All Forum Posts by: Todd Fithian

@Andrew Smith got an amazingly cash flowing property right in Southern California right off the mls recently. You just have to search far and wide.

@Shiloh Lundahl. Nice man! Especially if the property already made sense before finding that little hidden gem. All details aside, seems like a investment I’d be smiling about.

@Jenny Drabant. This response would most likely get a lot of contradictory responses, buuut.. for us when we first started, and we’re obviously very nervous and by the book with finding tenants, and went through many applications, all super by the book, did all research, purely numbers etc etc, over prepared, and to this day, the WORST tenants we’ve ever had were the ones we went purely all business and by the books with. The ones that we brought in that we used much more gut feeling about have (so far) been unreal rockstars, paying rents early, keeping the places nicer than we keep our own place, telling us about problems before they’re massive issues etc etc. Now I’m sure this comes with a ton of luck so far, and of course we still do our due diligence and backgrounds, but sometimes using gut can be your saving grace.

@Sophie Maisel if you took the paneling off of the drywall and it’s in good shape, I’d be very very surprised if the smell you’re smelling is from the drywall. In be almost positive that it’s flooring you’re smelling. Any stains or smell you smell from the walls are more than likely from the paneling you just removed, and your flooring is the culprit. Is the house on a concrete foundation? If not then you might have pet urine in the subflooring below the finish flooring and that stuff is like an odor sponge. We had to replace all our subflooring in one of our houses, and that made the house smell 100% different.

Is the drywall finished with mud and texture? Or is it just raw? A good coat of mud and texture, or if it’s already finished, a good coat of paint will also change some smell on top of the flooring replacement, but I definitely would NOT replace the drywall.

@Bruce Archer everyone is different but me personal, no, very much no. In my area, we have the luxury to have potential tenants call on our ads almost immediately, so being caught off guard to show a house, or to having to tell a potential tenant over the phone “thanks for the interest but I’ve still got to finish the house, do you have two extra weeks??” Is very unprofessional. Finish it, put your mind at ease, rent it, fill an empty swimming pool with all the extra cash flow and do backstrokes in it.

@Charlie Moore just call your 4 room addition, new water heaters, retaining walls, pool installs, new roofs and new ac systems cosmetic and boom, the city can't do anything. Jk jk. The vast majority of the country doesn't require permits for cosmetics, but it all differs with cities and also HOA's. But I wouldn't sweat it if it truly is cosmetic.

@Jeff White if he pays on time, and a good guy, I’d let him. I’ve got trailers myself and works construction and having a trailer at my house makes life and and saving time a million times easier. It’s not a huge toy hauler, it’s just a little trailer in a huge yard.

@John Moorhouse

Welder-fabricator/Residential contractor. Struggled, worked hard, never thought investing would happen. Now instead of focusing on getting a better job I focus on investing and it’s been the best life change I’ve ever made.

@Maya Torres can’t go wrong with some cheaper waterproof vinyl plank snap together flooring. They even have the type that already comes with the moisture barrier attached which makes it super easy for installation. Looks good, can take a beating, relatively cheap in cost.

@Kelly I. Well said, and I couldn’t agree more. I’m an older Millennial and am in the same boat as you. It’s such a bummer to see so many of the older generation who blindly follow and believe only what they see on news outlets and social media about younger generations. Not to bash anyone but it sure gets old. I never went to college, I chose trades, been a certified welder for 17 years, and have remodeled, completed countless full builds and flipped many homes, with 95% of the time being hired by boomers and gen x’ers that don’t have a clue what they are doing and only work behind a desk. So the argument goes both ways.

With that being said I do agree there are many slackers and moochers my age as well, but once again that can be said about any generation. The problem with how millennials are perceived is that the hard working, head down grinding, activity working to succeed - millennials don’t make good drama tv, or good new articles. The easily “offended” whiny loser millennials are the ones that people thrive to watch and discuss over their dramatic cups of coffee. The hard workers who are trying their best to succeed and don’t need or don’t have access to “daddies” money are boring to the worlds eye.