Rental Property Investor · Providence, RI · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 594 votes
Houses that scare other people. That is what I love. The uglier the better. The more cat piss the better, and the more charred wood, the better. Hoarders, sewer back ups, excessive cats, crack houses, and on and on. I buy them for pennies on the dollar, go right through them, and get the higher end of the rent spectrum when I am done. Why? VALUE ADD. Know your market, look at what everyone else is afraid to approach, and pull the trigger. This house had ZERO people trying to grab it except us. Know your market, and know when to strike. In a short time, this house will go through a massive renovation and will become a performing asset.
I can go through my pictures and find deals that would literally make people vomit, but I'd like to start here as this is a current one we grabbed.
I would like to see pictures and hear about the deals that other people wouldn't touch that you cashed in on. I want to hear about the blue collar guys in the trenches who took a rat house and made it a gem. The ones that are absolute steals for one reason or another but other investors didn't have the gaul to take the change.
I buy houses In poughkeepsie ny. I bought crack houses, tax foreclosures , foreclosures, hoarder house and houses that were really neglected. I don't know how to include pics but I can relate. If you can solve a problem that other don't want to you can make money.
I buy houses In poughkeepsie ny. I bought crack houses, tax foreclosures , foreclosures, hoarder house and houses that were really neglected. I don't know how to include pics but I can relate. If you can solve a problem that other don't want to you can make money.
We purchased a house for $.20 cents on the dollar. It came with the lovely cat urine smell as well as dead mummified cat carcasses. The cats had crawled into every crevice and piece of HVAC duct work they could find to mark their territories... Owners were also hoarders.
Lots of cleaning, scrubbing and Kilz paint along with a reputable HVAC duct work company to sanitize the
in-accessible duct work (located in a slab floor).
Purchased the house on April 30 and it was rehabbed and sold on July 30 for a $40k profit.
House was located in a great school district that people wanted to move into.
This looks like the right group for this question... I just bought my first "ugly" house. It's going to be fantastic - great neighborhood, solid house. Here's the question... the smell of cat pee and who-knows-what-else is so strong it almost knocks you out of the house... What do you guys do to get rid of the smells? @Kevin Dougherty@Brandon Ingegneri
How about an REO with a property preservation team that left a fridge full of food and a standing freezer full of food in the house for more than 18 months? Found that along with mold since they shut off the power to the sump pump. I must be out of my mind. I'm wishing myself good luck. I hope to have a success story to share soon.
Like Brandon Ingegneri stated, you have to prime everything, we used the Kilz oil based primer on every wall, ceiling and floors. We also used bleach spray as well as Natures Miracle odor and stain remover for cats. Lots of odor absorbents while conducting the rehab. Replaced all of the accessible HVAC duct work and used a reputable duct cleaning company to scrub the in-accessible duct work (cost $850 for the duct work cleaning).
I have a rental that I purchased in 2013 or 2014. The house had 17 cats living in it. The owners were each 400+ lb hoarders. In a decade of this business and over a dozen years as a firefighter, I have been in some absolute disgusting houses between the two professions. The "Cat House" as I call it was the first where I actually vomited and later threw my shoes out when I got home.
This house ended up actually being a great rental for us. We had some extensive work to do there, but it is a night and day transformation from when we bought it. It gets above market rents due to the higher end finishes.
Below is just one of the many before and after pictures of the property. They are a little difficult and slow to upload to BP, but if anyone wants to see some of the really nasty ones from this house, let me know and I can email them.
Cat house. Purchased for 120. Rehab 85. Appraised value 350. Retained for rental portfolio. Monthly gross rent is $4000.
The house pictured with the hole in the roof I purchased for $25k. I may do the roof framing and finish over for about 15k and sell the house as is for 99k, or I may build the entire place out spending about 50k and have an appraised value of about 170. At this point, I would keep the property to add to the rental portfolio.
I too buy them ugly -- bought an insul brick falling down duplex which had holes in the sides, and was sitting next door to my first rehab back in 2008 ... obviously not helping my property value! I got it for $48k, transformed it into a single family house investing $130k in renos, rented it for $2k a month for 3 years and then sold it to the tenants for $285k. I bought a rundown triplex for $85k, put in $100k with new kitchens, baths, a gorgeous Victorian paint job on the exterior ... and now I make about $3500/mo, and it's so pretty! I bought another old house with broken windows and crumbling mortar for $100k, invested just over $100k, rented for $2200/month for about 3 years also, selling it in 2016 for $370k. All were big and ugly, and turned out gorgeous!
