A Couple Of Seniors Do A Forecloseure Rehab
Let the fun begin
My wife, Jeanne, and I had done 2 deals before this one. The first was a “flip” which we sold in 19 days using a back-to-back closing and we used a short ad: “Handyman Special, cheap, cash, phone number”. We got over 80 calls.
The second was a pretty house that only needed minor fixing…we sold it after listing “FSBO” for a month or so after completion.
After two great successes, we were mailing our letters to out-of-state owners and to pre-foreclosures (Lis Pendens). We got a response from an owner was about to go into foreclosure with a private lender.
The Deal of Deals…$20,000.00 in repairs! A long story short, we finally talked to his ‘private’ lender and he indicated that he was through waiting…he was going to foreclose. He also indicated that he would not discount the note. That left us with the decision of walking away or continuing. We decided to give the owner $5,000.00 walking money, and to assume his note with the private lender. We figured it would take $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 to make the house fit for human habitation.
The Gopher factor:
Next we had to find someone who could do the work for us since neither of us are now capable of this undertaking. Luckily we had a friend who wanted to do the work for half the net and we shook hands (don’t make this mistake; sign a contract that spells out all the requirements of each). After a few days of rehab, Jeanne tripped over some debris in the driveway and broke a bone in her foot and another in her wrist. She was fitted with casts and we continued. About 7 weeks later our friend had accomplished a huge task. Jeanne and I acted as gophers and we worked the sales at Lowes and Home Depot to get some good savings.
The Hot Market and Exit Stategy # 2!
After trying for weeks to sell the place (five open houses and no visitors of importance), Jeanne and I decided we should try to lease or option the property. But, we now had partners and we had to see if we could buy them out. As it turned out, they were willing to part company for a nominal amount.
From naive senior citizens to landlords, it’s been a trip. Other than Jeanne’s breaking bones our trail hasn’t been too rocky. If we can do it, some of you youngsters can surely do so!
Submitted by:
Lew Higgins & Jeanne Nelson (semi-retirees)
Realty investing LLC
Clearwater, FL 33763
By: SpudStud
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Posted under Foreclosures
This post was written by admin on February 1, 2009
