Posted by Bill (OH) on March 25, 2000 at 04:51:39:
Darn right it should be required reading! You can make quite a good living with houses like this—I’ve seen my broker do it many times and I’ve done it a couple of times. I stay out of the worst of the neigborhoods, but even in ‘good’ rental areas you can wind up with vandalism.
I have a three family I’m bringing back to life and it was spraypainted, broken into and tools stolen. Imagine my surprise when I caught the *&^#($ who did this that they were a couple of old hippie types (man/woman) in their forties!! They didn’t even live in the area, they just wanted a place to do drugs and sleep. So, they have three hots and a cot for the next six to 12 months while I finish my work and put new renters in----it just goes with the business.
Just thought people might be interested in an artical that appeared on the cover of the Detroit Free Press today. For people who think they have had some difficult restoration projects look at this. The Company name is Phoenix Real estate located in detroit
LAUREN http://www.freep.com/news/locway/rehab23_20000323.htm
The man got the guts, but what a HARD way to make a
living. Someone in Detroit area should just go and make a living off of this guy. Just make $5K or more a pop by tying up houses cheaper and flipping it to him.
It does not take any handyman/management skills except for having a nose for a good deal. I recently bought a a beat up raggedy junker house in pre-foreclosure in the worst part of town for $11K. Resold it for $32K cash to an investor in about 2 months “as is”. In fact I had 3-4 people competing for it. I had the “for sale” ad running, while I was busy doing other things.
The house and especially backyard was filled up with 2-3 dumpsters of unimaginable trash. At closing I held back a $2K deposit from seller’s proceeds until they completely cleared out the yard and the house. I got the house all ready, not pretty, but free of waste and junk.
I have a feeling that my outlook on life is much happier and healthier than the gentleman’s in the story. He has to be worried for his and his employee’s life, let alone all the nuisance with scavengers.
Re: Happened to me, too! - Posted by Chris-Chicago
Posted by Chris-Chicago on March 25, 2000 at 08:03:12:
Lauren,
The very first flip I tried to do was a $22000 house on the South Side of Chicago in a neighborhood that was bad even by my own standards (I grew up in a bad one myself!). The day before my potential buyer did his final inspection walk through I got a call that the house was stripped. When I get there I see they’ve taken the fridge and the stove and I’m okay with that–they were never part of the deal with my buyer. Then I notice they’ve taken the bathroom sink and the toilet . . .okay . . . . this deal can still be saved!
It wasn’t until I went to the basement and saw they had taken the new $5000 central heating system that I knew I was toast! It was like a punch in the stomach.
It’s taken me until this year to recover.
The kicker was that the house had a steel security door and they stole that too! Presumably so they could protect MY stuff!
Oh my gosh is that gross!! My husband see this kind of stuff on a daily basis, I just didn’t think it hapened all over like that. Every newbie should read this. So should every landlord, it should show you that your tenants could do this to your property. All part of the screening process and safegaurding your investment. Great article.
Wow - and I thought I had a rough day today. This is absolutely incredible. All you newbies who think you are going through a rough time with a property, please read this and then all of a sudden your problems will not seem so bad !!!