All Forum Posts by: Sherry Lewis

Brittany, you are running into the "oh great another telemarketer syndrome", I suffer from it all the time. The very few telemarketers that I am willing to speak to are the ones that come across very friendly, funny and warm. They don't sound like they are reading from a script and they seem like they really care about what is best for ME. I don't know if this helps at all, but try to think how you would best receive this type of phone call and go at it from that angle.

Welcome! I understand your excitement and you could not have come to a better place to get all your information from. You will find these folks to be the most helpful on the planet lol.. They have been very giving and very patient with all of my knowledge needs! Congrats on taking your first step. From one newbie to another if I can be of assistance, please don't hesitate!

Sherry

I have filed a complaint with bid 4 already based on misrepresentation of the property and I am awaiting a response from them. I have also since written the seller again telling him that I do not want to take possession of the property and I told him I wanted atleast the 500 back (preferably the full amount but I know thats not going to happen without a fight). If he agrees to that I will consider lesson learned. I doubt I will hear back from him. I think the only thing bid 4 can do block his account but the money transaction went thru bank wire so I really have no recourse on that end.

Carlos:: Now I see why you thought I was crazy lol, can you now see why I thought you were crazy too LOL.... I uploaded them all, but only 6 showed up...

Chris that is why I don't think I am going to have any luck with this. If you want to look at the auction I can give you the auction number and see if you think I am as screwed as I think I am. The Auction id number is 520372.

Thanks once again to all for your wonderful input and wow, I actually got an award with this one for being viewed over 1500 times lol... I guess making a big booboo and not being too proud to scream help gets alot of attention LOL

Ok I used to live in Richmond. Is this property in City proper, carytown, churchill, county? You have your plumber, electrician, roofer, carpenter, sheetrock (can often be done by carpenters crew), landscaping, foundation (if needed), siding, windows, HVAC, (the latter 2 are mostly salesman lol...cabinets and countertops etc. The plumber can do the install on the bathroom fixtures, hot water heater etc. I have contacts if the house needs siding in Richmond. Let me know if you will require that. I used about 10 total on my project. I did the demolition and the painting myself. I also did all the design work myself. Because I added a 2nd floor to the project I hired an architect to make sure I did it right and got my own permits from the city. I did not have to do that, but chose to so I could build a repore with the city licensing and inspectors staff. Building relationships will be very important, especially if you are keeping your work mainly in that area. I used to have my siding business in Richmond. I went quite well but I made sure that I was friends with anyone that could affect my project.

Thanks so much Mike! I agree. Believe it or not, I think i am past it lol... I will hopefully just not take possession and move on. I have 4 other properties to worry about and hopefully they will make up for this small amount in the long run. I am making sure to have someone check out local areas before I purchase in the future. It seems I might be ok on my Kalamazoo purchases so I will take this week as a win, shake of the loss and keep listening to the wonderful advice offered on this site!

Mike,

May I ask what city and state you live in? That is mostly for curiousity purposes. Everyone gave you good advice which can sometimes be overwhelming since some of it is contridictory advice. I do whole heartedly agree though that you need to oversee your project for several reasons. It will cost you less, it gets you more familiar with all phases of contractors in your area and you are not relying on someone else to be your eyes and ears. The only way you can be sure they are working like they should and the hours they should is by actively participating in your rehab. Eventually down the line, from what I understand, is you will eventually build a trust worthy team that you know you can rely on. You cannot do that on your first few houses. I have only done one rehab, but I was there every day. It gave me invaluable knowledge as to costs, problems that you could run in to etc. It also gave me a good idea of who did quality work and who I would not deal with again. I had a great carpenter that taught me mountains along the way just by building a repore with him. I got multiple estimates myself for each phase of the work. I did not always go with the cheapest, I went with who felt the most reliable. That project was a total gut rehab and I was quite fortunate to only get one bad contractor, my roofer, but because I was onsite I was able to see he was not performing as well as he should and was able to stop him in his tracks and replace him. Had I not been there he would have completed the work, I would have been out 10k and had to hire someone to fix his work. It saved me 7500 of his bill and I used that to have it finished by someone competent.

I do not pretend to know more then any of these folks. You and I were both fortunate enough to find this wonderful site that offers a wealth of knowledge. I am to the point that I don't want to say BOO without asking them how loud I should say it lol... I am sure that will change once I have more experience but for now.... I LOVE THESE GUYS!

I am by far not as wise as most on this site (yet lol) but open floor plans, good landscaping, master suite with walk ins are always a good way to go from what I understand. You already mentioned the 2 most obvious. If I am incorrect with any of my suggestions, I ask that you share what I am looking at wrong so I know for my own projects.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/galleries/show/13895

http://www.biggerpockets.com/galleries/show/13896

OK Now I see why some folks didn't think the property looked all that different. It only showed the first 6 pics. I have uploaded 2 additional galleries for you to see some of the inside. I didn't up load all of them...I figured this was enough to give everyone a good idea on HOW different the property was lol...

Jon, Thank you. I didn't think I was crazy. It looked drastically different to me too. The seller put plywood up over the openings which was still intact when Tim went there. He told me to rekey the locks after I paid him...hence I feel like he had to know what he sold me... he knew there was no door to rekey before the plywood went up. Also when he finally did answer my email he didn't deny knowing the condition he was just pissed that I left him a bad review.