1st property bought!!!

[Sven Segers]

Hi everyone,

I just bought my 1st property in Springfield, MO

a little bit about the house: it's a 1100sqf house 3 bed 1 bath. bought it for 25k cash. Haven't been inside yet. now the next step is rehab the place.

What is the best way to do this?

Does anyone know a general contractor that does financing?  I do have a little bit of cash but would like to keep that just in case.

Or would it be better to try to get a rehab loan from the bank?

Thank you in advance,

Sven S

[Bonnie Low]

Hey @Sven Segers - I give you a ton of credit for jumping in. So many people suffer from analysis paralysis. And being in an all cash position on your first purchase isn't a bad place to be! You are definitely taking a leap of faith. It's bold, but sometimes bold gambles pay off big. You're right - from the photos it doesn't look too bad, especially considering what you got it for. To find a good general contractor, take the time to go to a local REI meeting. Talk to other investors to see who they recommend. I can't stress this enough, especially since you're not going to be able to be there in person to keep an eye on your renovations. You don't want to gamble with someone doing shoddy work or ripping you off. You might also find another investor who would be interested in partnering with you to be your boots on the ground and do the project management for you. Also, I'd spend the money to hire a home inspector to go through it top to bottom. They're going to be looking for things that must be addressed. It's not too costly to pay for a home inspection. You can then use that list from the inspection as a rough scope of work to give to a contractor. That way, you're telling the contractor what needs to be done rather than the other way around. The home inspection probably won't identify cosmetic repairs - but those are a matter of choice anyway and you can tell your contractor what you do or do want to address cosmetically. But it's the big ticket items you need to be most concerned with, like foundation issues, roof, mechanicals, water intrusion, etc. and a home inspection will identify all of those. From the pictures you shared, it doesn't look too bad so it might not take too much to get it rent ready if all your big ticket items are solid. Do you have any idea how long it's been since it was last occupied or rented? Best of luck to you!