Residential Repair Issues

[Brandon Gamblin]

Hello everybody. I have two questions:
#1 What are the most common repair issues that investors/contractors/rehabbers run into when rehabbing a residential property?

#2 And what are repair problems that need the most attention or are the most important when inspecting or doing repair estimates on a property?

[J Scott]

1. The most common are cosmetic repairs, as most properties will require -- at a minimum -- cosmetic repairs.

2. In my opinion, the most important rehab components to pay attention to are the one that are most expensive -- foundation/structural, septic, mechanicals, roof, windows, etc. Those are the ones that will blow your budget if you haven't properly assessed them.

[Josh Rang]

Originally posted by @J Scott:

2. In my opinion, the most important rehab components to pay attention to are the one that are most expensive -- foundation/structural, septic, mechanicals, roof, windows, etc. Those are the ones that will blow your budget if you haven't properly assessed them.

Those are also the ones that need to be done to pass inspections. Paint can be ugly, electrical can't.

[Brandon Gamblin]

Originally posted by @J Scott:
1. The most common are cosmetic repairs, as most properties will require -- at a minimum -- cosmetic repairs.

2. In my opinion, the most important rehab components to pay attention to are the one that are most expensive -- foundation/structural, septic, mechanicals, roof, windows, etc. Those are the ones that will blow your budget if you haven't properly assessed them.

I'm a newbie investor so when you say cosmetic repairs, what are you specifically referring to? Is that just the paint and siding? Visual repairs?

[Paul Timmins]

@Brandon Gamblin

You must get two Great reads, I bought both these will make everything clearer and better organized J. Scott The Book on Flipping Houses,The Book on Estimating ReHab Costs http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook

Good Luck

Paul

[J Scott]

Originally posted by @Brandon Gamblin:

Originally posted by @J Scott:
1. The most common are cosmetic repairs, as most properties will require -- at a minimum -- cosmetic repairs.
2. In my opinion, the most important rehab components to pay attention to are the one that are most expensive -- foundation/structural, septic, mechanicals, roof, windows, etc. Those are the ones that will blow your budget if you haven't properly assessed them.

I'm a newbie investor so when you say cosmetic repairs, what are you specifically referring to? Is that just the paint and siding? Visual repairs?

This is how I tend to think about scope of repairs (this is basic and not comprehensive, obviously):

Cosmetic is the basic stuff that you see as you walk through the house, and the stuff that a good handyman or day-laborer could generally handle from a construction standpoint.

As you move to the right of the chart, you get into the issues that are more complex, require specialized contractors and start to cost more.

[Bill Briscoe]

Nice list j Scott. I try to avoid the advanced issues, hire contractors for the mechanical and roof and do or manage the rest myself.

Except for floors. Those are cosmetic but low margin so I hire out the labor.