PV Gap

Alfred Said:

I want to flip a house but it has a lot of issues. This is a long one.?

We Answered:

You have lofty goals for you first flip. Flipping a property for profit means that you want to do the necessary things to bring the house to code if it is currently not at code.

You should go to a local book store and purchase several books on the purchase and flipping of properties. There are many to chose from, at least two or three should be purchased so you may get ideas from different outlooks as how to accomplish what you are attempting to do.

The first thing you don't want to do is over build this property for the neighborhood. Adding rooms, and baths, increasing the size of the kitchen and adding central air might do this, especially if none of the other house have the same additions the number of bedrooms and baths.

Mostly you want to do cosmetic work as oppose to major work.

The primary thing to do is figure out the cost of acquiring the property, the cost to do what you want with the property after which you can see your profit margin if any. Keep in mind that if you refinance the property this is a cost to consider.

In your search for making a profit you might consider renting the property, purchasing another property and building real estate wealth in this manner.

Keep in mind that in a couple of years the rent ceiling might be at the monthly mortgage payments you are currently paying.

Future value is like the stock market, you can not forecast it. So even though your might hope the value will increase to $200,000 this is simply that a, forecast and not written in stone.

Contractors will normally give free estimates for their services, so make sure you get at least 3 estimates. Also it might not be in your best interest to go with the lowest of the bidders. Make sure there is a clear understanding of what the contractors are to do.

You would want to make sure that the contractors are not sub-contracting their work to someone else and not doing the work themselves.

You further want them to get your approval prior to doing work you did not contract for them to do. Say you want to replace the roof. Once they start work on the roof they find additional damage to the roof. Normally the contractor would simply continue with the work without your consent thus adding additional cost to the bid they made.

You would want to check with the city before you build to see if there are any easements that are on the property that would prevent any additions to the property.

I would never tell a person that what they want to do is unrealistic. I would tell them to make sure that what they plan to do would accomplish what they want to accomplish and that is sell the property for a profit at the end of the day. This is the ultimate goal.

I hope this has been of some benefit to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

Jack Said:

I don't know how to do this problem, can someone explain this to me?

We Answered:

a) The surface area of a hemisphere in terms of its radius is A = 2 pi r^2. Differentiating, we get dA/dr = 4 pi r.
In terms of differentials, this is dA = 4 pi r dr. In this case, r is 20m and dr is .75m, so we compute dA = 188.5 m^2. For r = 20m, A = 2513.3 m^2, so the percentage increase in the surface area is 100(188.5 / 2513.3) = 7.5 percent.

b) The original cost estimate is 93 * 450 = $41850. The estimated increase in material cost is 7.5 percent of this, or $3138.75.

By the way, the actual area of a hemisphere of radius 20.75m is 2705.3, so the real change in area is 192. Using the differential method slightly underestimates the change in this particular case. The actual percentage change is somewhat over 7.6 percent.

Marcus Said:

Small solar/wind system?

We Answered:

My local auto parts store has a sale on a solar panel to charge a car battery and for powering similar voltage items. It sells for $99. I was thinking at that price I could buy several and hook them up to boost the voltage to power other things. I`m using one to power this laptop I`m using to post this message right now and works like a champ.

Irma Said:

Possible future energy policy?? [sources wanted more than opinions]?

We Answered:

There are a lot of things involved in the conversion to solar beyond just photovoltaic cells. Just because you see a toilet on sale at Home Depot for $39 doesn't mean you can now afford to put a second bathroom in the basement.

Is it possible? Yes.
Is it quick and/or easy? No
Do we have a handle on the environmental effects of covering a good portion of the Southwest with solar cells? No

IMHO solar needs to be considered and better used than it is now. I have no idea if or when it will be the dominant source of energy. If scientifically illiterate environmentalists hadn't choked off nuclear power 30 years ago, we might well be using cheap and safe fusion power now, probably with less capital investment than solar will require.

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Edit: Wise One, be careful with your generalisations. "old wasteful vehicles" ? I suspect average mileage over the last 20 years has declined significantly because of safety and emissions regulations, as well as stupid consumers falling for the SUV fad. My '69 Beetle averaged well over 30 mpg. My '89 Horizon got 33-34 average, and well over 40 on long trips. My '96 Neon struggles to average over 30, my 2000 Focus averages high 20's. Mileage on possible replacements looks no better. Fortunately for my wallet and the planet, I prefer bicycle and Shank's Pony to motor vehicle.