|
IWP!, flagship product is Chicago's premiere real estate Investment
magazine. Entitled Invest With Passion!, it is the tool for investors and professionals in the
Mid-West. The publication seeks to grow it's market share by providing
powerful information designed to build the reader both as an investor and a
person.
Since it's release in January of 2006, the magazine has been well received and
continues to gain momentum and support. The education, information, and
networking opportunities for the real estate investor has been long neglected.
No More!
The time is now and the momentum is building.
It's Happening!
|
|
5 Rehabbing Lessons I have
Learned
Being in a profession
so reliant on the trades of rehabbing and remodeling without any formal
training can pose many challenges. Remodeling involves the moving or
adding of walls, additions, and making changes to the original “model”
and rehabbing is using the existing structure and bringing it up to date
or a useable state. I will use the terms loosely to describe what we as,
investors, do to bring a property to a state where we can exercise our
exit strategy.
Building new doesn't
present the many problems that rehabbing does. There has been no
“settling” of foundations and the resultant shifting of the structure in
any way. Walls are straight and floors are level. With a good
architect and builder, everything is as it should be. It just works. Not
so in rehabbing.
Though most of my projects involve completely gutting the property and
adding an addition, I don't consider myself a builder. I consider myself
a “re-builder.” I recently decided to set up my own construction
company. My main reason for setting up this new entity is asset
protection. This is a topic I'll reserve for another time.
To
me, rehabbing is an art that I continue to learn and perfect. It has
taught me many lessons that I will share with you here: 1.
When removing a brick chimney, do not start below the roofline. Chimneys can
easily be 10 feet above the roofline. I made the mistake of removing the
bricks below the roofline first. A good wind or Chicago pigeon was all it
would have taken to topple it onto the neighbor's house. In that condition,
only a skilled chimney specialist with the right equipment for a steep grade
roof could remove it safely. For one very long weekend, excessive prayer may
have been the only thing that kept it from falling. Since there is no
guarantee that excessive prayer will work, start above the roofline from the
top of the chimney and work your way down.
2. If
you are replacing stairs that are against a wall and must drywall the wall
behind them, take the old stairs out right before you drywall. Put the
staircase in after and use temporary stair treads until you are ready to
finish the staircase. Using the old staircase until the end because you want
to “protect” that beautiful new oak staircase, can easily add several weeks
onto your rehab time - particularly if you are subbing out the drywall. You
can protect rails and balusters with plastic while construction continues.
Since contractors don't like to come back to do small jobs, have all your
drywall work ready at the same time.
3.
Real men (and women) wear hardhats and observe construction safety rules.
Don't think that because you own the property you are exempt from working
safe or having accidents. Right now, I'm sporting a nice scar in a location
I don't want to draw attention to so I won't disclose it here.
4. If
you are buying your roofing materials for your roofer, make sure your roofer
knows what the shingle color is. I had mine delivered from a local supplier.
One skid was dropped off in the front of the house and the second skid was
dropped in the back. The roof was steeply pitched with lots of peaks and
valleys so the crew in front didn't see the crew in back until they finished
at the top of the roof. I wish I was there to see their faces as each crew
met at the top and held up different color shingles - one red, one
chocolate! Fortunately, the supplier understood the error and paid my
contractor to tear off and re-roof half the roof. Chocolate it was!
5. If
you're playing delivery guy or gal with the local home improvement rental
trucks, always tie it down! Most of these stores are prohibited from tying
it down for you due to liability issues. Don't ever think that just because
it's heavy it won't budge. I had finished letting the guy at my local home
improvement store put thirty 60-pound bags of cement mix onto 15 sheets of
plywood. I had ten 18-foot pieces of lumber, which made it impossible to
close the tailgate of this big rental truck. He tied a red flag onto the
long pieces of lumber protruding from the back of the truck and said to me
“that's not going anywhere.” To me, it made sense that 1800 pounds of cement
mix would hold down the 15 sheets of plywood and ten 18-foot pieces of
lumber. So I got in and gingerly drove off. I looked in my rear view mirror
and could barely see over the mounds of cement bags. Driving down Touhy Ave
in Chicago, I eventually had to stop at a light. Slowly, I stopped.
Green…go! I gently accelerated. I heard a loud boom! I looked in my
rearview mirror and noticed nothing behind me. I thought to myself, nothing!
I mean all the cement bags were gone, in the street! Embarrassed and shook
up, I stopped and got out. It seems that plywood can be slippery no matter
how much weight is on it. There in the street, was most of my payload on top
of about six sheets of plywood. Luckily no one was behind me. It could have
been disastrous. People passing by got out of their cars and off their bikes
to help me reload the truck. Tie it down or better yet, have them deliver
it. Your time is more valuable as a real estate investor than a delivery
person.
Some
of you are probably laughing at these lessons I've learned. Looking back,
some are funny now. I hope this helps you avoid some of the mistakes I've
made. New properties will mean new challenges and mistakes. Continue to
educate yourself and learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others.
Whatever you do, don't ever give up your rehabbing, or aspirations to become
a rehabber, for fear of making mistakes.
**************************************************************************************************************
Scott
Rubin is an active investor and founder of 5 Star Property Solutions, Inc.
and 5 Star Reconstruction, Inc. For more information, he can be reached at
847-579-4830 or visit him on the web at www.a5starProperty.com. |
|
|
