Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure until they get to see inside the property

[Bruce Lynn]

Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure until they get to see inside the property.

Look at what this guy won at the tax foreclosure option.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/25/buyer-beware-local-man-buys...

It's not always pretty, profitable, and fast flipping like they show on TV and YouTube.

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Bob Stevens:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Bob Stevens:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Looks like one of my typical flip houses....What's the big deal...? 😂

  I was thinking the same thing, Happy Sunday Bruce :) 

You too, Bud. Seriously, this is what makes it fun. One of the last houses I renovated had a tweaker living in it. Not just any tweaker, but the rare 'Hoarder-Tweaker'. And they had taken the kitchen cabinets apart and burned them in the fireplace for heat.....I salvaged some and painted over the burn marks, didn't look half bad....ya can't make it up, right? And then there was the Lesbian Initiation House....don't even ask, Bob.... 🤣

 LMAO, OK I WILL beat ya, We had a house explode, YES explode, Google Meth lab blows up house Cleveland, LOL .OR how about the lowlife that knocked the garage down with his car, YES, all because we had to evict him, low life ANIMALS. 

The prop in this post is nothing, just cosmetic. 

Ok off to the beach, make it a great Sunday, 

ROTFLMAO!!!! OK, let me think...I'm gonna have to go some to beat an exploding house..... but I might have something.....

 Gotta love these low lifes 

Suspected meth lab found in basement of home that caught fire, Cleveland investigators say (cleveland19.com)

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Eric James:

and used syringes hidden among the trash.

Lol this is bringing back the memories! There was an apartment building where the junkies used to pull out the medicine cabinets and throw their used needles into the wall to hide them. Unbeknownst to everyone until of course we had to replace some drywall and all these needles came pouring out....

[Bruce Woodruff]

Thank you @Bruce Lynn for starting this....It's been a great Sunday so far!

[Bruce Lynn]

Quote from @Bob Stevens:

Sorry for some reason MY link it not working on BP 

That's what I call a 3 dumpster house.  Maybe 4?   Was there equal amount of stuff in the garage and back yard?

[Bruce Lynn]

Carpet cleaner and a little 409 goes a long way there.

[Carlos Ptriawan]

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure until they get to see inside the property.

Look at what this guy won at the tax foreclosure option.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/25/buyer-beware-local-man-buys...

It's not always pretty, profitable, and fast flipping like they show on TV and YouTube.

i can say this is "way" better than expected.....there're few listed in MLS worse than this.

[Bruce Lynn]

I was told many times growing up (and repeat hearing that voice as an adult).   This work builds character.

[Carlos Ptriawan]

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Eric James:

and used syringes hidden among the trash.

Lol this is bringing back the memories! There was an apartment building where the junkies used to pull out the medicine cabinets and throw their used needles into the wall to hide them. Unbeknownst to everyone until of course we had to replace some drywall and all these needles came pouring out....

 hahahahahaha I had some experience too, except it's bunch of pills.

[Bob Stevens]

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

Quote from @Bob Stevens:

Sorry for some reason MY link it not working on BP 

That's what I call a 3 dumpster house.  Maybe 4?   Was there equal amount of stuff in the garage and back yard?

 If I recall the yard was empty, This was many years ago in Cleveland Heights 

[Steve Harlow]

Yawn.  I've bought about 15-20 homes like that. Many cheaper than you can buy a new car and completely redone them. Some almost rebuilt. If this scares off people great, less competition for the rest of us.

[Carlos Ptriawan]

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

But we have all bought hoarder houses , Animal houses, extreme smoker houses, crack houses, Whore houses you name it. I have seen it and funded it for others or my own account.

 how's the whorehouse differs from regular house ? I bet it would be clean and sophisticated, no ? :) LOL 

Ya I bought smoker and crack house, it's just we need to do that popcorn removal a lot yes.
Sometimes these kind of configuration (smoker/crack SF) is the best place to invest.

[Chris Seveney]

@Carlos Ptriawan

Knock on wood we have only had one meth house that sold at auction (we were the lender)

I was like woohoo - thank you whoever bought that one…

[Jeremy Scott]

That's exactly what I would have expected.  You can't expect to walk right into a turn key house at $19k . I would assume everything needs replacing especially the drywall at the very least. That place has plenty of potential, you could turn a decent profit.

[Abe Naroth]

Awesome thread which will reinstate the confidence in flipping ;-)

[Bruce Silvestri]

Quote from @John Underwood:

It is typical for them to be bad. It is the exception  to get one that is clean and empty. 

I plan on them being bad and needing lots of work. 

I can still get a "fixer upper" for 30k at auction. This is still a huge discount over what a wholesaler would sell an equivalent house for in my market.

[Bruce Silvestri]

Quote from @Bruce Silvestri:

Quote from @John Underwood:

It is typical for them to be bad. It is the exception  to get one that is clean and empty. 

I plan on them being bad and needing lots of work. 

I can still get a "fixer upper" for 30k at auction. This is still a huge discount over what a wholesaler would sell an equivalent house for in my market.

Thank you for the information everyone is giving , I appreciate it. When you can get in, how is that typically done if someone is inside ?

Also if someone is inside, how do you typically get them out sooner VS later ?

[Ashish D.]

Quote from @Bob Stevens:

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure until they get to see inside the property.

Look at what this guy won at the tax foreclosure option.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/25/buyer-beware-local-man-buys...

