BiggerPockets

I have the opportunity to pick up a 3/2,1300 sq ft. home with an attached 1 car garage home in the Vero Highlands area of Vero Beach, FL from an estate sale. It was built in the late 70s and it's a brick house that sits on a 1/4 acre lot. It's not going to win any beauty contests, but it's not a bad looking house either. It does have a brand new roof, but from what I understand It needs quite a bit of work done to be rent ready:

- Needs Central Air installed. I think the ducts are in and only unit needs to be installed, but then again, maybe the whole system needs to be replaced (don't know yet)

- It is not connected to city water, so that would need to be done. Don't know what's involved with that but I suspect it's not cheap.
- Carpet / tile throughout
- Updated kitchens and bathrooms.
- New driveway
- Water heater is jimmy-rigged to 2 110v outlets. This needs to be corrected.
- Electrical outlets throughout may need updating

Not knowing the first thing about rehabbing, my simple question is what should one expect a rehab project like this cost? Especially the whole getting city water bit. I imagine that will require digging up the yard and what not, which means I will also have to pay someone to come re-landscape at some level, am I correct?

He's a very motivated seller and I know I can buy the house at 20-30% of ARV. If I were a savvy guy, what should my next steps be? What questions would someone smarter than me ask? I have the cash for the deal and can close the deal on a whim, basically. Just don't know if I should...

What do you think, BiggerPockets?

If its really at 20-30% of ARV you should probablly purchase it quick.. these deals do stay around long, why not wholesale the property to someone who has more experience and just pocket a little bit and move on..
is the property on a well? is there water near by?
water heater work isnt too much,
kitchens and bathrooms, need updating? gutting?
carpet/tile is easy..
why does it need a new driveway? is there foundation damage to the property?
Just depends on if that 20-30% ARV is correct or not.. dont even know where vero beach is but most of florida is pretty hard hit.. just make sure the ARV is todays ARV! seems like a winner to me?

Josh,
Give me a shout it you want I will pull some MLS info up for you. I am in Vero Beach. Vero Beach Highlands is a good area. Its a community of about 2500 homes with paved roads. There are a few streets that are a little rough.

Brian-

Thank you for your response. The owner of the house was a bit old-fashioned and to be honest, cheap. When the city came through offering to connect the property to city water, the owner refused because it was too expensive. Even when they offered to do it for free, he declined because he didn't want the water bill. You get the idea. That reminds me. There's a well on the premises that is probably contaminated, and I would absolutely need to do whatever it took to remove any possible liability issues in the future.

I'm sure that as I gather more details on the property and go and check it out, and get a better idea of what I'm dealing with, what course of action I should take will become evident. Hope so anyway.

What do you believe the ARV is on the house? one thing ive learned on my cheap rentals is work generally cost the same on a 20,000 house or a 100,000 house..
if its a 200,000 house and even lets say purchase price is 50%- $100,000 that leaves you with a big ballpark for profit and the avaiblilty to do a few couple thousand dollar repairs that you wernt sure if they were needed. If the property is worth 20,000 and you purchase at 50%, $10,000 it leaves you with tiny amount of profit and a $3000 water line could eat up most of your profit.

Replacing a 100' water line on my $20,000 house would generally cost the same as replacing a 100' water line on a $200,000 house.
Hope this helps?
-Scott

Hi, if you need a second opinion, or just additional information, my brother is a Licensed Plumber and is contracted by the city of Orlando for city work. He does residential, contracting... all of that good stuff. You can give him a call and he can tell you very close at what to expect without even making the trip. I'll be happy to give you his number.