All Forum Posts by: Sid Leibowitz

I am in New York. I believe that you can access MLS by going on line and access the listings and defining your search. You do not need to be a realtor to search for listings, However you do need to be a realtor to utilize the network of realtors to purchase and to collect a commission at least here in NY. You can also use Zillow and Trullio as well as other listings for free and at times you may find a FSBO, foreclosure, short sale etc. there. The Crash Course training for sales persons license gives you a speedy low cost education in the industry terminology and process as well as valuable clarifications to questions and answers that you will find useful in the future along with other like minded students. A crash course is 75 hours here and if you pass the course exam you may take the State Exam if you choose, find a real estate broker who is willing to sponsor you and work as a salesperson or leave the license parked at the Depot of State and have an education on working in other aspects of real estate. In New York, you can have an attorney be the Broker of Record and not even have to have an actual Real Estate Brokerage office sponsor you. I agree that it is worthwhile having the license training if you are serious in the mechanics of investing in real estate. Your State laws may differ so talk with someone in the industry in your state so you are not lead into a classroom education and investment in time and money until you solidify your investment path. I only flip houses now as I decided that being a landlord was not how I wanted to invest my time or money. I found that NY gives tenants more rights than landlords here and could jeopardize me paying a mortgage, injure credit and maintaining a property was more time consuming than flippig and could not see the profitability here. In other States in make more sense. Check your local laws. The real estate course helped me discover my path.

Benjamin, Benjamin, It is a different world today . Your dream is just that. A dream unless you have affluent parents or a rich relative. I live in New York and almost purchased a home in Phoenix days before 9-11. At that time a modest houses like the one you show back then went for under 275k and the industry was flooded with houses. The banks are not making loans to millennial's without bonafide co- signers with money in the bank and have high credit scores, collateral and do not have school debt picture. In addition they have a 6 figure position that can be properly analyzed . Today without substantial down payments and credit checks with better than average credit FICO scores, it will not happen. Sadly not everyone is Zuckerberg. The statistics in the northeast  suggest that most millennial's live at home with their parents and not all have cars.  Parents are subsidizing their kids and they will never make it out of the nest until perhaps someone passes away and leaves an inheritance or they win the lottery. It's very sad. What leads you to your American Dream theory that there is magic in AZ ?  

There are so many issues that pets in residential rentals are a liability to landlords. Among them are attacks to tenants, visitors, delivery people, inspectors, contractors or other animals, sanitation issues, noise and general  nuisance or drama yet undetermined.  Do you have a lease with them? Did you agree that pets were welcome? You did not sign on for potential law suits and time consuming costly drama. They may even applied for a therapy dog permit and it may be impossible to rid yourself of these tenants. They could sue you!!  You are in the real estate business. Not a pet store. Connect with a local attorney ASAP! Best of luck

I agree with Lynn

Try Vista Print online. 

Louis. IMHO, Pay now or pay more in a very short period of time. Not only are the visual externals shot. You can rest assured so are the internals. The gaskets are rubber and they have a useful life. It pays to find a plumber and not wait for a flood on a Saturday night or over a holiday week end. Even if it buy a new one at Home Depot this is most likely a 300.00 job depending on your location. Send this to a local plumber and see what they can do with the price,  Best Sid

As a contractor and flipper in New York. I would take the second approach however, not with a contractor partner. YOU must maintain the contractor position and produce a timeline and line item estimate of every item in the order it need to be accomplished. They must be in order or you could close in an area and then have to open it up again because you learn that there is an order to every project. Look for an experienced project manager to walk the job and supply a line item scope of work on an excel sheet with columns and cell so you do not miss items. every item should  be represented on the sheet with a cells of material cost and one for labor. Have your potential subs walk the job and give you their point of view and labor cost. Explain that you want to do the purchasing of materials from their supplied list and specifications. and they are just for labor. Labor and list of materials. You may find that you need more trades than you expected as each trade will show you more about the project than you think you are aware of. Do not have them all come at once. You do not want them to meet up with a "friend" on the job and price fix the trade. Do you have construction management experience? Hire a professional project or site manager for this short term project. Question?? who did the cabinet measurements, do you gave blocking in the walls to support the cabinets? Do you require plumbing work inside the existing walls? Do you require electrical work in walls to bring the house into code compliance? When you go to flip the house you will need to sign papers that it is all safe and the potential buyer will have the house inspected from the buyers bank to agree that the value is worth the mortgage. It is not as easy as you may think. Email back if you have any questions. The project or site manager must have prior home renovation experience. Best, Sid

I am flipping in Nassau. I have worked in other areas as well. Their are opportunities everywhere. I have project management and purchasing background and do the project budget and rehab budget myself. I hire subs to do the work and produce a work plan before I buy. Then oversee the progress. The cost of a SFR is relative to the location, The taxes are only while you are working on the project before you flip it. I buy homes that are run down and able to be flipped in 90 days from completion. If you are seeking short term partners, let me know. Perhaps we can all assemble a group for short term flips in Nassau? Sid

Hello Anthony. A good place to start is actually by taking a "crash course" for real estate license. You do not have to actually become a real estate salesman to take the course. you may want to actually take the State test and have the license held at the State in case you decide to follow that career path. At lease you will obtain an economical way of navigating MLS. I only flip single family and purchase handyman specials for rehab. I have 40 years construction background so I act as the project manager and can do line item estimation and purchasing of labor and material. I utilize sub contractors for the labor and develop work flow schedule so all the subs are working properly without it becoming a circus on the site. If you want to join in and have investment capital. Perhaps I can help. I am in Glen Cove. Best, Sid

Estimates are subjective and much has to do with competition and location. You at are also paying for a lot of  hidden costs like project management, insurance, contractor advertising. mark up on materials and cost of handling and of course profit etc.  Reputation of contractor should be considered. An experienced handyman or handymen could save thousands if you are willing to keep an eye on the project and manage tasks to save on project management of alterations.