All Forum Posts by: JOE SNEAD

dont waste money on gurus or tv courses. Most information and strategies you can find here on BP. So read the articles about the strategies and then get to work. there is no better way to learn than through experience. find yourself a mentor and offer to work or be an intern so you can learn from someone. the more knowledge and experience you have the better you will be able to execute your own strategy.

learn the varying degree of what each strategy takes as far as your investment in time and money. Wholesaling is attractive to many first starting out , because it doesnt take a huge investment to get going. but t does take huge amounts of time. And most people find it would be better to work for minimum wage than to do all of the work and not get paid. learning how to find deals and close them fast is a true art form and very competitive.

Best of luck to you.

galaxy s3. its very fast, larger screen, which i now cant do without. sleek thin design. i ive been a person who doesnt think smart phones have been that user friendly or smart in the past, but i really love the galaxy. it has all the measurables 4g lte stuff.

the only thing ive heard anyone say about the iphone 5 is a better camera and if you are a hard core apple person then you have to have it. i had an iphone 3

they are the two top smart phones right now either one will work but i prefer the galaxy

what could you rent the place for as it sits? what would you get in rent if you freshend it up?

The kitchen doesnt look that bad. if you were going to do anything id suggest getting rid of that wall and soffitt that sits in the middle of the kitchen. what purpose does this thing serve?

once the you have the kitchen opened up you may be able to paint them a dark color to contrast the light flooring. I dont think you should have to sand these down as paint goes over top of paint. so unless the paint is cracking and its obvious that the underneath needs to be addressed then just put a few coats of paint on them. because your walls are white and your floors are light go dark grey or even black with the cabinets. Painting them white would be too much work to cover the grey and the cabinets would get lost against the white walls. Then you will be painting the walls next just adding more work and cost to you. the applainces look old too maybe the cheap stainless steel peel and stick covers would be a way to update the appliances too.

As for the bathroom vanities I would not suggest ripping them out and replacing it with a pedestal sink. Storage is always an issue for renters and again they dont look like they are in bad condition but just need to be updated with paint.

rip the wall down in the kitchen, patch the floor and ceiling where needed. ($100) paint the kitchen cabinets yourself. take the doors off and the hinges off to paint them right. and paint the face of the cabinets in place. ( paint and materials ($100). paint the vanities ($50). stainless steel fauz cover over the existing appliances ($125)

I think with your own elbow grease and 375 bucks should do what you need to update the place and have a good space for a tenant.

In Florida you can do it either way. you as the owner can pull one and supervise your subs or workers or have a GC pull the permit.

If you have a GC you want him to pull the permits. The number one reason is liablilty. if someone get hurt on your property are you prepared to cover their medical expenses and damages they suffered? In Florida and I suspect most states if someone is working for you they will be considered an employee and you as the employer are required to collect and pay the taxes and workers comp insurance for this person. If you dont it not only is illegal and now you are open to huge liablity claims god forbd someone slip and falls or shoots a nail through their hand. Then this person claims they are no longer able to work due to injury.

The majority of work that rehab requires you want to understand whos working on your property and that they are qualified. you can always save money doing things yourself and hiring tradesmen however this is a huge risk. you need to understand this and determine your level of assets and how much you are personal assets or at risk.

The second problem in the state of florida is that if you as a homeowner pull and do your own work you may not resell the property for a period of time which i cant recall but may be for a period of two to five years depending on the cost of the work.

Hire sub contractors who are licensed and insured. and never take their word for it. You always want to ask for them to provide proof of insurance and ask for a piece of paper naming you as additional insured under their policy. this simply lets their insurance company know that they are doing work on your site. This proves they have coverage and if the GC doesnt already have this policy in place will pay his insurance co depending on the job say 150 bucks to name you as additionally insured. Workers comp is a a different insurance and you need to verify they have this as well. ALso undersand your homeowners insurance will cover say if your neighbor gets hurt on your property but would not cover cover construction worker getting hurt.

