Saturday Night Reader Mail (How to Estimate Repairs).  Plus Some Other Stuff.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Hi guys.

Well, I’m officially switched over to Hostgator as of earlier this afternoon- woohoo!  As it turns out, all that worrying I did about my blog getting broken was all for not.  I was having some issues with my comments yesterday and today, but everything seems to be back up and running now.  By the way, if you commented on one of my posts yesterday or today- they got swallowed up in cyberspace somehow.  Sorry about that.  It wasn’t me, it was the internets.

So anyway, I’m happy to have that done and over with.

Along with that good news, I got a call today from a guy who saw one my signs advertising a deal that I was working on with one of my wholesaler friends.  I originally had this deal sold a few weeks ago to a new buyer of mine that was referred to me by another buyer of mine who I have become good friends with over the last few months.

Normally I don’t believe anything anyone says about buying a deal until they actually cough up the deposit and sign on the dotted line, but since my other buyer/friend vouched for him, I just took his word for it. So anyway, I emailed this deal to him (the new guy) because I knew he had other rentals in the same neighborhood, and he emailed back shortly thereafter saying that he would take the deal.  Sweet.

He asked me to send the contracts over, which I did the next day (Monday).  Then I didn’t hear from him for a whole day, so I finally called and asked what was going on.  He said he was waiting on a quote from my title company to see how much the closing costs would be, since he was paying all of them.  A reasonable request, I guess.  

Once he got the quote from my title co, he had some other excuse about having to talk to his CPA about which entity to use to buy the property, or something like that.  To make a long story short, he strung me along for an entire week, and then disappeared off the face of the Earth.  This is my biggest pet peeve in real estate, btw- when people I’m doing a deal with stop answering calls instead of just growing a pair and telling me what’s going on.

So anyway, while this jerk-off was stringing me along, another guy who saw one of my signs called and said he wanted the house.  I told him it was already sold, but took his name and number and said I would call if anything changed with my other buyer.

So, once it became evident that jerk-off was not going to follow through, I called the other guy (Jay) to see if he was still interested. As luck would have it, the number I wrote down belonged to some lady named Jenny who had no idea who Jay was.  Awesome! (I found out today that I wrote down the wrong area code).

Long story short (too late), I got a call today from Jay, who happened to see another one of my signs for a different deal. He passed on that one, but still wants the other one that he initially called about, which is still available because another buyer bailed on the deal a few days ago.

Anywho, I’m supposed to meet up with Jay tomorrow to get his deposit and sign the contracts. I’ve had so many buyers flake out on me lately, though, that I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy did, too.

I guess I’ll find out tomorrow….

Alrighty, so now that I’ve prattled on for five years and you’re probably not even awake anymore, I still have a Reader Mail video for you to watch!

In this installment, I answer Armando’s question about estimating repairs on your wholesale deals.

Here ya go…

Later Alligators!

16 Responses to Saturday Night Reader Mail (How to Estimate Repairs).  Plus Some Other Stuff.

  1. On July 10, 2010 at 10:14pm, Adam Gerchow said...

    Great video Steph!

    I feel your pain about the flakey buyers. I’ve had three in a row bail on me. Luckily 2 of the 3 had given me deposits so I wound up ahead, but it still sucks. I’m hoping this is just a passing phase.

    Good luck with Jay tomorrow!

    Adam

    • On July 10, 2010 at 11:34pm, Stephani said...

      Hi Adam,

      Yeah, I’ve had some pretty crappy experiences with buyers these last few months. Not sure what the deal is, but it’s pretty annoying.

      Sorry to hear about your bad luck streak, but at least you got to keep the deposits on two of them. That’s always helpful. :)

      Take care,
      Steph

  2. On July 11, 2010 at 2:18am, Anthony said...

    Good video explanation Steph!

    Estimating for scope of repairs use to have me shook too. I believe that most beginning wholesalers have this fear. I’ve learned to estimate for repairs by utilzing the interior square footage based on the condition of the property. Example… Cosmetic Repairs and Upgrades: $10.00-$15.00 sq ft. Partial Repairs and Upgrades: $20.00-$25.00 sq ft. Total Rehab: $30.00-$35.00 sq ft.

    That’s how I estimate conservatively for repairs. The key word is ESTIMATE. If that buyer is up to snuff they’re not going to just rely on your estimated costs anyway, they’re going to figure out they’re own numbers based off of they’re own intentions like you said.

