More on the top 10 Mistakes

Top 10 Mistakes Rehabbers Make:

• Who is Kim Tucker
  q Never swung a hammer
  q Never installed a light switch
  q Never painted a stroke
  q Have selected targeted neighborhoods for rehabbers & other investors
  q Have selected houses
  q Have compared houses to the competition
  q Have marketed finished houses

Been in business for about 10 years with my husband and partner Don Tucker. We have bought and sold over 150 houses, about 50 or so were rehabbed and sold. I have also looked at 1000’s of fixer uppers, 100’s of finished houses, in an effort to find the right houses, fix them up correctly, and get them marketed and sold as fast as possible for the best profit.

Along the way I have learned a few things:

1. A We Buy Houses Sign on the back of your car can work – Joe’s story.
2. Always put your contact info on everything you hand out, even contracts.
3. And if you are not talking with buyers and sellers on a regular basis, you’re not going to do any deals!

I have been thinking about this as a meeting presentation or a book or something for about 5 years. It all started when I listed a so called rehabbed house for one of my investors and held an open house. It was not a really great area for an open house and needless to say we had no traffic. So I had 3 hours to make a list of things that rehabbers do wrong, just from this one house:

1. Light fixtures in a room should match each other.
2. Swing arm lights that hang on the wall go over beds, not in the hallway.
3. The chimney pulling away from the house should be fixed.
4. The bay window leaking the day before the open house is a bad thing.
5. Don’t buy raw cabinets, install them, stain them, and then start sanding before they are dry.
6. Don’t install the carpeting and mini blinds before 100% of the rest of the rehab is complete.
7. Cut off doors so they don’t rub on the carpet.
8. Replace the rusty front screen door.
9. Don’t buy next to a house where the neighbor does not mow his yard till it is 6 foot deep.
10. Don’t buy on a really busy street with very little off street parking.

Over the 3 hours I ended up with about 5 legal pages of items and I was ready to write a book. But I can’t find the notes now, so I had to start over. And because I don’t have 10 hours here I had to pick the top 10 things.

As I worked on this list I found that most of my key 10 things would fit just about any investor our there. So if you are not planning on rehabbing and selling, but holding the house as a rental these items will be things you want to watch for as well. If you are not planning on even buying a house, but rather wholesaling it, you will find a few of these things helpful.

To find out more, I hope to see you at the May 12th meeting of MAREI at the Overland Park Marriott at 6 pm.  Paid members of MAREI can attend for free, guest are $25 at the door or visit their web site to register for less.