All Forum Posts by: Andre Taylor

Main thing if you have a good certified GC you should be good. A real estate attorney will confirm the proper paperwork to have to not get in a lawsuit or ding by the city.. such as permits, and having license, bonded and insured contractors which falls back on the General Contractor... whether that is you or somebody else.

Also make sure you get a demo permit

Hey Trevor! I am actually doing this right now.. I bought a duplex that was already converted to a single family last year back in July 2019. The property is about 2300 Sqft. What Was suppose to be a cosmetic upgrade but turned out there was black molded so had to gut the whole building out. Cost you will have to consider is architecture plans which could cost up to $10k; which my plans is costing about $10k. Then if you are moving walls to re-arrange the space you looking at structural engineering cost that could be  $1-$4k.  Both your structural and architecture will be communicated hand and hand and the end result they should hand you approved plans by the city. If you are hiring a GC they should be working with all the subs to pull permits. If you are planning to GC this yourself. Make sure all your subs provide you copies of their insurance and during the design phase with your architecture you sit down with your contractors to give them the scope of work so they can give you good detail bids but the cost of permits should be included in their bids. If your duplex is all brick; your masonry could be a big expense if the tuckpointing is not up to par. Other things like replacing roof, plumbing, electrcial, wont be bad because everything is open. You probably say money on framing if the existing framing is good. I have to redo all framing. Even the stair case which is not to code... building was built in 1910.

I agree it is very hard to see whats is going to happen.. on one end...I still see properties being bought due to the low interest rates but then nobody knows how long it will take this recovery

Hey Jewel! If you do not want to use your own funds and not pull equity out of the property to replaced the roof the last option is sweat equity. Unless you have a good relationship with a roofer where you can do a barter system. For instance I bought this Bosch refrig for $400 from lowes and reason I got it for a discount...it was a special custom order and the person never picked it up and i actually negotiated the price down from $800 to $400 from the manager that day but fast forward. I did not need the refrig for any of my rentals so I gave it to my plumber in exchanged for $1500 worth of labor. If you have a good relationship with a roofer try to see if there is something else you can trade him for their service. Now me personally i am the type to just get the whole roof done. When a roof start showing areas of attention its best to just redo the whole thing. A roof is one of those expenses you love and hate because it cost so much but not like you going to see the instant gains in the rental income; as a tenant not going to pay extra for a roof that expect should already be in good condition. Another thing you can get a Business Credit Card with a zero percent interest for about 12 months to pay off the expense of the roof over time.

If the houses are in a heavy crime block; you will find a motivated seller who wants to get out fast now there are areas like the Hyde Park area where you want to be as that is right in the heart of the new government facility that they start construction on and in time you will see the property  taxes increase which will bring values up and drive the crowd out. I agree with the one investor on trying to get them to do a seller finance if you though most of the houses would cost under $40k. 

Welcome to BP!  I have not seen any slow down in investors buying investment property in the city and county. Right now its an inventory shortage but most investors including myself are waiting on some deals to pop up. All comes down to numbers in any market...become an expert in analyzing deals and you will be fine! Deals are out here in the STL area.

Thanks @Oliver Betuel 63118 area 

@Michael King contact my plumber Jason with Pipe it Down Plumbing .... master plumber that is certified in city and county... best about him.. he dont take payment until job is done and you are satisfied with work... BP won't let me post his phone number in here but go on thumbtack and you will see is page

@Account Closed keep going dont stop... re-invest the profits more deals...but also reward yourself after each successful deal and don't let make sure if anybody wants to come learn real estate from you... that they bring value to you in some form or fashion.....the game is to be sld...never told!