Apr
16
Whee, Back to Work!
April 16, 2007 |
Nothing like a week-long “vacation” from the day job to make me happy to be back at the grind, as this’ll be the first day in a couple of weeks that I haven’t put in lots of hours working on a house somewhere or other.
Still much to do at the Austin house, but hopefully I can knock most of it out this week, heading over there after work on Tuesday-Friday, and putting in marathon days on Saturday/Sunday. That’s assuming the countertops go in this week as promised, which is the last major job. I always forget how long all the myriad little punch-out jobs take, none of which seem that large individually but manage to suck up a lot of time, as the last two days I’ve worked over there it seems like I accomplished very little, getting sucked into a never-ending world of painting trim, patching and texturing drywall, replacing outlets and switchplates, etc.
It does feel good, though, to be physically busy again, and actually tired and worn out when it’s bedtime. Which is a good thing, as I’ve got the Main St. house to focus on next, and I’m already scoping out another fix ‘n flip. Another foreclosure duplex just came up for sale, too, which looks fairly interesting on the surface, although I haven’t seen the inside yet. It was owned by the same previous owner that had this duplex I’ve been eyeing for months now, but it looks to be in better shape.
The other REO duplex, though, is down to $45,000, and has been on the market for quite awhile. I’m tempted to offer something ridiculous like $30,000, as it’s been on the market for quite awhile and I imagine the bank is getting pretty antsy. It’s a train wreck on the surface and needs much work, but would be a steal at $30K. I’d like to wait until the Austin house is under contract, which I probably will do, but I’m tempted to go ahead and make an offer with a closing date pushed fairly far off. Push come to shove, if they accepted for around $30K I could pay cash for it, although I’d rather finance it, just to keep the coffers fairly full.
Assuming we make a decent profit on the Austin and Main St. houses, I should be close to being able to pay cash for the next fix n’ flip. I suppose it depends on the property, but I’m leaning towards another 3-1, 3-2 SFR in the starter home range, as that’s by far what moves most easily in our local market, and what’s easiest for me to handle as far as doing the bulk of the work. I’m never going to make a killing on these but I think I can pretty easily pull $10-$20K profit out of each one, especially if I pay cash and avoid assorted mortgage fees.
Mix in picking up some rental properties over time (which I’d finance), and hopefully I’ll be able to build up a nice little mini-empire out here in the boondocks. As if that’s not enough scheming, I’ve also been rolling around the idea in my head of buying lots and finding a local homebuilder that’s willing to take on some small projects. There’s just a real lack of affordable housing in town, and I’d be curious to see what results you could produce if you specialized in building small houses (likely in the 800 sq. ft. to 1000 sq. ft. range) and offered seller financing. Especially if I could find a builder willing to build out to 75% completion, so that I could save a little money knocking out the rest. Granted, that’d be a whole other set of headaches, and nothing I’m really serious about pursuing in the short term, but something rolling around in my head.
