All Forum Posts by: Bob Okenwa

I'd let the realtor worry about feedback as they can ask the buying agent exactly their buyer thought of the property. As @Brian Garrett stated, you can get feedback as they view the house if you have an open house otherwise you'd rely on your RE agent to get those details for you. One thing to note, people will always complain about something so in the event you do get feedback, don't take it personally. As long as you rehab to current trends in your area, you should be just fine.

@Brian Buckley

I've heard the same tip of asking the pro desk and also others have mentioned calling/visiting supply shops and asking there as well. A further reach would be internet research and calling and chatting in basically a phone interview with a GC to see if he's worth working with. Word of mouth is always the go-to answer for finding GC's but that's not always readily available. REIA is always a good way to get contacts and you can always toss out your ideas on BP and see who responds. I've heard of those who have stopped by home renovation sites and have gotten info for GC's and also heard of people asking subcontractors who the good GC's are as well.

As far as the details, I assumed you think in a manner similar to myself and I'd be hard pressed to give a contractor that kind of money if I felt an inclinations they too were not attentive to details. Being a GC is a detail-oriented job and if you get a bad vibe that someone is overlooking things you would not, keep looking.

@Alex Velasco

I'd always figure out the financing first. Once that is squared away, you can confidently go after deals rather than getting something lined up and then having to wait on financing and run the risk of losing out on something good due to bad timing. Unless you're going after a large loan amount or something creative, you should be able to get a loan through a bank/credit union if your income and credit can support it.

@Kerry Triplett

Most people would say to house hack a multifamily as you'd be able to live for free for the most part. In your instance that'd be fact as the government is paying you cash on top of what your tenant would be paying. But make sure your wife is OK with sharing that kind of space with someone you don't know and is open to the idea of being a landlord. 

@Camron Cottam

You're going to want to make sure you have the income to support the monthly payments as this is what you're lender is going to look at first. Once that is taken care of, going FHA is your best bet. The lender will want to make sure the down payment is at worst a gift if it is not your own savings. Using loan money for a down payment isn't allowed. I'd assume the investor would want a return of their investment to the tune of 10% of what they loan to you or a split of the profits.

@Brian Buckley

Most people here would say to interview a MINIMUM of 3 GC's before making a decision, but I'd suggest you try to find a few more. The thing with self managing is that you seem to be someone who is a fan of the details (as am I) and you'd probably want to interview a few subs for each trade as well rather than just accepting the first guy you find. If that's the case, you'd need to interview 3 tile guys, 3 drywall guys, 3 electricians, 3 plumbers, etc. to be as thorough as possible. If you have patience and the proper amount of trade-scheduling skills, then being your own GC can work. Also keep in mind that in some states only a licensed GC can pull permits and I can tell you're going to need quite a few permits and you'd also need to be present for inspections since you are managing the project. Good help is hard to find and you may need to look a little harder or make sure you have all your ducks in a row to manage a project of that scope. A 125k project requires a ton of material, people, and moving parts. Best of luck with the project.

@Ethan Edwards

Yes you'd end up in court to enforce the terms if it came down to that. The contract is to protect you in the event of litigation. Ultimately the attorney would have the best advice as everyone's situation is different and a lien may be good for one person but bad for another.

@Ethan Edwards

Hi Ethan, I recently spoke with an accountant about something very similar and his advice was to get an attorney to draft an operating agreement outlining the full rights and responsibilities of the silent partner. An ironclad contract should protect your interests in the event things do not go as planned.

Hi @Scott Robinson. The first piece of advice is to always get such advice from a licensed tax professional as I am not one and my advice is simply just that. With that being said, flips are not investments and I believe the profit is taxed as self-employment income since it is active income. As for the percentage to expect to be taxed, I've seen others say that they just hold out 40% of the profit to be ultra-safe and anything of that 40% they don't owe Uncle Sam they keep. There's a blog post that explains fix and flip taxes: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/07/10/paying-taxes-fix-flip-properties/. Always consult with a CPA to get the clearest and best tax advice and strategies.

@Jeffrey Compton

Locate the area on Zillow and zoom in and click on the parcel and you should get the address.