All Forum Posts by: Ashley Wolfe

Even if they have proof of coverage with them, there's no telling if it's still valid and in good standing.  Have their insurance company/agent send you a copy of their coverage directly and ask, at a minimum, that you be named a certificate holder on it, and if you want to go a step further, be named as an additional insured.

Check with your agent to find out what coverage you should have too... you may very well find that carrying builder's risk is a wise choice along with vacancy insurance, etc.

@Larry Turowski,

I'd add a couple items to your MAO calculation:

ARV x .7 - (repair costs) - (minus closing costs) - (desired profit) = MAO

...if you're planing on selling. The remaining 30% allows you to go for sale below market (FMV) for a quick sale and still leave room to negotiate.

Looks like you've already discovered that listings on Zillow can be misleading. I've called on a number of them only to find there was nothing of value.

@Ashley Wolfe, 

• If you have plenty of cash, the courthouse steps auction is Tuesday, and you can find some good deals. But you have to educate yourself first or you can easily lose money.

Have you purchased homes for rehab this way?

• There are a few good wholesalers in the market who work their asses off to find really good deals where both they and their buyers can make money. (And then there's  a lot of wholesalers pushing inflated ARVs and underestimated repair costs.)

Do you have anyone who you work with regularly that you could refer me to?

• A smallish home in an area with high value/sq. ft. Doing a room addition can be profitable in those areas, but only in areas with high value/sq. ft.

And by "high value/sq ft" do you mean a low price per sq ft?

@Ashley Wolfe, if you decide to go the route of using HD for work, you may want to build some rapport with the store manager - relationship goes a long way.  Don't be fooled however that HD won't run off with your money.  If you have a dispute, it may be very difficult to seek resolution as you'd be dealing with a behemoth of a company. 

Good point!

Your going to have trial and error no matter what on the contractor front until you get a good team together just stay with it.

Thank you, that makes sense.  I will write that down so it will be a normal part of my formula when analyzing a deal.