So understand your risks, understand your goals, and understand your state laws. if you are flipping you dont want to tie the property up and not be able to resell it. if you are just starting out and dont have alot of assets then its probably worth the risk. If you have sizable assets then its probably not worth the risk.

Less than a week ago I just closed on my first fannie mae property. I experienced alot of the same thing. The original offer / AS IS contract included all of the paperwork exept the standard addendum that they also want signed once they accepted my offer.

Following the acceptance they didnt ask for the EMD which I thought they wanted within 2 days of accepting my offer per the contract. I worked directly with the listing agent who never wanted any proof or verification of funds, and didnt want to submit the EMD until after the 10 day inspection period was over. I could back out for any reason during the 10 day inspection period. I tried to further negotiate price during the inspection period which they rejected.

I agreed to the deal and waited for the listing agent to let me know which title co Fannie selected. I faxed my bank and wired the EMD to the title co. A week later the title co emailed me 3 pages to sign which I did and emailed them back the morning of the closing. Then I faxed and called my bank to wire the remaining funds to the title co. about 4 hours later they told me where they hid the keys to the property.

I think it went pretty smooth and easy as everything was done via email and phone. I never met the listing agent or anyone from the title co. I used the listing agent to submit my original offer on the property. I submitted 3 different offers and they were all rejected. The place went to contract but never closed until they dropped the price and my last offer was accepted.

I would deal with Fannie Mae homepath anytime as long as I felt the numbers were good. The title was clear, all of the utilities were paid and up to date, the property taxes were pro-rated and any HOA fees are paid in full by FM if applicable. my closing fees were $400 dollars and I had no realtor commision to pay.

I buy granite straight form a granite yard/supplier
I am installed as low as $24 sq ft
turnaround is usually 7 days to from buy to install
i go with 3cm which isn't much more than 2cm, i like simple edge styles the more ornate ogee edge style can look good with traditional cabinets and some fabricators charge extra for it.

Find a granite yard and deal direct with them. Most do not sell direct to the public. they mostly deal with the granite fabricators in the area. find the granite yard represent your self as a developer, property manager, contractor or something to deal direct with them.
Here you can select from all of the slabs that fit your needs and this is is where the cost really vary. buying a more readily available color can be as low as $6sqft and the more rare slabs can be $140a sqft

Next find a granite fabricator, they should charge a flat rate ($16-22 a sqft for install) for picking up your slab from the yard, templating your kitchen, cutting the granite and installing it. Once they come to your house to template your cabinets it can take 2-5 days to have it installed

All this requires an ability to use a tape measure and be able to visually see how your counters will be cut out of one two or three slabs of granite including waste.
Also if you are doing bathroom vanities or a smal island look in the granites reminence yard. you can find broken slabs that will be more than large enough to cover your bathroom and can buy these pieces for very cheap and negotiate a small piece for 10 dollars.

I did my personal kitchen (75 sqft) was quoted 12,800 dollars for it. I then did the above and did this same granite for $4400. the material was 3200 and 1200 for install. I was being charged $8000 dollars to source material and use a tape measure.
with a little work on the phone and driving around a city as large as dallas im sure you can find these.

I would think from reading the irs tax form that you can subtract all of your expenses including property management co that you hire. However you can't deduct this if your property management is just you and your time.

What I would like to know is if you pay cash for a rental can you deduct your cash investment just like you would a mortgage expense on the property? HAving say a 250 dollar a onth mortgage you can deduct that from your NOI to lower your taxable income. For an all cash buy can i set the rental up where I the investor hold the mortgage to the rental and thus allowing me to recoup my investment faster and lower my taxable income?

As an engineer,general contractor, construction manager of commercial development here are my tips for your renovation and dealing with contractors.
1. define a scope of work
2. get 3 bids
3. buy the materials have the contractor supply labor
4. set weekly goals and a deadline
5. have a backup contractor ready to go

first off I think you should decide if this is an investment property or your own residence. You will always spend more if it's your residence. No one thing or item will cost that much more but when you add them all up you will blow your budget. instead of tile you will want travertine or marble. you would like true hard wood floors instead of an engineered hard wood, that 1200 fridge is nice but that 2200 fridge is the one you really love.

