TallTom
Registered
Before moving here to Alabama I lived in Florida and did pretty well investing in real estate. I would buy, rehab, and flip or buy and hold. Then they started TV shows on it, making it look easy and everyone thought they could do it and paid stupid money after that. Just meant you had to look deeper and you had less margins. Instead of doing 3 houses a year I was only getting 1 that I was willing to buy. Then my wife decided she wanted a divorce, and it was a bloodbath and I sold off everything. Kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Plus the market was depressed as we all know.
I finished school here and have been looking for a job. Which has been harder to come buy than I expected. So I sort of started drifting back to the "Well it worked before, lets look at houses here". I live in a little pocket of pretty good prosperity here. Most have good incomes and houses are typically not on the market long. And Airbus is going to make it boom in about 3 years. So we have been steady and up ticking here.
So I had been sort of been chumming the waters so to speak but not really jumping in with both feet. But I keep my eyes open. About 9 months ago I started looking at a house that was empty but in a way pricier neighborhood than I typically would fish in. Bay view, huge lot, huge house, long driveways etc. Empty and run down. It had all the signs of "interesting". So I tracked down public records and began researching. Hmm an estate property. With taxes overdue. Huge Tax assessment value. So I halfheartedly chum the waters through the Probate attorney. 6 kids, no executor, none really get along together. He is like, "This has been a nightmare house. Its free and clear, but the estate has no money to pay taxes etc and the kids have to argue about it constantly. They pay taxes out of pocket and ***** about the upkeep cost but don't put it on the market. Parents passed away 3 years ago and the house has just sat there doing nothing." All the things I need to hear!
Well would it hurt me to make an offer? He was like..."Heck all they can do is say no." So I low balled the hell out of it and it of course got rejected. Then my shark days started to kick in a little. I waited for the grass to get high and filed a complaint with the city. For which it was cited for. They were given 90 days to bring it into code or the city would do it themselves. By now I had gone to city hall and started learning who the inspectors were. So I sort of suggested that the house was a safety hazard because the rear deck was rotting out and it could cause an injury. "Umm maybe you want to inspect that when you go cut the grass back." Which they did. And cited them for that. So now the city has a lien on the property for the grass cutting they did ($350 for a lawn mowing job), and a new problem with the deck that was now cited. Same 90 days to comply and this was now going to be expensive for the repair.
So I made my 2nd pass with an offer. Lower than the 1st one, agreeing to satisfy the liens and citations at my expense. To which they have agreed. So then I have to convince my bank that this is all going to work out. None of my local banks wanted to touch it. Needs work, you put 100K into it cash and we will think about it. Blah Blah Blah. So I went back to my old private lenders from my old days.
OK here' s the deal, I need cash for 120 days and I will repay. Secured by this house. He flew up and looked it over and he was "No problem". I close in 2 weeks barring any unforeseen liens that I don't know about yet.
I took this one down. At 60% under market with a 100K in rehab she will bring a nice value. I'll flip at low market or refi and live in it. Although it is WAY more house than I need to live in. Hey maybe an indoor Busa parking area!!!
Just when I thought I'd never want to do it again.............they lure me in with a nice kill again. This is how it snowballed before. I started out with one kill, which netted the cash for the next 2 etc.
It will be a total gut job and re-model. It's 20 years old, and looks like they did NOTHING to it in those 20 years. But when its finished. Oh yeah!!!!
If pics weren't such a PITA to post here, I'd post it up.
Still not "employed", but I will be plenty busy for about 4 months now.
I finished school here and have been looking for a job. Which has been harder to come buy than I expected. So I sort of started drifting back to the "Well it worked before, lets look at houses here". I live in a little pocket of pretty good prosperity here. Most have good incomes and houses are typically not on the market long. And Airbus is going to make it boom in about 3 years. So we have been steady and up ticking here.
So I had been sort of been chumming the waters so to speak but not really jumping in with both feet. But I keep my eyes open. About 9 months ago I started looking at a house that was empty but in a way pricier neighborhood than I typically would fish in. Bay view, huge lot, huge house, long driveways etc. Empty and run down. It had all the signs of "interesting". So I tracked down public records and began researching. Hmm an estate property. With taxes overdue. Huge Tax assessment value. So I halfheartedly chum the waters through the Probate attorney. 6 kids, no executor, none really get along together. He is like, "This has been a nightmare house. Its free and clear, but the estate has no money to pay taxes etc and the kids have to argue about it constantly. They pay taxes out of pocket and ***** about the upkeep cost but don't put it on the market. Parents passed away 3 years ago and the house has just sat there doing nothing." All the things I need to hear!
Well would it hurt me to make an offer? He was like..."Heck all they can do is say no." So I low balled the hell out of it and it of course got rejected. Then my shark days started to kick in a little. I waited for the grass to get high and filed a complaint with the city. For which it was cited for. They were given 90 days to bring it into code or the city would do it themselves. By now I had gone to city hall and started learning who the inspectors were. So I sort of suggested that the house was a safety hazard because the rear deck was rotting out and it could cause an injury. "Umm maybe you want to inspect that when you go cut the grass back." Which they did. And cited them for that. So now the city has a lien on the property for the grass cutting they did ($350 for a lawn mowing job), and a new problem with the deck that was now cited. Same 90 days to comply and this was now going to be expensive for the repair.
So I made my 2nd pass with an offer. Lower than the 1st one, agreeing to satisfy the liens and citations at my expense. To which they have agreed. So then I have to convince my bank that this is all going to work out. None of my local banks wanted to touch it. Needs work, you put 100K into it cash and we will think about it. Blah Blah Blah. So I went back to my old private lenders from my old days.
OK here' s the deal, I need cash for 120 days and I will repay. Secured by this house. He flew up and looked it over and he was "No problem". I close in 2 weeks barring any unforeseen liens that I don't know about yet.
I took this one down. At 60% under market with a 100K in rehab she will bring a nice value. I'll flip at low market or refi and live in it. Although it is WAY more house than I need to live in. Hey maybe an indoor Busa parking area!!!
Just when I thought I'd never want to do it again.............they lure me in with a nice kill again. This is how it snowballed before. I started out with one kill, which netted the cash for the next 2 etc.
It will be a total gut job and re-model. It's 20 years old, and looks like they did NOTHING to it in those 20 years. But when its finished. Oh yeah!!!!
If pics weren't such a PITA to post here, I'd post it up.
Still not "employed", but I will be plenty busy for about 4 months now.
