All Forum Posts by: Shane Sams

 I caught this deal off market right before they finished the flip.  They were about 90% done.  They had already put in new flooring and paint and all that.  But there are still a couple things to do.  I need a door in one bedroom and appliances for the kitchen.  I'm going to have a plumber come in and check out all the pipes and toilets, caulk the bathroom.  And I got my guy that can handle the electric stuff.

Awesome actionable advice Brian.  Great stuff.  I love the advice about fixing it ourselves.  I'd thought that too.  They just want to get you to the sell, so its better to just take it on.  I think that advice will serve me well in future deals.  

Did you fill the crack with concrete?  Is that why it was so expensive?

I'll check on the main water shutoff for sure.  I think there was one in the basement if I remember correctly.

Panel box I'll fix ASAP before I put anyone in it.  Same for outlets.

Thank you so much for the input!  I appreciate it so much!

Awesome advice Sam.  Thank you for the input. 

I was at the inspections.  Floors looked good.  The water in the basement happened while we were there.  It was bone dry.  But when we turned on the water on the kitchen sink they had not hooked it up right, the pipe was loose and water got all over the floor and ran down into the basement through the drain lol.  So it was a one time correctable event.

I'll ask about the gutters, didn't see anything on those.  Thanks again man.

I think because they had the vent installed wrong.  Part of it was slightly moving down, so it wasn't vented right?

I'll pass that on though and ask.  Thanks for the feedback Steven.  I appreciate you.

Hey everyone!  I'm buying my first deal.   Just got the inspection.

Would love some help looking for anything that may be a red flag.

The house is a 3x1 single family built in 1970.  It's was recently flipped and I'm buying it for $66,000 post flip.  I should be able to get around $800 rent for it.  I'm putting 25% down and my rate on the loan is 4.5%.   It passes the 50% rule, and It's on a pretty big lot.  May have room to build something else on it later.

Here is the home inspection:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9xo5LHfwd6GcnRvR...

Roof and structure look good.  The big stuff seems OK.

There are a couple minor things that stand out to me:

The hot water tank ventilation is wrong and needs adjusted, minor fix.  

Kitchen sink leaked when tested, but it's all in the pipes and just needs put together correctly.

The electrical isn't great: some ungrounded outlets and a double tap in the box.  Thoughts on this?


What else am I missing?  I've bought a few houses I've lived in, but I know I'm no expert at this stuff and would appreciate a more experienced set of eyes to glance over this for me.

Thanks y'all!

 I like the worst case scenario there haha. 

I may just drop 10K / rental in an account.  Keep that cash out.  

Buy a house, put 10k in an account...

Buy 10 = 100k in reserves.  Problem solved.

 Good stuff on that.  Makes sense.  The goal is emergency fund to survive a downturn or no renter.  So just make sure you can pay the taxes and insurance and worst case fix stuff later.  Am I thinking right?

Justin, so I'm just starting out.  

I own an 1800 sq. ft. 3x2 rental outright and get 950 a month for it.  It's paid off.

I just bought another 3x1 1100 square foot.  My payment on it is going to be 358.93.


So are you saying I should have

358.93 x 6 = $2153.58 

in reserve for the 3x1?

What about for a house you own outright?  

So maybe use the 50% rule?

so 950 * 50% = 475 * 6 = $2850?


I'm pretty conservative and want to have plenty of cash for emergencies or for when times go bad / turn tough.

Thoughts?

I could totally double that too and put it in a "don't break glass unless emergency" fund lol.

So, when do you do something crazy like offer 50% for a property?  Or offer way below market value?

Do you do it just to kick off a negotiation?  Do you do it when you feel like the property is way overlisted?

What about when you know they have a ton of equity or have the property paid off and can take almost anything?


Also, how do you feel about lowballing people in general?  Is it a strategy that has its place?  Does it hurt your reputation as an investor, or set you up as a hard negotiator?

Would love to hear any tips, tricks, or lessons learned on starting out LOW!