All Forum Posts by: Alex R.

In your personal experience, which one of these offers the best deal when purchasing a property and why?

Auction, REO, foreclosure, short sale, pre-foreclosure,…

Best deal meaning highest equity in the house

how about installing an ADT system and then increasing the rent by $50 ?
tell her we will increase the security and rent will go up $50

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

I am not limiting myself to anything; I am just trying to figure out what would be the best way for that first step, which can be potentially the most important one as well

I am a petroleum engineer and that’s why I live and work in Bakersfield (energy capital of the state of California)

I have some knowledge of structure and civil engineering too but I don’t think that will make any difference here.

If the rehab project needs substantial work I will not get involved in it. Examples are foundation work or restructuring the property, adding a bathroom, increasing the size of kitchen, building an addition,… These are considered high risk flips as costs for repair my substantially eat into profit or make it a loss unless you have done it before and know exactly what type of work you are getting into.

For my first work, I am more interested in doing a rehab with most common improvements such as paint, carpet, broken windows, leaky roof, counter tops, garage doors ,…. that will prove me with a good learning experience as well as a reasonable profit as a bonus :-)

That’s the beauty of real estate business I guess.
You can make money in it no matter how market is acting, if you have the right strategy and a hybrid of rentals and flip projects hand in hand.

Fix and rent seems to be the way to go.

If you make the right deal, not only it will bring positive cash flow every month, it may also also appreciate in property value as well.

Now I need some realistic numbers:

Let’s say there is this 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1000 square feet single family house for sale:

http://www.ziprealty.com/property/1813-ESTHER-DR-BAKERSFIELD-CA-93308/4779688/detail

After renovation it can rent for $ 1000 / month.

Is wells fargo going to finance this project? If so what will they ask for and is this going to be a good deal in general?

Buy, rehab and hold for yourself ?!!!

Then how would you generate revenue off those properties? Are you solely depending on house value appreciation

At least you are honest with your comment which is a huge plus :D

Good response and on point.

That's why I will pay a general contractor for a detailed estimate.

I was wondering if its also possibe to Lock-in a price and let the GC do the entire renovation as well.

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Which one would be a better route to go for a first time investor with no prior experience?

No negative answers or “can’t be done” from naysayers please