All Forum Posts by: Ronnie Galindo

I hear you! Yeah we went over timeline by 3 months and only over budget by 3k due to someone stealing my AC unit. I just can't have projects going over by that much. One week is doable but 3 months? Craziness. I hope yours works out! I am shopping and will try to make higher budgets work so I can also attract higher quality!

Ok BP Community,

I know I am asking for your first born child BUT....... can anyone recommend a reliable contractor for flipping and buy & hold? Currently I am flipping (have 4 deals going) but my contractor is not great when it comes to staying on the timeline. There are so many things that come up during these deals. I mean the first one is off track by 3 months. I am still going to make a profit but it is like herding cats to keep him on track. Any recommendations would be awesome! 

Thank you, 

-Ronnie

Hello BP!

I used the networking tool here to look for agents in the Athens, Colbert, Commerce area but didn't see much on the list. There was only two agents with no reviews or anything! Does anyone have referrals for someone working with investors in that area? I have boots on the ground and want to start doing deals there! Please Help BP! Any referrals would be appreciated.

Thank you,

-Ronnie 

I am looking for a General Contractor for an estimate in Lake Jackson. I just had a potential deal come across my desk but would need to have a good ballpark figure for renovation. It is in an AE flood zone with a BFE of 22 feet. The home may need to be raised and will need a full gut rehab (it’s a fire damaged property). If you have a recommendation or are a GC, please let me know as I want to move on this one if it makes sense. Thank you!

@Waylon Zook, Nope, the draw schedule is very generic and doesn't say anything about dates or scope of work to be done prior to payment. Now I will say, the GC has not requested any more funds over what I paid for the initial thus far because we are getting bogged down by the county for permits (or so he says). Also, anyone put in a contract that if they finish early, they get a reward and if late they get penalized? I know in David Greene's book he states he does that in his contracts. 

@David Avery, we have the project deadline and he set out a draw schedule but that schedule didn't have dates on it. I am waiting until a decent amount of work is done and verified before I pay any more money. We will see how this goes though. Thank you for easing my stress! It means a lot to hear that this is a common practice. I was beginning to worry. I will say that the GC has been in contact through both e-mail and phone so I feel he is a decent man and working hard to get work done. Hopefully I am right!

Thank you @David Avery! This contractor has a great reputation and all, just hard working from a distance and trusting someone with such a big amount of money. Good to hear that this is a common practice too. Just wanted to ensure I wasn't being taken advantage of or being put on the back burner because I already paid some $$$. 

Hello BP,

I was just reading a blog post on here about what to ask your contractor before hiring them. I have one deal in progress with an out of state contractor I have never met but was recommended by an agent that I was working with that was also an investor. A few things have gone array (of course) and we were delayed by a month due to a survey and plans not being accepted by the city. I paid up front $20,000 (which is a third of the costs) and I felt this was unnecessary due to no work being done but that was the GC's contract that he sent me. I was going to go get a contact written up by a RE lawyer for future deals so that I didn't pay up front and if they needed materials, I would pay over the phone to the store since I listened to other BP podcasts and they warn about paying before work is done. So I come here to see what others are doing.

When you hire a GC, what red flags should I be looking for (any burned stories?) and do you pay up front "deposit" costs or do you pay for things over the phone and pay labor costs once the work is done? My GC for this project says we are still on schedule but we will see. Just curious and want to hear from others because I don't want my soft costs creeping up and taking from my profits. 

Thank you!

-Ronnie
 

BP community, 

I would have searched this topic but am at a loss of what key words to use so I come to this post (as well as possibly make some connections to people who have done this). So, I have noticed, over my months of searching for properties, several properties that have a home on it that is either a mobile home (which isn't desired in the area) or a complete tear down. So basically you are buying the land with the intention of demo-ing the residence on the land and building. Now I know if it is on septic and a well that you will have to take that into consideration for the limitations of that system thus you may have to put a whole new system in, BUT....

Has anyone done this? What problems arose? Lets say the tear down is on city water/sewer, what problems are you facing now? When you built on the land, did it create built in equity? I want to get into land development but have read some scary posts/blogs about it and don't want to have my capital (due to not having a lot) tied up for more than 6 months at a time so I figured "rehabbing" lands already developed could be a stepping stone to not only grow my capital but to also learns the ins and outs with building. Lets hear some stories and make some connections!

Thank you all in advance!  

@Henry Clark I like this a lot! Thank you for your wisdom. I must not have conveyed what I was looking for and that is my mistake. I am not looking for someone to do my taxes (I already filed for 2020 myself because I hadn't started investing yet). I am looking for someone to give me 15ish minutes to speak with them about future moves and how to prepare myself for 2021. I am just getting into REI and need to know things like "Do I open an LLC?" "Should I be opening a business checking account and tracking everything from that account?" "Should I only use one account for all expenses as it pertains to my flip without opening an LLC or business account?" "Should I use a program like QuickBooks to save all receipts/expenses so it is much easier for them?"

All these questions would have been answered in a conversation in about 15 minutes for a seasoned CPA. I could ask it here on the forums but you get the opinions of both sides and I just don't want to make it any harder for a CPA for next years tax season. I understand CPAs right now are in the thick of it until 4/15, but all I am looking for was a conversation with one about future planning and best practices for a starting RE investor. Thank you for all your advice! That is all great stuff and I definitely want to be that "Valued Customer!" I am just in the thick of it myself and want to ensure I don't make a mistake that costs me in the end.