highland park large residential conversion

[Yelena Utin]

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $2,000
Cash invested: $196,032

converting 4fam residential into large single fam private luxury residence for owners. expanded grounds by purchasing 3 surrounding lots.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

to have a place to "retire to"

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

craigslist. was listed for 5k, I saw the roof needed to be replaced so I submitted an offer for 2k.

How did you finance this deal?

savings and the profit form a sale of an out of state property.

How did you add value to the deal?

by installing custom/upscale features and expanding the grounds.

What was the outcome?

still renovating, in litigation against a former contractor

Lessons learned? Challenges?

never pay a contractor/company anything up front even if it takes you years to find someone to do the work.
live somewhere for a couple of years before trying to get into a total gut.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

no, and I don't recommend buying off cg. i was lucky.