillo and it seems like you should be able to buy for 130k and sell for 200. (maybe?) I don't know your area or which locations are desirable but there are some rough looking homes out there!

For our first two flips we didn't look at profit we focused on equity. With a live in flip think of your mortgage as a savings account with much better interest. Any equity you get in that first one will scale on the next. Dial it back a little and use the early ones as your education. 

Four years ago I was living in a mobile home for 10k, lived cheap and paid it off. Sold for 15. that 15 was a down payment on a 100k home which sold for 150. We took the equity and bought a bigger project for 140 that will sell for 220-240 next June. The options and opportunities get better each time!

There's always options to think differently, find homes that have potential for an extra bedroom or have opportunities to rework spaces. One of ours had a small kitchen with a doorway to the laundry room, just by moving that door around the corner to the hallway gave us an extra four feet of cabinets with room to install a dishwasher.

Control your expenses and only use borrowed funds for the projects with largest returns(kitchen and bath) 

Also, be careful with some of those government finance options. They don't always have your best interest in mind. 

That's my way and everyone on here will have their own method. The best way is to just start and keep doing whatever works for you. 

Best of luck!

Go for a cosmetic flip for the first few if you are new to this. Getting contractors to run around for free bids on a house you may not buy when they are already buried in work is not well managed time for them. Structural repairs are hard to bid as they are not known until they can see the full project. 

The J Scott books and a little bit of practice on an open house can have you doing the bids yourself before you even step foot on the property. You can be writing an offer while everyone else is waiting to hear from their contractors.

I have an oversized 1 car garage, 42" between the exterior corner and house. I recently acquired a gently used Toro lawn mower that does not fit between the two although the deck comes off relatively easy. 

An overhead door would be perfect but as we are still considering this a possibly longer term flip house, I can't justify that expense. 

Is there a way to put a 48" opening with a secure door onto the side that would be cheap enough to do without compromising the structure? 

Thanks!

Is the lot desirable? Convenient water access or is it a billy goat hike to get to the water?

Taking a guess but the seller either knows they have a rough shape home, and is waiting for someone to come along that has the resources to pull this off from a wants/enjoyment perspective and not an investment standpoint. Or they don't realize the problems the home has, can't admit it is in poor condition and don't understand why their home values at 275, when others go up to 700. 

Figure out what the lot is worth without the house and find a way to prove some serious structural deficiencies. There are some huge problems if waterfront property is still on the market after a month for that price. Find the problems and solve it for them. 

There's a gray area between giving in to their neglect by overpaying, or missing out on something that could sell fast as soon as the weather turns and people start thinking about being outdoors again. Good luck!