some of the rehab books reccomend getting the arv from an appraiser. but then you would be paying twice because if you finance through a bank you will also have to pay for an appraisal! do you think a brokers opinion is good enough to use for the arv?
Comps are part of the picture, but maybe about 25% of it. The other 50% should be you going and looking at every house for sale in the neighborhood and seeing what X amount of dollars is going to buy somebody, because that is what the buyer of your house is going to be doing. This is an accurate way to guage the competition. When people go to buy a house they usually look for features (amount of bedrooms) and price and neighborhood, so you need to think like the buyers who will be seeing your rehab when it is done.
The other 25% would be taking all this information you now have and figuring it all out and seeing what it all really means and doing a SWAG to some degree. But if you do your homework the worst you will do is probably sell the house too cheap.
I think that comps are the best way to go. When you get real familiar with your farm area then you will be able to know just by looking at the property..
I, too, have a great working relationship with a realtor who allows me his mls access to do my own comps, and his lock box key when I am quickly assessing the neighboring homes on the market. I also rely on his opinion for ARV, he does rehabbing too, and has shown many homes that may not be open currently in the neighhood in question. We trade ideas for fixing odd things,etc. When I am actively shopping, we look at everything available in that neighborhood--three sets of eyes and we pretty much have it down to a science, I know how much time and money will go in it and how much it is worth to me before I make the offer--many times we call it in to the realtor on our way to look at another one, just so they know it is coming, our market moves very fast here. Our realtor sends us the new listings twice daily so we can hop right on them and it keeps us abreast of what is going on. Invaluable contact! There are so many ways to pull comps, I can always "help" the value along with a couple of suggestions to check--distance from property, zip code, school district, subdivision, dates of closing (for example, here the market is increasing 2% per month--sometimes a 3 month span gives higher comps than a 6 month), etc. Plus my realtor, my loan guy and the appraiser all work together often, so the line of communication is open--when I buy and sell we all make money...
There are a few carriers that write rehab insurance contracts: Diamond States, AMIG (American Modern), and Foremost. Jason is right on about the broker. FInd one that understands REI!
that is what I do
Make friends with a real estate agent.
Good advice
some of the rehab books reccomend getting the arv from an appraiser. but then you would be paying twice because if you finance through a bank you will also have to pay for an appraisal! do you think a brokers opinion is good enough to use for the arv?
What does arv stand for ?
After Repaired Value
Comps are part of the picture, but maybe about 25% of it. The other 50% should be you going and looking at every house for sale in the neighborhood and seeing what X amount of dollars is going to buy somebody, because that is what the buyer of your house is going to be doing. This is an accurate way to guage the competition. When people go to buy a house they usually look for features (amount of bedrooms) and price and neighborhood, so you need to think like the buyers who will be seeing your rehab when it is done.
The other 25% would be taking all this information you now have and figuring it all out and seeing what it all really means and doing a SWAG to some degree. But if you do your homework the worst you will do is probably sell the house too cheap.
How much time is involved in researching a place to see if it is a good property to flip ?
What is SWAG ?[ Edited by Niceguy1 on Date 04/22/2005 ]
I think that comps are the best way to go. When you get real familiar with your farm area then you will be able to know just by looking at the property..
I, too, have a great working relationship with a realtor who allows me his mls access to do my own comps, and his lock box key when I am quickly assessing the neighboring homes on the market. I also rely on his opinion for ARV, he does rehabbing too, and has shown many homes that may not be open currently in the neighhood in question. We trade ideas for fixing odd things,etc. When I am actively shopping, we look at everything available in that neighborhood--three sets of eyes and we pretty much have it down to a science, I know how much time and money will go in it and how much it is worth to me before I make the offer--many times we call it in to the realtor on our way to look at another one, just so they know it is coming, our market moves very fast here. Our realtor sends us the new listings twice daily so we can hop right on them and it keeps us abreast of what is going on. Invaluable contact! There are so many ways to pull comps, I can always "help" the value along with a couple of suggestions to check--distance from property, zip code, school district, subdivision, dates of closing (for example, here the market is increasing 2% per month--sometimes a 3 month span gives higher comps than a 6 month), etc. Plus my realtor, my loan guy and the appraiser all work together often, so the line of communication is open--when I buy and sell we all make money...
The "excess" clauses usually only apply to the property coverage, no tthe liability... I just responded to your PM as well.
Tim
There are a few carriers that write rehab insurance contracts: Diamond States, AMIG (American Modern), and Foremost. Jason is right on about the broker. FInd one that understands REI!
Tim
We use Zurich national through a local broker.