All Forum Posts by: Tom C

We have 3 in my area and they are always packed on the weekends. One has 3 screens. The bad part about a drive in is that most of your customers only come on the weekends, its seasonal and highly dependant on the weather. Just think if you run into a real wet year. People don't want to go to the drive in if its raining or about to.

Jon,

I guess you have to consider what your time is worth. I was raised to never pay someone for a job that you can do, which has lead me to always doing my own work, whether it be mechanical or home repairs. I am in the process of trying to get this rehab complete right now and found a kid that works really cheap. I hired him to scrape the old paint off the basement walls and repaint them for $150.00. He kept bothering me to cut the grass. So I finally gave in a paid him $20.00 to cut the grass. I feel very guilty in doing so, my dad would have had a heart attack, but while this kid is taking care of the little things like the above, I can concentrate on the more important stuff, like building a new front porch and finishing the bathroom rehab. I make $30.00 dollars an hour at my ft job, so paying this kid to work 3 days painting the basement and 2 hrs cutting the grass for $170 bucks just comes down to simple math and common sense. He now wants to paint all the trim on house for another $150, this job would take me may be 10 to 12 hrs and I am under a time crunch to get this place done by Aug 1st. So it looks like he will get the job.

All very good advice..!

I think the biggest thing technology has done for home purchasing and REI is opening access to the market, programs and financial sources. If I would have had access to the same information when I purchased my first home, I could have saved a lot of money and wouldn't have had nearly as many financial problems. Back then the RE agent recommended a bank, so I went with them. I didn't shop around because it would have taken days of effort.

Now all you have to do is contact a few people by email and they present their best offer. There are a number of programs available for first time home buyers now that even many RE agents don't know about, because they don't research and use the technology that is available to them.

I agree with both of you to a certain extent. Just as you have just stated, no matter what I do to the property, I am only going to get what the market calls for. I can provide the best place in world and dump 50K into a 23K home, but I am still only going to get 350 bucks a month, because the neighborhood is crap and thats what the going rate is.

I agree with 702. I would never purchase a property that will take 20K to make it rentable. It will take to long to rehab and at least in my area, I would never get the money back out in rents. My rule is I try not to buy anything that will take more then 3K to make in produce cash flow.

I have looked at a number of foreclosures that have had the siding torn off, copper removed and even the furnace blower motor taken. When you have to replace that stuff it only adds thousands of dollar to the rehab cost. The strange part about this is that some of these home were out in the country and the neighbors would have called the cops if they thought anything was suspicious, which leaves me to believe that someone in the loop is calling their contractor friend and then when the contractor shows up in the driveway, no one ever gives it a second thought.

Mike,

There are loans still out on these properties. I have never gotten a white title per say on one of my homes. I assumed the bank held on to the title/deed until the mort was paid in full. Is this not correct? If not, at what point does a person get the deed? At closing?

Boylank,

You are the new owner, you are now making the payments.

My question is, where do you get the deed from? I have 2 properties and the bank has the deed. Do you just drawl up a new one at the court house?

Sorry, but I do not have enough experince to tell you what to offer. If I can't see the home, inspect it, pull the comps and know the market, I could never tell you what to pay for it for a rehab.