All Forum Posts by: Chris Calabrese

You can just trim off the seams with a utility knife, then mud over them. Sand, oil prime, and paint, and you'll never know it's there.

This one took 2 months of rehab work, where we spent most of our time there. That was definitely on the high end, but we did pretty well anyway. During the time it was listed and under contract, we purchased and completed another one (about 6 weeks) which is on the market now. Just closed Thursday on the next, and we should have to put in about 3 weeks of our own "sweat equity".

We're a little atypical, as we love working on houses, and the two of us can do just about anything ourselves (I just installed 8 replacement windows today). We will pretty much do kitchens and baths ourselves, and sub out drywall, flooring, paint and other tedious work that we can get done cheap, although we did the hardwood and tile on the house in this thread ourselves. Now that we're getting more efficient with the process, we should be able to do 12 a year. We're both licensed realtors as well, so our model is definitely based on a DIY philosophy. Once we get to more than 1 a month, we will sub out more and find a good assistant to help with bookeeping and stuff.

Finally closed on this one last week. It was a long process with the lender and a last minute home inspection, but we got it done at full price without having to pay a penny in commission and cleared a little over $45,000. Sold to a really nice couple of first time homebuyers, so I think everyone is happy. Time for the next one!

Definitely do what you can to minimize the problem, as it will save you some headaches. I'm not a lawyer, but I find it hard to believe that a lawsuit would hold up if the attack was from another person's dog. I mean, what if you didn't have a fence at all on your property?

Along similar lines, do most of you use the standard leases provided by your state real estate associations? I always see people discussing their lease clauses, but our SC form has 41 clauses, and I can't imagine anything that isn't covered in there, unless its very specific to a particular property. Not to mention, you know that it's a legally enforcable document.

I think most leases have a right to enter clause anyway - I know the SC standard lease does - and I think 90 days is a good time period to inspect. Of course, you must give 24 hours notice and not "abuse" the privilege. A good idea is to change the air filter every 3 months and use that time to inspect the premises.

I think in most cities you'll find that the best cash flowing rentals are in the less desirable areas. The nicer neighborhoods are mostly owner-occupied and therefore the prices aren't based on a cash-flow analysis. You just have to separate the warzones from the working-class neighborhoods.

I do the day/night test. Drive thru during a weekday mid-day, and if everyone's home, it's probably not a good sign. Then drive thru at night and decide whether you'd be comfortable picking up the rent in cash, after dark, without a weapon.

Excellent work! 3 days is spectacular, you can make a ton of money if you can turn houses fast like that.

Simon, can you explain this a little more? I've never heard of a bank pulling a contract right before closing.

My opinion differs from most on here, but to answer your original question, yes, your lack of construction experience (knowledge) is a negative, but not a deterrent to being successful. You need to keep learning as you go, or it will hurt you in the long run.

You don't need to be able to do repairs yourself, but you should know the basics of each trade, cost of materials, basics of building codes, etc., so you can evaluate properties properly. Also, contractors will treat you more fairly if you can "talk the talk".

I'm very handy and do a lot of my own repairs, but when I need to call in an expert, I always do a little research first so I can turn on my "BS meter". The more invloved you are, the more you can control your flip and save money in the end. Have your contractors break down materials and labor, and you'll often find they're upcharging for materials. I order my own HVAC systems and roofing materials, and let my crew just show up and work.

Make sure you have the time to commit to this. I know a lot of people flip on the side, but I think you really have to know what you're doing to manage a flip without being around all the time.

Best of luck and keep reading up on this site and others. J Scott's blog at 123flip.com is awesome and has some great real-world advice. Some good forums are diychatroom and contractor-talk.