susangoates's blog

I made it! I listed the house on Feb 3rd and it went under contract on Feb 14th! I wanted to get 152K for the house and ended up with 151K....not bad!

As we were making the final testing of everything we had a pipe break inside the wall - YIKES! We had to cut a hole in the wall and fix it, lucky for us we were able to determine the area since everything else in the piping was new - this was the only place where we didn't check.

So, I will repaint the wall today and hook up the sink, again.

The house is beautiful and the couple is very excited....and so am I. This is my new career and I couldn't be happier. The appraisal will be sometime this week and I am on the high end of the market so I hope it does well.....

Wish me luck!!!
Susan

Ok....so it is taking me a lot longer to rehab this house than I expected. I hired a handyman to do some electrical and plumbing for me. He helped us finish our basement last year and he is honest and knows his stuff. Well, he is a bit slow and then was out sick for a week while working on my project. So, what should have taken 6 - 8 weeks is now turning into 12 weeks. But, this is my first one so I can cut myself some slack.

My husband and I are finishing up on paint touch ups, and the rest of the base moldings in the bath's and kitchen/dining area. The granite counter tops should be arriving on Monday and the appliances come the end of next week. Then we complete the backsplash and change out the outlets so they are all white.

We closed on time and I have had the house for 10 days now. In that time I have had the furnace replaced, kitchen cabinets removed and new facia put on. The new windows have been ordered along with new gutters and I hope they arrive next week.

I have begun taking down some wood paneling that was up in two rooms. It's messy but I am making good progress. The rest of the tear out will happen next week (I hope) with stronger men to help me.

The kitchen cabinets have been ordered so I now need to get busy and find some kitchen tile.

Pictures will be coming as I will be taking some in the next few days.

My plan was to use my IRA money to make the purchase. After I got the house under contract I met up with an attorney and man, I have to say, I have messed things up a bit. I am now faced with making the decision to liquidate the account. My husband and I have spent many hours discussing it and I am truly grateful that he is so supportive in this. He is willing to put everything we have on the line for this venture - and it stresses him out but he is willing. I am so blessed!

I had a home inspector come out to make sure that I didn't miss anything and there were no surprises - I am quite relieved.

Let the celebration begin! After 4 weeks and 15 offers made I finally got an acceptance! We took a ride out to the house this morning to take a peak since my offer was made strictly by the numbers...and I have to say, it's a great house. So here are my thoughts.

The windows are old and need replacing. Needs a new kitchen, 1 bath makeover and a new one put in, new flooring, paint and new furnance and AC. I expect the renovation to cost around 25K....but here is the best part....The numbers indicate that I can get 25K or more once I sell it! Hooray!!! This is my new job...no more cubicles for me!

Hope to close in about 3 weeks and then start the demolition. I plan on using video and pictures to tell the rehab story - can't wait to get started!

I lost out on two more offers yesterday. Seems everyone wants to pay asking price for these fixers. My goal is to make 20-30K per property and I am getting beat out by other investors. By my calculations they are making around 10K per deal. And that is if the property sells at the high end. I am wondering if I should be happy with a 10K profit for 3 months of work or stand my ground and keep searching for the property that gets me to my goal. What do you think?????