All Forum Posts by: Randy Dulac

I found a 2nd home/ vacation str in my state that I am interested in.  I ran the numbers it will make a decent profit.  The area has year round vacation activities.  My market is smoking hot right now.  I know no one can see the future, but how does a vacation home market do in a recession?  My gut tells me that these areas will be hit harder than other areas.  I want to pull the trigger, but I want to have realistic expectations.  I don't think the house will cashflow with LTR.

I am considering painting my vinyl siding.  There is paint made specifically for this application.  I would like to hear about other peoples experiences.

Some great advice.  Thanks for all the input!

I am looking to make some offers for flips.  I was thinking about approaching the sellers agent, when ready to make my offer, and tell them that I will use them to sell the property if I get the deal.  I know that would make them want to see my offer get through, but I also see it as a potential conflict of interest since the agent is supposed to be representing the seller.  I am curious to everyones thoughts on this approach.

I am looking at a 2 family that poses to have some good potential cash flow.  I seem to be getting hung up on the level of upgrades necessary.  The electrical panel is listed as fuses.  I have to assume the entire electrical system needs to be upgraded or does it?  When would you upgrade an electrical system?  A plumbing system?  I have attached a picture of the property.  The siding is asbestos.  When should that be upgraded?  The rest of the properties on the street are in better overall appearance and condition.  

I'm not sure where I should have posted this question, but here it goes.  I want to add an addition to my personal residence, but I would need to get a variance because I will be too close to the property line.  I believe that my neighbors would be fine with us doing this work.  Obviously I would check with them before approaching the town.  I'm sure every town is different, but I am trying to see what type of objections I would get and what the likely hood of actually being able to get a variance would be.  All comments are appreciated.

I have a few IRAs. I have a Roth, traditional, and a self directed IRA that I hold precious metals in. I am thinking about transferring money from my traditional into a self directed IRA to buy and hold property. I have a few questions though.

1 Can I use the same self directed IRA that I hold the precious metals in?

2 I only have enough money in the traditional IRA to be used as a down payment on a property. If I need to add more money to the IRA, because of unforeseen expenses, will that be legal? Currently I am only allowed to add $5500 per year.

3 If I sell the property to upgrade, would I have to do a 1031 exchange even though it is already in a tax deferred account?

4 Is there a better approach to IRA investing?

I wasn't exactly sure how to title this post.  I looked at a house to rehab and I had a little trouble determining what would be an acceptable tolerance for resale.  When I talk about tolerance, what I mean is the level of perfection of the finished project. I understand that the expected finishes will vary from market to market.   

My partner and I are new and looking to do a few flips. We found a property that has an ARV of $110k and the asking price is $54k there is a new furnace and updated electrical. The house is in a blue collar neighborhood and was built in 1925. The house was bought by another rehabber and appears they tried to do a lot of the work themselves. The work was extremely poor. They butchered almost everything that they touched. The floors are substantially out of level (approximately 6"). One of the exterior walls has about a 6" inward bow. The owner cut several of the beam supports and added random 2x6s as floor joists. I am in the trades myself, and would never consider buying a personal residence that has dramatically out of level floors and significantly out of plumb walls. Being new to flipping, I am having a little bit of a hard time determining what level of repair needs to be done. I feel that floors would need to be leveled, but that will affect the roof once jacked up. I feel that the house should be in the condition that I wouldn't mind living in, but I'm not sure if that is the right mindset or not. I spoke with a framer I know and he said that it sounded like if could be a tear down. Im sure this is probably too involved to be our first flip, but I would like to hear everyone's thoughts so we can hopefully learn from this.

Thanks for the input. We met and I explained to her what our approach is. She has no experience in HUD properties, so she may not be the right fit.