New Funding Resources 
Investing in real estate is a fantastic way to supplement your income or to build long-term wealth. Like with every other business though you’ve got to keep your eyes on the profit. When estimating rehab costs you need to account for three major components: the price you’ve paid, the costs you’ve incurred during the renovation process and the sales price that your property fetches on the market. Our previous blog installment highlighted common pitfalls in evaluating the after-repair value of the property. Today’s article is focusing on major mistakes in evaluating the costs of owning and rehabbing your investment property.
Hard Money Blog: Invest, Revitalize, Create, Prosper
Determining Rehab’s After-Repair Value: What NOT to DO
In real estate your make money when you buy. What it means that you need to put a property under contract at a price that will allow you to make a reasonable profit after the costs of owning, renovating and selling that property. The process of estimating these moving parts might be better described by the former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: “There are known knowns; things we know we know… There are known unknowns – things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” I’m sure he wasn’t referring to the real estate rehab business, but you get my drift.
Working With Rehab Contractors: What NOT to Do
In the real estate rehab business you make your money when you buy. However, as a hard money lender, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a well-planned and efficient renovation process. Your general contractor and crew can make you additional money or, at minimum, save you time and hassle. Alternatively, they can drain your profits and make your life a living hell. So how do you avoid being driven nuts managing them? For starters, try to avoid these six costly mistakes:
Working With A Private Money Lender: What NOT To Do
Many of our previous blogs focused on things you should be doing to succeed as a real estate investor. For example, we shared our perspective as a private money lender on how to get real estate deals and how to build a real estate investing team that will propel you forward. We talked about what it takes to be a rehabber and what you need to do to minimize your risk. However, what’s equally important is to know what NOT to do in order to succeed.
Finding Real Estate Deals: Working With A Wholesaler
To be a successful investor you have to be a good marketer. Being a good marketer might mean different things to different people. For example, in real estate investing it might mean that you are cultivating a network of agents to dig for deals that fit your criteria. Alternatively, you might be a real estate auction pro investing time and effort bidding against other investors on the court house steps – hopefully wearing thermal underwear in winter. You might specialize in HUD properties and score good deals by watching your prospective deals like a hawk. Regardless of what you do, the outcome needs to be the same. You need to have enough marketing skills and real estate expertise to generate a consistent flow of quality leads.
Get The Right Kind of Insurance For Your Next Rehab
As a hard money lender in DC area, I believe that there are two key areas that every investor should continuously work at. The first one is how to make money. It includes how to find good deals, how to manage your rehab process and how to build a good team that will propel you forward. The majority of your time as a real estate investor should be spent on tweaking, improving and learning from your success and mistakes in this area.
