How I bought a home in the middle of town for $10,000

[Stephen Hundley]

While on my way to a listing appointment last week, I rode around the neighborhood trying to kill some time. I noticed a run down house two houses down from the home I would be listing and I was very intrigued. The grass was overgrown and there was a hole in the roof. This was exactly the type of house I was looking for. The home is located in an established neighborhood right in the middle of town on a dead end street.

I immediately pulled up the tax assessor on my phone and located where the taxes are being paid. The next day around lunch time I knocked on the owner's door and asked if she would consider selling the run down home. Her eyes lit up and she said, "Why yes but I just didn't think anyone would ever want it." Cha ching.

I asked her permission to go inside the house and she said that was fine. Come to find out she was a hoarder like you see on TV. It looked like stuff had piled up in there for 30 years. The roof was caving in and the flooring was rotting away.

I went back to her home the next day and made an offer of the assessed value minus the cost to demolish the house and she accepted my first offer of $10,000. I emailed the contract to my attorney and we closed 2 days later.

The really neat thing about this home and lot is it's actually 3 lots. The house sits on a 75x150 lot but the plat shows it as 3 25x150 lots. The city code today wouldn't allow a home to be built on such a small lot but because this neighborhood is so old it's grandfathered in. So my plans are to build a 3/2 1,500sqft shotgun house and move into it myself. Once that's complete I will build 2 more of the exact same type homes and keep them as long term rentals.

I've already had an investor offer me $50,000 for the property but I politely turned it down. I'm expecting to have $120,000 in equity once I'm done with the 3 houses not to mention what I will be receiving from tenants in rent!

I've had to knock on many doors before finally getting a great deal but it was all completely worth it! I'll be sure to post pics as the progress happens!