Invest with the Best!

   Years ago, we advertised this as a great investment, just hoping to sell it.  We advertised it on FB, we blogged about it .  We tried to sell this bad boy ourselves to no avail.

Duplex exterior before 

Duplex living room before

Duplex bedroom before

Then, it happened! It dawned on us, why don't we buy this funky little duplex.  It was a banked owned property.  Bank was asking about 70 K and we eventually settled on 55K.  Cash sale, quick close, as-is.  The diamond in the rough was now ours.
We did some quick renovations since the property was vacant.  All new paint on the exterior.  I think Jason must have chalked for two weeks straight!  We had a couple contractors over to fix up the stucco on the exterior where AC units were installed.  Ripped out all the carpets, installed new laminate and painted the interior.  Some newer appliances rounded out the reno and we were ready to rent. Wham- bam- thank you mam!

Laminate flooring after (did this in all carpeted spaces)

Having previous experience both as commercial and residential landlords, screening your tenants is a must.  This little property was easy to rent and was fully rented for the entire two years we owned the building.  As time went on our rents increased from the low $500 to $625. (Just between you and I, our secret to high rent is that we allow dogs.  This is the major reason we use hard surfaces on our units)  We just closed escrow yesterday.  We sold our property for 135K, cash, 21 day close.  A great deal for both of us.

Breakdown:

55K for one funky duplex
+7K in renos, repairs
62 K invest

127K cash return on sale (135 k minus Realtor and Escrow Fees)
+25K in rents
152K

90 K Profit!  (not including tax depreciation write offs)

Stay tuned, we have another investment project coming up that will be taking us in a new direction....

To Flip or not to Flip- that is the question!

A couple of years ago, in 2012, my husband and I viewed several different REO properties as potential investments.  If you remember, this was the height to the real estate downturn and at one point there were over 200 hundred distressed properties in our local market.  On a fabulous fall day, we viewed a property at 38 Pinnacle Rd. in Prescott.  We toured the home, and we could see the potential. This home was built in the late 1970s and still had its modern charm.

Here are a couple of before shots:  From Top to bottom

Exterior front, great room, master bath

The house was located in a desirable neighborhood, had great bones, and oozed with potential. However, at its listing price with the amount of money it would take to bring the home back, it was out of our league. 

Flash forward to yesterday, December 18 2014.  My husband bellowed from the office that I just had to check out a house.  There it was, 38 Pinnacle Rd.  The property had just closed and was starting a new- modern life.  The property was on the market for almost a year (due to an over valued starting price- in my humble opinion).  Purchase price for the REO property was 285K.  Closed price after the rehab was $641K.  Pretty nice profit potential even considering carrying costs and remodel costs.  Check out the pictures below for the updates- I did not even recognize the exterior!

From top to bottom:

Exterior front (new driveway, clean up- same from door!), Kitchen (wall moved, new everything), Great room (flooring, fireplace surround), Master bath (what? no more sunken blue tub?) and a really cool Rear Exterior (nice clear railing and great photo- by Royce Stringer??)