All Forum Posts by: Ryan Williams

Hi everyone, 

I'm a newbie real estate investor who's just trying to get the ball rolling on my investing career. I've chosen the NOLA area as a market of choice and I'm just curious if any investors out there would be willing to share information on what they pay for rehabs. Cost for paint jobs, flooring per sq ft. Drywall, kitchen remodels, etc.

I was originally relying on my agent's recommended GC to have time and give a bid for the SOW, or reaching out to different GCs myself to see if they would be available to stop by prospective properties and offer an estimate. That has proven to be inconsistent and unreliable at the moment. I now think that the more information I have about different costs, the quicker I can do my own estimate before reaching out to a contractor, ultimately with the hopes of getting an offer to my agent on a prospective deal quicker and increasing my chances of getting under contract.

Thanks

Matthew and Bob, I appreciate the advice you both are providing.

To Matthew that makes a lot of sense, I understand, and I'll act with more of a sense of urgency and tighter timelines. 

To Bob, I don't think you're overreacting at all. I can tell you're passionately trying to warn me about some potential pitfalls, so thank you, I'll look for someone in the area who's also working on flips.

Thank you both very much.

Hi BP Family,

I'm looking at a property to purchase, fix, and flip in my hometown. I live more than 12 hours away so I'm unable to go on site but the realtor has gone on sight and provided me with a walk-through video and commentary. My question is, in J. Scott's book on Flipping houses, he recommends getting three estimates from contractors.

How can I have three different contractors view the home to bid on the work? Especially considering my agent is very busy and working and I don't live in the same city as the potential deal.

Thanks for reading and for any replies.

Are you using the Bigger Pockets calculators to manipulate your numbers? Perhaps offer less on the home than it's worth or put less down than the traditional 20%, if this is your first purchase you should be looking to use a product that will request less money down, like an FHA.

I'm still getting comfortable with the idea of offering less but it's basically a necessity given all the advice from the do-ru's such as Henry Washington, David Greene, Brandon Turner, Rob Abosolo, all those guys.

I'm also a newbie and learning while looking to get my first deal. I've watched a few hundred hours of online learning and read a few dozen books and 8% COC for newbies like us would be solid in my opinion. There are some experienced investors who are also ok with 8% COC returns. Now if you're a rock star like the bigger pockets hosts and savvy investors with years in the game, they may be looking for something like 12% COC... However, baby steps until we get there.

Hey Malcomb and Andrew, thank you both for your replies! They both made perfect sense. I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to assist a rookie! 

Malcomb, the more experienced investors commented on bad experiences using an agent that was also their GC on deals in the past, they very very briefly made mention of renovation costs, and how that scenario of using an agent as a GC was just a bad idea and likely to lose me money. I didn't understand it all since I haven't done any renovations yet, so using the description of financial negligence or ignorance was my best effort at articulating that to the forum.

Thanks

Good morning BP Family. I've recently begun my journey in RE investing and am building and doing an audit of my core four sooner than later. I found an RE agent in my desired location who was recommended to me by several trusted sources, this RE agent is also a property manager for residents across several cities within the state.

My agent also has their own contracting crew, when bringing this up at my first RE investing community gathering (just a couple of weeks ago), I was highly advised against having my agent also act as my GC (for lack of better terms) and to find a different contractor to do the work. The wiser and more experienced investors didn't necessarily mention it was a conflict of interest to have an agent, also act as a GC. Still, they were hinting more at the fact that executing a BRRRR deal (or any for that matter) way was more akin to financial ignorance and perhaps negligence on my part.

I'm hoping someone in the community could expound upon this potential risk for me and why it's a poor idea.

I appreciate any and all replies.

Thanks,
-Ryan