I'm doing my first fire damage rehab now. Love anyone's input! I have been told i "Have To!" gut it to the studs. It's a beast of a brick house, circa 1905 and all plaster and lath, probably 5200 square feet. I bought for $78k and hope to sell for $375k+ (it could go higher, but it's a transitioning neighborhood ... I don't want to bank on anything over the highest previous sale.)
It needs an enormous new roof (taking off slate, tile, and a mishmash of other stuff, with lots of dormers and valleys and a flat section ... and a front porch that needs rebuilt.) It also needs all mechanicals. With the size of this, I have literally 14,000 square feet of drywall if I go to the studs, according to 2 drywall bids. A total demo and total new drywall and replacement of trim (it has gorgeous original trim throughout ... removing lath and putting up board means the trim won't match anymore!) -- this is adding up to nearly a $60,000 investment -- it's just a little too much, acknowledging all the other money I have to spend ( 2 HVAC units, new wiring, new plumbing for 3.5 baths, a kitchen and a new roof; new flooring throughout, paint inside and out, gutters, downspouts, brick repointing.....)
My preference is selective demo, bleach cleaning and spraying everything with Kilz (there is some mold, which I'll remove -- and some smoke, which we'll clean and encapsulate), but only truly gutting the two rooms that were nearly demolished by fire (2nd and 3rd floor, one corner), all the ceilings, and the central hall walls from top to bottom. I hope to use the open walls and ceilings to run new wiring, the new ductwork (removing rads), and new plumbing. Sure, there will be some wire to fish and maybe a little wire mold ... but I think I'll save $30,000 in demo, drywall and trimwork.
My question is: do I really "HAVE TO" gut to the studs? Some folks say there will always be lingering odor if I don't coat every last thing behind the walls. Some say it smells fine now and they're not worried. Love to hear anyone else who undertook something similar weighing in!
I too buy them ugly -- bought an insulbrick falling down duplex which had holes in the sides, and was sitting next door to my first rehab back in 2008. Bought for $48k, $130k in renos, rented it for $2k a month for 3 years and then sold it to the tenants for $285k.
Triplex, expired listing ... ugly! Bought for $85k, put in $100k with new kitchens, baths, a gorgeous Victorian paint job on the exterior ... $3500/mo, $330k estimated value.
Another lovely old rundown Victorian ... purchase $100k, renov just over $100k, held as rental ($2500/mo); sold for $370k.
I'm doing my first fire damage rehab now. Love anyone's input! I have been told i "Have To!" gut it to the studs. It's a beast of a brick house, circa 1905 and all plaster and lath, probably 5200 square feet. I bought for $78k and hope to sell for $375k+ I want to invest under $200k.
My question: With the size of this, I have literally 14,000 square feet of drywall if I go to the studs. A total demo and total new drywall and replacement of trim is adding up to nearly a $60,000 investment.
My preference is selective demo, bleach cleaning and spraying everything with Kilz , but only truly gutting the two rooms that were nearly demolished by fire (2nd and 3rd floor, one corner), all the ceilings, and the central hall walls from top to bottom. I hope to use the open walls and ceilings to run new wiring, the new ductwork (removing rads), and new plumbing. This limited demo will, I believe, save $30,000 in demo, drywall and trimwork.
My question is: do I really "HAVE TO" gut to the studs?
My big questions with these kinds of projects is what do you think the minimum rent or ARV would need to be to make it worth considering this kind of super extensive rehab? It seems like in a lot of the neighborhoods I've looked the ARV just won't support a ton of work on the properties even if you can get them for next to nothing.
I was looking at a house that I could likely pick up for about 5k at a tax sale, but I couldn't find a way to make the numbers work as the amount of rehab it needs seems to be almost a complete rebuild and the ARV would probably only land in the $125k range or maybe $1200 rents. As a first timer I think it's ultimately more than I'm willing to bite off, but even outside of that I kept coming around to 65-80k in repairs and by the time I factored in the various other costs like holding, closing, agent commissions, and attorney fees I just couldn't come up with a way to do much better than just breaking even assuming my estimates were reasonable.
I too buy them ugly -- bought an insulbrick falling down duplex which had holes in the sides, and was sitting next door to my first rehab back in 2008. Bought for $48k, $130k in renos, rented it for $2k a month for 3 years and then sold it to the tenants for $285k.
