Hello Everyone. So I just went under contract on my first property that I bought purely from an investing standpoint. I've done a couple live in flips over the years, but the scope of work on this will be more than I've ever done before. I grew up outside of Lansing, Michigan in Holt. I live four hours away in Columbus, but plan on coming up 3-4 days a week at a time. I'm going to do a lot of the work myself, with the help of people I know in the area. I plan on documenting the whole rehab process from my (beginner rehabber) perspective. Any insight, suggestions, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.
THE HOUSE
The house is in East Lansing Michigan. It's on a large lot in a great neighborhood. The house is within 4-6 blocks of MSU campus, East Lansing High School, and McDonald Middle School. It's two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1150 square foot, old farmhouse. There's the potential to add a bedroom upstairs by adding a wall in a room that you walk through to get to one of the bedrooms. I could also finish a room in the basement and get a possible 4th bedroom.
The house was built in 1900, and moved to it's current location in 1960. The house belonged to my grandmother. She maintained the house well, but never did any renovations in the 50 years she owned the house. I had the home professionally inspected and nothing major came up.
FINANCIAL
I bought the house for 75k all cost included. A friend who's been flipping house's in the area for the last 7 years told me that if he had bought the home he would put 35k into rehab, and resell it for 200k. I feel like the 200k estimate might be high, but the home does have a lot of extra things going on for it with its location, large lot, two car detached garage, and boarding a acre lot that will never be built on. It is also a rare find for this neighborhood in that it is able to be turned into a rental, which is becoming a rarity in East Lansing. The tax assessment right now is for 130k which comes out to about 3300 a year in taxes. I bought the property outright. I have not yet gotten an insurance quote but plan to do that soon. My estimates are that I could rent the house with minimal rehab for 1100-1200 as is, and maybe 1400-1600 rehabbed nicely as a four bedroom. I'm going to be talking with some property managers/real estate professionals in the area to find out if I'm right or not.
MY PLAN
I'm in the process of trying to build a rental portfolio, and hope that this will be a great first addition. I'd like to buy and hold this property for years to come. If the numbers don't work right, I'm not opposed to flipping it, but don't plan on it as of now. My big project is cleaning out the house, and coming up with a scope of work for the rehab. I have 15 yard dumpster being delivered this weekend and I'm starting the work on Sunday. I'm going to take photos and will post them on here Sunday evening.
If there's anyone in the Lansing area who'd like to connect while I'm in town just let me know
