All Forum Posts by: Gurjot Grewal

 Again, how would anyone besides YOU know the scope of work?!? You have to develop that yourself. The listing agent will not try to provide that.

You should be able to narrow your focus and be making SERIOUS offers on maybe every 3 or 5 houses. If your agent can do a few showings in a row that isn't much time for them to invest.

If you look at 50 interesting listings and narrow that down to 15 by doing some research and estimates based on info you can find from old listings, google street views, etc etc etc etc. Then your agent spends maybe 10 hours doing those 15 walk thrus with you. You make some casual oral offers but really focus in on 3 properties that you make serious offers and negotiate on then your agent might have 15-25 hours invested to get a house under contract for you which is very reasonable. 

@Gurjot Grewal, most people walk-thru the property before making offers unless there is no access or maybe they assume a full gut rehab. 

 @Gurjot Grewal, I can see why your agent balked. Thats a lot of work for them. At that level of work even if you buy a property using them they could make less than minimum wage for their time! This is why they are frustrated.

If you are making offers unlikely to be accepted, I suggest asking the agent to just tell the listing agent your offer orally and ask if its worth putting in writing. That could save your agent a lot of wasted time putting together contracts that have no chance of being signed.

How would the listing agent know what rehab you would choose to do? I can bring to you 3 experienced investors and each would do a different kind of rehab. That is something you have to do yourself.

Have your agent walk through the property and facetime you so you can see the property. They can zoom in to show you details of interest. Maybe find a local partner who can go in person or even a handyman you develop a long term relationship with. Try to set up multiple showings back to back and pay the handyman for their time. They can tell you more specifically the work that needs to be done. 

@Gurjot Grewal, all of those pieces of info are good but how many properties are you asking the agent to provide info about? and what level of interest do you have before asking for these items?

Sales Comps and ARV: I recommend you start with your own estimate of these and then if those make sense after you run numbers, THEN you ask your agent for comps and their opinion of the ARV as a double check. This way you don't ask for this often and only when needed.

Rough Rehab Estimates: That would be something YOU generate not your agent.

Why is the seller selling?: Most times the agent cannot answer this. If they are the listing agent then it could be breaking their confidence to reveal that. If they are only your buyer's agent likely they don't know. You can ask if they know but don't expect you'll always get an answer.

Neighborhood Grade: You have a GOOD agent! They should not answer this. Agents are taught to refer you to an objective resource for information like this. An agent could get themselves in trouble by characterizing a neighborhood for a variety of discriminatory related reasons. It may sound silly to you, but your agent did exactly what they were taught.

Rental Comps: Using a source is solid, unless they are themselves an agent and can provide deeper insight maybe.

Cosmetic or Structural Repairs?: An agent will point out material defects disclosed by the seller and also anything they see themselves, but beyond that its YOUR responsibility to do your own due diligence.

Neighborhood Info: Same as neighborhood grade. 

@Gurjot Grewal
In the Columbus market, your criteria seem reasonable except for the age of the property. Almost everything was built in the 1920-1940 timeframe. If you are only looking at properties built after 1950 you are really going to miss out on a lot of good opportunities. 

I budget for 5k in Texas

Hey Gurjot, there are quite a few factors that would go into this. If the main drain goes into the slab below then that will cost you less than if you have to add a sewage injector with would cost somewhere between 3-5k alone. So if your plumbing to just add drains in basement without and do not need sewage injector you are looking at around 3000 for plumbing. If you have to add framing, tile, drywall, and fixtures you would be looking at another 10,000. Hope this helps a bit. Let me know if you need any help on your project as we are a licensed General Contractor that focus on helping investors. 

Thanks!

 Why start in Columbus, BTW my numbers are based on cash buys ,