All Forum Posts by: William E.

Personally, I find spending $300 on some decent landscaping in the front of the house, and taking some good pictures do more for finding tenant than lowering prices. 

if you're willing to lower rent by $50, then why not just spend the $300 on prettying up the place and get the depreciation that equates to the lowered rent. ($50 x 6 months = $300)

just my $.02 

@Cody L. - I agree it is a terrible price, but i also don't have the finances, network, or opportunities that you have at this point in my investment career. A quad will cost more per door that anything larger in a comparable area.

I search for something that will provide me a decent monthly profit and in an area where i believe i can trust pro forma to help me out when i plan to sell and 1031 into something bigger in a few years as long as we don't have a big crash (which some were saying could be imminent).

i'm sure you've seen me post of the last duplex i purchased. 

• 130k+100k in renovations.  (115k a door)
• refinance 70% at 340k
• i made a profit doing the work, and i make a decent amount each month from my renters. 

Give me a year or so and i should be in a better position to compete with you on those properties in Montrose. 

@Jennifer Bailey i was in the neighborhood yesterday talking with some of my renters, they're college kids going to UofH, and they see no real issues. i've talked with several of the neighbors and they all seem like a close nit group trying to keep the 'riffraff' out of their part of the neighborhood(Isabella @ Live Oak).  If you go two blocks over it looks much worse, but it is investors like us that are taking these older properties and bring them back to life. 

i was looking at this complete gutjob - https://www.har.com/2720-truxillo-street-6/sale_59...

It could be a decent investment, assuming i could get them to go about half the price they're asking. Which i doubt they will, but i'm willing to ask anyhow. 

We have talked to a few CPAs about this, and the general consensus is buy up to ten under your own name, then do a group transfer to an LLC, then start working on your next group of ten. A commercial banker is more likely to want to get in bed with you if you have more net worth total. You could do a warranty deed transfer alternatively, most lenders won't care as long as they continue to get paid. As far as protection...that is why you have insurance. For a single family home(s), insurance with an umbrella policy provides plenty of protection for me personally.

@Dale Couture - sorry i misread the question. 

you're looking for finding the ARV. Realtors can typically help you with this, unless you have MLS access.

You need to find the comparable in the area to determine this information. you'll need to find several properties that were recently sold in that particular area with the upgrades you are planning to add into the house you purchase, and this will give you a 'ballpark' of what it is worth. 

Alternatively, you could befriend some home estimators and get how they build their calculations. 

Once you've analyzed an area for a few months, you know what the properties will go for in that area and can tell what it will take to get you there. 

thoughts?

B

spend $20 and get the book promoted on the site. it could potentially save you 20k on your first deal. 

The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs

https://www.biggerpockets.com/store/flipping-estimating-digital 

@Khang Pham in this business either the stars need to align properly for you to get your deals to work, or you need to work to get the stars to align. 

my most recent purchase had a contractor bid ~35k for the work to get it rent ready. Once the house was purchased and he dug in , we found he missed a few items on his assessment and it went up to 50K. then he decided he under bid, and took my money to pay guys from another job, and then disappear with a bit of money and materials. i then had to get another contractor to fix this guys shoddy work and finish the property. The end result was a over 100K spent on contract labor and it was a few months over schedule.... for a duplex.  Conveniently i bought right, it refinanced for 80k more than anticipated,  and i'm still making a profit each month in the rentals. 

Point being,... good for you knowing that the ratio wasn't enough to make it a good deal. remember it can get a lot worse once you actually jump in the deep end.  

@Greg H. can you provide a list of the ones that you know participate?

take a glance a @J Scott 's take on it http://www.123flip.com/new-construction-costs/

it has a simple break down of the most common expenses. 

my thoughts

• lower the price
• get a better real estate agent that is willing to work harder to find buyers
• offer as a turnkey at some RE meetups
• ask the people look at the house why they chose not to buy it.
• increase the curb appeal (landscaping, painting, garage doors, etc..)
• repeat process