Deal of all deals in 2007....then we moved overseas!

We had moved back to the US from the Dominican Republic when we found out we were expecting a baby in 2005.

We started out just outside of Raleigh, NC, then, wanting to be closer to the beach, relocated to Kure Beach, NC. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and my wife gave birth to our daughter in that home, however, it was a bit too expensive for us for our long term goals. We wanted something that we could fix up and make a profit that would enable us to continue our adventures overseas (so many places yet to see!).

We ended up finding a Hud house and paying 64,001.00 for it. One dollar over the asking price.

The Good:

• The property had 3 acres - lots of room away from neighbors, but close to a major city and Wal-mart.
• Ranch style - 3 bedrooms/1.5 baths - 912 sq ft
• A fresh water pond.
• Stick built home that had a good foundation.
• The walls only needed a fresh coat of paint.
• No leaks in the roof and only a few shingles needed replacing.
• The HVAC system was still there and functional.
• Fresh, deep well water.
• Septic system in great shape.

The Bad:

• The carpet and linoleum were terrible (sub floor was perfect though).
• There was a 3/4 wall between the kitchen and living room that had to come down.
• The hot water tank had to be moved to a utility closet (it was on the kitchen side of the 3/4 wall.....huh?).
• There was a bit of wood rot on the T-111 siding of the home.
• All of the trim had to come down to be painted and then put back up.
• No propane tank.
• The exterior needed fresh paint.
• The property was marked as being in a flood plain. Being it was the highest level property in the community we felt it would be no problem to get that changed

We moved into the home and basically took care of all the bad while we were living there. The work was done fairly fast however we stayed for 1 1/2 years.

For the wood rot I removed the bottom trim piece all the way around the house. Setting my saw on an angle I cut away any of the 2" of rot and replaced by slicing in some new T-111. A little putty and you would never see it when painted.

The biggest challenge we faced was getting it changed from a flood zone. That took us months and we learned a huge lesson about flood zones in the Carolinas.

We sold the home in September of 2007 just before the crash. We took the first bid at $107,000. Our total profit was $37,000.00. ;) Not bad. Not bad at all.

Here are some photos......

Almost finished.... My wife had a vision of "California Peach". I think she made a great choice. Shutters were just a little bit darker and offset the white trim really well. I used a Wagner Power Sprayer (bought it for $100) and it only took two days to paint the entire house including the porch and trim.

Old Kitchen and Flooring. Note the hot water tank right next to the door that was eventually moved. There was a wall where the camera is pointing right now, but we removed it the first day we were there.

This is the hardwood floor we chose. We only did the kitchen and bathrooms with this. And yes....in the time it took me to take this picture my daughter got into the oatmeal.

We left the rest of the floors in the living room and bedrooms in this condition when we sold it. They were painted to match the room but no finish on them. This gave the new owners the chance to pick their own flooring. We figured we could make the flooring concession if we needed to when selling the home. Our rule is to keep everything as neutral and light as possible.

Our time in Leland, NC working on that house was a great time for our little family. We worked on the house together and ended up making an incredible profit for all our work. We ended up reaching our goals and left the country and continued our adventures abroad!

Tony