All Forum Posts by: Ryan Pemberton

Venting a dryer inside can cause a lot of humidity and can lead to mold.  Quickly. 

Not to mention other damage to paint and laminate surfaces..

If you try to vent it into a crawlspace, the mold will happen even faster.

I'd do what it takes to get it vented outside.  It's against building code to vent one like that where I live.  Going through a wall or through a crawl space isn't usually a huge deal.  

As far as what your tenant is smelling, that's a mystery.  I've never heard of an electric dryer emitting fumes other than dirt burning off of the elements..which is usually short lived.

@J Scott

I'm not here to hijack Kyle's thread but I will defend my position and call it done:

I'm not sure how I could've made my statement much clearer.  

First of all, he's not in California or New Jersey, he's in Nebraska.  

Second, I said it's a quick "shoot from the hip" method to have a ballpark estimate in a few seconds.  I didn't claim it was the most precise and conservative.  The method you laid out is the best way to get an accurate estimate, I concur.  There are a lot of moving pieces to a rehab.  Especially when deciding whether to flip for the most money or hold for renters.  I have a feeling my definition of ballpark and yours differ.  A ballpark is pretty big.  

Third, If prices in Nebraska are on par with most of the rest of the midwest (and I bet they're relatively close), you're not going to get away with spending $50-70 on a rehab unless it's a luxury home in a high-end market, which most investors wouldn't hold for rental.  Hell, most C and D grade homes in move-in condition go for $50-70/sqft in most of the Midwest.  I've analyzed a deal or two in Midwest markets.  

Like I said, it's not a method I'd use to close on a deal but I encourage @Kyle Godbout to try it out and see if it gets him in the ballpark.  Especially if he's looking at a large number of potential investments and don't have a ton of time to vet them down to the penny.  

Once you narrow your list, drill down using J. Scott's link and really weed out the rest. There are a ton of other great books with sections on estimating rehab costs  I've personally read these:

• The Real Estate Rehab Investing Bible by Paul Esajian
• The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroy
• The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and Jay Papasan
• The Weekend Millionaire's Real Estate Investing Program by Mike Summey and Roger Dawson

Good luck with your endeavor!

-Ryan

A good "shoot from the hip" method is $10-$15 per square foot of the house, depending on how bad it is.  That's extremely crude and I wouldn't recommend closing on a house using it, but it's definitely a good way to get you in a realistic ballpark within a few seconds.

@Account Closed

More good points. :-) 

I know zero about that market but here in southern Indiana, those numbers he gave wouldn't work. Maybe appreciation is high, though. 

Personally, I find the numbers hard to swallow. It seems to me like you could end up upside-down rather easily given the right series of unfortunate circumstances. 

@Aaron Montague and 

@Account Closed both pose excellent points and questions.  

At first glance, the asking price seems on par (maybe a little high) if the building was in excellent condition and the rents were where they're supposed to be...but neither of those things are true.

You can use her undervalued rents as leverage in negotiation.  Base all of your numbers on what she's currently getting..not on what they "might" be if they were at market.  

Definitely double-check those water bills and vacancy numbers.

Good luck with it.  Let us know what you learn and offer!

-Ryan

This might be referring to becoming a licensed Property Manager.  I'm from Indiana.  I am working on my first rental portfolio purchase and have no such "schooling."  

I know a few investors from the area and none of them have anything like that, either.  

Some of the larger cities will have you register with the housing commission or some other government entity to have rental properties within a metro, but again, no schooling I'm aware of.

I hope what you've heard is wrong!  I'm going to follow the thread to see if anyone else has some insight I wasn't aware of.

I'm not sure what the answer is.  I don't see how he can pin it on you.  My girlfriend and I dealt with bed bugs on a flip she purchased and it ended up costing $1,600 to get rid of them.  They're tough, horrible creatures.  I'd see if any of your neighbors have had problems..try to peek in their place and see if it's nasty.  Hoarders often bring bed bugs in with dumpster finds or free mattresses/furniture they pick up.  Also, check your lease and local laws.  He may have to find some sort of evidence that links you to the bed bugs.  I hope it works out for you either way.

Long story longer:  Know your rights before you pay anything.

-Ryan

@Bryan Wilson

That's all sweat equity.  I bought a few packs of sawzall pruning blades and a cheap electric chainsaw from Harbor Freight (After ripping the cord out of my trusty gas powered first thing that morning.)

Me and my helper went to work. I closed on the house 4 days before "heavy trash pickup day" in the neighborhood, so we hammered down and cut it up and bundle it just in time for free disposal.  It was a pile about 5 feet x 5 feet x 50 feet long.  Lotta twigs!

Guys, I don't want to get carried away with details as the house isn't complete and not on market yet, but I wanted to share some pics from my latest flip...because, well, I like when people post flip pictures on here!  I'll upload all of the interior and exterior before/after pics eventually.

Basically, these are frontal pics of "curb appeal" progress, starting from oldest to most recent:

(It started out very overgrown...)

@Matt Devincenzo

That's great advice.  Thank you for the insight!