My first flip, detailed adventure

[Jonathan V.]

Last week I put under contract a real fixer upper. 140 year old all cypress framed ~1250 sq ft. 3/1.

I have it under contract for $16,500. Comparables in the area are selling in the $80-90,000 range, average listing time is ~2 months. However our's has a fireplace which is not normal for this price range, so I feel we will sell quickly.

Here are the pictures.

http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii132/bigbadjonv/House%20purchase/

The house had been updated in the early 80's, and is being sold by the same owner. She rented it out to some people who demolished it.

So far, we've already had an inspection, everything came back fine except some outlets are grounded, and some aren't. Also the hot water heater's and furnace's pilot lights aren't turning on.

The furnace has a lot of rust because it hasn't been turned on in two winters. I'm hoping a service person can come out and clean it up and it will magically start working again, if not we are going to have to replace it. The HVAC was put in 1996.

We are closing on this coming Tuesday, we are basically re-dry-walling everything and reflooring as well. I have setup in our budget a "minimum" and "everything" column and we will assess the best option as we go along.

Here is my current budget, it's kind of rough atm.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtKJIUDSMuNCdDJEeWlIeS1hQV9tcDlJNzdIaDNzS3c&hl=en&authkey=CPjViVg

The neighborhood has had sales directly across the street for $150-180,000 but they are larger houses (+2,000 sq ft.). It is a safe family friendly neighborhood in small town America.

I've also posted this on another forum. I look forward to talking about this flip. As long as my wife and I break even, we will be ok as we've wanted to do this for a LONG time.

It also helps that the neighborhood is the same that I grew up in, and I REALLY want to make this a good home that will attract a family that will help retain the value of the neighborhood.