Rehab & Rent vs Flipping

Why am I teaching a class next Saturday about Rehabbing and Renting Kansas City investment property versus flipping homes?  Two main reasons;

  1. Finding a home that has the numbers to flip aren’t nearly as numerous (or in as good of neighborhoods) as finding homes to Rehab & Rent. 
  2. Flipping real estate is simply an income replacement…or supplement.  Rehabbing and Renting is a method of generating a little extra cash flow while building equity for your future.  Really just a more hands on way of becoming a “passive” real estate investor. 

The Numbers Of Rehabbing & Renting
Right off the bat when you are looking for a home to Rehab & Rent vs Flip you can find a house that sells for 6% – 8% more and still make money!  Now, that may not sound like a lot but have you tried to buy houses at the prices needed to flip?  It’s inside that last 10% where people make and lose money.  And it’s also inside that last 10% where sellers seldom go.

The 6% – 8% savings comes from you not having to sell the property when you are done rehabbing.  You save the real estate agent’s costs and the closing costs.  And before you tell me “I can sell it myself” you had better pay attention to what market we are in.

And think about this, rehabbing to a rental standard is much different than rehabbing to a resale standard.  If I know I’m going to rent this investment property I’m far more likely to downgrade the carpet a little, downgrade the paint a little, downgrade several things…a little.  I don’t want to go cheap.  I do want it inhabitable, desirable and functional.  I just don’t need it to “Wow!” a prospective buyer.  Therefore, cost savings here that I can spend later when it’s time to sell…when I have even more equity in the house.

Negotiating The Purchase  Of An Investment Property
It doesn’t take a genius to know that most people don’t wish to give their homes away.  You can negotiate them down based on cost of improvements necessary, equity they may have in the home and a whole host of other factors. 

But too many “flippers” bought homes that were priced too high.  Flippers get frustrated working with me because I won’t let them buy homes they are going to lose money on.

“But if I can make $8,000-$10,000 on this I’ll be fine.”

Ah, have you ever flipped a house?  How about more than one?  You can go through your “profit” of $8,000-$10,000 in extra, unexpected repairs and price reductions in a heart beat. 

In flipping you need to buy a house as follows: ARV – Quick Sales Discount (5%-10%) – Cost of Repair – Holding Cost – Sales Costs – Expected profit (15% – 20%) = Purchase Cost. 

When you are rehabbing a house and then holding it as an investment property for rental purposes you can add back into your purchase price the Quick Sales Discount (or at least some of it) and the Sales Costs.  This will immediately include a whole lot of homes you didn’t necessarily have access to before.

So how would you like to own a home for rental purposes that you purchased and rehabbed and still saved 15% – 20% below the actual value of the home?  You’d have all that as equity for your future.  Buying an income property can be done so many different ways.  This is but one.  If you ‘d like to learn more about Rehab & Rent just see the all the details of an upcoming workshop I’ve got going on. 

Kansas City Real Estate Investing…it’s what’s for dinner.

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Rehab & Rent Workshop In Olathe, Kansas

Just a quick reminder of the Rehab & Rent Workshop to be held August 23rd.  Click the link for full details.  I’m happy to say we are already 75% full.  But there is still room!

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Kansas City Real Estate Investors Can Still Get Mortgages!

I just hung up the phone with a potential out of state investor looking into the Greater Kansas City area for their future rental properties.  Know what?  They thought the Kansas City real estate investor was having a difficult time obtaining mortgage money.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

You can still get a mortgage for investment property.  Here are the parameters as I know them;

  • 10% down for single family homes, townhomes and duplexes. 
  • 25% down for triplexes, fourplexes and anthing with 5 units or more.
  • Credit scores of at least 680…720 and above is more better. 

Even if you have more than four properties you can still get an investment loan. 

Jeff Brown over at Bawldguy just wrote about this today (inspiring this message) and is also preaching to the masses. 

Are you in the market for a Kansas City investment property?  You should give me a call today.  I’ve got about 4 identified that I’m enamoured with.  Talk to you soon.

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Monument Rocks in Kansas

Warning!  This post has nothing to do with Kansas City real estate investing. 

