Investing in Flooded Home

[Larneka Lavalais]

Hello. I am new to all of this and eager to learn more to begin investing in rental properties. With that being said, I live in an area hit hard by Hurricane Harvey this year. As a result, a lot of people are selling their homes because its too expensive to repair and many homeowners are elderly and retired. I am interested in purchasing one of the homes. The owner is selling it as is and says it has been gutted. I will tour the home this weekend and she will quote me a price then. My question is, is this a wise investment for someone just starting out??

[Fred Heller]

I think you'll find that rehabbing a flooded home is a lot more expensive than you may be thinking. We looked at a couple of flooded homes and the cheapest quote I received was for $58,000. The others were over $60,000. A lot of that will depend on how much water entered the home. A few inches, maybe not so bad. But if we're talking feet, it's going to be really expensive.

Ironically, we also looked at a fire-damaged home. The contractor was like, "of that's easy." We got a quote of $20,000 for that.