All Forum Posts by: Rich Kniss

@Andrew Syrios, we use Platinum Title as they were recommended by our realtor. They've always performed well for us. Accurate title and Alpha Title have been recommended by other BP'ers, but I have not personally used them.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $61,000
Cash invested: $60,000
Sale price: $145,000

Contributors:
Taylor Reese, Shawn Kalmus

This is a 3 bedroom, 1 full and 2 half bath single family residence.

@Rajan Chidambaram Siva, @Mike D'Arrigo has it right. We invest in that zip code quite a bit. You just have to be selective about where you look in that area and adjacent zip codes. We drove every street to get a better understanding of the area. You also need to know an HOA in the area requires you to live in the property 2 years before you can rent it. Interesting tidbit I just learned.

@Cody Roy, look at it another way. When we look at houses, we ask how many $5,000 +/- items are there (roof, HVAC, electrical/plumbing items are there? Try to only have one or two of these. That leaves more for the rest of the rehab. We plan on fully or mostly renovating all bathrooms and kitchen, painting everything, and new floors. That's what allows us to sell quickly and at a high price, increasing our profit.

@Troy Purvis, we just finished a similar size home. Replaced the electrical panel and most of the wiring, all switches and outlets. It cost us $6,500. Our regular electrician says $6K - $10 to do a house.

@Grant Doyle, in regards to "seeing the opportunity to build new", this is a question we ask ourselves. More about how to achieve it and make it work financially. For us, we think you would have to build in some differentiators. For example, sustainable and energy performance approaches such as continuous exterior insulation, low flow plumbing fixtures, LED lighting, etc. Combine that with a cool urban design, and I think you can appeal to a particular crowd. If you keep their utility bills down, that would incentivize them to stay. Fill a void in the market.

That said, we've not started one yet, but have prepared plans and performed density studies to see how many units you can get on a typical urban lot. I think finding the right contractor is another key to the equation (big enough, but not too big).

Good luck and let me know if you get one going.

Rich

@Matthew Duprey, it sounds like you may have enough equity in your personal residence to get a HELOC. That's how I got started. In regards to meet ups, there are a ton in KC (MAREI, FIBI, Bridge, etc.) Michelle Lutz hosts a BP meetup in Waldo. There is a Meet up (.com) website that you can look up real estate on, and find even more.

Let me know how I can help. 

@Alex Mason, Congrats on your first post!

I look to buy for half of the ARV prior to rehab. It's easy math and seems to make the percentages work. On rent, the 1% rule is a minimum for us, and we try to shoot towards 1.5% if we can. I hope that helps.

@Kalen Jordan, one difference between the two are the curbs and walks. C neighborhood at best, based on what I see in KC. If you go the turnkey route, ask around for recommendations.

@John Drowns, this is a nice project. I'm glad you get to keep the colored art lighting on top. Good architect and contractor helped round out the team.