All Forum Posts by: Alex M.

@bonnielow

I would say most of town is a C area because like it was mentioned, it's a big rental town. Port clinton is nicer but more expensive.

I evicted a guy who overdosed and that's as a first for me and very unusual. But it.still happened!

if.you don't live there or visit often, good luck on remotely rehab because finding help is tough. My properties are stable and producing however. 

I'm from San Francisco and have 2 rentals in sandusky. It's a tough market because quality of tenants, hard to build a team to trust (contractor,handyman,PM) and the deals are basically C or worse neighborhoods.

i am doing OK there after a tough full rehabs even though I made my own contacts there. I would buy another property there, but I visit once a year since my inlaws are there and I know the area .

Perfect time to re-do the entire house in PEX ! 

I'm very curious to see what your numbers will look like for the rehab since I'm doing a full rehab and always want to compare if I got  fair deal :-) .

 Have you accounted for all of these costs in you analysis? This is a huge red flag for most unless you have a good strategy for handling it. 

My input..

1. Is it a financed deal by a bank? They may have an issue with that.

2. My strategy would be to only buy if there were 3 split meters of gas and electric. Since i'm an out of state investor I want to stay far away from units that dont have split utilities since i'd rather collect rent rather than utilities. Some guys who are local to the units might not mind dealing with collecting and figuring out utilities, but there is sometimes a service that will read independent sub meters and bill your tenants accordingly.

3. Is this a deal of a lifetime? If not, then I would keep looking

I recently purchased a triplex that was classified as a duplex. Apparently a previous owner split one of the larger units into 2 and had the gas company also split the gas, but could not do so for the electric. When i purchased I called into the utilities/city to see how feasible it would be to install a 3rd meter, but i had issues with both of them. The city said it was designated as a duplex even though the wall framing in between were all done back when lathe and plaster was common which meant I could possibly get it grandfathered in. Next, the power company required a 400 amp upgrade (cant remember) to the electrical which required spending 15k+ just to do so.  I ended up converting this to a duplex to create larger units and hopefully fill it with longer term tenants.

@Derek Woods

Since the flooring already comes pre-finished, how has it held up since it was installed. The supplier claims it holds up much better than conventional stain/lacquer coat.

Did the boards all lay down flat or do you have any issues with have edges sticking up?

@Wayne V.

Any tips on what to avoid with re-using old hardwood? Who do you typically find sells this stuff, Craigslist or a a business that specializes in reclaimed wood? It sounds like both options result in higher labor, but the utility grade short pre-finished supply will have less issues.  The last thing I would want is to buy a supply of hardwood from a contractor and end up with material that is unusable!

Sorry my 1st post was not worded right. I meant to say that buying a large property that requires a full electrical rewire is the most expensive and is something I would not want to have on my rehab list. I would much rather do flooring, roofing, siding..etc. For this type of property it would cost 15k to rewire, so I would rather do a house that has other projects that are less expensive.

For example, here are some typical work prices i'm encountering for a 2400sq ft house. I would prefer to fix plumbing and HVAC issues

-Full electrical rewire including service with gutted house @ 15k

-Hardwood floors and install (low grade wood) @ 10k

-Furnace + Water heater @2.3k

-Drywall material and labor @ 10k

-Plumbing supply replacement and drain refresh @ 3k

-Roof @ <5k

Every market is absolutely different, so you are right that possibly in Oregon and definitely in California a buyer would request wiring to be re-done on a house that wasnt priced accordingly. I can only imagine the look on somebodies face when I told them the foundation is made of limestone!

I love hardwood floors and prefer them over vinyl and laminate, but wood is very expensive.

Does anybody have experience with either utility oak or reclaimed hardwood?

Utility oak is commonly a low grade hard wood, usually comes in 1-2 foot lengths and is very imperfect to say the least. For example, www.Hardwoods4less.com sells for $1.70/sq foot, but since the peices are short length the install time goes up along with labor cost.

Reclaimed hardwood seems to be more common in the midwest when factories, houses, schools or old buildings in general are gutted and the contractors re-sell old material. The concerns with this are they typically are well used but have tons of life. If stored incorrectly the wood can become warped and difficult to install. 

Are there any folks here that have a lot of experience with either of these? I'm thinking about installing either of these two materials in a duplex in Ohio.

Is it in the bay area?

I think investors are very eager to hear about deals all the time actually. Personally i would want a listing or specs that you would normally find on the MLS and any description that would help me realize what a good deal the property is. If your trying to sell me a property in my own area then basic details would be more than enough to spark a conversation.

For example, theres a member on here who posted " 3 houses on 1 lot in CA for under 200k". That got my immediate attention and after signing some non disclosure agreements (so i would not bypass his wholesale deal) they were able to send me basic description of the property and either a brief scope of work and ARV.

Trust me, I wish I lived in this house in the Bay Area!!