Help. I Inherited a Property that need rehab. I have no capital.

[Barrington Webb]

Hello Family!

I inherited a property that have extreme floor damage due to busted pipes from a winter storm. I'm not sure the total cost of the damage, but I'm sure I will need new plumbing and new floors. I intent to use this property as a rental. My dilemma is that i have bad credit with no capital. I would appreciate any advice or wisdom. Thanks family.

[Patricia Steiner]

You have options:

1.  Sell it as is...

2.  Determine the cost of the project.  Do you really need new plumbing or is a repair needed?  What will it all cost?  You may find that it's simply not worth the cost of the repairs or that the potential rent from it will not be worth utilizing it as such.

3.  Get an investor - maybe a family member or friend who can invest money for the repairs for an ownership percentage.

4.  Fix your credit/capital issues and then fix the property.  Real estate investing is not a cheap date and not only will you have these immediate repairs, you'll have even more that become "discovered" during the process - plus taxes, insurance, more.  You simply may not be ready to start doing anything yet.

5.  Get learning and doing.  A lot of investors - whether they have the resources or not - do their own repairs. Re-plumbing is something you won't want to wing but you can't hire out what you can't pay to have completed.

Sometimes we have to catch-up to the opportunity...repair and build your financial health - and then reward yourself by starting this new business.

Just one opinion...you'll get a lot of others to weigh in!