All Forum Posts by: Greg S.

Charlie,
I'm definitely interested in hearing about your experience...please keep posting! I tried the blog on BP, but I found it easier to just post everything in a thread.
Best of luck, and please let me know about your progress!

Greg

George Gray, thank you very much for the comment. This is great information to know.

Great thread, David! I'm excited to read about your progress. Keep it up!

That makes more sense...thanks!

Here is my attempt to come up with a repair estimate for the home. As was pointed out in the other thread, I missed a few things (dumpster, demo, permits, etc) and was off on some others. However, it seemed like the consensus was that my overall number decent in terms of where I would end up.

Roof - In good shape (about 5 years old). Appeared to be some water damage on bathroom ceiling...might need a patch where it meets the addition or at the chimney. ($100)

Exterior paint/siding - Asbestos siding...Paint or replace with vinyl? I figure paint ($4000).

Windows - Needs all new windows (I wasn't quite sure how to count them, since some are side by side, some are smaller, and some are 3 panel...I counted 25 not including the middle portion of the 3 large pane windows) $6000

Foundation - Looked okay

Landscaping - Remove trees and shrubs, tear down and remove shed, bring in landscaping rocks, power-wash sidewalks and driveway, remove fence in front and back, put new fence in back, new mailbox, plant new shrubs/flowers for curb appeal. ($3000)

Exterior - New exterior and screen doors ($1000) Change exterior light fixtures, new shutters ($400)

Interior paint/carpentry - Remove all wood paneling and add/replace sheetrock where necessary. Gut property to the appropriate height (1 foot? 4 ft?) and replace insulation and sheetrock. Paint walls and replace baseboard trim. Replace or paint all window and door trim to match. Replace all interior doors ($7000)

Heating/Cooling - New Furnace ($3500), new baseboard heating ($1500), New A/C ($500), does water heater need to replaced? ($1000?)

Electrical system - Water did not seem to hit the outlets. What needs to be repaired? Add overhead lighting to all bedrooms ($500)

Plumbing system - No idea, should have checked faucets, under sink, etc.

Flooring - Hardwood downstairs in common areas, kitchen, and stairs ($5000) Carpet in 4 bedrooms ($1500)

Kitchen - New cabinets ($4000), new appliances ($2500), new sink and granite countertops ($3000)

Bath - Gut. New tile, vanity, tub with tile surround, fixtures, etc. ($5000)

Septic/Oil/Well - I don't know...

Mold removal - $1000

Miscellaneous - additional 10%

1/7/13 - Mailed 50 OOSO letters. Visited the office of the County Surrogate and gathered about 30 probate leads. I also received 2 more calls from my original OOSO batch. Called both of them back but received no answer. I left messages and will try them again tomorrow.

1/8/13 - Called a few county court houses to see how I could find eviction judgements. Pretty much everyone told me that the documents are available online, but I am unable to search by document type. Instead, I need to know a docket number or party name in order to find the correct files. I plan on going to my county courthouse to ask someone about this in person. On a separate note, I received 2 more calls...I spoke to one of them, who isn't selling but gave me a referral to one of her neighbors. The other I called back but received no answer. I'm up to about a 7% response rate, which is better than anything I've had in the past. However, I'm not sure if this is a result of my new marketing letter, or people dealing with damaged homes from Hurricane Sandy. I suspect it's more of the latter.

1/9/13 - Went over to inspect the property that wrote about in the last post. Overall, it was a very good learning experience. The property needs pretty much everything, more on account of the age than the flooding. The water only came up about 4 to 6 inches. I created a video of the home and uploaded it to youtube (http://youtu.be/OfMRMK_IxYI). I also put together an estimated repairs list, which I am going to post below. Estimating repairs is the thing that I'm least confident about. After getting some feedback in another thread (http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/80999-concerns-about-rehabbing-a-flood-damaged-house) from some more experienced forum members, I'm pretty happy with how my estimate sized up.

1/10/13 - I called back the seller to present the offer. I figure an ARV of $175k, and total repairs around $55k (see next post). 70% minus repairs would put me at $67500. From speaking with the seller, I knew they already turned down an offer of $60k. I offered $62k so I'd be above the other investor while still preserving a wholesale fee. I didn't leave much room for negotation, but I pretty much knew they wouldn't be accepting $62k when they just turned down $60k. The seller wasn't interested at that price. I wished her luck and asked her if I could call back later in the year if I saw it hadn't sold, which she agreed to.

Overall, this was a really good learning experience. I put together my first rehab estimate, and it seems like my numbers were at least in the ballpark. I also made an extremely low offer to a seller without chickening out. There was a bit of a safety net knowing that I was above the price the last investor gave them, but it's still progress.

