77K return . . . but I wouldn't do it again!

[Douglas Larson]

Older home with great bones built in 1942 - needed full remodel.

Purchase price: 235k - short sale
Projected costs and time: 45k and 3-4 months.
Actual renovation & carry costs $86k and 8 months of work.
Commissions/concessions $22k
Sale Price $419,900
Net gain $77k

Most proud of... Kitchen and master bath.
Most stressed by... HVAC system overhaul $8,300 after 7 different bids from 7k to 20k.
Take-a-ways: 

- old houses offer many unforeseen challenges.
- cat pee is really nasty!

- it's really fun to see a diamond in the rough take shape!

Kitchen before...

Kitchen after...

Liv rm before . . .

Liv rm nearly complete...

Master bath after...

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Douglas Larson

  did you have cost of capital or just cash out of pocket so no carrying costs?

big rehabs can drag a guy down.. we have those here in PDX.. I am like you give me a 80's rancher that I can get in an out of in 30 days sold in 45 and make 20k.. and have 3 to 5 going at anyone time... its a machine...

When I was loaning HML in the day and guys would get into these big fix jobs and jobs that ran double.. I was usually the only one who really made any money... Hard money loan for instance on your project would have cost 30k or so ... so profit number goes in half and if they messed up even more even less.