All Forum Posts by: Miles Stanley

@James Collier

I have a contractor that i am gearing up to use on my BRRRR house in a month or so, but i have no history with him. he was referred to me by an investor who was on the podcast and I checked his references and he comes highly recommended, but no personal experience yet.

i can send you his info if you want.  He does not do roofs though, nor electrical, HVAC or plumbing (the trade permit work).  So there is that...

Thanks and let me know,

are there no remedy clauses in your current contract for things like this?

I'm in land development as a design engineer and generally the contractor is required by contract to produce a certain quality and there are remedies just in case the quality is not as agreed on

@Xavier Silva, @Marian Smith

Can you recommend any insurance providers in san antonio (or elsewhere) that offer good coverage at competitive rates?  Or am i best served going to a big box provider (USAA, Allstate, Nationwide, etc).  i dont know if investors use the same companies as the average homeowner or if there are other options?

Thanks

@Rogers Smith

Oh i should add, i have the clay 

@Rogers Smith

Here in San Antonio.  I'm a civil engineer here in town and we have expansive clays over most of town and into Schertz and beyond.  The north and northwest areas are blessed/cursed with very steep grades and rocky terrain with bedrock (limestone).  Great for foundations, developers costs are high though.  Lot of high-end property up there. 

Thanks,

OK, not really sure of the question to ask here.

We are on day 3 of our option period and i am trying to get insurance quotes done for this rental house i am planning to fix up and rent (SFR).  Now i own a primary residence and have a run-o'-the-mill homeowners policy, but i wasn't 100% sure about what 'typical' policies and coverage were obtained for rental homes.

My wife was trying to get a quote online yesterday and the house valuation to rebuild came in at like $204k, but the ARV for the area is no more than $140k.  This doesn't add up for me since i can't imagine spending $204k to rebuild a house where the market values are so much lower.  Are we looking at too much coverage possibly?

i see a lot of monthly insurance rates (from lender, other investors) at around $65 a month, but the estimate we were given from this online system was like double that.

It's our first one, so I'm in the middle of the option period frenzy to get everything done in time and i wanted to be sure I'm thinking about about this right. 

I'm curious if any local investors (if location has anything to do with it...i'm guessing it does) would mind sharing what types of policies they get for their rental houses.

Thanks for the input.

Hi all!

We are on day 3 of our option period.  House and termite Inspection completed today, contractor set to come look at the place Monday and give me a bid (will have inspection report in hand by then as well).  Next point of business, my inspector recommends i get a static and hydro-static test done on the house since the seller's disclosure said foundation work was done, but no paperwork/warranties/reports are available.  Disclosure just says the rear of the house was leveled.  The seller bought it from the previous owner, started rehabbing, and has decided to sell it.  The inspection didn't show anything alarming really, mostly little stuff.  There was no indirect evidence of major foundation issues except for the usual thin cracks in drywall here and there and some of the doors look like they were 'trimmed' a bit to make them close.

But i am suspicious about the foundation work that was done.  I have requested a list of the permits that were pulled for the property from the City, but none of them were for foundation work (at least going back to 2012).  I think the static tests are a good idea to see if the foundation work caused any damage to the plumbing.  Its an older house (±50 years), so i know the pipes are likely cast iron for the sewer.

It's our first one, so I'm in the middle of the option period frenzy to get everything done in time and i wanted to be sure I'm thinking about about this right.  The way i see it, I would be paying a few hundred $ to save potentially several thousand $$$.

Thanks for the input.

@Mike Hatter

In my opinion (and based on my research so far), there is no such thing.  The best you can get is a list of potential leads that may or may not be motivated depending on the criteria you use to generate the list.  You might get an 'absentee owner with equity' list for example, but that doesn't mean everyone on the list is motivated to sell.  Your hoping that a percentage are.  

You want to select criteria that will give the highest probability of generating motivated sellers for properties that you wish to buy...think about what would motivate you to offload your property at a deep discount. 

Also wise to be sure your list is tailored to a specific group of people, no 'spray and pray' of huge geographical areas, unless your marketing budget allows for this.  Your marketing strategies/techniques will also affect your response rates, etc.  

Arguably, marketing is the most critical aspect of this business...why?  Because if no leads are coming in, no deals are getting done.

i find it hard to believe that someone would have access to an exclusive list with zero competition for you...how can they guarantee that?

*steps off soap box* 

So i went to purchase my list off of listsource and i was a little overwhelmed by the options available at checkout.  You can add on all sorts of extra data for a fee per lead.  My question is, for a direct mail campaign, what data is relevant besides the owner info and property address?  For example, should i waste $$$ adding in the year the house was built, the % equity or the loan details? Or should i just gather that data as leads come in?

Thanks!

@Suzanne Griffiths

Thank my inner nerd...i just firmly believe in fully understanding any calculator, especially with this kind of money at stake.  I'm an engineer, so i have a particular fondness for this type of stuff!

Thanks,