It's not always pretty, profitable, and fast flipping like they show on TV and YouTube.

t's all about price. This is nothing, it's just mostly sheetrock and cosmetic. If it needs 50 sheets @ 40 bux per well so what 2k . 20k I would have this house done in two weeks.  I have purchased about 100 from sheriffs' auctions (500 or so overall)  If you can't get in (we get in most) you assume it needs everything, so buy accordingly.  

This video is just shows how clueless the rest of the world is just like the flipping shows. Its sheetrock! THIS is what we do.

We purchased this one, we could not get it. We didn't notice there was a hole in the roof as there was snow. Wel looked what we walked into

. However, we purchased accordingly and still flipped it for a huge % gainer. 


Before/After Rehab Photos (ibuy********houses.com)

 Totally the mindset we need to have for tax sale properties. Just last week a 6000sq ft piece of land expected to have a house on it sold for 76500$ with a starting bid of 6900. There wasn’t even a house in the land. But if we sold the land to the builder with comps close to 240k in that area, you would still make > 20 grands. The videos don’t really mean anything, we are not buying houses to live in them. And then it comes down to building skillset with education so you don’t end up buying a meth house with million dollar fines on them.

[Ashish D.]

Quote from @Cheryl James:

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure until they get to see inside the property.

Look at what this guy won at the tax foreclosure option.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/25/buyer-beware-local-man-buys...

It's not always pretty, profitable, and fast flipping like they show on TV and YouTube.

 As an investor who invests in distressed debt. What they are showing in that link is normal. You cannot believe how people live.Our typical trashout is 3-5k, most of time water is not on or power, they use the house as one large toilet. Seriously its worse than animals living in these places.

But go ahead and bid it as if it is nice and clean. If you do not bid it as a full gut rehab including removing the floors and joists, good chance you can lose $.

I always assume they're that bad. It is much easier when you can at least see the inside.

Hahaha about the animals. That's the house I bought, although I knew full well what I was getting. This is me sweeping manure out of mine.

Generally you would call in junk and cleaning professionals right? Any reason to do it yourself?

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Ashish D.:

Generally you would call in junk and cleaning professionals right? Any reason to do it yourself?

 Oh yeah.......depending on how trashed the place is, you can spend an easy $5-10k on demo , hauling and clean-up. IF your margins are tight you have to do it yourself. And it is so much fun.... :-)

[Alan F.]

Quote from @Ashish D.:

Quote from @Cheryl James:

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

Quote from @Bruce Lynn:

Everyone wants to buy a foreclosure until they get to see inside the property.

Look at what this guy won at the tax foreclosure option.
https://www.13abc.com/2024/02/25/buyer-beware-local-man-buys...

It's not always pretty, profitable, and fast flipping like they show on TV and YouTube.

 As an investor who invests in distressed debt. What they are showing in that link is normal. You cannot believe how people live.Our typical trashout is 3-5k, most of time water is not on or power, they use the house as one large toilet. Seriously its worse than animals living in these places.

But go ahead and bid it as if it is nice and clean. If you do not bid it as a full gut rehab including removing the floors and joists, good chance you can lose $.

I always assume they're that bad. It is much easier when you can at least see the inside.

Hahaha about the animals. That's the house I bought, although I knew full well what I was getting. This is me sweeping manure out of mine.

Generally you would call in junk and cleaning professionals right? Any reason to do it yourself?

 Yes, its called sweat equity. We the great unwashed, have been doing it for years

[Pat L.]

we used to pick up a couple a year at the tax lien auctions, but most were accessible if you had a skinny guy on staff that could get in. Now we are more selective.

The worst were those with flea infestations, flooded basements, burst pipes throughout & then mold remediation. 

It still astounds me the dire self inflicted living conditions some people & their children will 'survive' in. We did 'win' one at auction that I could not enter without my eyes watering & dry wretching, but the young couple I hired to gut it had no problem. When I asked her if she'd seen anything like that before she replied, "yeah my cousin lives like this now". 

Those we bought were all VERY profitable & some of the multi's we sold & hold the 12% notes on, are going on 12-15 years. We just sold a 3 unit to an investor friend, who at that close also got a discharge for a 12% mortgage on another property we sold him 10 yrs ago. Same great tenant had made all of his payments. 

[Aaron Maggard]

This is the jazz! Gotta know your capabilities and gotta do the math on the worst case. We enjoy the challenge.

[Peter Stewart]

That is not necessarily true. Sure, you get some terrible ones. But I have seen, sold, and personally purchased ones that are in very good condition. 

It's a myth that foreclosure = a trashed property. 

But, even if it is a mess, if the price is right and the numbers make sense, who cares?

Now, buying at auction is a whole different animal since they are typically sight unseen. I assume that is what you are talking about, but the headline of the post is a bit misleading.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Pat L.:

It still astounds me the dire self inflicted living conditions some people & their children will 'survive' in. We did 'win' one at auction that I could not enter without my eyes watering & dry wretching

I know, right...? I had one a couple years ago where even the Realtor refused to go inside, you could smell the stench as you walked up the sidewalk to the house. I had a bandana with me and ran through snapping pictures with my eyes watering like crazy. Went home that night and had to have a couple drinks before I submitted that offer.....

[Nate Marshall]

Only takes one. Wholesaler be like... Auctioneer be like.. just a little fire damage.