All Forum Posts by: Milind Shastri

Our first house had termites. We found them 2 days after closing, and we were devastated back then. Well, a few days/weeks later we figured out that this sounds horrible but can be fixed in <$800-$2000. Now we look for properties with termite damage that everyone is scared of. 

I've experienced that if I allow one contractor to be messy, then the whole place becomes a mess. Remind guys that "you need to clean-up before leaving". Most contractors do this well if reminded multiple times. And you can always send pictures of the mess and remind them that it's in the way of the next guy. Also, a contractor may not clean-up if they don't anticipate you working with them again...so in that case, I'd just take care of it myself. 

This situation is pretty standard in what we do. The most important is to understand the problem by considering all the technicalities and solving it in your mind first. Then you can direct someone to do it without having to use their reasoning. That is the cheapest way to get the job done. 

Most flips that my wife and I do don't have public transits.

These rules will work well for a certain type of investor looking for a certain type of property. Different people have different skills based on which different opportunities arise. At the end of the day, you need to be able to add significant value. If you know how to add value to it (or can show that you know) people (lenders/investors) will believe in you and help fund your project. The onus to deliver is on you. 

Well, this raises a few flags for me. What if you need to fire the contractor (such situations do arise) and you need to have the option to do that, else you lose a lot of power in the interaction. If you are not very comfortable with this kind of vocabulary, that ok, just that it resonates well with people in contractor jobs. What if the licensed contractor is a jerk and assumes unreasonabe expectations. 

In a similar position, I could think of leveraging the fact that the neighbor is a contractor by keeping him/her on an advisory role by letting them know that you don't want to really hire a neighbor for obvious reasons and just ask them for advice on things like perhaps validating initial plans, make sure the bids are right, and inspecting work.

All the best!

Hi Jordan, I'll be honest. +1 for taking action and putting out what you want. So, it sounds like you are on step 0.5 of say 10 steps. To go to the next steps you will need to understand a few things:

1. basic technical construction vocabulary of a house rehab project. Eg, base plate, pier and beam, p-trap, city supply, shingles, etc

2. what the roles of the following people are as well as what their motivations are: lender, appraiser, inspector, realtor, wholeseller, general contractor, city, sub-contractor, buyer, seller

3. Financial literacy: to get loans you will need to clearly understand terms like: LTV, % ARV, points, cashflow,

4...well 1-3 are good initial steps. 

All the best. Reach out to folks here, lots of people are very helpful!

If I were in your position, I'd wholesale n-1 properties and flip the 1 property with the least work needed. Great way to learn. 

Be prepared to make mistakes. Know that mistakes cost $$$. Be prepared that mistakes are the only way to grow. Know that there's a lot of money to be made flipping and it opens gateways to other investment strategies. Try to get a mentor, and in either case, take loads of action.

All the best!

I've experimented with BuilderTrend a couple of years ago when I was starting off my flipping business. It was great, but I didn't have the skills to handle what it had to offer me back then. In hind sight, doing it the right way would have taught me a lot. After 3 years and 5 flips and 3 in progress, I use GanttPro for planning, docusign for contracts and MagicPlan (& an architect) for envisioning floorplans

If you are looking to catch them in the act, a security system will certainly help. If you don't have one, a pretty cheap one is just a cell phone running a security cam app (like Alfred) with a motion detector.