<p>Here is an example of home increase in price in my area and because of that, the little house I made an offer on had so much interest.</p>
<p>This is a regular, not distressed home offered in July 2011 at 425k. An 1600 sf home on hills with a view of SF skylines. Lot size 10000 sf but don’t know how much of it is usable. Photo shows a nice back yard with outdoor cooking facilities. It went on the market in 2011 for 72 days and did not sell. Sep. 2013, the house went on the market again listing price at $569k and went pending in 17 days(closed 30 days later) at $553k. A 30% increase in value.</p>
<p>I could just kick myself that I didn’t have enough cash to buy a couple of things in 2011 and just hold them for 2-3 years. I think we could all kick ourselves!! </p>
<p>I knew everything was on sale then, but had no means to buy extra properties besides the ones that I was flipping over the last 5 years. And, try convincing all the banks in 2011… “Hey, loan me money even though I am self employed and don’t really have a steady income to prove it”</p>
<p>Well, CB, your business generated more profit than the 30% increase in value, so no complaints.</p>
<p>I got lucked out. I bought an Auction.com property in early 2012 at 30% below the REO market and the old owners fought eviction for a year. When I finally evicted them in 2013, I had an accident broke my hip, so I had to sit on it. By that time I have almost doubled my investment.</p>
<p>Good morning. I received an email last night from the Listing Agent that the owner of the little Spanish house has already found a place to live and will be moving out next Monday. That means that I will close escrow by Tuesday next week. I’m not sure how she put a deposit on her new apartment because I haven’t released any funds out of escrow yet. I’m waiting for the Prelim Title Report to review because that was my only contingency. I think that my Listing Agent secretly loaned her money outside of escrow to help her start searching for places to live.</p>
<p>I had better get into gear because I need to line up a lot of specialists for this little house. My biggest challenge for this project will be finding a really good specialist to strip the paint off the windows and woodwork and restore them back to original condition. It’s not going to be cheap. I will not be replacing the front and back windows because they are a main part of the charm of the house. Buyer is just going to have to live without ‘dual pane’ windows. Also, the rope sashes are all broken and need to be replaced.</p>
<p>coralbrook, that’s excellent news that you can get started so soon!! Boy, this has gone really fast, from nothing to buy, to get your specialists lined up!!</p>
<p>No, I did not test for lead paint but, since it is 1920s house there is probably a big chance there is lead paint. </p>
<p>There are different types of EPA guidelines regarding the lead paint. There is a somewhat new regulation requiring ‘training and certification’ for painters who work around lead paint such as sanding, demolition of walls or scraping on the old paint. The regulation requires a ‘certified’ technician supervising if more than 4 sq ft is involved. So, I personally took the online certification a couple of years ago and here is what is required. Honestly, any smart person is going to do this, it doesn’t take a ‘certificate’:</p>
<p>1) Isolate area if anyone is living in the house (plastic taped up over doors, etc)
2) Wear respirator and eye protection
3) All debris must be placed in sealed black Hefty Bag
4) All areas must be swept and washed clean and rags disposed of
5) Contain the dust if sanding dry (this is the hardest part)</p>
<p>You are also supposed to report any work being performed to the EPA. But no one does that because how in the world are they going to enforce anything? By the time they ever showed up to ‘inspect’ work being performed the house would have been sold to someone else.</p>
<p>So, it is not rocket science and I cannot believe that the EPA charges for this certification. </p>
<p>During the sale, the Seller must provide lead warning disclosure to the Buyer. Either the Seller has performed a test and knows that there is lead paint or the Seller does not know for sure and issues a ‘warning’. Anyone buying a house in this historical neighborhood is going to know that lead paint is underneath all those layers. But, since we are completely stripping the paint off the wood trim around the windows, they really only have to worry if they have young children that are going to start gnawing on the original door trim and somehow eat through to an original coat of paint. </p>
<p>I have found a specialist to restore windows. He can strip them, get them sliding AND replace all the weighted ropes inside the window casings. He does not do the repainting or staining. He charges $25 an hour, a real bargain. I’m going to get him started right away next week. He came highly recommended.</p>
<p>As I have reported before, EPA does have harsh penalties if you do not follow the steps to contain leaded paint while working on renovation. But they will never have the time or energy to inspect small single home renovations, unless some third party file complains. They do bear down those over 100 units apartment in historical districts, even that, probably less than 1% of the renovations are being inspected and even less than that are being fined.</p>
<p>I have pondered the idea of flipping our next house, but I have heard so many horror stories. Is there a book or website or any basic advice of what I should or shouldn’t do? I don’t want to hijack thread - it has been interesting to follow both of these threads! Any thoughts? </p>
<p>The first question about your desire being a flipper is that if you are going to do it FULL TIME? I think unless you have Millions $ of cash, you just cannot do it part time.</p>
<p>Are you trying to decide whether to remodel the house you are living in to sell? Or are you thinking about buying a house to flip quickly? </p>
<p>Go to Bigger Pockets website. There are some experienced investors on that site. Look for an e book on the site by J Scott. That would be a good start for research</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip. I will do some research. </p>
<p>I just spent months renovating our home to sell and kind of got bit by the bug to do this. Our house was in terrible shape and I learned much.mWe are relocating. The thought was to renovate a fixer upper, make it our primary residence for a year and then sell or make it t a rental. We could then possibly avoid major capital gains taxes, as I would do this for an income. The demand for homes in that area is high and we did see some homes that need TLC. </p>
<p>My view of home buying was always stay in a house for several years before selling because costs of sellimg quickly reduce profits. </p>
<p>Personally, I cannot imagine trying to live in a home while trying to do a major renovation. Maybe when I was young without kids or something. My advice would be to think long and hard about trying to do a major renovation while living in a house. I would not be able to do my types of renovations if a house was occupied and full of furniture. Mainly because I am buying homes that are unliveable and they are being sold at a large discount for a reason. For example, how are you going to live in a home if the whole roof has to be taken off and re-roofed?</p>
<p>If you are looking for a cosmetic fixer where you are just going to have to redo the flooring, paint and some kitchen or bath upgrades, then the competition to buy these homes will be stiff - depending on what market area you are targeting. Profits will be slimmer, but that might be OK with you. </p>
<p>I think it is a great idea if you are in a market where there will be good appreciation of value over the next couple of years. Good luck!</p>