All Forum Posts by: Richard Warren

I shared my story on the BiggerPockets blog:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/09/11/memories-of-september-11th/

Congrats Josh! It's like your little baby has grown up. I'm happy to have been a part of it for the last several years.

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I know someone who does them. I believe his minimum purchase is $50,000. If interested I'll send you his info.

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Originally posted by Jack Srimani:

Specifically I would like to know the cost of hardwood floor refinishing.

Also the heating unit is one. I would like to have a separate heating unit for the lower unit. So that needs to be worked on. So I would like to get an estamate value to do so.

I have no idea of rehab of a house. So I would appreciate some guidance. I am trying to figure it out whether doing rehab of this is a good investment should I get the house at 55k. Once again I appreciate any help.

Refinishing hardwood floors can vary greatly. The easiest way to figure that out is to call a couple of companies and see what they charge per square foot.

Splitting the heating system could be very costly, especially in an older house.

The rest of your questions aren’t as easy.

Start by assuming you are going to rehab to flip. What would the duplex sell for in good condition? I mean a real selling price, not a wishful thinking price. Then apply the formula:

(ARV x 70%) â€" repairs = Maximum Purchase Price

ARV = After Repair Value

So you need to get a real selling price and a solid estimate on repairs.

Rehabbing to rent is a little different. You still need to have a solid estimate on repairs. If you use the 2% rule, meaning that the rental income should be at least 2% of the purchase price, you should pay no more than $60,000 INCLUDING repairs. (1200/2%)

The real red flag here is that you have absolutely no rehab experience. That being the case, remember two simple rules that will come into play every time: It will take a lot longer than you think and cost significantly more than you expect.

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The Republicans should take the House without much trouble. The Senate is much more difficult because only 1/3 of them are up for re-election in this cycle. The Dems are not going easily though. Here in Nevada Senator Harry Reid has a huge war chest and has been using it to pummel his opponent since the primary results were announce. His opponent, Sharon Angle has been screwing up royally with ill-advised comments and instead of leading by a wide margin the race is a statistical dead heat at the moment.

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Originally posted by P NW:

Reasons NOT to buy?

Crime rate.

Like any city, Vegas is not crime free. However, also like any city there are good and bad areas. There is definitely gang activity in warzone areas. To imply that all of las vegas is gang infested is ludicrous.
If you mean that it doesn't rain every day, there are no tornados, hurricanes, freezing temperatures - yeah the weather is the pits. However, I happen to like 300+ days of sunshine and I'm proud of the fact that I don't own a snow shovel. It gets a bit toasty in July and August. But in 1902 there was a really nifty invention called air conditioning.

That's interesting - I don't gamble and I leave the shopping to my wife. Somehow I have no trouble finding things to do.

I left the northeast in 2003 and there is no way I would remotely consider moving back. Is Vegas perfect? Not by a long shot, but it's better than most places I've seen.

There are many reasons why Vegas may not be the best area to invest in right now. But the listed ones would indicate that you have never ventured beyond the tourist area. That happens to be an area that the majority of locals avoid like the plague.

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A friend of mine was faced with an almost identical situation. He held a garage sale and netted well over $1,000. He used the money to have the rest of the junk hauled away and still had some left over.

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Are you looking to buy & hold, buy & flip, rehab & flip? It does make a difference. A lot of realtors are complaining about a lack of invetory on the low end at the moment. Normally that would be a signal that prices would be poised to rise. However, if there is a new wave of foreclosures and additional inventory there wouldn't be as much upward pressure on prices.

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I have to echo what Ali is saying. Your #1 asset in this business is your reputation - don't squander it to make a few extra dollars.

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Even though you are paying the insurance premium, PMI insurance is for the benefit of the lender. They absolutely can come after you. It is a three-party contract with the lender as the loss payee and you as the premium payer. You can't compare it to auto insurance because it is a different type of contract.

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