All Forum Posts by: Thomas Fortune

These sites tend to get a lot of heat on BP for inaccuracies, but I personally love zillow for helping me with quick estimates. Like anything, you have to take the data for what it is - a computerized estimate. Nothing will beat actual experience and a little strategic thinking, but i use zillow as a starting point almost every day.

Aaron Britt - I'm in hampton roads and know the market well. Can you give more specifics on the part of town this is in? The street name would help too if you are comfortable sharing. Would be happy to provide feedback with more details.

Good idea. There's no gas or electricity currently near the fireplace, but I could go with one of those gel-burning ones.

Never done this, and curious what others are paying for similar work:

Need to replace the firebox and liner, chimney is siding so they are recommending to pull off the siding and pull out the old firebox from the back, install new box and then put the siding back.

All in bid is $3,500. Seems reasonable to me...but just curious what others have seen for similar work.

In my opinion, it's important to realize that most success that appears to be "overnight" actually takes years to create. It's easy to hear guys doing lots of deals every year and think that this is the norm, or that they began doing that many deals right off the bat in year 1.

Would love to take a poll from some of the folks who are now doing 10+ deals/acquisitions per year, and see how many years they put in prior to getting to that level.

My guess is that for most, it took MANY years. For those starting out, my advice is to pay close attention to the guys doing 10+ deals and learn everything you can from them...but don't discredit your own success when you do those first few deals in your first few years!

I've avoided this personally for a few reasons:

1) My flips are done well and priced right, so I don't have an issue with time on market. (therefore I don't need to create a solution for a problem that doesn't exist)

2) It will take extra time to deal with the buyer on choices, changes, etc. - time I could be using to find my next project.

3) The first week on market is generally my most active time - I want my product be 100% ready to make a really good impact (instead of looking like a work in progress).

I'm not saying this strategy won't work, I'm just saying that for  me there are more cons than pros. I think if you are doing enough volume, and are building a brand around your homes, you may have better success with this strategy.

An alternative strategy would be to call around to agents that you know and let them know you'll have a finished product ready in x number of weeks. If they have a buyer who might be a fit, it may make sense to do a private showing for them (instead of a mass market mls listing). If i'm not mistaken, @Jscott has done this before.

@Shayne Brescia - Congrats on the deal flow. What channels are you using to find properties?

Regarding financing - this is a matter of personal preference. Wholesaling is certainly the lower risk option to keep momentum moving forward, ask you aren't taking on additional liability through loans. Then again, if you are like me you hate to wholesale perfectly good deals that you could rehab yourself :). I'd consider looking for additional money partners - someone with cash who can fund the project 100%. Let them put up all the money, and you and your team manage the project. This way you aren't leveraging the project with payments/interest...

What matters to your buyer is their NET price. The finders fee is not determined by a "common" price; it's determined by the spread you can create between what a seller is willing to accept and what a buyer is willing to pay. Example:

As a buyer, if I'm willing to pay 100k for a particular property, i don't care if I'm paying 5k for the house and a 95k finders fee, or vice versa. I just care that i'm getting the property for 100k, because that number works for me as a buyer.

Creating that spread is completely up to you, so the better job you do at negotiating and creating a win-win for both parties, the more likely your finders fee will become larger.

Agree with @Jay Hinrichs and @J Scott . Some markets seem a little over-hot, but that's not enough to warrant a meltdown. It seems like the number of super hot markets is far less than steady/healthy markets...and until that reverses, or other external factors change, there won't be a widespread burst. 

Hey @Mike Giudici , 

1. Is the property NNN or gross? gross

2. Does the current owners company have a lease in place and if so, do they pay rent? yes, though he pays himself an above market rent currently (apparently this helped with his loan initially)

3. If he sold the building would he continue to have his company occupy the space and sign a 5 year lease at market rent. yes

4. What are current operating expenses? I estimated $7.50/SF. ($92,250/ year) not exactly sure, but i was estimating $5.75/SF per the recommendation of a local broker. 

5. Are there any capital improvements needed, if so, what are they? no.

Regardless of purchase price, I'm interested in the best way to structure this so that a good chunk of our rent check goes towards a future down payment. Any insight into that?

Thanks!