All Forum Posts by: Edwin Brown

Does anyone else see the banner ad for "Rehab for women" as in drug rehab on this post? That's pretty funny (well not women needing rehab, but their adding being in a rehabbing houses post)
Google placement at its finest.

Sean, I don't go quite that detailed. Once you have done a few you will find your rythm but we break down our costs like this:
Outside
HVAC:
Roof:
Painting:
Landscape:
Windows: (don't do these much)
Miscellaneous:
Inside
Painting:
Floor Coverings:
Plumbing:
Electrical
Kitchen:
Baths:
Fixtures and faucets:
Micellaneous:

I may have left out a category, but that seems like all of them. If you break down rehabs into those categories and leave 20% for miscellaneous, you are usually within 15% of your estimates. Good enough. You will be wasting a lot of time and effort to get much more specific than that on the front end.

Now what we do to contain costs on the labor side is to walk the property and write up a scope of work. For a standard 15k rehab its about 2 pages and is detailed enough that the contractor should be able to understand 90% of what you want without asking. The rest just requires you being available when questions come up.

That might not be the best system in the world but its worked on a couple hundred rehabs for us.

Chris,
I'm coming to Memphis this weekend to see family and will be back next week to meet with several investors about using credit repair to sell their houses to their tenants. If you want to get together shoot me a message.

Every business has the difficult part. The part that keeps it from growing.
I'd like to hear what everyone's "challenge" area is for their business.

Financing for deals?

Selling your houses?

Managing Contractors?

Finding Deals?

I know ours has been getting financing for our buyers. We have great houses and good buyers but financing is really tough.

What is holding you back from doing more in your business?

Josh, feel free to chime in...

As in any venture in life, you do have to learn to separate the good from the bad. There is a lot to be learned from going to REI groups, just don't believe everything you hear. Move slowly and never believe someone when they are trying to sell you a property.

Would you rather date a blond or a brunette? Well, it kinda depends on which blonde and which brunette we are talking about.

I've seen some pretty horrific multifamilies that would make a shot gun 500 square foot house look attractive. So it really depends on what grade of property we are talking about. I can tell you one thing, if i had the opportunity to own 30 homes that were only 5 years old in a neighborhood where families were still moving in, i wouldn't turn it down for anything.