Literally everything is explained on the web/YouTube-- I learned this when I remodeled my house down to the studs with virtually no experience. Need to repoint a chimney? Trim a window? Hang a door? Tile a shower?
You're a single search away from knowing how to do almost anything practical... Seconds of research when 20 years ago you'd be hoping in the car and driving to the library in hopes that maybe you could find the best book/pages to get you where you needed to be.
Yeah, YouTube is pretty huge. In 2010 I learned a lot of bike maintenance just by watching YouTube.
I learned lots of music stuff on the web in the 90's, but having videos is really necessary for a lot of things. Without a video it would be really hard to explain how to change cranks and so forth. It occurred to me that even 5 years before that (2005), I wouldn't have had access to that content.
And even if you can't find it online, it's usually not that hard to stumble into a university library and troll through some peer reviewed journals for giggles, or find good books on amazon that are a click and a few days away.
Not much practical in that, that I remember, but tons and tons of random articles on odd-ball bike stuff. One of the few books I've purchased and randomly read most of a few times. Really great book.
Anyone got an idea whether it matters a lot that most of these clips are aimed at a US audience? Apart from the fact they all measure things in feet and inches, that I can convert, I often worry about whether the same type (sizes) of parts even exist or whether certain standards work the same was in the EU as US (safety stuff you don't want to mess up, like how electrical wiring always runs vertically above or below power outlets, so you know where to drill safely).
I've considered buying a run down house, spending a year fixing it up using youtube, and then selling it for hopefully a profit- I have no doubt I could do a good job with just youtube and the internet, but the only thing stopping me is confidence that I will be able to sell it. Has anyone done something like this?
Start with something simple - a small house with basically sound construction but dated/damaged interior fitout. Learn how to do simple stuff like fixing walls, painting, new kitchen cabinets, laying new tile, replacing plumbing fittings. Keep it simple, low cost and in-line with the market expectations for a good quality house in the area.
Do the numbers and if you can't make at least 20% on your outlay (not the total sale price, but your cash-on-cash return) then keep looking until you find something suitable.
The key challenges are less learning how to lay grout but more in buying effectively, assessing the market your customers are operating in (ie, who is going to buy it, what are their tastes, budget and needs?) and dealing with contractors who will necessarily complete work you cannot do (such as electrical).
Every house will sell with the right price attached. That should be the least of your worries. Worst of all cases is that you are halfway through, and lose time/money/energy/cash to complete the job. Then you've got a half-built house which is unsaleable to everyone but a person who can exploit the pickle you've got yourself in.
I have moved into houses and lived there while upgrading the interior and it has always been personally and financially rewarding, but this is not for everyone.
> I have moved into houses and lived there while upgrading the interior
> and it has always been personally and financially rewarding
...after the demo work is finished. Maintaining sanity and a positive outlook is hard if your partner/spouse does not thrive in chaos. Triple the insanity if the kids are hopping over the chop saw in the dining room:)
Walking from the kitchen to dining room to cut 2xs is a lot easier than going to workshop. I was lucky and only had the girlfriend in the house. It is not the saw dust that killed me, it was the mess that came out of the walls when taking the old lathe and plaster down. The soot in the ceiling from the old gas lamps was disgusting.
Its nuts, dead center of the dining room there is black pipe right next to some old nob and tube wiring. It was as if they were not sure this new fangled electricity thing was going to take off so they were playing it safe and kept their options open. Fortunately I knew the other end was dangling in the basement. When I had an electrician put in a new service he saw the open end in the basement and said that he still stumbles across pipes that are hooked up and occasionally are noticeably leaking.
With realestate, you make your money whwn you buy the place, not when you sell it.
Also, with flipping houses, the adage that time is money rings very very true. Each month paying a mortgage,and interest is money thrown out, and mostly lost opportunity. For example, if you can make 10k from a flip after costs, but it takes 6 months, as opposed to making 5k from a flip after costs, but with a 1 month turnaround, you can see which strategy wins out.
