All Forum Posts by: Karen Margrave

She might need to file a Chapt 13 reorganization. That will buy her time to deal with the bank and hold off the foreclosure. During that time she can look into a reverse mortgage. From the time of filling, it holds off creditors, giving her some breathing room. She can probably get the bank to put the arrears on the back end of the loan. Good luck.

You know, in all honesty, even if we weren't being hired for the repairs, and it were someone we knew or it was close by, we'd still go give them an opinion for free. We usually treat it as what goes around, comes around, and try to help where we can.

Has anyone considered getting CAD renderings done of the interior of homes showing how they could be laid out and furnished? We are builders, and our son does architectural renderings for us (he's not an architect) We just sold a new home off his renderings, before we even closed escrow on the land! The new buyers wanted to know what the house could look like, with the colors,materials and products they are wanting, so he conposed a virtual tour for them.

I don't know what a CAD draftsperson would charge for this, but seems like it would be cheaper than buying and storing furniture in some instances. I know we'll be using it in our business much more.

People that have contractors go out to inspect properties for which they have no intention of hiring them for the work, but looking for free services are not only wasting the contractors time, but messing things up for everyone else. We are more than happy to go out on a potential job, spend time with the homeowners, and discuss any work that needs to be done.. and we do it for FREE. However; with people doing what you're suggesting, it wastes our time, costs us money in gas, and is just plain rude! We don't want to have to charge for estimates.

Of course, should you be honest about the fact you aren't going to hire the contractor, most contractors would be happy to go out for a set fee.

Thankfully we haven't had any problems with investors .. and I hope you will reconsider what amounts to taking advantage of contractors that are already struggling in this economy. I'm sure you didn't look at it from the contractors perspective, so you're forgiven. Honesty is always the best policy.

If you're wondering what configurations for kitchens will work, or need to figure out how to lay out rooms, etc. there's a FREE software program you can download by Auto CAD. It's called Homestyler. It's at www.homestyler.com

I wanted to change title and delete word remodeling so it would be more clear, but... no way to edit that!

GREAT IDEA! and very generous on your part. Though we've done alot of real estate over the years, and do new construction, what you do can be helpful in learning a whole new segment of the market. I'm really looking forward to your series, and will be printing them out to keep at hand. Thanks.

Very interesting! What a diverse group of "investors" we have represented, from coast to coast. Thanks everyone for your response.

Each state has different licensing requirements. There are pros and cons to being licensed, so think it through. If you don't genuinely know how to build, the codes, etc., you probably shouldn't set yourself out as a contractor. Once you have your license, in construction, as well as real estate, you become an expert, and your liability is much higher, as are your chances for lawsuits.

I don't advertise for renters, but for buyers. I picked up a buyer on a spec house we are building from postlets.com which posts ads to like 100 different sites, including Trulia - and that's where the buyer responded from. Craigslist seems like it's bombarded with agents that use programs to load it with all their listings, so put something original in your heading, and try to use a different style than the agents that do that use. Have you looked at Ebay classifieds? Good luck!

Jake, thank you for your generous offer, but I don't think that will be necessary. My thoughts were to figure the cost of demolition, take pics, and submit with an offer that would be for the land with utilities, etc. We've been contractors for close to 30 years, and seen alot of designs, but this house was never a typically built house, it's built with 4 sections and a center courtyard. Somewhere along the line someone tried to convert to 3 units (not zoned for it), plus added space above garage. None of the work was done with permits.It's been red tagged. Plus there's a pool that's been filled in, and over that, a huge concrete planter that is like 3' high 6 inches thick and about 10' square in the center courtyard. It's $$$ every where you look. There's just no rhyme or reason to the house, it's like the Winchester mystery house! But, great lot!