All Forum Posts by: Valerie Hiscoe

Unless you have a particular interest in learning a lot more about design, or have an innate flare for it, it's a bit specialized area. It's easy to find local stagers but ideally look for someone CSP or ASP certified. Then you don't have to worry quite so much about a variation in price and they'll have affordable access to rental furniture etc specifically for stagers. Hopefully you'll get a local contact though. Maybe rewrite your subject line as 'Miami home stager needed'.

If you find out that, for whatever reason, you are unable to turn the basement into a third self-contained unit, you could still have the option of househacking and turning into a room for rent. Short or longer term, students, visitors, whatever. Not the same thing I know but...

Just wondering how your plan is going.

Before meeting with a real estate agent, I'd suggest a few things, number one probably being knowing how much money you have to spend, where you're going to get it, and how long will it take for you to pull it together.  Number two I'd suggest that you know exactly what you want to invest in and where - 3bdrm? 4?, 1000sq ft, 2000? Uptown? Downtown? They won't be able to help you very much without that info and it will be harder for them to take you seriously.  You can't just say "If you hear of a good deal, can you tell me about it? because wouldn't they rather tell their mother, brother, spouse or friend first.

Ask them to send you info on the type of properties you're interested in but, until you have a reputation for immediate action on any and all deals, you're going to need to do most of the math yourself I think.

I'm a designer but I'd still need more information to give fair input on this. You mentioned that you were deciding on how to divide the profit and that you had brought more money to the table. I'm assuming that your partner(s) bring more expertise. Not only in the 'which property to invest in', but also 'what to include in the rehab' as well as the estimating and use of their contacts. Seeing as much of the work will be hired out, let's assume that you'll be using an electrician (or a plumber of whatever). Those fees are taken off the top, before any profit is divided, just as the design fees should be.

You are already in this too far to backtrack much (and, as you said, cause tension). What you DO need to do now, however, is agree on how much those fees will be and draw up a contract with her company (which, as you'll need to declare as an expense, she'll need to declare as income) just as you'll be doing with the electrician and the plumber. You'll want to do that before the 50:50 is explicitly addressed. It is also not unreasonable to ask that she do a comparative analysis of her fees to the going rates. It's good for her business to be aware of the market. It would be a bit weird, though, if she charged her husband full price.

Just out of curiosity though, is this about choosing colours and finishes or about moving walls? If it's the former (and probably the latter too) you may be able to phone somewhere like Sorted Affairs CSPs and get a rough estimate.

I live in a place where a house like that would be scooped up in a minute. The house is pretty well irrelevant around here - it's the land value that matters in Vancouver. 

I'd say the same about yours. Offer the land value and you'll still have to pay to take it down. You'll be taking it down to the studs and then some anyways. You might find the present owner has a reason for not doing the same thing - is it deemed heritage for example? Weird zoning?

The repairs you've shown here are, I admit, completely beyond me. I'd tackle one or two of the major ones maybe, but not everything. My personal reasons for advising you against this deal are:

1) It's your first rehab. Don't underestimate the value of experience. 

2) It's too far away, especially for your first one. There are so many problems with far away that I can't start.

3) Although you say you have good connections to your hometown - that's good but has anyone there done a flip before and, if so, do they think this is a good enough deal, and a 'do-able' enough rehab, to go in with you? Let their experience, with the money to back it up, help guide you.

4) And most important of all in my opinion - you're already questioning your contractor's numbers (thank goodness). This means to me that he/she either hasn't taken on a job of this magnitude, or you're not completely confident in their estimates - which is just short of saying that you don't know for sure that they'll be able to make all the best decisions. The number of decisions that need to be made almost daily in even a smaller rehab is monumental - way beyond your belief if you haven't done it before. And you need to be in at least some sort of position to make them.

5) Unless the seller is a parent, what part of the win-win is for them for giving you such a good deal? Maybe 5 years ago would be understandable.

Before you go too much farther with this deal (and I wouldn't be that surprised if you had all the time in the world), one thing that might put you in a better position to make this decision is to order 'The book on flipping houses' from the menu above, specifically because it comes with 'The book on estimating costs' (unless you buy them from Amazon, in which case you'll have to buy them separately). It will give you some of the knowledge and confidence that, combined with the advice and estimations that you receive here, is invaluable.

@Jason Martin never said anything more true - work should be paid as it's done - not upfront which everyone will tell you is 'standard practice'.

In case anyone is curious about the shellac-based Zinsser primer (a lot of people are familiar with BIN and 1-2-3 but not the shellac one), it's awesome because 1.) it's as thin as water so really fast and easy to apply, 2.) it dries in about 15 minutes, recoat in 45 minutes, 3.) it's got great coverage over every colour, and 4.) it sticks and stays on tile in a shower.  For two years that I know of.

So it's pretty good.

@Andy Hudgins

Nope, not talking about self-leveling cement for the floor..... I meant an additive to put in paint that helps attain a smoother finish.  There are a few different brands (Zinsser again having one) but the one I've used is Floetrol.  That's for latex but there's another one for oil - Penetrol.  It's not their most common use apparently, but it's the one I know about.

It might be a bit 'girlie', but you can read about it at the link below.  It's painting tip #1.  And of course you'll be able to Dr. Google (?) them too.

www.thecreativityexchange.com/2012/08/favorite-painting-tips-friday-favorites.html

And you're welcome.  I think.

@Thomas S. makes a good point though - I think painting the cabinets would be a definite in a flip so it depends on how seriously you're considering selling Ben.

Best of luck with it all!

@Neil Patel

I have to agree with @Brandon L. about the value of a long term tenant (not even considering the legal expenses, time etc that an eviction would take), and the probability that you're raising the rent too high too fast (assuming you don't have any rent controls in your area to begin with), and you not only risk, but almost guarantee, her leaving.

I also think @Wade Garrett has a very valid point that, even if your tenant ends up staying at this time, you will have definitely tainted the landlord-tenant relationship right from the beginning and 'the place' will no longer be considered her home.