All Forum Posts by: Jacob A.

@Clint Worland

Sounds like you are off to a fast start. I'll give you my quick and dirty opinions on these. Keep in mind I'm a fairly new investor so take my advice with a grain of salt.

1)Yes Yes Yes. I'm a big fan of staging homes. It's been statistically proven that staged homes sell faster and for more money.

2)If you trust your contractor this sounds like a great deal. It's a good way to keep him invested in the project to do his absolute best work. I'd do an analysis of whether it would cost more to just pay him upfront as opposed to the equity stake but if you have that extra piece of mind and feel he is awesome at managing jobs and you can spend your time elsewhere then I don't see why this isn't a good agreement.

3)Check out your comps. If you are trying to get 300k for a property and the 300k comps have granite and stainless steel apps and hardwoods, then you need to have those same things if not a little more.

4) I love your deal with your realtor buddy. 1% is a steal if you ask me. You save 2% and you don't have to spend your time marketing the property. This is all assuming he is good at his job of course.

5) I can't speak to this.

@John C.

I like the advice! This yard was so trashed its been a chore to get it even looking as good as it does now. We are brining in a fresh truck load of black mulch today and spreading it out and power washing the house to make it as desirable as possible for the open house. If we don't get interest I'll definately take those suggestions into consideration.

@Jake Johnson

Typically I would 100% agree with you. It was actually a turning point on this property when we chose what to do with the carport. I took a good long, hard look at it and decided whether to add a 4th bedroom/additional living space or a garage. I saw that by adding a 4th bedroom the comps in the area took a considerable jump. Something that was going to cost me about $5,500 was going to get me about an extra $10k-12k in equity. At that point the decision was easy as the added garage didn't quite give me that kind of bump. As for the nice interior, we will see how that turns out. If it sells this weekend at the open house you can bet your a** I will be doing it again lol. It's all about taking what you've learned from past experiences and applying them to the future. I'll definately keep everyone updated after the open house.

@Christopher B.

No pre-marketing. I mentioned it to my realtor but she didn't seem too thrilled about it. I figured I'd let her do her thing on the first one or two houses to see what kind of results she gets and then I may step in and make some adjustments. I don't think it's a bad idea though.

@Johnny Aloha

It isn't in Brentwood but it is very close. If you cross over capital boulevard you will be pretty close to my house. With the whole revitilization of downtown and the whole capital boulevard sector in the city's plans I think its a great area for investors if they can find houses for a good price!

@Gary Parker

You have a good eye! It is indeed tile flooring that was made to mimic wide planked hardwoods. The texture on it is even remarkably close to hardwoods to the naked eye but once you feel it you can definately tell its tile. It's a little more of an expensive product but like I said earlier, since the square footage in the bathrooms was so small I felt like we could use some higher end stuff to beef them up a little bit.

No calls or showings yet. My contractor said a couple of families stopped by the house yesterday while he was there working on the HVAC unit and seemed very interested. They said they were coming to the open house. I'm thinking people are waiting for the open house Saturday as it's really the first weekend the house has been on the market. Hopefully we will get some really solid interest on Saturday. Crossing my fingers!

This is awesome. Could be cool if there was another sort feature with recency and name. Possibly adding profession to the sort. I know I can search by profession alone but not by location first then sort by profession. That way I can find agents or lenders in my area easily without searching through everyone's profile. I apologize if there is a way to do this already but thought it would be cool if there wasn't. You guys awesome keep up the good work!

@Charlene S.

For me the decision was a simple one. It was less about money as it was more about personal preference. At this point in my life I don't want anything to do with dealing with tenants. I love the idea of taking an absolute crap hole of a house and restoring it to its former beauty or even beyond that to help bring the community to a better place. Dealing with tenants and reading some of the stories on here scares the crap out of me. Eventually, I'd love the passive income but at this point it's nowhere on my radar.

Man what a start! You certainly have fallen into a good situation, although I'm sure it was earned. If it were me I'd dump it into some rental properties and get that passive income stream going. Although you may not want to deal with tenants or the other various items that go along with rental properties. I'd do some research on different types of investing and see what excites and fits you the best. If you love the idea of flipping, then flip. If you love the idea of investing in notes, invest in notes. The beauty of this site is there is no shortage of information on any of those topics. Best of luck to you!

@Tyler Reeves

If you search financing or loans on these forums I'm sure you can find some good discussions about different forms of financing. You'd be surprised just how many options there are at your disposal out there. Without knowing your personal situation it would be very difficult to point you in the right direction. I'd start by browsing the forums and blogs here and possibly set up a meeting with a banker in your area. You've definitely started in the right place though, good luck!

@K. Marie Poe

I appreciate the reassurance. I guess on the first one I'm just worried about every little thing. It's kind of my baby. But myself and my realtor are very comfortable with where the house is priced and we actually think we have it about 1-2% below market value. The first house jitters are just getting to me a little bit at this point. I'm ready to get this baby off my hands and on to #2. I'll definitely post updates as they occur.