    In addition, you can also get 3 contractors to get in there and give you three (free) separate bids. BOOM! There’s THREE estimates of repairs :o )

    Your story about those buyers was priceless! That’s raw, in the trenches stuff people should know about and be prepared for.

    As always… you bring the pain hardcore to the brain – (Method Man)

    Keep it coming Steph..

    Anthony

    • On July 11, 2010 at 9:15am, Stephani said...

      Hey Anthony,

      You’re right on about the key word being “estimate”. That’s all you really need, and like you said- most of the investors are going to rely on their own numbers, not yours.

      This was a big hang-up for me when I was just getting started, but I soon found out that I didn’t need to be an expert at estimating repairs in order to start doing deals. Thankfully.

      Thanks for stopping by- hope your weekend is going well,
      Steph :)

  3. On July 11, 2010 at 4:27am, Chris Ranney said...

    Hey Steph,
    Yes, I am still alive! It took a bit longer than we thought, but we sailed our boat from NY to Sarasota. We are officially both in town. Now it is time to hit the ground running!!
    Take care, Chris

    • On July 11, 2010 at 9:20am, Stephani said...

      Holy cow- you’re alive- I was beginning to wonder!

      Are you still planning on doing some rehabs now that you’re back in town?

    • On July 12, 2010 at 6:01am, Shae said...

      Welcome to Florida, Chris! Sailing from NY to FL sounds much more fun than the drive we did when moving from FL to CT years ago. LOL!
      .-= Shae´s last blog ..Truly honored- =-.

  4. On July 11, 2010 at 11:28am, Megs said...

    Hey Steph,

    I just signed up to get your wholesaling contracts but never received anything in my email. Is there any way you can send them to me?

    Thank you!
    Megan

    • On July 11, 2010 at 11:39am, Stephani said...

      Hi Megan,

      I just went in and sent it manually. Can you check your email and let me know if you got it OK?

      I’ve been on the phone with tech support for 2 hrs trying to get it fixed! :(

      Sorry about that,
      Steph

  5. On July 11, 2010 at 11:56am, Megs said...

    Got them-thanks!

    Did you get your contract signed today?

    • On July 11, 2010 at 12:04pm, Stephani said...

      OK, great. I think I have the problem fixed now.

      Going to get the deposit and contract at 4pm. :)

  6. On July 11, 2010 at 8:28pm, Bill Lassiter said...

    Hey Steph,
    Just like you and Anthony mentioned, most rehabbers or buyers will always do their own due Diligence anyway so “best estimate” is good enough. Good video. Keep them flaky buyers straight and keep rockin. :)
    .-= Bill Lassiter´s last blog ..PREiA peninsual real estate investors association july meeting =-.

    • On July 12, 2010 at 3:45am, Stephani said...

      Thanks, Bill!

      Hope you are doing well. :)

  7. On July 12, 2010 at 5:22am, Erby said...

    Hey Steph, Whenever a buyer ask me about repairs I usually just give them general things that’s important like condition of roof,A/C,electrical,pluming and foundation. The rest of the stuff is cosmetic so if they know what they are doing they can pretty much come up with there own estimate. I always tell them to go take a look at the place so they can see it for them self. A lot of buyers will ask you questions about the property to see if 1) you know what you are doing and 2) to see if you are familiar with the property or just marketing a property for someone so they can haggle you on your assignment fee.(HATERS!) That’s why its good to know at least a little something about the property. And yeah, unless they give you a deposit, they are not buyers they are window shoppers. As always, you keep delivering the goods.
    .-= Erby´s last blog ..2BD-1BA With Bonus Room 35-000 =-.

    • On July 12, 2010 at 7:49am, Stephani said...

      That’s what I do, too- just give them an idea of the condition of the house and then they do their own repair estimates.

      Even if I’m selling someone else’s deal, though, I always go look at the property first. I’ve made the mistake of not doing that before, and I end up looking like an idiot to my buyer when the house is not in the condition that I told them it was (because the other wholesaler downplayed the repairs needed).

  8. On July 29, 2010 at 1:06pm, Omar said...

    Hi Steph,

    You have a great blog! I am real estate investor and author of several (about 13) creative real estate investing courses. Perhaps you have heard of me? Any I would like to do a joint venture with you. So I would appreciate if you reply back to me so that we can discuss further.

    Thanks