Instead it has to do with me!  Well, really a natural treasure in western Kansas.  Behind my boys and I you see the Monument Rocks located about a half hour northeast of Scott City, KS.  That’s about 330 miles from where I live in Olathe, Kansas.  That’s a lot of driving without ever leaving the state. 

Anyway, these “rocks” are made of chalk.  Brittle to the touch.  If you are ever driving through western Kansas on I-70 it would behoove you to make the trip south about 45 minutes to see these.  I fear they won’t be around 500 years from now because they are so brittle.

This area of Kansas used to be an ocean.  It is country filled with fossils and archaeological finds like a pueblo about 15 minutes south of here.  It’s the northern most pueblo ever discovered. 

Anyway, I thought I would just share this with you who only hear of Kansas’ endless wheat and corn fields.   We do have those.  But we do have these treasures, too.

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Kansas City Rental Market Strong

People ask “How is the Kansas City rental market?”  Well, like the real estate sales market it varies from place to place.  But I can give you this personal anecdote.  Last Tuesday or so I put up two For Rent signs on two different properties that had just gone vacant or is going vacant August 31.  One is in Blue Springs and the other is in NE Kansas City.  Both on the Missouri side for you out-of-town readers. 

Anyway, I’ve had about 4 calls already on the NE KC home and about a dozen calls and three showings on the Blue Springs duplex for rent.  And Blue Springs has two people serious enough to say they are going to put in applications.  Now, any experienced property manager will tell you that you do not know until you know.  And even then it may take a couple months of tenancy to know.  Know what I mean?

Here in Olathe, Kansas I’ve watched a couple of For Rent signs go up and come down in a matter of 2-3 weeks.  Now, those weren’t mine but I watched them.  And my rental property in Olathe just had the tenants sign on for a third straight year. 

Now, on the east side of Blue Springs some clients of mine did take about 60 days to get a completely vacant duplex they purchased loaded with occupants.  That duplex had rents on the slightly higher end for Blue Springs. 

So there you go.  Just in case you were wondering how the Kansas City rental market was going.

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Housing, Geocaching & Father/Son Bonding

A few miscellaneous thoughts heading into the weekend…

…no doubt about it.  From the overall slow down in phone calls these last two weeks I’d say too many of you are reading the reports of other states and applying them here.  While Kansas City is NOT immune to the troubles going on around many parts of the country if you are a real estate investor you need to educate yourself as to the facts here in KC!

…every year before school starts I take my boys on a father-son trip.  Places we’ve been include Cunningham Fallsand Assateague Island in Maryland.  Cooperstown, NY to see George Brett get inducted.  Six Flags over Texas and then Six Flags over Missouri.  Crystal hunting in western Oklahoma.  The Smithsonian Institution’s Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS.  Yes, Hutchinson.   This year we are heading out to go Geocaching in central Kansas in some of the most rugged terrain the state has to offer.  And before you make some snide comment you are welcome to come and try and keep up!  The time spent with the kids pays off all year.

…getting ready to head out to that Radon and Real Estate Workshop I told you about.  Don’t forget about the Rehab & Rent Workshop.  The seats for that one are going surprisingly fast.  Over 3/4 full already! 

…God has blessed us to live in a free country.  You’ll see a lot of propaganda about the economic development in China.  Just remember that you still need permission and permits to worship as you choose there.  See if they remember to mention that.

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Landlord Loses His Mind

From today’s Kansas City Star:

Newark, Del. | Police have arrested a landlord who allegedly rammed his Hummer into a renter’s house, claiming the tenants were behind on their rent.

Police said the 30-year-old landlord crashed the SUV into a home on Lute Court in Harmony Woods about 3 a.m. on Thursday.

A 50-year-old woman an her 53-year-old husband sleeping inside an were jolted awake by a loud crash and the house shaking.

Officers learned the man was the landlord and went to his home and saw the damaged Hummer with a pine branch stuck in the front bumper.
|The Associated Press

***

First, how does this help the landlord with his expenses?  Second, how does it help collect the rent?  And third, I’m sure there is much more to the story.  Aren’t you?  But hey, maybe he needed the money right now for gas.  I might suggest that if your tenant hasn’t paid rent that you handle it a little differently.  🙂

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