All Forum Posts by: Scott Lepore

If you are looking for a great property management company in the Tampa Bay (they may be in other parts of FLA but not sure) area check out 10 Stars Property Management. I use them for my rental SFH rental in St Petersburg. They are extremely affordable. I pay just $50 bucks a month and $500 to find a tenant. I have been with them for 3 years now and they are top notch in my book. Great communication, easy to use website and easy to access documents and paperwork. Their repair contractors are professional and don't overcharge.

I would love to find something similar for my Denver rental if anyone knows of such a company here.  

Well, as we all know, it's all about risk/reward.  We are way too skewed to the risk side right now imo.  I would never buy in this market unless I got an absolute killer deal. January was a huge down month in several cities.  3-5% drop from previous month (not y.o.y). Why try to catch a falling knife?  

I see these post on privy are several years old so I thought I would give an update.  I have used them since their inception and find their software invaluable.  I don't use it to find deals.  I don't think it helps at all in that regard.  Everyone sees the same deals.  But it is great for finding accurate comps, seeing what other investors are paying, seeing where the investor action is, and all that type of analysis you need to run.  It saves hours of research headaches for me.  They have had growing pains (software glitches) but most of those have been resolved.  They have expanded to a ton of other markets.  My only complaint is the terrible customer service.  I cannot get ahold of them anymore.  I used to be able to back in the day, but over the last few years my response rate is 25% at best.  Not sure what that's about.  

I bought a house "as-is" but isn't the buyer still required to disclose known defects, and if they don't, can I sue?  I was opening up a wall and lo-and-behold, the previous owner had dug out the crawl space to add square footage and did not bother to pour the foundation walls.  Any replies would be greatly appreciated.  

I have a lead on a large log home about 45 minutes southeast of Denver. It seems to be a good deal at the price i could get it for but there is a big butt in the way; There are no other log homes for miles. The lots are huge and spread out so its not like it doesn't fit in because you don't even see other neighbors' homes, but my concern is that a lender will need relevant comps when its time to flip it and when I find a buyer they won't be able to get a loan on it. It would have an ARV of around 1.2MM and other homes are in that range but are all traditional construction. I would appreciate any advice on how difficult this may be and if anyone has had experience with this. I plan to call a few banks as well but would appreciate any feedback here as well. Thank you.

I'm looking for a referral for an investor friendly, licensed plumber that is experienced in boiler repairs and replacement.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  

Okay, I'm tired of hearing how easy it is to BRRRR. And the numbers people (eh hem, Brandon) are not realistic IMHO. One example Brandon gives is $200k purchase, $40K fix, $10k soft costs, $350K ARV. First off, finding a 200k purchase that only needs 40k to be worth 350k is not common. I'm not saying they are out there but it is extremely rare to find such a deal. again, IMHO. If you have a wholesale business set up and can get great deals yourself, then this is more likely. Second, 10K is soft costs is just not accurate. Let's look at the numbers here: 5K points, 6k interest, insurance, title insurance, closing costs 5k. So 16k, not 10k. Now refinancing. Anyone who can get 80% on the new value has a great bank and I want their number. More realistically in this day and age is 65%. Now lets look at those numbers in a more realistic light:

$200k purchase, $40k rehab, $16k soft costs, $320k ARV (a 120k spread on a 300k house is great).

65% of 320K is 208K loan.  You are all in at 266k.  You need to come up with 58k.  If you want to do 5 houses in a year, that's 290k you need out of pocket.  And lets not forget seasoning.  Another PITA issue to deal with.  So Brandon, it is not as easy as you make it out to be and unless you are getting absolutely screaming, killer deals, it doesn't work without bringing a good chunk of money to the table.  I have done it and so I am not saying it cant be done and I am not a bitter "I can't do it so you're wrong" person.  It is just very hard and those deals are extremely rare.  Would love to hear others take on this and experiences

I'm flipping a 1930's tudor that has a claw tub in the main upstair bathroom.  It is really nice but I also think a walk in shower or traditional tub with  shower and tiled walls would be nice.  Some people don't like stepping into a claw tub because it is a high step and the claw tub is a tad bit smaller than a modern tub.  There is a normal bathtub/shower in the downstairs basement so at least there would be one bathtub if I did a walk in shower.  My question is would you keep the claw tub or put in tiled shower?

Has anyone on here heard of or ever use a company called Mold Zero for mold remediation. They use a process called dry fog that they say is non-toxic, permanent, non invasive, can be done in a day, and is cheaper that the alternatives.  Sound to good to be true to me.  

My buyer has backed out of contract because she wanted to expand basement (she did not mention this in contract) and it is going to cost more than she thought.  She wanted to demo basement wall, dig out 500 sf of crawl space and put egress where concrete patio it.  Did she think this would be cheap?  The agent marked the inspection box as the reason for backing out but this was not an inspection and inspection had not been done yet.  n my mind and inspection is for finding any current or potential problems with the house.  Given the generous buyers rights when it comes to getting earnest money back I'm wondering if I stand a chance of keeping earnest money.  It just doesn't seem right that she can get it back after I passed on other offers and she never said it was contingent on cost of remodel.  Any input is greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance!