All Forum Posts by: Scott W.

there is a home where the living space in the garage needs to be converted back to a garage. the wall butts up to the condition. so will need to bring the living space wall to code.

does a living space wall that is adjacent to an attached garage need to be brought to a current energy code? I am guessing yes since there is obviously no heat in the garage.

some of the recent shows appear to be more in line with reality in terms of the rehab budget. I hate it when that "flip or flop" LA show shows they haven't sold the house yet. why don't they just wait until it sells to give us the real numbers? cuz it's all about WINNING on these shows.

also, you ever noticed they always pay cash for these properties? who has that kinda $ of paying $800k plus $150k rehab yet you never have a loan? I guess it's possible but when you are doing multiple properties you have either loans and/or partners.

and I love it how then win every single house they bid on. and how the budget went over but the comps suddenly skyrocketed and it appaised out.

Huntington does drive bys for primary; walk ins for rentals. I got a heloc at 70% for a rental but I don't think they do them if you have an llc (gotta be under your name).

someone on here said tax benefits but the real tax benefits are in a ira or 401k as it isn't taxed til you retrie. w/ real estate (let's say rentals), you are taxed each year. you do get a depreciation expense so that helps a little.

someone on here said control, that is very true.

someone on here said the stock market goes down; real estate can go down too. and since the depression, stocks have average 10% return while real estate is 2-3%.

quite a few say leverage and that totally can boost your returns to a crazy amount. but w/ a 401k or ira, you have no debt. also, you can leverage in the stock market thru margin.

and, a lot more stress/aggrevation in rentals vs dumping it into a 401k each week.  but risk comes reward.

you didn't mention on contracting out the part of the granite and the $5k plumbing bill (septic); $35k, even w/ doing all of that work yourself, sounds very low. you did all of the plumbing yourself (making the extra half bath)? I guess you can do that after 6 months but the law (at least up here) is you have to wait and I wouldn't trust myself to set in new plumbing. :)

so your dad got 50% of the profit? so $17,500.  how many hours would you say you and your fiancé put in total of labor?

ah, now it makes sense trying to hit the 50k margin. if you did all of that work yourself, you prolly saved $20k in labor. how many hours of work would you say you put in?

5 month rehab for cosmetic? seems a bit long. but the real shocker is 26k to do all of that. again, cosmetic but still. must have not pulled permits. as you know, it's not a completed flip til it closes and you get the check. :)  $50k sounds awfully high of a profit. you'd think there would be more higher offers when you bought with that much spread.  keep us updated or share the link to the listing. looks nice! remember, showings are just the start. you need offers then hope they don't back out (most don't but some do) then pass home inspection then appraise then close. lot of hoops to jump thru still.

as you know, it's not a done deal until it closes but it sounds like you are in tune w/ reality. update us when you get an offer and it closes. flip looks good!

oh btw, I had a rental about 5 years ago; posted on BP and they said they same stuff to me. it was worth $125k and I owed $129k. didn't cash flow. today it's worth 200k as is and I owe 98k on it.  oh, and I kept raising the rent too.