All Forum Posts by: Tom C

I'd go out and buy everything Preston and DC Fawcet is selling first. J/K.. Actually Jim gave you great advice. Stick around here and you will learn a lot.

It's always a crap shoot and a very nervous time when turning on the power, gas and water for us. You never know what's going to happen. You can look at a furnace and know whether it may need replaced. If its less then 10 years old, it should be fine. Hot water tanks same deal.

Water and gas lines, you never know. One of my houses had a gas leak out front and several in the basement. That cost around $1K to fix. 2 of my houses had broken water lines in the ceilings. Nothing major, just open it up, fix it and close it. As long as the house has been winterized, you can be some what sure that not everything is going to be trashed.

You really have to use you best judgement on the furnace and hot water tanks and cross your fingers when it comes time to turn the water and gas on. There is nothing worse then having the gas company come out and find leaks.

Remember, if for some reason they can't get your furnace or hot water heater to fire up, make sure you tell them to just turn it off at the shut off's in the house. Otherwise they will turn it off at the road and you will have to reschedule for them to come back out and the next person will find some other reason to red tag you..

And don't even call them if you don't have dirt legs on your tanks and furnace. That is one little thing that many people over look.

Don't make the mistake of using the 50% rule on the amount of the loan.

This is calulated based on the purchase price. Putting down a large DP does not make the numbers better.

If finding deals and then finding buyers is the issue, then you need to make the connections. You make the connections by hanging out with people in the business. Once again.. Apprentice

Yes, PEX is a must in all my units. The bad part is the damage they cause just breaking into the place. I agree as far as the alarm system, but some of the places I am talking about, the damn kids break into the place and by time the cops get there, the damage is done.

Monte,

A lot of depends on your level of knowledge. Do you have any kind of construction background? I believe that is the biggest hold back for people. You see folks wanting to get into the business, but they don't have a clue as to how to swing a hammer. Sure there a few flippers that never do a bit of manual labor on their projects. They rely 100% on a team of people who are good at inspecting a property and know exactly how much rehab a property will take in order to sell in that market.

In my opinion, you can spend thousands of dollars on these guru programs, but until you can find a property, inspect it and know what it is going to take to make it sell for a profit, you are just peeing up stream. You are leaving thousands of dollars on the table every time you have to call in a contractor to help you make a informed decision.

Instead of saying you will split the profits.. Tell the experienced flippers in your area that you will intern for them and be their grunt. You are more likely to get someone to open up to you, if you are willing to prove yourself.

Remember it wasn't too long ago when this was standard practice. Your parents found a trade for you, you apprenticed for several years for free while learning the trade. When you were ready to go at it alone, you had the blessing of your mentor and they assisted in your success. Their reputation was also on the line to ensure that they turned out a good product. Which in this case would be you.

WHOA!! I didn't say that now. As a former cop the last thing I would condone or allow is drug dealing in one of my houses.

If you know that it is taking place and you are 100% sure, then you have an obligation to the neighbors to take care of the problem. Otherwise you are nothing but a slum lord in my eyes.

Me too.. 1K and POF. Nothing more.

I am not sure if this applies to your deal, but I see this all the time in my town. An out of town investor picks up a property for 10K, holds it for a few days and sells it to another out of town investor for 20 or 25K.

Next thing the second out of town investor finds out that he can't rent or sell it to the locals, because the area is a war zone and we know it. So he starts trying to sell it on land contract for 30K online, claiming comps are 50K and when you look at the tax value it's listed at 56K.

When he finally gets around to coming to look at the property, he see's that it is going to need at least 10K just to make it livable. He hires a local contractor to come in, they fix it up and within a week, the place is vandalized and he has to start all over.

I've talk to several of these people and they can't understand why that cute little SFR home will not rent for $400 a month. I have to explain to them that no one wants to rent a place where they are afraid to leave their home because as soon as they do, someone breaks in and steals all their stuff. I have seen some great deals on SFR in my area for 6 to 10K, with rehabs near 4K, but if I can't even rent it for free, what's the point in picking these homes up.

This is why I won't even consider buying something that isn't local. The last thing I want to do is stuck with paying taxes on a property that is useless.

I wouldn't even look any further until you have had a chance to walk the house and check the neighborhood. Keep in mind that a neighborhood changes with the weather. I have seen several great neighborhoods in the winter, only to turn into a war zone once the temp got above 70 degrees.

Yes, as soon I see the horrible writting skills, I don't even bother to respond.