1. define a scope of work-- the biggest problem is people just give generic info to contractors and say make it nice. think if you asked me to buy you a car and i came back with a used 95 honda civic 2 door. you then would proceed to tell me the things you wanted in a car like the model or make, a 4 seater, leather seats power sunroof , navigation etc. you are now defining what you want.

Go rooom by room and make a detailed list of every single thing that you would like to change. take measurements of sq ft of floor walls etc. do you need to remove wallpaper or does it need to be painted? do you need to replace the drywall altogether? do you need electrical outlet covers ?

Once you have this list you can breakdown things into categories if you want to save yourself money. All electrical work in one column. Plumbing in another column. painting in a column etc.
Next make a list of materials needed for each room and each task. Write all of your scope of work and items and attach it to a copy of your floor plan.

Now you have defined a scope of work and contractors will see you are organized and given them clear direction of what you want. They now can give you an accurate and fair bid.

2. get 3 bids--- Once you have a clear scope of work you can get three bids and compare apples to apples. With a clear scope of work the bids should all be within 10% of each other if one is really high or really low this should raise a red flag. The bids should not be used to call one contractor and say you need to beat this price. You can try and negotiate certain items or see if the contractor will negotiate with you. let the other contractors know why you didn't hire them. This is respectful and profesional. Ask the losing contractor you would like to work with them in the future. This will hopefully earn trust and build a relationship and a team you can count on in the future.

3. Buy the materials have the contractor provide the labor.

when a licensed contractor supplies the materials he has to mark them up to cover the overhead cost taxes , workers comp , insurance, profit. this is typically a 20% markup or more. By defining your clear scope of work earlier ,not only are you organized but now have a material list of what you need to purchase. Tell your contractor you will supply materials and what quantity of materials. this will save you money and him risk of putting more money on the street. By the contractor reviewing your material list and quantities he may be able to advise you if you are buying to little or too much and if say you are dealing with a tile contractor who will supply the grout? this will help you further define your project and will lead to better results.

There are times when a contractor can get materials cheaper than you can. when you ask for a bid ask the contractor to quote it two ways . one just supplying labor, and two with him supplying the materials.

4. Set time frame and payment schedule. -- This really is a part of defining the scope of work. This is a major part and shows you are a professional in understading the value of time and money. time is money in your rehab and consider this when evaluating contractors.
Payment terms define this up front. I would suggest milestones be met before paying a contractor. Never pay money up front unless the GC is suppling materials and this should never be more than 10% of the contract. If the job is small say for a painter then pay him once the job is complete and inspected by you.

5. have a backup--- somewhere and sometime for whatever reason some contractor will not be able to perform as you agreed to. This is where dealing wth the contractors you didn't hire in a professional manner can come in handy. They can take over a project and hopefully prove themselves that they can do a good job for you and hopefully become your go to team player when you rehab other projects.

You are spending time doing some of the front end work and not waisting a contractors time who will try and read your mind and figure out what you want.

All of these tips Should help you define your true scope of work, allow you to get more accurate bids, set more realistic budgets, better analyze deals, be more organized, and make more profits.

Hopefully this helps

the hoa fees include water sewer, trash, landscaping, and insurance which covers the roof, structure of the building.

My gut tells me this deal just doesnt work. I spoke with someone who actually lives in this area and they told me their Hoa fees fluctuate and that the fee should drop below 300 next year due to special assesments required over the past year. I thought it was interesting that this fee would go down.

I understand no place will eve be 100% occupied and other expenses will be required.

If the numbers are to tight for a 28k purchase price then what number would be the right price for this deal?

the place is well maintained, pools tenis courts landscaping etc. i more concerned about the numbers any input