Renovating an Abandoned Mansion

[Felix Sharpe]

Hello BP Community!

I just wanted to get the community's thoughts on this idea. I am an aspiring investor. My wife and I are looking to make our first purchase. As we were doing some property-hunting yesterday, we came across a boarded up mansion in a historic preservation area in the community. The property itself is about 4,400 sqft, built in the early 1900s. The property is absolutely gorgeous, but needs some TLC. We were considering doing a 203K loan for the renovations, but the cap for renovations is $35,000. My guess is that the property would need more than $35,000 of TLC. We were considering whether partial renovation and flip would be an option, or figuring out a way to raise additional money necessary to complete a full restoration. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this. And could an investor make a return without doing a full restoration? Additional background: We don't even know if the owner would be willing to sell. We've reached out to him via letter. The owner is current on property taxes.

Thanks BP for any responses.

Felix

[Terry Hoefer]

For a first project? The size alone would eat up time and money. Some historic properties have strict limitations on what's allowed for renovation/restoration, further checking is required. The first big consideration has to be the ROI. Although the idea of making a place look grand is appealing, if it would make sense financially, I'm thinking someone with money and experience would be all over it by now. Your first couple projects can be overwhelming while you are in the midst of it, even the small ones. I would rather make my early mistakes on something easy enough to resell in a hurry, if needed.