Options for a real estate investing carpenter.

[adamturner]

Hi there all.

im just wondering the best way to approach real estate investing given the skills that I have. I have been a finishing carpenter, furniture maker, timberframer for 12 years and have been the General contractor for many home renos and building projects.

I have pondered the idea of doing flips, but given the times we are in, I would say there is a little bit to much risk right now ( or maybe im wrong ).

After reading Dons books for the 50th time I am definately more into the long term wealth that real estate has to offer with getting rentals that cash flow, appreciation equity growth and so on...

I want to start investing with some cash that i have, but I want to know how best to use my carpentry skills in my investments.

I look forward to your feed back.

 

[markl]

Hi Adam,

The way I started was I would find multi unit houses that had been neglected and repair them and upgrade them. My goal on all these properties was to get my investors initial investment out of the properties with in 2 years. By forced equity growth ie making repairs to the properties and raising the rents on the units.

This was a great way to start especially when I was joint venturing the deals as I was using the my sweat equity as my portion of the deal. I never had anyone complain about 50/50 split.

I don`t know where you are located but as always there are bad landlords you just need to find them. In Toronto I looked at over 200 properties before I got a Toronto property under my belt. So it can be done in all markets you just need to do your homework and become the expert in certain areas so you know what an upgraded unit will rent for and how much $10,000 worth of reno`s you can do on the property will increase the value.

 

[invst4profit]

Your approach should be based on how you value your time.
Is there more profit in applying your skills to earn a dollar ,working for others, to support your investments. Or is your time more valuable upgrading a property to increase income.

Buying a property to fix up yourself and having that property vacant for 6 months is possibly not as productive as paying a crew of people to do the work and only have it vacant 1 month.
Your skills may be best used to add additional rental space to a existing building or for minor repairs and upgrades between tenants.

Provided it does not take away from your regular work time/income it is up to you.

 

[RandyDalton]

QUOTE (adamturner @ Jun 12 2009, 11:30 AM) Hi there all.

im just wondering the best way to approach real estate investing given the skills that I have. I have been a finishing carpenter, furniture maker, timberframer for 12 years and have been the General contractor for many home renos and building projects.

I have pondered the idea of doing flips, but given the times we are in, I would say there is a little bit to much risk right now ( or maybe im wrong ).

After reading Dons books for the 50th time I am definately more into the long term wealth that real estate has to offer with getting rentals that cash flow, appreciation equity growth and so on...

I want to start investing with some cash that i have, but I want to know how best to use my carpentry skills in my investments.

I look forward to your feed back.

Hi Adam,

My experiences have found many properties worth flipping in Hamilton. However we have set goals and limits on our purchases. ie. Good bones, projects up to 50K that can be completed in 30-60 days, and properties that are then able to be rented at a higher level of income. So our business strategy is to flip and rent as opposed to flip and sell.

We have also found many properties that have been flipped by bad DIY people. These also make good opportunities for us as they usually sit on the market for awhile. Then we can come back with a low ball offer. They are often good enough to be rented however they need significant rework over the long term in order to be marketable in the future.

Good luck whatever you decide to do...Randy D.

Regards...Randy D.

 

[vandriani]

Why not become the contractor/renovator that PM`s, house inspectors, appraisers, investors, etc call for their renovation work. If you build the relationships correctly, you be able get access to all kinds of info and possibly even deals.

 

[housingrental]

This is a good point.
Knowing owners and pm`s deals present themselves
As a pm I can confirm this - I regularly hear of places for sale privately or before they listed from owners and contractors, even other pm companies.

QUOTE (vandriani @ Jun 14 2009, 01:28 AM) Why not become the contractor/renovator that PM`s, house inspectors, appraisers, investors, etc call for their renovation work. If you build the relationships correctly, you be able get access to all kinds of info and possibly even deals.

 

[rforgiel]

I have clients flipping houses in Hamilton and making good profits. Some have money in the bank but NOA`s of $5000/year so they can not get traditional financing and do not fit into any of the REIN sandboxes. Despite this they built up a nice portfolios and can now consolidate it to get more normal rates and great cash flow.

Financing is available if you can spot the deal, move decisively, complete the project and build up a trust with the lender. Far below market prices on power of sales can be obtained with unconditional offers and quick closings. This goes somewhat against the REIN philosophy but can be effective.

The ideal time to do this was 6 months ago, however there are still good opportunities out there.