All Forum Posts by: Don Hines

I am the vice president of the local chapter of a national club. We have been struggeling trying to get members. But, the ones we have participates via email regularly. Lot's of info is traded and given such as contractors and tradesmen. We do get a lot of interest when a seminar comes to town. Specially the wholesalers.
Don

Josh
My March is already booked; I can't make this one. But, I hope this is a success so you will have more of them.
Good Luck!!
Don

You didn't mention what the ARV is. So, it is hard to say. I use the formula ARV*65%-rehab on properties with an ARV over $100k.
I have never been arrested or shot at for lowball offers. But, you do run the risk of getting a bad reputation with the listing agents. If you really think the offer should be that much lower, I would wait until the asking price gets down to where my offer would be in the 70% to 80% range.
Don

I would pass because it sounds to rigged up to me. No telling what else you will find in the rest of the house once you start your rehab. I have spent half of the time fixing inferior "up grades" on my current rehab.
Don

Joel's post reminded me of my stint working with a management company my freind owned in Texas. We cleaned up 5 properties containing over 1500 apartment units. I became alarmed about a couple of guys that we had living in Brownsville. They had $150,000 cars and was paying only $500 a month for rent. I just knew they were dealers. After monitoring them a couple of weeks and listening to the managers and maintainance men, I was sure of it. So, I "manned" up and confronted them and told them I didn't like their kind living there. I offererd cash to help them relocate. It turns out they were DEA and were there to monitor some other tennants. I had to live with that secret for a while to give them time to really clean out the rift raft.
Don

Great topic Bryan. The newbies should read and study all of the previous posts.
My wife and I are at a crossroad in our carreers. We both do not want to be doing our JOBs at retirement age. So, we are moving out of the "hobbie" stage and looking at doing rehab/flips full time in the next couple of years. My return on effort for our current project sucks. But, the knowledge and contrator contacts I have made are invaluable. Accually the last few years of learning and doing has been much cheaper than the 4 years of college we put our son through. It is more of an effort for me to show up to work after a successful weekend working on the project. Every Monday, my wife and I go to the JOBs just to see who got sick over the weekend so we can react and adjust to operating without them. That is more effort than any dirty toilet I have ever changed out.
Don

I bought the DYI kit from Home Depot a couple of weeks ago. But, I chickened out and let a local guy do the tub and surround for $395 last week. The fiberglass tub needed more than just a clenaing and new finish. It had some "fisheyes" that needed filling and sanding. The finish is not as glossy as I expected. But, it was worth the money to me.
Don

You have no doubt invaded his territory. I have squirrel troubles myself on a rehab. I evicted them last spring. They sat on tree branches and barked at me all Summer. I noticed a new hole in my facia the little buggers made last week. It is time to sting their little hineys with the Crossman again!!
Don

I never miss an oportunity to get my dig in on FNMA....
This was recently discussed in another thread. But, the 125% finance restriction is ironic too. I would like to borrow more than that to hire contractors with..., Be an American and provide jobs ETC. You have to wait 90 days and spend more money to modify or refinance a loan.
Don

I haven't studied long term investing in a while. But, if I had a deal cashflowing like this, I think I would rinse and repeat. Maybe I would do what I need to to get my cash back out. Since you have just completed a rehab on the property, it should go for a year or two before you incur any major expenses.
Go do it again!!
Don