Hello all,

I am a teacher who recently purchased a good neighbor next door home from HUD homes on 37th and High St. It needs a lot of work. The house will need to be gutted most likely. There will need to be demolition done on the back of the house as well as a possible extension. It will need a complete replacement of the bathroom and renovations in all other rooms. Lastly, it lacks some serious curb appeal and would need work on the outside.

I heard about bigger pockets from a friend in real estate. He suggested I ask on the forum to see if anyone has some great recommendations. I am new to this and would need someone who is trustworthy, knowledgeable, and efficient. Any thoughts?

Thanks so much,

Andrew

I don't have any suggestions, but I'm curious to hear the answers, so I'm bumping the post. Good contractors are very hard to find.

We are between projects right now and I have a great contractor I would love to keep busy. Please send me a private message and I would be happy to give you his name.

@Andrew Murphy That's really smart that you could take advantage of the good neighbor next door program. My buddy is a fire fighter who was looking in Denver for some thing that he could buy using the program but nothing really came up.

It depends on what you are trying to do with the house. Some people are willing to pay more for a house that they want to be in for a while. Some people use the program just keep the house for the minimum 3 year requirement, then sell to take the equity with them. So, do you plan to stay there long term or more short term? Its hard to know what the house will be worth in 3 years exactly. But, before you start deciding what you will fix, I think its crucial to calculate the ARV (After Repair Value), based on comps in the area. If you take the ARV and you minus the purchase price, future closing costs, holding costs (taxes, insurance), you will be left hopefully with a margin to understand whats left to pay for the rehab. If you pay more than that margin, its likely you will not get as much ROI for every dollar spent above that point.

Also, when trying to choose a contractor, get multiple estimates. And realize that just as you are trying to evaluate them, their skill, professionalism, attention to detail, organization. Many contractors are also paying close attention to you to see where they can take advantage. For example, you may have a 100K allotted for rehab, if you tell them that, of course their gonna find a way to spend that money. So keep your own numbers out of the conversation, and let them come back to you with their numbers.

@Andrew Murphy welcome and good luck with the rehab. Sounds like from your list that you are completely rebuilding the house. My advise is to start small, perhaps pick a bedroom or bathroom and try out the contractor on that. Your projects could easily cost of $100K and with the wrong contractor you still might not have what you want.