All Forum Posts by: Kevin Moules

@Andrew George Dennis, it is called Mega Greige by Mr. Sherman Williams.

@Andrew George Dennis, I will have to ask my partner as she chose colors. 

We are in escrow! If all goes well we should close June 13th and hopefully sooner!

On my part, its not over until the check cashes, then we will celebrate!

Update:

Other contractor finally made it out! His estimate is on par wit the first guy and he is only about a week out for work. I think we found our guy! Has great yelp reviews so i feel comfortable with choosing him. Being a handyman, about half my business comes from yelp so people really trust what is said there. He has also been helpful in other areas in making decisions.

By law I cannot frame in the window in the bathroom according to him, so a 2 piece shower is out. He has recommended tiling and price is on part with price of framing off window and all work involved with that. Also the entire house does not need underlayment plywood so we can drop laminate on as is, that will save money. 

I spent the last two days, washing walls, patching drywall, primer and paint. Place looks and smells so much better! I cant believe how yellow and dirty the walls and ceiling were :(. Took me 8 hrs to prime all rooms except bathroom, and then 5 hrs to paint. Used Zinsser 1-2-3 primer from HD. That stuff is awesome! highly recommend it. Though i may need 2 coats of paint and I think i can get away with one!

Cut the black drywall behind the sink and had a lot of cockroaches come out and scare me!! Hard to believe people were living here not long before I bought it. Yikes! At least when they tent the place next week everything will be gone! 

Sorry pictures are not the best, sun was starting to set and i was trying to get on the road. Unfortunately truck broke down about an hour south of home and had to get towed. Didn't get home till midnight. Oh the joys of pursuing FI and my dreams. 

I will say i was spoiled with my contractor on my flip property. He actually returned calls or texts. No so much with the folks on this place. I reached out to yet another contractor over a week ago who said he would drop by the property early last week for an estimate. Have called to find out what the deal is and no answer, no call back. At this point probably just going to go with the only estimate i have so i can get this show on the road. Time is ticking and its driving my crazy!

On another note, had a pest inspection last week and found out I have dry wood termites, which i assumed when I was doing demo work. So the place will be getting tented next week for $1000, darn :(.

I will be headed down again this week for 3 days to work on the place. Plan is to finish washing walls, primer, and paint all rooms but kitchen and bath. Replace drywall  in the kitchen if i have time just so I can allow contractor to move faster when they come in and i need a subfloor in the whole house so i may start on that if time allow. I have been sleeping in my trucks back seat because I don't want to pay the 100 a night for a hotel room. I dont have a W-2 anymore so I am trying to save anywhere i can until we sell our flip and refi our money back out of this property. I feel like @Brandon Turner sleeping in his Prius. Sleeping in my back seat beats being outside in a tent in fresno :) . 

The thought of owning it for a month and no contracting work being done is driving me crazy! At this rate I wont get a contractor in there till July. Grrrr. The things a new investor deals with when they have not yet built relationships with folks to work on their rehabs! Hoping to hear back from both contractors on tuesday after the holiday tomorrow, or i will just call them until they answer. 

stand by...

Update! We put it on the market and within a week we had 2 full price offers. We countered the offers and one of the buyers backed out. Currently moving forward with the other buyer after accepting their best offer. We are praying the buyer does not back out for some reason during inspection process. Hoping by end of June we will have this one in the books! Ill keep you posted as always!

Update:

I talked to 3rd contractor today on this property and his estimate is double what the first contractor gave me. Kind of shocked but each person runs their business differently. Some folks say my handyman prices are high as well but you typically get what you pay for. The 2nd contractor I had looked at it is now out of the picture as he just lost his right hand man due to emergency surgery that will put him out for 10 weeks. He was a month out already, he mentioned this would put him out 2 months. So that's out. Called a 4th guy this morning that will go out to the property next week to give estimate. Once that comes back Ill make the call and get things rolling. Plan is to have this place done by end of August at the latest. 

Scope of work for this place is as follows. 

Bathroom

Frame in back wall for shower

Frame off window

New subfloor

2 piece shower

New mixer valve

Install exhaust fan

Kitchen

Repair drywall on window sills

New cabinets unfinished

Paint cabinets

Laminate counter top

Case and trim opening to laundry room

Replace drywall from previous counter top to floor where cabinets were located

Retexture entire kitchen area to match new drywall

Outside

Repair siding at back door

Replace back door

Flooring

Install laminate flooring in all rooms except bath and laundry

Install plywood subfloor

@Brian Leigh, I am always on redfin so it knows the kind of properties I search for and sends me automatic listings like 3-5 times a day. Gets annoying sometimes but it shares properties in my town that are for sale and go pending and when they sell. It keeps me informed of home sale prices all the time. I recommend setting up an account with them.

@Thanh Nguyen, thanks for the questions. Although I have not read it yet I hear a lot of good things about the Book on Rehabs by J Scott. Its on my reading list. Should give some good ideas. Second, I would highly consider partnering with someone on a flip property. This way you do not have to be in a long business relationship on a rental property. The partnership can end after home is sold. Meanwhile you will learn what things cost along the way. Kind of what I did. 

You could also try to reach out to a local contractor who may invest or that is here on BP. Let them know you will be looking for BRRRR properties and ask if they would walk some properties with you that you see are for sale and need to be fixed up. They could give you ballpark figures so you kind of learn. Just some thoughts.

@Jordan Lucas, I have a saying that I have gone by since my college days. You can sleep when your dead. hahaha. Now it should not always be like this, thats the reason I want financial freedom so I don't have to do what I do now. I have been balancing really 3 jobs for the last 3 years. Now it will be my business and RE investing. 

Sacrifice is my middle name. I have been eating homemade lunches for 32 years, anything I can buy used I do, we don't eat out, my wife is a stay at home mom so no income from that side, no amusement parks or long vacations, Only a short list, probably a ton more stuff. Read mr. money mustaches blog from his first post and you will learn to be frugal. You can look at it two ways, save more or make more for what you want like Cordone talks about. However, as he has said multiple time he was still driving his Toyota car around when he made his first million. If you are not willing to sacrifice you will not make it. That's my humble opinion. No pain, no gain as they say. 

@Jordan Lucas, this is awesome man! When I was that age I was way to shy to interact with folks. Always been introverted but now i'm usually the one that will strike up a conversation. Like many said here I think doing in part time to start off while funding the expenses with a W-2 job is a great way to go. I have done this personally with my handyman business, did it on the side for 3 years while a holding a w-2 job and just went full time starting this month. 

I would highly recommend BP Podcast #316 with Graham Stephen and also check out his YouTube Videos. With as much reading you have done I am assuming you have come across him already. 

Good luck on your journey!

@Mindy Jensen, or another admin. Can we move my thread over to the Investor Deal Diaries area? I did not see that forum when I originally created this thread. That would be the correct area for it. Please let me know. BTW Mindy you are awesome! Thanks