Estimating Rehab cost - when to do it?

[Christopher Grant]

When flipping a house, at what point in the process are you estimating rehab cost?  Do you need to wait until escrow to hire an inspector to do a walk through, or is this something that can be done prior. 

Thanks! 

[Adam Gollatz]

You need to estimate rehab costs, at least roughly, before you even make an offer. Before your inspection contingency runs out you should have a very good idea of what the rehab costs are going to be and if you're not doing the work yourself, you should have a contractor bid.

There are a variety of ways to accomplish this and it depends on your comfort level. have your agent work with the listing agent/sellers to set up a time to walk through so you can get a better of idea of sq ft, floor, paint, number of doors/windows, etc