Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover!

So, our first foray into the world of beachside house-hacking and REI was a two-story duplex in beautiful Gulfport, located in southern Pinellas County, Florida. Although the city boundaries extend northward up to the Pinellas Trail, for me, the real Gulfport lies between 49th and 58th Streets, from 22nd Avenue South down to the shores of Boca Ciega Bay. Founded in 1884, Gulfport began its existence as Disston City, a tiny fishing village. Over the next few decades, the name was changed to Bonifacio, then Veteran's City. When a trolley line began bringing visitors from St. Petersburg in the early 1900s, the city incorporated itself as Gulfport and began a slow transformation into the tourist/vacation destination that it is today. Although the fishing trades moved on to more favorable waters years ago, Gulfport still retains much of the charm and ambiance of that era, and is now home to a diverse variety of artists, poets, musicians, quirky peddlers and beach lovers. I like to think of it as the Key West of Pinellas County.

At any rate, we caught wind of the above-mentioned duplex on a realty website. Listed at $275K, it seemed like a great opportunity to immerse ourselves in the Gulfport vibe and make some decent money at the same time. First and foremost, the numbers seemed to work. The 1% rule and a 5% ROI both seemed doable. The place needed a lot of work, but I was planning on doing a large portion of it myself, so that didn't appear to be a big issue. We'd live in one unit, rehab the other, switch places, do it again, then have a great unit to rent for around 2K per month and probably more during the high season.

Secondly, in terms of livability, this place was the cat's meow! The property was located in the southwest corner of town, only a block from Shore Blvd. (the main drag along the shore of the bay). We had visions of riding our tandem bike up the boulevard to the restaurants and shops that line the streets, setting up a booth to sell antiques and what-nots at the weekly fresh market, and soaking up the sun on a daily basis. Offers were being put in on the place almost immediately, so we jumped in head-first. We were excited when we found out that seller had accepted our offer of $278K, even though they had at least one other that was higher.  

Ahh, but then, reality started to rear its ugly head. A review of the zoning codes revealed that, since the structure was located at the rear of the lot, we wouldn't be able to add any additional space to the meager footprint of the building (625 square feet) without giving up its grandfathered exemption as a duplex. We thought long and hard about that one. We knew that we could convert it into a single-family home if we were too hemmed in, but if we did, the income potential would be gone. And, if we did keep it as a duplex, we wouldn't even be able to add a garage or shed for tinkering and additional storage. So...Strike 1!

Next up, the structure itself. We knew from the outset that the building had been constructed in 1945, and that it was located in a flood zone that would be inundated with water up to our knees from just a lowly Category 1 hurricane. Hey, we're Floridians, we'll deal with it, right?During our first walk-through, we noticed that the building had some settlement issues such as out of plumb/level floors, doors and windows, and cracks in the exterior concrete block walls. We proceeded to hire a home inspection company to look the place over, and after getting that set up, I did a little digging (figuratively) on the local historical society's website. Given the location, it wasn't all that surprising to find out that the neighborhood had been built on a mudflat, an area known long ago as "Fiddler's Flats". To make matters worse, the old town dump had been located in that same area back in the 1920s!

This is a good point to throw in what I think is some great advice. If you have any concerns regarding a structure that you're thinking about buying, and even if you don't...take the time to meet with the home inspectors when they do their onsite evaluation. If you're lucky, like we were, you may gain valuable insight about the property that you won't see in their highly disclaimered report. Our inspectors were kind enough to give us their personal "Would I buy this place?" opinion, and it wasn't very encouraging. So...Strike 2!

Well, even with those two strikes, we still thought that it might be worth looking for a possible remedy. We contacted a reputable foundation repair and leveling contractor and met with their estimator at the house. Upon entering the first floor, it was painfully obvious that an early morning rainstorm had sent a deluge of water under the front door. Puddles and soaked rugs were the order of the day, but the real deal-breaker came when we were informed that the foundation was probably broken into as many as four sections, and even though they could level and raise it (at a greatly increased cost ranging between $20K and $40K), they couldn't guarantee that additional settlement issues wouldn't occur in the future. So...Strike 3, you're outta here! We retracted our offer and went back to the drawing board.

In our next exciting installment, I'll tell you all about our second attempt, another duplex in Gulfport! You may be thinking we're gluttons for punishment, but this appeared to be a much safer, more stable structure with tons of storage and workspace. Until next time, cheers!