They all said: You can’t do that any more, page 4

Our son Todd did the brunt of the work on these buildings and when we first started my wife took vacation time to work on them and I worked nights at my regular job so that I had time during the day to work with my son, who also kept his part time job for another year.

Todd’s enthusiasm and energy got this going and failures and successes in the past taught me that to succeed you do what works and hang in there trying to just repeat it. We also could have used RealtyTrac back then.

The little house I mentioned previous had been in the MLS (multiple listing service) for three months at a price of $34,000 and had just re-listed at $29,000 with a Real estate broker we had met and said he would work with us. Think how easy you have it, all you do is go to RealtyTrac for listings.

The night we looked at the property it started to rain as soon as we got inside and the rain water was running down the inside of the dinning room window and inside the back three season porch, the water was running down the basement steps. Actually the basement already had 4 to 6 inches of water in it. The portable sump pump in the basement let us and the realtor know that the owner was well aware of the fact the roof leaked. Broken plumbing and cracked plaster showed the house had been empty for some time and on that basis we offered two thirds of the asking price and asked the owner to carry it on paper (a contract for deed).

The realtor came back with a counter offer of cash only and information that the house was the seller’s mother home and she had not lived in it for over two years. She was in a nursing home and the county would not cover her costs while she owned property but also she could not have more than $2,000 in cash assets or they would not pay either.

We told the realtor that made the price $ 2,000 cash and he smiled and said, “Plus commission”. RealtyTrac is much easier to deal with than that realtor.

We agreed on $15,000 cash total and made the deal, now all we needed was $15,000.

I sent my wife and son to the bank to secure a line of credit on our home by which we could purchase the little house. They came back all smiles; they had gotten the $15,000 without a hitch. I said we had to be like the farmer buying a cow. There is the cost of the cow and maybe the banker doesn’t know it, but the farmer certainly does. The cow needs to be fed. I went back to the bank and increased the credit line to $20,000 to cover costs.

We took two months and spent $6,000 fixing up the house, plumbing, electrical, roof repair, appliances and fresh paint and new carpet. Rented the place out for $480 pr month and had the place appraised for over $40,000.

Try RealtyTrac, it can help you do what we did.

Realty Trac Page 5