All Forum Posts by: Art Bridgeman

@Angela Holmes Hi Angela, please make sure to set up an LLC before you buy and then buy it in the name of your LLC to protect your remaining inheritance. Also, Leverage is good if done properly, but with all the cash and a trusted contractor, you can buy an auction property in cash for a better deal. Get on the schedule of when the city your interested in auctions the property. You can get this information also from www.Auction.com. I bought my first property here online remotely.

@Daniel Maciag Hi, Daniel, I am near North St.Louis Missouri, the hood here is very protective of its turf. So many different smaller gangs and they are always shooting the place up for power. Investing here is a bad idea unless you are already familiar with the neighborhood and know which block belongs to which gang, but in South St.Louis we have beautiful neighborhoods that are slightly more expensive and good deals. I would think your NY area would be the same, to many investors lose money trying to go for the cheap multi family, better to pay up and invest in a better neighborhood. You will save yourself a lot of stress. FYI, in STL the adage of brining a knife to a gun fight is so true here. Skip the knife and buy a bullet proof vest and be respectful if you plan on still doing it. 

@Donald S. Hello Donald, thank you for all the great information. I am doing a full duplex to single family home conversion in Tower Grove South, the bricks are really what is driving up the cost and the need for a mason to basically rebuild the back wall. It was in rougher shape than I anticipated. 

@Nik Moushon and @Donald S., My original quote for this thread was up to $600k, that was my highest bid when I was trying to have a 4 family built in the style of All Brick with each unit running 1000 sqft [became to small for a 3x2 for what I wanted], for 4000sqft total size on a full basement used for garage space and storage. I will keep looking for better prices, thanks for the info. My lowest bid was $140 sqft, still much higher than Don’s numbers. Lumber, labor, cement, brick, and even the fixtures are all more expensive from a year ago.

@Donald S., those are great numbers for a new build, no one I have talked to in the last few months can come even close to that for a four family in St. Louis city for a 3x2, which contractor are you using, I would like to work with them on a build in south city. My current full gut rehab is running around $85 per sqft on a 105 year old home. I can go with stick built and brick facia. Trying to keep the homes fitting in with St. Louis architecture.

@Nik Moushon Hello Nik, the $150 sqft for the 4 family was a quote from a builder in St. Louis City to build a 3x2 4 family in brick to replicate the existing inventory. The Midwest is big , so prices will vary greatly. 

New build in Midwest is about $150 sqft if you can even find a skilled contractor to do the work, key word here is skilled. Roughly $200k for duplex and up to $600k for 4 family depending on number of bedrooms and square footage.

Emotional Intelligence can be increased through effort. You are correct, we all have emotions to some extent, but others do not bring it into business because they have a higher emotional intelligence that they have worked on or it comes naturally. Franchises are difficult because you agree to follow the franchise agreement and you broke it by changing the formula. Since you owned that decision, you should let it go, pay the fine, and move on. Do not focus on the other franchisee that is getting away with it, this will not change your outlook in anyway. Focus on yourself. Bigger Pockets is a real estate forum, but most of your question is directed at your experience with partnerships which is applicable to real estate. Real Estate has bad actors and great people. Networking is critical. You will have to work on your soft skills and working past being introverted when it comes to dealing with people. You have also found yourself in a bad partnership. End it as soon as possible with the least amount of cost to you and your business. Selling your franchise is what I would do if I am not energized by my business every morning and excited to compete with the other competitors that are opening up. I had a friend open up Nail Salons in the early 1990's and made great money, then competitors opened up in almost every strip mall and the prices dropped. He sold everything and moved on to something that energized him every morning. The Nail Salon business was draining him so he made the personal decision to move on. He makes more in his new business than he ever did as a Nail Salon owner. Only you can decide what to do in the end. You have the ultimate power over your partners and franchisor. You can sell and move on or stick it out, either way, you make the decision for yourself. The franchisor and your partners can't make it for you.

I apologize. I am new to BiggerPockets and put this in the wrong place. I re-submitted into the Pro Market Place.

Art

Hello my name is Art. I have a deal that is about to implode and looking for any Hard Money Investor that can close super quickly and meet terms. I am looking for 75% ARV and 3 points capitalized. My deal is the following: I have a 2334sqft home in Tower Grove Neighborhood, purchase price of $70k, with $180,250 bid for rehab on it. I need $250k loan. The appraisal came in at $319,000 so this is a 78% ARV loan request where will pay down the 3%. This is an auction purchase that I already have my earnest money into and also this is my very first deal. My hard money lender left out the fact that I needed a 70% ARV and is requesting $28k that I do not have. Property is already in closing at Integrity Title.