HOUSE FLIPPERS BEWARE !!! | 4 BIG ISSUES Of Distressed Properties YOU CANT SEE! & How to Detect Them

In today's video, I'm going over 4 big issues with distressed properties and how you can detect them. Coming up next. Most of the time distressed properties are bought in what is termed as, as-is condition. This means that the seller is not guaranteeing anything related to that property. Oftentimes you'll have to make a quick decision because that other investor is literally right behind you. So there's There's no time for lengthy inspections. The things that you cannot see will often not show themselves until after you purchase the property and begin the rehab job. Once you start removing old drywall and ripping up tiles or simply turning on the utilities, these hidden problems will become apparent. Here are 4 examples of big issues that might be hiding around the corner and how to spot them. Before we start, I want to welcome all you new members to the channel. I'm Joe Homs. I have over 40 years of experience as a broker, mentor, and investor. Make sure that you like this video and you subscribe. Let's jump right on in. The first one is termites. And there's some easy ways to spot termites. And I usually look at the eaves of the house and you can see that there's like little small holes where the termites have been boring in. And eating the wood, and it's very clear to see that. What you don't see is what's in the attic or what's behind inside the walls. And that's where you may run into a problem when you may be taking the drywall off of one wall for whatever reason and you expose the 2x4s that are behind it and they're literally termite infested and eaten. To the point where you have to replace all that wood. Number 2, water damage. And yes, you can see water damage. It's usually on a ceiling. There's usually a bathroom right above it. So there's something that happened. There's a leak there. There's a stain there. If it's active, you'll know because it still feels like, you know, water damage itself. What you don't see sometimes is where that water traveled. And it may have traveled all the way down. It may have traveled to the floor downstairs. It may be buckling the floor downstairs. Those are hidden things that you don't see until you actually get into it. But you can't see the original portion of the ceiling where the damage started, and you always have to be concerned is how far that water traveled down and what else did it damage. Number 3, Really hard to spot are sewer issues. Now when I go to a place and do my own inspection, which is what I do, I'll turn all the water on in all the faucets, in the sink, I'll flush the toilets, make sure that that water is flowing out from that property. But that's never a guarantee. Never. You should be looking around for large trees in the front yard. So the water main is going to go from the house out to the street. If you have a large, large tree there, the roots may have already gotten into that sewer pipe. You may end up replacing that sewer system from the house to the street, which can be very expensive. So look around for things like that. Number 4 are electrical issues. Again, I turn on switches. I bring a little device where I literally plug it into the wall switches and sockets, and I can tell whether it's been wired correctly and even if it's working. So I would, you know, as a course of my investigation of that property, bring this little electric detector to make sure all this stuff is working. But at the end of the day, you really don't know. Have you gotten to all the switches? Have you turned on all the appliances that are connected? electricity-wise. Go out to the panel itself, the electrical panel, and check and make sure that— I always like to see room for growth so you can put some more circuit breakers on there. If there's no more room, then I get a little bit concerned because maybe somebody wanted to wire something into that and they piggybacked it on an existing one, which is not to code. So make sure that you open that up and take a look at it. See if there's anything there that It looks a little bit strange. Did I miss anything? What have you come across? Let me know in the comments below. These hidden items have the ability to crimp your rehab budget and throw you off schedule, but you can prepare for them. Anytime I estimate repair costs and a rehab timeframe, I like to budget extra for hidden issues. Something on this list always pops up. If you want to see more flipping videos, click on this video right here. As always, feel free to reach out anytime. I'm always here to help.