All Forum Posts by: Marvin McTaw

Hi @Account Closed What kind of deals are you doing? There are calculators and analyzers here on Bigger Pockets (e.g. Wholesale and Buy & Hold). It all boils down to answering one simple question: how are you going to make money on the deal? Never get into a deal without an exit strategy. Happy to help however I can.

@Allen Thomas and @Tracy Ellison - Bey thank you for the recommendations. Below is an image of the stuff that needs to be done. It excludes the painting, flooring, appliances ceiling fans and removing a freestanding shed in the backyard which obviously adds to the total. I'd like whoever it is to be licensed and certified as some of the work may require pulling permits. 

Thanks!   

Welcome to bigger pockets @Ronald Sistrunk! @Brandon Turner has some great recommendations and I suggest looking them over. Where are you looking to do your investing/flipping? 

I have a friend in Tucker with a minor switch problem needs an electrician that could be a substantial issues. She needs an electrician to look at it. Anyone have an electrician they can recommend?

Thanks! 

 I quickly checked out Homesearch.com and it seems to be most similar to Auction.com. Auctions on sites like these fail all the time and they simply re-start the auction. I would contact the listing agent and put in an offer. Since it's a home you're looking to live in I would recommend starting much closer to your "best and final" versus what you might see as a starting price on the auction. They generally do that to garner interest in the property i.e. "Look you may be able to get this house for this price!"

The agent may directly negotiate with you prior to the auction and they may not. It all depends on the specifics of the situation which you won't really know unless you actually speak with the agent or person handling the property. Worst case scenario, you can just bid in the auction in December. 

Good luck!

@Constantine Kapothanasis can you clarify what auction you are referring to? Is this an online auction like Hubzu or Auction.com or the actual county foreclosure auction? If it's the county foreclosure auction you generally have to have the funds available right then and there (i.e. cash). If it's one of the online auction platforms you can have a financing contingency placed in your bid e.g. 21 days to get financing but sometimes they also require cash only bids. It's property specific. 

I hope it helps and good luck getting the house! 

I've used HUBZU and have won bids but upon further inspection they ended up not being deals for a variety of reasons (e.g. condition of property in pictures was entirely different).  

What information can you find in the tax records? If they are owned by legal entities you can try looking up the registered agents or officers of corporation on a site like http://www.bizapedia.com/ or https://opencorporates.com/. Then you can use a site like MelissaData.com or Whitepages.com or just search on Google for contact information for the registered agents/officers and ask to speak to the right person. 

If you're wholesaling the house, you don't need to know an exact number. Most rehabbers are going to get estimates anyway or make their own estimates. Your goal should be to get within the ballpark of where they will likely be. 

There are a couple of repair estimate calculators for specific jobs you can find online just by searching for them on Google. I'm not sure exactly how you manage your business or do your deals. I tend to not go to houses until we are generally agreed on price and/or terms. I usually take what the owners tell me with a grain of salt, especially if they haven't sent me pictures or anything.

I generally categorize the condition of the property (e.g. Not Bad, Bad, Horrible) and assign a multiple based on the category. I then take this multiple and multiply it by SQFT. For example, if a house is Not Bad (e.g. just needs fresh paint, carpet, fixtures) and was 1000 SQFT I would generally just estimate repairs at around $10,000 or $10 multiplier x 1000 SQFT. 

For older houses (generally anything built before 1980) I would add that if the house is in "OK condition" I'll still will take on a 50% multiplier. This is because older houses tend to have more hidden problems. 

Like I said, I do this just to get a ballpark figure. If the owner is wanting say $200,000 and my numbers are coming out around $100,000 then that's a drive I probably will not make.

Are you talking about for buying homes or selling homes? For buying homes (e.g. We Buy Houses) I was taught to have them put out Friday evening and get them picked up Sunday night to avoid code enforcement. There are some investors who apparently are willing to pay the fines though because the signs are a good lead source on a cost per lead basis, even with the fines. Good luck with your bandit sign campaign!