For selling, location will be a bigger determinant of liquidity than your ability to sell it.
If you want to do construction, I would learn on small projects as opposed to fixer-upper houses.
The following comment is motivated by genuine good faith and a desire to prevent a potential catastrophe, financially or medically. Please understand I say this with all due respect. If this is your attitude:
> I have no doubt I could do a good job with just youtube
I highly suggest you do not go through with this plan. From reading this statement it sounds like you have very little knowledge of renovation/remodeling. There are three big problems
1. Lack of respect for the skill and experience needed in basic trades: electrician/plumber/carpentry. This attitude "oh there is nothing to it, it is just blue collar work. I can watch some youtube videos and learn it in no time" is dangerous, costly and silly/arrogant. Master craftsman take a long time to learn their trade. Your inability to estimate what is needed and how long it will take and what might come up is going to be a giant problem. Experienced tradesmen have seen the 50 different ways people have screwed up plumbing/wiring/etc and has a good idea how to begin a new project and handle these screwups as they are slowly discovered. A lot of the work you will do will be do to "oh shit X is busted" moments, not "Wow, that went smoothly, X is done. Lets proceed to the next item on the outline of work I came up with originally and have not had to deviate from."
2. It takes a couple of full Xs to get the hang of doing X. Lets take something basic like rocking and taping a room. There is a guy on YT, DryWallGaul, that makes the best drywall videos I have ever seen. I have had a lot of people "teach me the trick to taping" and it never made sense and never came out well. If you watched his videos and practiced hanging sheetrock you could definitely get great walls in due time. The problem is your one year turn around house only has so many walls. I redid almost all of the walls in my house but I never got the hang of it until I hung sheetrock at a 4,000 square foot volunteer project. I went through three left hand mechanix gloves before I got proficient zipping screws into studs. (The let index finger is slowly eaten up from holding the screws) Maybe you can do a good job on the last bedroom but I promise you your first three bedrooms are going to look like homeowner harry went to war on the weekend. How many opportunities to do X/Y/Z do you think you will have in this one year house?
3. Working by yourself safely is tough.(Especially if its your first time ever doing X) Doing good work, safely, alone is tougher. Doing good work, safely, alone, for the first time and finishing in a year is impossible.
My advice is that you volunteer for habitat for humanity or something similar. Get a decent amount of experience under your belt and then rethink this plan. The nice thing about the volunteer "internship" is that you will also be able to get an idea of what tools to buy and which ones you like and you can slowly build up a tool set.
good stuff, and by no means do i dismiss things that are blue collar- its the same attitude i had towards learning software dev. more a testament to youtube than anything. I have refurbished stairs, repainted and refinished things, and done a fair amount of woodworking (mostly furniture)- I certainly wouldn't want to take on something big like electricity and plumbing etc. I was thinking something more like landscaping, redo floors, maybe do some bathroom improvements etc. Maybe you assumed I meant things much larger in scope because you think that those smaller types of changes wont actually improve the value much?
There is some stuff that is difficult (drywall) and high risk (plumbing, electrical), but much of it you could do yourself (assuming friends help).
Flipping a house is pretty challenging, depending on the market. Note that when you sell a house in many markets, there are LOTS of fees-- real estate agents, closing costs of buyers, warranties, etc. I'm selling a house in Alaska now and there are $30k in charges for the sale PLUS repairs requested by the buyer/inspector. So had I done what you were proposing, the first $30k in upgrade value I created would get wiped away (thankfully, I bought it in 2000).
If you would like to learn to do some home repair work volunteering can be a good way to start. Organizations like Habitat For Humanity basically offer you some training in exchange for your labor. I hung drywall in NY with habitat and did electrical work in New Orleans through the Saint Bernard project.
You're a single search away from knowing how to do almost anything practical... Seconds of research when 20 years ago you'd be hoping in the car and driving to the library in hopes that maybe you could find the best book/pages to get you where you needed to be.