All Forum Posts by: Clifton Jones

OK, to start out, We have not had much experience in REI. We are just starting our business, so do not know what repairs normally run in our area. With that said, I am going to ask a question that I know will need a true appraisal before we bid on a property. I am just looking for a ballpark figure, if anybody can provide one.

We are looking at an 1800sf house on 0.38 acres, built around 1960 in FL. It is one of the old cookie cutter FL homes that were built back then. It appears that it needs a new roof, as there appear to be some leaks. Our question is "Does anybody know a ballpark figure to replace a roof on a 1800sf house in FL?"

This house sold for $231,000 in 2006, but is now being offered for sale at $79,900. The houses in the surrounding community that have come up for sale are normally foreclosures over the last year, but the one that wasn't a foreclosure sold for $225,000. It is a 1180sf house on 1.11 acres.

We will definitely need an estimate to identify whether we will need to replace the whole roof, or only patch, but are leaning toward basing our offer on the need for a new roof.

Any help on our question would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know if this will pertain to your area or not, but in my area, I can go on the county appraiser's website and look to see comps. There are some limitations, in that if the house is not in a subdivision, I would have to put in every street in that area to get the comps, but if it is in a subdivision, I can just put in the subdivisions name and get comps for all houses that have been sold in that subdivision for the last two years. That would help me narrow down my search for ARV.

You would have to compare like to like, though. By that, I mean if there were 15 homes sold in that area, you would either compare them based on price/sqft or only use the sales that corresponded to the property you are looking at.

Now, I am brand new at this REI game, so take what I have said with a grain of salt and research and ask others for their input, also. If there are any investors out there who have a better suggestion as to how I can identify comps or narrow down my search for ARV, I would be grateful for any help you can provide.

By the way, here is the website I am referring to, so you can understand what I am saying. You can do a search for sales by numerous methods, but I use subdivision mostly. You can put in LANSING RIDGE as the subdivision and see what I am talking about. Go to the second drop down box and find SUBDIVISION NAME, then click GO. Once there, enter the name in the appropriate box. Make sure that you are only searching for 2 years (everything else is defaults), then click RUN SEARCH. Another screen will come up and provide properties. Click on the ACCOUNT entries to get the actual records for each home.

http://www.brevardpropertyappraiser.com/asp/record.asp

I do not use the MARKET VALUE or ASSESSED VALUE in this report to identify what the property is worth. I base my numbers on the actual SALE AMOUNTS. Another good thing about this site is that it provides the SQ FT for the bottom floor of the house (most houses in my area are single floor houses) and the tax information, so I do not have to do much investigation to determine the tax liability of a property.

Thanks Wheatie. That's a help. I did not plan on bidding on that parcel, but I was on the IRS website, looking at some of the auction properties and came across that. I did not know what it meant and was confused. Thought I would try and get clarification. Nothing like a little (or no) knowledge to cause one to lose all that they own.

:)

What does it mean in the IRS auction if they state "Only the right, title and interest of the Taxpayer in and to the property will be offered for sale." Is that saying that they are only selling the tax debt, but not the full property? Or, is it that they are selling the property, but all other liens will still be attached to the property? I am confused.

Here is an example of what I am questioning:

http://www.treas.gov/auctions/irs/lcwv_real_3184.htm

Thanks John. My partner (above poster) and I look forward to the opportunities we see happening in the Florida market. We feel that it will be able to provide a nice steady income through wholesaling until we can get to the point we are ready to jump fully into the deep end with rental properties.

That steady income is important, as we are both leaving our day jobs to go into this business full-time. We look forward to working with the people on this site to help increase our knowledge and give advice when it is needed.

Hey, it's great to have you here on the site. Especially, since your partner will share half of everything you make. Now, go and make us some money. :)

Seriously, my partner and I appreciate any and all advice we can get from the experienced investors we have seen and read on this site. We look forward to receiving many more hints and directions as we navigate this career.

We are both determined to make this work for us. So muchso, that we are proceeding full-time into this, without looking back, and without any regrets.

We look forward to working with others on this site closely in the future.

Partner, you appear to have too much time on your hands if you can post in here. Go out and make us some money. :o)

Thanks. Your answer provides information that we were not taking into account such as sales closing costs, insurance, and utilities. That does cause the deal to look much worse, especially when there are two people in the deal, me and my partner.

I believe that the ARV for this home would be somewhere between $100,000-$115,000, based on the comps in the area. We can self-finance the deal and either fix and flip or wholesale.

My estimate for the repairs runs no higher than $14,000, based on hardwood flooring throughout ($4,500), kitchen remodel ($7,500 at most), repairs to drywall, and painting ($1,000 even if replacing drywall panels) and cleanup ($1,000 to tear out and dispose of existing material).

Grnated, I put nothing in for our labor, but for my first deal, I will be happy to just get a check at the end for the difference between our upfront costs and ARV.

Based on the above numbers, does this look like a good deal. It will not be a property that we use for rental. It will be a fix and flip or wholesale.

We have not pulled the trigger on this yet, and are wondering if we should wait and try and get this property for even less at auction.

We have a lead on a home for $60,000 in a neighborhood where the comps run anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000. Taking the lowest price of $100,000, woudl this be a deal?

There are no appliances and the kitchen would have to be totally remodelled. We would have to tear out all carpet and replace with something (i.e. carpet, linoleum, tile, wood). There is also some drywall damage (i.e. fist-sized holes in drywall).

The house is 1178 sq ft. and the outside and structure are in very good condition. This is definitely a rehab home, but I do not have enough knowledge to identify whether this is a deal.

Any help would be appreciated.

P.S. This is a bank short sale and we would like to get it even cheaper. The realtor stated that if there are no takers at this price, the bank will put it up for auction. Would it be better to wait and try and get it at auction?