All Forum Posts by: Ryan Horne

Give @Tyler Stanley a ring. Did a great job for me.

My partner @Michael Davis and I are closing on our first investment property June 14th, with intentions of flipping. The property is located in Belvedere Park in Decatur. We have had a couple of contractors come and give estimates on the renovation but are always looking for more quality contractors. Can anyone suggest any good quality contractors to reach out to get estimates and potential work done?

Thanks Rick, I appreciate the advice! We will look into the areas you suggested.

My partner @Michael Davis and I are in search of our first fix and flip property in the Atlanta area. We have financing, contractors, etc in place and are ready to jump on the right deal. We are interested in Belvedere Park, West End, Reynoldstown, East Lake, Ormwood Park, Grant Park, etc. We will also look outside the perimeter at the right deal but prefer to stay inside the perimeter or close to it. 

We are looking for a minimum of 3 beds 2 baths and would like to be all in at $200,000 or below (purchase price + rehab). If any wholesalers, agents, or investors have any leads on properties coming available soon we would love to discuss with you. We have proof of funds ready to go and are just looking for the right deal.

Man this is awesome! I am hopeful that deals like these are a part of my future.

These were my thoughts as well, if nothing else it would sell faster. If it were me buying the home I would not be willing to bring extra cash to the table to make up for a low appraisal but I can't speak to anyone else. I would guess the answer to that question would typically be no.

My partner, @Michael Davis, and I went and walked a house today with a contractor. This will be our first house we are looking to flip. This house is listed on the tax records as a 3/2 with 1275 square feet with a 1275 sq feet "unfinished basement". Apparently the previous owner finished out the basement but according to the contractor we walked with, this was an un-permitted renovation. Being our first flip he suggested to us that we do not go through the county and pull permits to renovate and add this unfinished basement to the tax records so we could list this house as a 4/3 as it has an extra bedroom and bath as well as extra living space downstairs. He said this would open up a can of worms with county inspectors and could end up being an extensive cost to get it up to code.

The numbers look like they will work for a flip as just a 3/2 and us just doing cosmetic rehab to the basement to make it look acceptable and make sure it is safe. But are we missing out on potentially a ton of value by not going through the county and getting this basement added to the square footage? Another wrinkle in this is there are no recent comps in the area for a 4/3 with that much sq footage so we are unsure what value it would even bring to us. This being our first property, I tend to agree with the contractor that opening up a can of worms like that basement may be too much for us to handle on our first project. What say you BP?

Full disclosure, I am a newbie and have yet to make a real estate deal but I have just sent out my first direct mail and have a couple of appointments set up with potential sellers.

First thing I would do is start driving for dollars.  Found all of the properties I mailed to through driving for dollars (around 200) and looking for run down properties in the area. I have received about 8 calls back and a couple of emails and two of these are pretty promising and could turn into deals for me hopefully soon. 

1. Begin building a list of houses you want to mail by driving your area.

2. Send hand written hand, hand addressed letters to these homeowners. (research owner contact information through local county tax assessor website).

3. Wait for the calls to come in and begin making appointments with potential sellers.

Hey BP. Sent out my first batch of direct mail today. 150+ handwritten, hand addressed letters. All the addresses gathered from driving for dollars in my area. I know this is a small batch but I am excited to potentially get a call or two this week. Gotta take action at some point right? Looking to land one deal from this that I can wholesale and use all of those funds to double down on additional marketing efforts to begin building my deal funnel. Thankful for the BP community, there is no way I would be doing this if I had not found this forum. Wish me luck!

@Natalie Kolodij There is an app called The Driving for Dollars app you can download on your phone. It costs $20 for 100 property markers which to me is quite high but it tracks your location as your driving and you are able to "drop a pin" on marked or unmarked houses as you pass. I have only used it one time but it is very helpful if you are willing to spend the money. It also aggregates all of the homeowner information so you don't have to go through and search the property records. May be something you could use just for the houses where you cant see the address from the road to save money.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-driving-for-dollars-app/id1047114587?mt=8