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Real Estate Pondering

April 4th, 2014 at 02:41 pm

Checking in. Things here are going fine. Husband and I are back on an even keel. We recently traveled to FL for two days to visit family and friends.

Also I talked to my work about getting some time off to travel to far away family. Since it is the beginning of the "slow season" when several horses leave for cooler climates- she told me to choose the days. I gave her a requested 5 days off. Then she created the schedule and gave me 8 consecutive days off!

Tomorrow morning we are going to look at a SFH that is listed for sale as a foreclosure. The house is identical in architecture to the home run property we gave to FIL. But this one is in much worse condition. It is listed for $60k less than what we paid for the home run property. (I call it a home run property because it was under priced when we bought it- it appreciated about 50k after we fixed it up- and has since appreciated about an ADDITIONAL $75k. I still get mad at myself for letting that go.)

We feel that this property is perfect to flip. Depending on what the finished product looks like- We can make $20-100k on it. We have the money to buy it- but not all the money to fix it. Actually- we DO have almost all the money to fix it- but that would wipe our savings dry. And HUSBAND says it makes him nervous to do that! I'm not sure if it was the recent episode of straining to pay basic bills in CA that taught him, or if he is maturing, or if -maybe I am the over optimistic person regarding this deal.

So we are cautiously excited. A deal this good has not hit the market since we have been looking over the last 7 months.

We might buy it and hold to resell when the market is stronger. We think the property will appreciate in just the condition it is in because it is in an upward transitional neighborhood and it is under priced right now.

We might buy it and fix what we can with it. We have enough to fix over half of it.

Or we might do the deal with our contractor. He has materials (sheet rock/sinks/counter tops)sitting on his property (collected from previous jobs) and can do the labor himself and with his crew. Obviously we just came out of partnering with someone and it went bad. So I'm not at all eager to do it again. This is different because it is one deal a few blocks from my house- rather than setting up an entire business across the country.

We are all going to look at it tomorrow. I've been around the outside, and husband has noticed several groups of people walking around it. (He has driven by it about 10 times since it came on the market 2 days ago).

The outside is MUCH better condition than the inside.

So we might not even get it. To be continued.


4 Responses to “Real Estate Pondering”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    1396625342

    Definitely don't wipe out your savings to fix up! A partial fix up should still increase the value. Good luck!

  2. snafu Says:
    1396627228

    Sending best wishes for an excellent outcome. Wonder if agent has set it up for a bidding war with an expectation of selling for significantly more than true value. It's so easy to get emotionally vested.

  3. Jenna Says:
    1396641358

    I find your blog confusing. A week ago your life was a mess because of a job where you make $8.50/hr. There was talk of struggle to pay bills, Husband was going to give up cable... Sounded like you were a struggling first time mom and everyone rallied around you in support.
    Now, a week later you are pondering putting upwards of 100k cash into a flip project. If you have that kind of cash available why are you working for $8.50 an hour and talking about struggling?
    I don't know, I guess if you have that kind of cash available I don't understand why you would take a job that would cause problems in your marriage and effect your baby negatively (not eating for the first two months that you worked at the barn). I feel like your cash assets could help you out of problems that seem to turn your world upside down, at least in the short term while your baby is so young. And with the money you make from your other rentals (it sounds like you have more than a few) that you possibly already have the "grand living" you mention wanting in your profile.

  4. Looking Forward Says:
    1396667546

    I'll be interested to see what happens.
    I am very curious about investment properties.
    Would you have to get a mortgage for this house? If so what type do you get and where?
    Also curious about how you got started with your other houses. Smile

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