All Forum Posts by: Ronald Starusnak

You're buying the junk vinyl plank. If it's less than $3/sqft it will be junk. Lifeproof, ridged core, waterproof. Do not buy anything with any type of wood in them. 

This isn't the guy for you. You will get a lot of guys like this, experienced dudes that will take you for a ride. 

Yeah, don't mess with their money lol. Obviously don't hire a sketchy guy who burns through a deposit check without much being done but have their money ready when they ask. Some guys may not have a lot of capital or may not have ANY capital and they have materials to buy and employees to pay some sections of the job go slower and that section may need more money to complete, jobs aren't as simple as they may seem. We take 50% down, then 25%, and then 25%. They won't be upfront about that, it's embarrassing for them. Also, don't try to save money by buying the materials yourself. You can specify the materials BEFORE they give you a price. Get them the exact item and the cost so they can have it in their estimate. Don't think you will save money by purchasing your own materials. 

Eliminate the hassle that your contractor has to go through. The sales process for a contractor on a property rehab is in-depth and investors are stingy. Don't play the game where you're afraid to state your budget because you don't want them to max it out. Tell them you have $50,000 to remodel this property and you want to rent it for $1,800/mo and then ask how much you can get done for that. If it works for both of you then great. 

We receive 5-10 calls per day and numerous emails. I don't visit a single job site to give an estimate, I tell them a low end and a high end and if they want to move forward only then will I get more information. Shoot over some pictures, shoot over your budget, shoot over your timeline, I have done kitchen remodels for $3,500 and kitchen remodels for $65,000. You need to be upfront with your budget and expectations. I just tried to help out someone from this site and I couldn't get a single one of my subs to check his property out, I ended up bidding the job ourselves in conjunction with just one sub contractor. 

All of our in-house guys are skilled and have been with us for a long time, we pay them well and we charge accordingly. If you want a good contractor you can't be penny pinching or you're going to end up with a guy who sold the job too cheap and is jumping from job to job kiting along the 50% deposits until they're all burned out and your project is 6 months behind schedule. 

Buy with a 90% LTC Rehab Loan, work the numbers to get the loan right. Increase the value of the property and refinance out. 

I'm decently seasoned though there are many more seasoned than I am and at this point if I can find someone who is willing to do boots on the ground work, I would be open to working with them (don't message me though lol). We have numerous private lenders that want to lend us money or partner on projects but we hit a bottleneck. Our system is smooth and efficient, our returns are consistent and our process is great, but we only have so many workers to remodel and flip properties. If we had more people to get the work done and done well, we could scale more quickly. 

Interior Remodeling - Can you complete the work yourself in a reasonable amount of time and on budget?

Finding Reliable Sub-contractors - There is a massive shortage in skilled trade workers. 

Mortgage Brokering - Find a good lender than can get things done quickly and not sit on paperwork for weeks. Find a good lender that will lend based on how much you apply for the loan and not just % of appraisal. I have gone through numerous refinances until the banks appraiser appraises too low and won't return a more reasonable number. Find your investor a bank that will lend based on a number they apply for on the loan, this is invaluable. 

Property Management - Manage the property for a small amount or for free in exchange for participation in the deal and small equity share. 

Deal Management - Find the deal, run the numbers, negotiate with the seller, find the sub-contractors, find the refinancing bank, find the insurance agent, do the ENTIRE DEAL. Let them bring the money and give them the majority of the deal. Don't try to make money on your first few deals working with them. They will correct you where you mess up and help you learn the entire process. 

Use a good agent, don't try to cut corners to save a few bucks. A good agent will help your deal flow better and help you hit a higher price point. There are lazy agents too that will just throw it up on the MLS and hope for a bite.

It's required in NYS to have a brokers license or work under a broker but no one cares, there is no oversight, no one there to enforce the rules. We tried because we thought it would give us an edge against our competition. We called numerous state agencies, no one cared. The NYS Department of State handles it, we spoke to 2 people with the licensing and they all but told us they don't care about it unless you're listing the properties for sale

Just hold it if you don't need the extra cash. Flips are for running the sprint, rentals are for running the marathon. Long term wealth comes from holding your properties. You're going to be paying capital gains taxes, 7% realtor commission, closing costs, etc. Hire a PM if you don't want to be a landlord and enjoy the passive income. 

Tyler, as you know we own our maintenance company too. We have 18 full time construction & maintenance guys. We send out price estimates before every repair and give our PM clients the option to get a 3rd party bid. With the way the market is right now, most maintenance // construction // handy-man guys have no shortage of work. The benefit of your PM having their own maintenance company outweigh the negatives. I would request that any repairs over $XXX must be approved by you prior to the work being completed. 

He may not be intentionally over charging you, it may just be what he needs to charge to remain profitable. I don't even look at what our competition is charging for anything that we do. When I bid a new home addition, a roof, siding, or full home build, I don't even think for a second what my competition is. We have plenty of work and we know what we need to charge to be profitable, I think many construction companies are the same way right now. There is an abundance of work.