First Deal: 2 Single Family Homes in a College Town to Rent

[Christopher Salazar]

So I currently go to school in the Quad City area in IL and I have an opportunity to acquire two properties that I would potentially rent out to students (or since I play football I would rent it to other football players).

I met the owner of the houses last fall when I was looking for a place to live for my senior year. They are both around 2000 sq ft, 2 story, 4 bedroom, with full basements, and would need a lot of work to become livable. These houses were in very poor condition and I believe now they are condemned by the city and have been vacant for a few years.

I saw tons of potential but I am not sure if it would be a good investment. I know I would easily have tenants every year but I don't know if the deal would be profitable with all the work that needs done.

My good friend's dad is a contractor and he would fix them both up with our help this upcoming summer and they would be ready to live in this fall. Being a college student, the problem is that I have no money to put down for these houses and no money for renovations. The contractor that would do the work would be willing to take an initial hit to make the homes livable and I would be able to pay him with the future rents.

Here are some questions I have:

First and foremost, how do I go about acquiring these properties? Since they are paid off, I'm not sure how it would work.

I would pay the contractor eventually from the rent I receive monthly, but how should that be disbursed?

What legal actions must take place to acquire the properties and make contracts with the contractor?

Would specialists need to inspect the property before I acquire them because they are in poor shape? If so, which ones?

I would manage the property and would have my contractor work on it if it had any issues, but how should that go into any legal contract I have with him since I don't have the money up front?

What other concerns should I have with this deal?

I appreciate the comments and I am excited to learn. Thanks for the help!