All Forum Posts by: Sam Mathew

Just a test

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

Did you already pay the contractor in full or is there some hold back pending final inspections and sign offs? If no holdback and the contractor is blowing you off, in many cases some municipalities may allow you to permit it after the fact. I’d work with a professional on this (a trusted architect, a construction/ project manager, etc)

 Yes, I did pay him already and thankfully not a horror story; the work done was great.  It is just the permit issue and I am fine paying someone else to do it; just trying to figure out how now.  Lesson learned.  I should have asked for insurance ahead of time or other precautions ahead of time.  But yes, the city inspected and said work is fine but just the permit needs to be pulled.  But thank you for the response Sergey.

Quote from @Bill B.:

Can you send the inspector the official bid that says the contractor will get the permit? In NV they are all registered so the state can fine and discipline them. Otherwise you may have to pay for the permit and then go to small claims court with the contract saying they would do it and pay for it spelled out. 

Thanks Bill.  I'll look into that.  But even more important, I wasn't sure if anyone would even respond to my request for advice.  Thought maybe too boring of a topic.  So you just proved, Bigger Pockets, has a great pool of resources for help!!  Thanks again.

Hello Bigger Pockets Team,

I am requesting advice on how to move forward.  

I hired a professional company to pave my gravel driveway into asphalt since the city rental inspector was requiring it.  The contracting company was suppose to get a permit before the work was done but did not.  The driveway is completed now and no issues with it except the city is saying that the permit was never pulled and is needing to be done.

The contractor is no longer calling back and I am an out of state investor.  Any advice on how I can remedy this??  Please let me know.

Thanks

Thanks Edwin.  I will keep this in mind although the property I am purchasing and rehabbing is up in Michigan.

@Robert Wilson Hello Robert! I appreciate the very insightful, thoughtful and logical response. Thanks for the guidance on this. This is my biggest project to date.

Also, as a side update on it. I have the funds to buy the house in cash, all in $430k. But now since the sale of one of my investments (owned free and clear) in Port St Lucie, Florida selling for $450k fell through at the last minute since buyer didn’t get loan approved, now I have to sit and wait until it does sell to get repair work started. I’d rather not take out high interest loans for the rehab work. But oh well, this is part of the fun of it all. Planning for contingencies.

Update: So the bank accepted my original offer and I am pretty excited on this project.

I don't know how the bigger pockets updates work, I would like to keep anyone wanting to know, stay updated.  But here is the information on this project.

House is 3,800 sq ft; 4 bedroom which I may make into a 5 bedroom
Is on 5 acres of land, has an inground pool, hot tub, forest on 2 acres and a pole barn in back too.

Beautiful city 12 minutes from downtown area also.

I will be closing soon and expecting to put $150-$200k into the home.

Total Home cost to close: $450k
Rehab: $150-200k

Average Home Cost in zip code: $485k
Avg price home for sale with similar size with land in zip code: Ave Income in zip: $1.4-1.6M
Avd household income: $96k

I can rehab and flip, but I would like to consider other ideas also.  Airbnb or maybe add some yurts or outdoor cottages in back and rent out. Plenty of land and forest area to do so.  I may open a new forum discussion to see what alternative ideas are out there to do with this property. 

Please let me know your thoughts or ideas also.  Thanks Bigger Pocket friends.  :)

 

Thank you all for your feedback and input.  Greatly appreciated.  I will try my best to keep you updated on this if you'd like to learn how this ends.  

Hello Bigger Pockets Members,

Here is the situation: 

I won an third-party auction bid for a bank foreclosed single family home.  My bid was the highestest $425k but did not meet the reserve and so the bank may still consider and approve it (or reject it).  

The house needs about $200k in work (assume it will take 4-6 months).  But then likely worth the similar market value of $850k.

The bank came back and said to send my HIGHEST and BEST offer now for their consideration.

If it were you, what would be your highest and best offer be?

note: fell free to use your own assumptions on economy, future markets projections, inflation and such that you would like.  For this example, this is only information available to make a decision....which could include 'walk away' from the deal.

Investment Facts:

Original Bid: $425k (but now asking for highest and best)
Rehab Costs: $200k
Original Total: $625k

After Market Value: $850k (Approx)

Shoot me a number....Let me know...!  :)

I'll keep you updated.

Quote from @Lara White:

@Sam Mathew No, not so much...  some strategies that might help. 1.) Calling the listing agent (if it's listed) before making the offer, feeling out the agent and the seller.  I'll do this each and everytime it's a lowball offer (what a 75% market value offer is now days!), and actually anytime I offer lower than list price right now.  2.) Only doing this on properties that have been on market for longer than 30 days. If it's not been on market that long...they probably aren't ready to reduce that much.  They still think it'll go over ask!

This is long overdue, but thank you Lara. :)