All Forum Posts by: Tom C

I love this question.. Throw a cat up there with a bowl of food for a day or 3 and it will take care of your problem.

Cash,

It depends on your lease agreement and how much risk there is to raising their rents. If you have an agreement that for one year they pay 600 per month, then when that 1 yr is up, you send them a letter and telling them that you are raising their rents to this number. If it's month to month, then send them a letter stating that you are raising their rent to this number the following month. Keep in mind, you don't want to raise it to the point that you are going to loose good tenants, if you can't replace them.

Tim,

It's nice to know that I don't have to compete against you in my market. I do the same thing. Numbers from my last project are below.

REO purchase price = 16K
Rehab 2 months = 3K
Last weeks appraisal = 53K

Rents = 600 per month.

Amerikote,

If you make purchasing decission like you type, you really need to slow down. Not sure if you have ADD or what, but there is no reason you need to jump into a huge project like 10 unit when you are just getting back on your feet.

Take a pill and slow down. Look for the the best deals. There are many out there right now.

Mike,

It's the same type of material that they reglaze bath tubs with. They can spray this stuff over anything. Instead of installing a shower enclosure, they can come in and spray the walls and tub. For the counter tops, they do the same thing and they can even create a back splash. The link for the company is below for the Ohio area. I am not sure if there is someone in your area down south. You can call my guy out of Youngstown too, he may know someone in your area. BTW: It comes with a 5 yr warranty

http://www.miraclemethod.com/find_a_location.php

John,

PEX is perfectly fine in my area. The problem is that to do any work in my city, you have to be licensed by the city and then you have to pull a permit to do anything. So when the health dept comes in to inspect and asks questions about all of the work that was done, I simply purchased the property and cleaned it up. I do all my own electrical work and stuff that I do sub out such as the plumbing, my guy is not licensed.

My last REO had all the copper taken. Starting at the hot water heater and everything running up to the subfloor. Yeah, they were lazy. It cost 700 bucks to have PEX put in, although my plumber is cheap. I will learn how to do it myself and buy the tools. He replaced maybe 10 lines total in the basement and it looks very simple to do. You just have to invest the money in the tools. Don't forget that now they have out those new fittings that slides on to anything and requires no special tools, but they are expensive for each coupling. As far as permits, it was already done when you bought the house.

When they come in for a dwelling permit inspection and ask about the work that I did, all I did was clean and paint. Everything else must have been done by the previous owner.

As usual, I agree with Mike. Is it really necessary to replace the windows and kitchens? You would be surprised at how nice those kitchen cabinets look after painting them. Also remember, for a 300 to 400 dollar a month apartment, I would not replace the counter tops. At the very most, get someone in to give you an estimate on refinishing them. I found a local guy that comes in and uses that spray on stuff. He did a complete counter top for me for 150 bucks and it looks great.

Don't go crazy. Make them liveable. Then tenant will make the apartment a home. If you want to replace the windows later, then do so. Until then I would paint them.

Minna,

I have seen so many out of town investors either fall for that or are the ones that are posting those. When they are the ones posting, it never fails they bought a 15K property in the hood thats been gutted and invested 30K and now can't sell it for 20K. All while the property sits there vacant, being gutted again. When I see these ad's I usually shoot these people an email and ask them how they got into their situtation. Some times I feel bad for them, other times I just shake my head at how stupid people can be.

I hear ya.. I asked 3 different painting contractors to give me estimates to paint the outside of my personal home. One actually showed up and gave me a 4K estimate. I went to Home Depot and bought an airless Graco for $400 and $200 in paint and did it myself in 3 days.

It comes down to the fact that you have to know how or be willing to learn how to do almost anything. So when these drunks don't show up, your project doesn't come to a stand still.