The house I bought for $1.00 finally closed..and I'm super pumped

[Chris Pohlson]

After 6 months of ups and downs, I can officially say my real estate investing career started with a house I bought for $1.  BP has been such a huge help getting my investing career off the ground, I thought I'd share the story.  Here's a quick recap of my last 6 months with this deal:

03/23/16: Went to foreclosure auction to figure out how it works.  Bid $1 and won a property.  My wife was p*ssed.

3/24/16: Found BP and posted this thread: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/29...

04/01/16: Filed certificate a sale despite most of my friends, family, and coworkers telling me it was a bad idea.

05/01/16: Paid my first lawyer bill (yikes!).

06/10/16: Got a call from the original lien holder's lawyer saying they wanted to redeem.

06/13/16: My lawyer and I say lien holder has no right to redeem.  Lien holder offers settlement in lieu of me fighting their redemption.  Negotiations commence.

8/16/16: Closed on two other properties in large part thanks to what I've learned on BP.

9/16/16: After months of back and forth I'm at $18,000 and lien holder is at $3,500 for settlement.  I let them know I was ready to go to court.

9/25/16: Tenant that lives in the house came to my door freaking out because she was afraid of being evicted once I took ownership.  Worked out a deal for her to stay. (she's not the foreclosed debtor)

Today: No redemption was attempted and paperwork filed to make the transfer of deed official.

Thank you BP community and founders!  Here's hoping it's not a money pit.

[Chris Pohlson]

@Mindy Jensen Thanks!  $18,000 was the amount I wanted the foreclosing "bank" (it was actually an oil company) to pay me as a settlement in order to not contest their redemption rights.  

I just walked the property today for the first time.  It's actually in pretty good shape.  I've got some electrical to update and minor repairs (soffit, gutters, etc...).  It's a 3/1 and market rent is probably $750-$800.  The current tenant is signing a 6 month lease for $650/mo.  The plan is to increase to market after 6 months.  Here are some rough numbers for my expenses so far:

Purchase price: $1+$25 recording fee

Back taxes: $2300

Legal fees: $3000

Rehab estimate: $5000

Tax assessed value is $66k.  Real world I'd probably get $45k-$50k for it in today's market.

It might sound like a stretch but my goal is to build my portfolio up enough to where I can get on BP's podcast and tell this story as part of my journey. It's been a blast and I've fallen in love with REI!