I cannot compare my self with the big names of bigger pockets such as J Scott, Todd Whidon among others, but I am posting my tiny renovation, This house is not my first investment deal but after falling a couple of times and almost loosing hope I was able to pull it together. I bought this property at an HUD auction and actually made the bid under the price it was being asked (70k). My buddy, a realtor broker, thought I was not going to get the deal but after doing an analysis (thanks to BP) I offer what it made sense for me and submitted my bid for $62,123 (the 1,2,3 was suggested by my buddy). To my surprise my buddy called me telling me that my offer was accepted! I bought this property with a conventional loan from a bank and only put down 20% of the 62,123 so my final mortgage for the house was 50k. I immediately though about exit strategies and first wanted to do a wholesale. I contacted some numbers. from the "I buy ugly houses" banners to a search of real wholesalers in my area. I received 3 phone calls back right away and the most amount of money I got was 75k. I was about to get it sold but my buddy (the realtor) told me to actually fix it and get it rented because the house, according to him, was a good deal. I had my doubts but listen to him anyways and decided to fix the property. The property was missing some plumbing and gas pipes busted throughout the house (gas meter and water meters were taken from the premises by the water and gas companies. The plumbing and gas pipes were an issue because the bank give me 10 days after the closing to fix it otherwise they were going to pull the loan and penalize the mortgage broker and my buddy the realtor. This two guys are friends of mine and it paid of to make a deal through them because the banks knew them and only accepted me because they guaranteed me and put their names on the line, so I had to finish this plumbing and gas issue within the allowed time. I did finish the gas and plumbing on time and had the city inspected and then the bank as well; I passed. This house was a two family and the previous owners converted the property into a single family only on paper because it was still a 2 family inside. I asked the town if I could convert the property (on paper) back to a2 fam. but I was denied. I then quickly began the process of converting the property into a single family. I change the flooring except a couple of rooms that already had laminate floor, so I continued with the laminate floor except for the kitchen and bathrooms were I put tiles. I also made a bedroom out of the kitchen on the second floor completely gutted and renovated the bathroom on the second floor ( it looked medieval and scary) and created a family room on the second floor were I put wood flooring. I got rid of all the carpet, painted the house and posted the property on Poslets. I got a lot of people calling me so I did an open house and received multiple applications. The property is in a "B" neighborhood and I did a market analysis to see how much I could rent the property for. I was advise to place it between 1,250 and 1,500 so I posted the rent for 1,480 (so it doesn't look like $1,500) and to my surprise I got a lot of people responding and even though I did not accept section 8 (decision I made because of the forums and podcast in BP). Also, because of one of the podcast (cannot recall which one at the moment) I made sure to disclose to the tenants that I want them to take care of the trash, snow removal, and cutting the grass along with what is consider an "emergency". In addition, I am training the future tenants that the best way to get a hold of me is through texting (thanks BP). I am selecting my tenant this week and I hope that things work out. Here are some of the before and after pictures (I regret not taking more of the before and having the same angle when I took the pictures) and is 95% completed just some minor thing that should be done very shortly.
The last two pictures are the family room I made on the second floor and the bathroom I gutted. the project is almost done and I should have it rented by the end of the month. Oh yes, one more thing I also received an offer for a rent to own so I guess that could be a possibility. thank you BP.
