All Forum Posts by: Rip Rittell

Good morning, 

We always do things in this order:
Exterior: roof, doors, windows,trim, paint, finishings (numbering, mailbox, lights, etc)
Interior: electrical, plumbing, ceiling, walls,doors, trim ,texture, paint, floors, cabinets & countertops, vanities, appliances, fixtures, finishings 

Hope this helps. I think I got everything

For our metal roof installs, we strip the entire roof every 2 foot with regular pine 2x4's horizontally screwed into the rafters and on the edges vertically with treated 2x4's. The galvalume is ribbed with around a 1x1 gap every 6 inches. That coupled with the 2x4 stripping makes for some great air flow. We install the ridge vent but not the foam blockers for the space between the ridge and the metal sheets. It actually cuts down on cooling cost in the summer with the extra air buffer between and the highly reflective surface of the metal. Another thing we deal with out here is asbestos roofing, if you were to simply strip the roof with 2x4s and put metal on top then you can leave the asbestos undisturbed and not have to deal with all the extra cost of containment, disposal, and cleanup. In our low-income area of Baton Rouge having to dispose of asbestos would make renovating the property unfeasible financially. 

I would always go with architect shingles, They are almost the same price as 3-tab these days @Alice K. . It seems like everyone and their brother are roofers now days. That is a great idea @Justin Stanfield to go and meet them at their job. I would also get the contact of a couple of other roofs they did and drive by and take to the homeowner and see how they were treated. 

Another thing that we do to finish out our houses is trim out the base boards in 1x4's. When they are painted white it looks great and is a really cheap alternative to base board. We also strip the ceilings with 1x4 that have been ripped in half. They are painted the same color as the wall and ceiling. 

Where we invest is all low income, high crime. What we do is give out hams (fully cooked spiraled) to every tenant. They are very good tasting and you can get them on sale for around .99 lb. Have you ever bought a 10 lb ham, you can eat forever on that thing. Everyone loves it and if they are going to any holiday meetups they already have something to bring. Go to Sams, Costco, Winn-Dixie, etc and catch them on a sale. It's cool helping feed all your families at least for a meal or two. They feel the love and so do you in return. 

An easy way to patch it for the meantime would be to go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a sample of the countertop (9.95) bring it there and cut a hole out on the countertop just slightly bigger than the burn and do the same on the sample. Glue the cut sample piece in and put a little 2 part epoxy on it and it should be good to go for another tenant or two.

Nice tips , @Brian Pulaski for the OSB we tape and float the seams and usually thin down mud and roll it on the OSB and then take a large knife (trowel) and knock it down. It usually looks like a Venetian plaster. Its a little heavier but adds a lot of strength to the house. Another plus side to it is if your roof has a small leak and drips on the OSB and discolors the paint, you fix the roof and let the OSB dry out and just touch up paint it. It doesn't get all brittle like sheetrock.    

We use 12/2 everywhere because sometimes tenants will plug in heaters, microwaves in rooms, etc and keep running it even when it trips the breakers. Its also nice to have the capacity to run some motion lights later if you need to off any line. 

As for the T&G Flooring @Julie Marquez  it usually runs about .95 - 1.08 a sq ft for the material, We use a flooring kick nailer and throw it in fast. We do a quick rough sand on it and then stain it a jacobean (making sure its really dark). After it dries we put two coats of high gloss poly on it. The stain and poly add around .25 a sq ft. Installation is all over the place, anywhere from $1 to 2.25 a sq ft for everything. 

We do not furnish any appliances. If it moves it breaks and then we have to pay for it to be fixed, I would rather have that responsibility on the tenant. We use a standard 24 in bathroom vanity with the built in sink. 

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Glacier-Bay-24-1-2-in-W...  

That is a great idea about the Coax @Account Closed   I will incorporate that into future projects.  

I wanted to share some ideas and tips that I use as well as get some from you guys out there. My wife and I invest in a high crime, low-income area of Baton Rouge, LA. We do things the right way, always. We love it and here are our tips for remodeling in that area. 

Fix things the right way and always up to or above code.

We run 12-2 wire at a minimum instead of 14-2. This prevents a large amount of burn/tripping hazards. 

We run new PEX throughout the house and install cleanouts on any waste lines that we can.

We install OSB instead of sheetrock on all the walls and ceiling. The OSB is taped and floated and finished just like sheetrock. You can't tell the difference unless you punch the wall. Tenants can hang things everywhere, there are no doorknob holes and it stiffens up the structure as well. 

We put in the second from the bottom of the builders line of fixtures and finishings from the big box stores. We use identical hardware for every house. 

We have 3 different custom colors for the exteriors of our houses and every interior is painted a modern gray eggshell for the base color and trimmed out in gloss white. 

We always put nice large house numbers on as well as a new mailbox. 

Any roof that is a simple design (no excess hips or ridges) we install galvalume metal roofing. It is easy to install, cheaper than a shingle roof, last longer and it can go right on top of the existing roof. 

We use 12x12 ceramic (.57 cents sq/ft) for any slab houses and 1x6 T&G Pine for any pier and beam houses. I love the 1x6 because is stiffens up the floors, is relatively cheap and if you polyurethane it well it will last for a while. We stain the floors a dark jacobean and they end up looking like antique floors. 

Always buy a new toilet. The tenants appreciate it. 

We put new fans with lights in every room. It helps circulate the air so that the house doesn't get stale. 

That's what I have for now and I'm sure I'll remember more later. What do you guys have?

Investing in one of the roughest areas in Baton Rouge, LA has been a wild ride so far. I wanted to do a brain dump of what has happened so far and see what everyone else has experienced overall. My wife and I started investing in the 70805 (high crime, poverty, drugs, etc.) area code a few years ago. We purchase houses that look like they are ready to be torn down. Almost all of our purchases are full renovations (new plumbing, electrical, roof, floors, fixtures, etc). We try to stick to an ARV of 40x the rent. So on a 3/1 SFH that will rent for $600 we should be all in for $24k. We don't provide any appliances or cover any electricity, water or garbage. When we are finished remodeling our homes they are the nicest that the neighborhood has ever seen. Our tenants are thoroughly screened and vetted. In they end we usually end up renting to older couples that become our new grandparents. This area has some of the best people in the world. They are proud, respectful and kind. They take pride in their nice house and we rarely have a problem on a personal communication level with anyone. There are a few tenants that are late every now and then. But for the most part, all is well. We are investing in a targeted area of 600 available houses. I would like to own 100 of them before we move somewhere else. What are you guys experiences in high crime, low-income areas?

I am new for the site and it took me a while to find this thread again. Thank yall so much for the answers! I forgot to say my name. My name is Viviane. Thanks again!

I am actually Rip`s wife. I was listening to some BP podcasts while driving. In of them the woman in it mentioned an app she uses for maintenance jobs in her properties out of state. She said it was an app where you post a job in the area you have the property and people interested in doing the job bid on it. I don`t remember the podcast number or the woman`s name in it. So I was wondering. Has anyone heard about an app like that? Is it indeed or a different app specific for construction or maintenance jobs? I appreciate any help trying to figure this out! Thanks!