First Milwaukee Rehab Complete

[J Scott]

I haven't been around much the past 2 weeks, as I've been finishing up the rehab Marty Boardman and I have been working on in the Milwaukee suburbs. After 40+ rehabs in my local area (Atlanta), Marty and I decided to venture into a new market together and give long-distance rehabbing a try.

It was quite a project -- the largest I've ever attempted, both in terms of scope and budget. But, the results were great. We took an early 70s house that others considered a tear-down (according to my listing estate agent who had brought some other investors through the house when it was listed for sale earlier in the year) and brought it back to life.

It won't be a home run (purchase of $150K, rehab of $120K, listed for resale at $340K), but for a first long-distance project, we'll take it. We've had two showings on the first day after listing, and the feedback was great...hopefully we'll get it sold sooner rather than later.

And our second Milwaukee project is now under contract to purchase, just three doors down from the first. We close on it in 2 weeks and will be starting the rehab right after Christmas...

Here are some BEFORE & AFTER pictures:

Before Pictures:

http://www.123flip.com/house-pics/the-wi-1-house-before-pics

After Pictures:

http://www.123flip.com/the-wi-1-house-staging-pics

(not thrilled with the staging, but it's hard to find a good stager)

Some Side-By-Side Before & After:

http://www.123flip.com/house-pics/the-wi-1-house-before-after

[Dawn Anastasi]

There was a TON of stuff built between 1940 - 1960 in Milwaukee. You do find some older, and of course there are newer homes too. Especially the area where I live, right in the fifties, they started putting up homes like gangbusters for families with men returning from the military. Almost all the rentals I have are from 1949 - 1959. The one exception is from 1926. When I renovated it for renting out, the upstairs bathroom sink was a Kohler with a date stamp on it from 1915. Now that's some history!

Milwaukee may not be the best for flips, but rentals is a whole different story, especially on the Northwest side.

My 3 most recent rentals:
$25K purchase, $10K renovation, rented out at $800/month
$23K purchase, $2k renovation, rented out at $875/month
$24K purchase, $15K renovation, rented out at $1100/month