I’m back in the game. I was out of the loop for a bit, since I was sick (and so was the family) for a while and I was pretty much off-line a lot and not looking at houses. I guess I’m human and not filled with tiger blood and don’t have Adonis DNA! LOL!
We looked at a few houses today. Two were really dumpy (they were newly listed HUD houses). The first one was right in front of the train tracks and needs a full rehab. I don’t think this house would even be attractive to wholesale it to a rehabber, unless you got it WAY under asking price. The second one was a 4 family with an awful layout inside and also needs a full rehab. You should have seen the 1960s appliances! It was overpriced and I also don’t think it would be attractive to a rehabber or landlord unless you could get it dirt cheap, and HUD typically doesn’t drastically reduce prices (or accept lowball offers) in the first few weeks. The third house was promising - a short sale in excellent condition that we could use as rental. We may put in an offer, but want to crunch some numbers first. And we want to view a couple more properties this week.
One major issue is that even in this slow market, most houses are not cheap around here. The first house we looked at was under $100k, but that’s not the norm. Even if a house is a dump, it’s not cheap. I am envious of investors in other markets when I hear they can pick up a fairly decent rehab deal or rental house for $20k!! So, we also want to look at some half duplex/condos to use as rentals, because those are cheap and could cash flow a ton of money every month. But, I’m a little nervous about that since I know duplexes and condos can be a hard to resell. Do any of you purchase duplexes/condos as rentals? If so, how is it working for you?
I did ask our Realtor today what houses were selling lately, since the market was SO slow when there was 2-3 feet of snow on the ground this winter. She said that the houses under $200k (in good condition) are selling fairly well, if priced right, primarily to first time home buyers. That’s good to know, at least some houses are selling!
On the non-REI front, I have been working on our websites to monetize them and join affiliate programs. I took a break from doing that when I was sick but will get back to doing that this week. We also have been selling stuff on eBay again. That’s been a good extra source of income. My husband has also been buying some stuff on Craigslist and reselling it on eBay. (Coincidentally, Shae Bynes did a podcast about this very topic this week – check it out here.) Kinda like wholesaling houses, but on a smaller scale! That’s been going well so far. We gotta keep as many irons in the fire as possible. We are “hustling” as my husband said earlier today.
Happy Investing!
Tags: bank owned houses, buying your first home, condos, Craigslist, duplex, duplexes, eBay, first time home buyers, flipping houses, HUD, invest in real estate, podcasts, Real Estate Investing, rehab, rental properties, REO, wholesale real estate
