Portland, Maine - Munjoy Hill SFR - Fix & Flip or ???????
Hi Folks,
We finally closed this deal after a couple of months of hard work, finesse, and tenacity. This one came to us by word of mouth as the property was headed to market but wasn't quite there. We stayed at an Air BnB in the neighborhood while in Portland to make what turned out to be a failed offer on another property. I've been looking in the Portland area for a few months, had established a solid relationship with a Realtor who would act as a buyer's agent, and we had decided where we did and didn't want to be in Portland after looking at about thirty houses. Late on the last night of this trip one of our Air BnB hosts texted that they knew of a house down the street owned by a widower who might be interested in selling his house. Not having a name or phone number, we stopped in on our way out of town in the morning, introduced ourselves, and asked if he was interested in selling his house. His son was there, a dead ringer for Raymond, the Dustin Hoffman character in the movie Rainman, and an eleven year old boy who was very concerned because he couldn't find his tarantula that had escaped from his whatever it is you keep tarantulas in. A buyer with a little more foresight at this point might have had a better idea of what they were getting in to, but that wouldn't have been us. Let me, take a moment to introduce my wife and partner in crime, "C" aka "Sweetie". A tour of the house confirmed what we already knew, that this was a full gut renovation project held together by sixty years of nicotine, sticky stuff, and a shear will to stay upright. After an hour, we excused ourselves and retreated to one of the "Foodie" hot spots a half block away, and over espresso (coffee wouldn't have been strong enough), called our realtor, got a quick confirmation that it was a hell of a deal, and decided to take the plunge. Luckily it was only a half block walk so there wasn't time for second thoughts, and within five minutes, I was shaking the owner's hand on "the deal".
The ride back to NYC was one of shell shock, WTFs, Awesome !!!!, and okay now whats? We left a check for the earnest money with our realtor and the contract arrived via email while we were driving. By the time we got home, the deal was under contract. Complete turnaround time from when we heard about the house to contract was sixteen hours. It only gets more interesting from here but my fingers hurt from typing : - ) Stay tuned for more in the continuing saga of " The Portland Purchase", or "How Fast Can You Chew How Much You Bit Off?
Chapter 2: Meeting The Family.