All Forum Posts by: Tom Hovind

@Zoie Holley Hi welcome. Should you do it? That’s a personal question that really only you can answer. I suggest you watch the podcast interview (#434) with Scott McGillivray. He got started in college as well. He had some interesting things happen, and some good ah ha moments. Well worth the listen, and should help you out in deciding what’s right for you.

@Jonathan Greene agreed. In my licensing class the instructor told us he reads through the offer contract, line by line, with his buyers even after 30 years in the business. He does that because they won't read it otherwise and then they'll be surprised by something in it later.

RE contracts are continually reviewed by the state real estate commission or board and changes can happen at any time.

@Johnny L. Did you only buy enough land for one home? Usually developers are building out several homes, maybe not all at once, but they have a plan to build several homes over a period of time. They also usually have more than one design. Therefore they would get bids on x number design A and y number of design B, etc.

Of course near me, most developers are their own GC's.

There's a realtor in Alabama with a You Tube channel who is developing some land for some investors. He found a GC and they are building two spec houses, the GC is has some skin in it as he's fronting some of the costs on the builds, but getting a share of the profits. The investors are covering part as well. At least that's the way I remember what they said their deal was.

Jim, my first question would be what size sheet of drywall are you using? standard 4x8, or longer, smaller? I try to get a sheet longer than I need or mix my sizes to minimize cuts and joints.

my brain starts to wonder where I left my calculator and tries to remember what the calculator app icon looks like. haha

I had a friend in college who was an engineer, he needed a calculator to add 2+2. It was his training to not trust mental math.

Hi Nicholas,

Regarding what I think of structural engineers, they tend to be very cautious. I had one tell me that he had to presume a non-load bearing partition wall in the basement was load bearing because we didn’t know when the wall was put up and settling could have shifted load to it. However, for items you will be fixing their knowledge is excellent and will give you piece of mind.

Also, your inspector specifically calls out that you need a structural engineer to look at it, so do that. The inspector did it to cover himself, so you should cover yourself.

I suspect the repair estimate will be higher than the $2500 credit the seller is offering. How much money can you pour into this property before the numbers don’t work?

If you continue on with this and the seller won’t lower the price to the point where the numbers work and there’s still something left in it for you, then there’s no point continuing on. The seller will need to disclose the issues you find to any other buyers, so that could provide a little leverage in lowering the price a reasonable amount. But they may have a certain price they need to hit. Try and find out their motivation for selling.

And throughout this, be prepared to walk away and find another property. Don’t let the excitement of doing your first deal cloud your judgment.

Best of luck. 

I came across a company zavvie that claims to map out verified buyers (iBuyer, Bridge Buyer, Single Family Rental Buyers, Renovation iBuyers). I checked out the website for my market area and they're only listing the large nationals on it (Bridge: EasyKnock, SFR: Buyer, Roofstock, Renovation Buyer: HomeGo, Homevestors) and was curious if any agents in other markets have seen this or use zavvie's information in any way?

Adan, what prompts you to ask this question?

In short, no age by itself is no indicator of one's knowledge on a particular subject. What matters is your experience in the field, how many deals have you worked on.

This type of question is an objection that many real estate agents face when just getting started, and we teach them to refer to our broker's experience and deal flow as a way to overcome the objection. As a Flipper / Rehabber I can't see that being an issue for you unless you're trying to get investors to back your flips. If so, any legitimate investor will be more interested in your experience rather than your age. If you have 0 deals and are young, yes it may be a challenge to get backers. Of course, if you're older and have 0 experience in this field, it could also be a challenge to get backers. At that point, both old and young people tend to rely on friends and family to back their first deal if they can't do it themselves. Someone a bit older may have more friends with the means to back deals. They will have also proven their abilities to their friends through their past life choices and perhaps work performance.

If you're having trouble with certain prospects not taking you seriously, you need to let that go that's their issue, not yours. From your message, you seem to carry yourself well and can speak with intelligence on the subject. It's also possible that your message isn't what that prospect wants to hear and they're going to say "no" no matter who makes that offer to them. They may be using your age as an easy objection which they think you can't overcome because you can't become older overnight. In which case refer back to the deals you've done and the past prospects you've helped.

The above comments are very good advice indeed.

As this is your first property, it might be simpler to follow grandma's plan? Sell her house, then use the proceeds (or a portion) to buy the du/tri-plex you are thinking of. You will still have the income from one or two units at your new property. Additionally, if you're planning to be your own property manager, you'll be onsite for those units. Whereas if you rent out grandma's house you won't be onsite. This is your first buy, make it as easy on yourself as possible for this turn.