I'm up to 14 calls on 229 mailings, or about 6% response rate.

First off, thanks to everyone who replied. Considering this was my first time making a repair estimate, I'm pretty pleased with how I did. It was a good learning experience and I really appreciate everyone's assistance.

To give an update, I called the seller today to present my offer. I figure an ARV of $175k, so 70% minus $55k repairs would put me at $67.5k. From speaking with them, I know they recently turned down an offer for $60k. I ended up offering $62k, which kept me above the other investor and left some room for a wholesale fee, but not much opportunity to negotiate. As I expected, they weren't interested.

Overall, I feel like I made some big steps forward in the past few days.

@Steven Del Prete, the water actually didn't come up to a foot. It only came up about 4 to 6 inches. It may have gotten lost in my earlier (long) post, but here is a short video of the property which shows the water line around the 2:35 mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfMRMK_IxYI&feature=youtu.be
Sorry for the shakiness of the video

@J Scott, I'm not sure about the baseboard heat/furnace. It definitely has baseboard heat, and I saw what I thought was a small furnace in the utility room. However, I'm new to this, and on second look it is very small, so maybe it's not a furnace. It does appear to have a venting chimney...It's in the video right around the 3:00 mark if you're able to take a look.

Thanks again!

I went to see this property today, and it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I took a video of my inspection and uploaded it here (http://youtu.be/OfMRMK_IxYI). I feel that one of the main things holding me back right now is my repair estimates. I took my best guess at creating a repair estimate for this house, which is detailed below. However, when it comes down to it, these numbers are not based in reality and are mostly guesses pulled out of thin air.

I also think I’m probably over-improving it with these repairs, and maybe should cut out the hardwood and granite and instead use carpet and corian. It’s hard to say since properties on one side of the road are waterfront, and are fully upgraded. On the mainland side of the street, properties are much older. I decided to go with a worst case scenario for the budget, and calculate it with the upgrades.

I know that these repair costs are dependent upon the local market, but I’d love to see what these would cost in your market. Also, as a side note, this is not a project that I plan on taking on, due to the reasons discussed in this thread. However, I am going to try to wholesale it if I can get it cheap enough.
I’d really appreciate any input I could get!

Roof – In good shape (about 5 years old). Appeared to be some water damage on bathroom ceiling…might need a patch where it meets the addition or at the chimney. ($100)

Exterior paint/siding – Asbestos siding…Paint or replace with vinyl? I figure paint ($4000).

Windows – Needs all new windows (I wasn’t quite sure how to count them, since some are side by side, some are smaller, and some are 3 panel…I counted 25 not including the middle portion of the 3 large pane windows) $6000

Foundation – Looked okay

Landscaping – Remove trees and shrubs, tear down and remove shed, bring in landscaping rocks, power-wash sidewalks and driveway, remove fence in front and back, put new fence in back, new mailbox, plant new shrubs/flowers for curb appeal. ($3000)

Exterior – New exterior and screen doors ($1000) Change exterior light fixtures, new shutters ($400)

Interior paint/carpentry – Remove all wood paneling and add/replace sheetrock where necessary. Gut property to the appropriate height (1 foot? 4 ft?) and replace insulation and sheetrock. Paint walls and replace baseboard trim. Replace or paint all window and door trim to match. Replace all interior doors ($7000)

Heating/Cooling – New Furnace ($3500), new baseboard heating ($1500), New A/C ($500), does water heater need to replaced? ($1000?)

Electrical system – Water did not seem to hit the outlets. What needs to be repaired? Add overhead lighting to all bedrooms ($500)

Plumbing system – No idea, should have checked faucets, under sink, etc.

Flooring – Hardwood downstairs in common areas, kitchen, and stairs ($5000) Carpet in 4 bedrooms ($1500)

Kitchen – New cabinets ($4000), new appliances ($2500), new sink and granite countertops ($3000)

Bath – Gut. New tile, vanity, tub with tile surround, fixtures, etc. ($5000)

Septic/Oil/Well – I don’t know…

Mold removal - $1000

Miscellaneous – additional 10%

Total – around $55k, which seems too high. I figure a fairly conservative estimate for the ARV would be $175k.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Based on the comments in this thread, this sounds a bit too high risk for my first rehab. There are just too many unknowns and I am too new to the business.

I am still going to view the property, and see if maybe I can wholesale it instead of taking on the project myself. At the very least, I'll get some experience inspecting a property and making an offer.

Thanks again for all of the help.

Thanks, J Scott! A quick look at the FEMA web page looks like it is in a flood zone (it appears to be in zone AE). I am still going to take a look at it on Wednesday, if for no other reason than to get some experience expecting properties.