All Forum Posts by: Laura Pruitt

Thanks Waverly!

I appreciate your insight. There is no doubt we have mold - it is all over the surfaces etc. The GC seems confident that gutting the place and replacing the roof asap would immediately help problem & then obviously treat with chemicals etc.. 

 THANKS Jean!

The cause is a bad roof - so GC said that would be the first thing addressed. 

I think its a great suggestion to go with tests after work is complete to make sure it has the all clear. 

Hello BP!

We are considering purchasing a distressed home - it has a pretty bad mold problem. 

We planned on gutting the entire house down to the studs anyway - my question is will this go a long way to solving mold issue. 

Once down to studs - can GC take care of treatment and replacing of neccessary framing or do you need a mold specialist to come in and give "all clear" so to speak in order to resell house.

We have read so many mixed messages about mold - obviously we know it is serious issue, but we also feel it is something people are overly scared of and super concerned because they are not going to gut their homes. 

Any one with experience would be great - even if we dont purchase this home we'd love to hear about experience in case we encounter it for future deals. 

Thanks! 

Thanks everyone!! 

I think we are going to keep looking for sure! 👍😊

@Gilbert Dominguez

Hi Gilbert! Thank you so much for your input - 

The house we are looking to purchase is a complete gut we have the money to purchase the home (it is looking good we are going to get it for 15K, it has been vacant for a year and there is some water damage/mold in the interior. The rehab, after meeting with the contractor is in a ball park of 80k. 

According to comps and our realtor after a full gut the house will be put on the market starting at 150K. We live close by so we would be able to keep an eye on it and property taxes are only about $1800. The house is not at all live-able, between the mold and just the overall poor conditions of the interior and the roof needs to be replaced, so I think right now we are moving towards not buying it, rather than buy it and sit on it. Also money wise, we are looking to make a return, we don't want to invest our money in a house that is just going to sit for months if we cannot rehab it, financially we are just not in a position to do that right now.  

It is in a great neighborhood - we live here and part of the reason we are finally getting into real estate is because we love our neighborhood so much, I used to be a college basketball coach and for me to accept a new position meant relocating and we did not want to leave Mt. Airy. Mt Airy is about 15 minutes outside Philadelphia, it is diverse, affordable and the realty is gentrification is occurring and we feel it is a great time to start our business. There is a huge amount of construction and improvements occurring in housing and in commercial buildings . We recently went to a local REI meeting and a long time development thinks in the next ten years Mt Airy houses will be hard to come by in regards to the affordability it currently offers.

We wouldn't really be interested in buying the house and holding it - we have a goal to start August 1, we were just a little nervous about purchasing the house, starting the renovations and then not securing the financing to finish the deal.  We have worked hard to get our little cushion to get started so we don't want to squander it. 

We have touched base with a few hard money lenders, but they are concerned about our experience since it is our first venture. We will keep plugging away at it, because the numbers do work and we know we will eventually find someone who is willing to fund us, I suppose we are just being overly cautious because it is our first gig and we are investing our own money. 

But the math works - so if we can just get some good news back from a lender that would make us feel alot better about moving forward! 

Thanks Russ! 

I plan on heading to the recorders office in the morning to see if we can figure it out - if we can secure the lot to pair with the property it will be a great boost for sale price afte. All work is said and done. 

Thank you so much for your input! 

Hi BP!
My husband and I are in the process of acquiring our first home to flip - (exciting)!

It comes on a nice size lot, however we were informed that the vacant lot next to it is actually two lots. 
The first lot (#12) is for sale by owner and based on the size of the advertised lot, there still leaves a nice size lot available. It is not part of the property we are purchasing (#16)

After long and exhausting searches on line, it seems that the lot in between (#14) is owner-less! We have contacted the city but are waiting on a response. 

How would we go about acquiring this lot, it would be a great addition to our properties value when it comes to reselling our flip!

Any/All suggestions welcomed! 

Thank you! LP

Hello BP!

I was wondering for some advice - my husband and I are about to embark on our first house flip (exciting!!), we have analyzed the numbers etc and we are ready to try to secure our first house. 

We have not yet secured a lender for the rehabbing costs, can anyone shed some light on their experiences and what route they went? 

We don't have very good credit so we cannot go the bank route for a loan, we are looking for hard money lenders but we just have not yet got approved, we have been saving to make this dream a reality so to speak and are just a little concerned with investing all of our savings in a shell without knowing we will begin work straight away. 

Should we purchase the shell knowing the numbers work (??) and then just stay focused on finding an investor, or is it smarter to wait until all our ducks are in a row so to speak. 

We have been doing a lot of research and learning etc.we are just ready to get moving and grooving! 

Any advice welcome!! :)

 Hi Kevin!
We thankfully we were able to get a lead on a possible mentor from a family friend in Maryland - our friends father was actually in the business, so thankfully that worked out. We meet with this weekend with them to discuss things, I think the questions we are mostly concerned about asking are to ensure we find someone who is very good in the business side of things, who knows "time is money" without rushing through job and just getting advice about getting over the start up hurdles. We don't have a lot of capital where we can be just "hoping" it works out, we really want to make sure we do it right in regards to money, time and end product, so we are going to be probing for answers in that regard.  

Hope that helps! 

 Hi Colin!
Thank you so much for your suggestions!
We are actually going to meet with a potential mentor on Saturday - they are a friend of a friend, so we hope that it will be a suitable match. 
We don't want to rush into a partnership that doesn't complete work etc.the way we envision - so we want to make sure we make a sound decision. 

I feel we are probably over thinking things a little bit because it is our first venture, but I feel it is time to take the plunge and get our hands dirty and so long as the number work, just start learning on the job so to speak! 

Thank you again!! :)