Hi All,I am looking to buy a house to flip in the Austin area, and in addition to my contractor inspecting the property I am wondering if anyone thinks there is value in also having a professional real estate appraise...

Heck, the homeowner is too irresponsible to fix the missing shingles on the roof or the naked electrical wiring on the side of the house (which the judge used to knock down value).Be very wary of judicial states, especially in deep "progressive" states.

Hello BP,

I am an investor here in Jacksonville Florida looking for some innovative strategies/advice to find good deals on rehabs here in Jacksonville. We have a sellers market here and inventory seems hard to f...

Good luck and keep me posted on your progress.

We are on the verge of progress and property values are starting to rise.

A fellow BP investor, Account Closed, Sean Jones, and Dhru Das and I went to three different properties with Aaron and Sean as they guided us through the process of evaluating the property, determining what sort of rehab would be necessary to produce a desired ARV - extremely insightful experience.We decided that a property that will need a gut rehab but is lower in cost will provide the best margin.  

Those that have started partnerships how did they progress over time?

He then confirmed my rehab numbers, we set the contract and he started working the day after close of the property.2nd time I went to the house was when I was in town looking at other houses to buy.In between this time, I have local friendly agents and other investors I've networked with that would drop by and take 50-75 pics of the house for me during the weeks, and drop box the pics to me so I can see progress.3rd time I came by was to drop off some material we can only get for cost in Seattle.4th time, the house was done and already listed, I only went by because I was in town.The key is local people, boots on the ground, and then have more local people to watch those people.

When I'm evaluating deals, I use a 3-5% vacancy rate (depending on the area).  

On the other hand, all of the analysis you put into evaluating the property may already include saving up for things like repairs or cap ex (I know cap ex is meant for big ticket items, but just saying).What would you do?