All Forum Posts by: Paul Sanders

Did you ever buy this property next to the fire station? Just wondering how it went. I'm looking at one right now that looks great other than being right next door to a fire station. 

Harriet,

That was the 6 month plan, which is probably turning more into the asap plan. I had hoped to get someone in the empty unit to stop the bleeding first, but I'm looking for an agent to list it now to go ahead and cut losses if we can. 

Thanks Matt, will look into that. 

Yeah I've thought of demolishing the garage. Haven't looked into pricing on that. I'll check into it. 

Any idea how to target single navy guys? I like that idea, but outside of posting a craigslist ad do you happen to know of a better place to advertise? 

Right now I have a property manager since I'm not in town and they haven't gotten it rented in two months, though in fairness that was over the holidays it went empty. 

I just checked on refinancing. We owe about what the house is worth, so that's not happening. We'd have to put $40k into the refi, and the lender recommended not going that route and to just put money into repairs. 

Also forgot to mention, there was mold remediation done in the crawlspace years ago, but there's still signs of that which showed on the last appraisal. Fun fun fun!

I've been loving the podcast, and am looking forward to my first successful deal coming up this month. But, I have this hell house I purchased in 2007 and I'm wondering what you guys would do with it. 

Market: Portsmouth, VA

The good:

• Refinished hardwood floors that are lovely
• Nice looking neighborhood and street
• Big living / dining / kitchen / front sitting porch

The bad: 

• Duplex that rents for max $800 each unit, mortgage is $1800 (2 units that are 2/1), tends to attract young navy couples who move away in a year
• Bottom unit has been empty since September
• I live out of state
• They just put expensive tolls in for the tunnels
• Ranked some of the worst schools in the US
• Upstairs has a failing A/C
• Downstairs has no central air, and a gas boiler heater on it's last legs
• Small bedrooms with tiny closets
• The garage looks like a murder shack with doors hanging off
• Ceiling in downstairs bath has a bit of water damage that is ugly

My thoughts:

I'm going to try to see if I can refinance it and roll a bunch of these expensive repairs into it (new A/C for both units, fix garage up, etc). 

I had also considered turning the big living room into a 3rd bedroom with half bath (the dining room is big enough to become the living room). This way I can list it for families, but that's a bit of a weird layout and the quote is $14k to do it.  Worth it? 

Anyone have suggestions? I'm drowning in frustration with this thing.

Looking forward to getting past this and into some awesome deals though!

Thanks