Triplex, expired listing ... ugly! Bought for $85k, put in $100k with new kitchens, baths, a gorgeous Victorian paint job on the exterior ... $3500/mo, $330k estimated value.
Another lovely old rundown Victorian ... purchase $100k, renov just over $100k, held as rental ($2500/mo); sold for $370k.
I'm doing my first fire damage rehab now. Love anyone's input! I have been told i "Have To!" gut it to the studs. It's a beast of a brick house, circa 1905 and all plaster and lath, probably 5200 square feet. I bought for $78k and hope to sell for $375k+ I want to invest under $200k.
My question: With the size of this, I have literally 14,000 square feet of drywall if I go to the studs. A total demo and total new drywall and replacement of trim is adding up to nearly a $60,000 investment.
My preference is selective demo, bleach cleaning and spraying everything with Kilz , but only truly gutting the two rooms that were nearly demolished by fire (2nd and 3rd floor, one corner), all the ceilings, and the central hall walls from top to bottom. I hope to use the open walls and ceilings to run new wiring, the new ductwork (removing rads), and new plumbing. This limited demo will, I believe, save $30,000 in demo, drywall and trimwork.
My question is: do I really "HAVE TO" gut to the studs?
Thanks! Karen
What you are proposing doing is what I usually do. Selective demolition. Fix what NEEDS to be fixed. So many people over rehab and price themselves right out of deals. In my opinion, you have the right idea.
@Clayton Barnes It is difficult to answer your questions for a few reasons.
1. We aren't provided with a particular deal to analyze. We don't have any details about what you are inquiring about. If I have to give you an answer based on what you provided, Id say that your ARV needs to be at a bare minimum higher than the 150k mark from the numbers that you provided. Rent is all going to depend on your finances and how the deal is funded. You need to buy it right to cover any overhead.
2. I honestly do not know your market. It is tough to say.
As a first time investor, I wouldn't recommend taking on an enormous rehab like this. You want to work out a few of the growing pains on something a little more along the easier side. This is especially true if you do not have a construction background. It is important to keep in mind that I do 99% of the work to my deals in house. I know how quickly my guys work, what materials cost, what needs to be done, and more importantly what does not.
Knowing what we do not know is the most valuable thing that we can be aware of. From there, informed decisions can be made.
I just looked at a hoarder cat house, my agent had to wait outside due to being terrified of cats and almost barfing! On the second floor the carpet was removed and can see the wood sub floor is stained all over. Plan on keeping for rental portfolio so there must be no smell down the road. Initially I thought to replace all sub floor, does kilz really seal the smell? I would think to be safe I would replace the floor and the bottom 4' of drywall throughout and seal the studs while it's open.
@Donna Pattani I personally haven't ever had the need to remove the lower 4' of drywall due to a cat issue. I think that may be overkill, and I don't think there would be a need to seal the studs with Kilz. It is very unlikely that they would be saturated in the same way that floor and subfloor would be.
The Kilz trick does work. We bleach everything and thoroughly air everything out. Sometimes we will bleach a second time. After that, 2 coats of Kilz seems to improve tremendously. After you do the rest of your renovation, it is unlikely that you would be able to smell the cats.
Bought a house soaked in dog pee. Dog lifted its leg against most of the corner bead to the point where the rust was running down the corners.
Fair amount of drywall removal. Concrete floors, so luckily minimal issue there.... just clean, clean, clean with bleach, then seal before putting new flooring on top.
A different house had a bathroom used as a litter box. Literally just a bathroom covered in kitty litter and all the things kitties use litter for. Removed all drywall. Another concrete floor, so not as bad as it could have been. Cleaning, sealing and then new flooring. New drywall. Studs were not soaked, luckily, so it could have been worse.
#1 Is the trick to use bleach directly from the bottle, undiluted? And it's just a matter of mopping it on, letting it dry and then painting over?
#2 Am I on the right track to also treat all the remaining walls with Kilz? Since there was mold in the house I figured some of lingering odor might be on the remaining walls.
@Karen O. we generally dilute the bleach in water when we spray the subfloor. We basically put it into a spray bottle and hit the surfaces a few times until the smell has lessened.
Yes. If you have any issues with the walls I would use a higher quality primer. Kilz, Zinnser, etc. something that encapsulates and seals.