All Forum Posts by: Sean Ridlon

@Jeff Bridges makes a great point for investors: he paid for a professional estimate then shopped from there. The difference between the original estimate and the lower bidder became built-in equity.

If you are factoring renovation costs into you offer, you can pass that savings off to your bottom line or the person you are selling to (if you are a wholesaler). 

I'm always fine hearing a "no, thanks" on a bid, even if it's from the same person more than once if he/she have "kept current" with me by always being up-front about the bid being competitive and paying for my services.

As a contractor, I appreciate being told up front if there's a possibility my time will be wasted. I could write free estimates all day if I wanted. But "free estimates" aren't really free. It's the client who hires the contractor that eventually bears all the real costs of all the "free estimates" he's written. It's not fair to make the paying client absorb all the costs of my overhead and time spent on people who just wanted to "kick the tires".

What I will do is write a detailed estimate/inspection for a small fee. If it is a small job (under 5k) I charge $155 for my time and if it is over that I charge a percentage of the total estimate. Large projects' "estimate-only" fees are sometimes between $155-$800.

Of course you get what you pay for. My estimates are produced on professional software, not the back of the bar napkin.

howdy, Brian! I'm in Wasilla. Glad to see you here on BP.

In the contracting and farming business transacting with this age cohort on an ever-increasing basis:

I open an invitation to them to bring anyone they'd like into the deal. This is the "transparency" part. I have good success forwarding them my contact by text along with a link to the deal and saying, "Please feel free to show this offer to anyone, and pass along my contact to them as well. I welcome any questions they may have about the process, our team, what a charge... anything."

This younger generation collectivizes many decisions that gen y, x, and boomers took on themselves alone or with their significant other. I expect that most younger people today will show our deal to their friends, their dad and mom, etc. before moving forward.

So I invite and welcome it.

Even if the deal doesn't go down, it's just that many more people I've gotten to meet and interact with.

Ask the following, "Even if we don't do business today, if I could you ask you to tag me in a post about your experiences with me I'd really appreciate the feedback".

It's been great so far!

Wow! Great job. The rehab looks AMAZING. In my market, those repair costs are half what we would have expected. It really updates the place.

I also appreciate the "lessons learned". 

Congratulations! 

Multifamily is our goal. We are liquid enough to buy, but our local market seems to be peaking. Most sellers of MF are pricing their buildings for sale far above appraisal, which created situations where 20% down won't get us in the door- out of pocket would be closer to 50%. Rents are high right now, cap rates even on the over-priced inventory are around 8%. The 30% over-value remains a barrier to entry for those of us who could afford a 20% but not pay the difference in asking to fmv.

howdy, fellow Alaskan! Good to see other folks here. Are you buying, selling, or assigning right now? 

It'd be good to network!

Working on a deal. Land value is 22k, two absolutely decrepit trailer homes on it. Total assessment including the trailers is 75k. Junker vehicles onsite as well. Arrearage is about 5k. Owners are divorcing, they want nothing to do with this place.

Hi, I'm Sean. My background is in construction. I've worked the last 13 years in the disaster recovery industry rehabbing homes after fires, floods, and mold using insurance funding. Before that, I worked for a non-profit that completed period-accurate restorations on homes for sale in historic districts.

We also operate a small-scale pastured hog farm for income.

My family and I became interested in real estate a few years ago and have been getting "educated".

We are looking forward to our first deals, and have recently started making offers in our local market.

Thanks for reading!