All Forum Posts by: Katie Neason

Sounds dangerous, mainly because you don't own the house. Does the owner of the house know you are working on it? 

Sounds fun! My suggestion is walk ever house that comes on the market in your ARV range and above. That will give yo clarity on what the market demands.

The house looks beautiful. I would stage the bedrooms before I did anything else. 

You should be frustrated with the person that told you that all you need was a desire and to email a realtor and the opportunities would flow in.  Flipping is a tough business and hard to break into regardless of the market. Have you talked to any successful flippers in Austin?  Maybe there is an opportunity to work for or partner with them so you can learn as much as possible.  I know that road blocks are frustrating. We looked at deals for over a year before we found one that the numbers worked AND we won the bid.  We put in A LOT of time analyzing and submitting bids.  Its all part of the process.  Hang in there and stay persistent because if you move forward, this email will end up being one of the least frustrating things you encounter in flipping! 

I would only buy it for the price of the dirt, demo it and rebuild.  I would only do that if you no longer had to disclose that it was previously a meth house (not sure if it follows the building improvements of the land).

if it is a college rental I would use TM5. 

not unless you have an experienced partner who can validate it is a good deal in the right area. They can also navigate through the process. In my experience, development is a time consuming and oversight intense process. That is the value you can add. 

you need to look at comps. They will tell you what your finish out needs to look like. If your comps have hardwood floors you will need hardwood floors. If your comps have crown molding, you will need crown molding, etc. You will not get your money out for over improving. Your best bet is to tour every house on the market that is a comp to yours. Also, have the realtor pull the pics off of MLS of sold comps that are in the price/SF you are targeting. Good luck!

I can't answer your question directly because our rules are different. The only trades required to have licenses are electrical, mechanical and plumbing. I pull permits for our general repair rehabs and we do not have a contractor licenses. The licensed trades pull their permits under my permit. Your assumption that jurisdictions are the same is probably going to cause more confusion than answers. I would use BP to find other investors in LA and even better, in your town, PM them and ask how they are conducting business. 

Thanks @David Robertson and @Rodney Marcantel for the suggestions.  I prefer the darker so I went with a Walnut based color. They start staining Monday.  Hopefully I will love it!