All Forum Posts by: Jodi M.

*posted this already but thought it would fit better in this forum.

We are looking at purchasing 19 acres. There is a house on a 1 acre partial and an 18 acre partial being sold as one. It is being held in a trust and goes up for auction in a few weeks. I started researching the property including access to the property and came across some concerns.

Currently there is a lane going back to 4 houses. The lane is owned by a guy who bought it at a tax sale but doesn't live or own property near the lane. In order to get to the property you have to use that shared lane and go over another property owners land. Our goal with the property is to fix up the house and sell it with the 1 acre partial then build a new house on the other part. We also thought about subdividing some land into a couple of large lots and building a spec house. I want to make sure we can legally subdivide and have access to all areas of the property without the unknown expense of an easement. I talked with a neighboring property owner who went to the courthouse but said they weren't helpful.

Any ideas of who to contact and how to insure we can use the property the way we want? If we can't divide it for our own new house we wouldn't be interested in this property. So far I have sent an e-mail to my RE attorney, the title company I use and talked with the neighboring owner and the county use administrator. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I'm not sure about the Lowes ones but we tried it on the Menards in stock unfinished cabinets and were pretty disapointed. The glue spots showed through and the sides looked pretty cheap. We had to make boards to cover the ends. Good luck :)

There is an estate auction here in April that we are interested in. 19 acres with a house. Is it possible to contact the sellers and make an offer before the auction happens or do they have to follow through with the auction now that it's been advertised?

Thanks for any ideas!

Kelly N. Which department do I need to call to get that information? There have been several subdivisions that have gone up in this area and I agree that mostly the big developers do it although the subdivision we built in and currently live in was developed on old cattle pasture ground by a local farmer.

The main reason we are considering this option is because we want to keep the back 10-12 acres (a good building spot and hunting timber). I know this might sound crazy as an investor but other than the spec house our goal isn't really to make a lot of money off this subdivision, it is to make enough to pay for the expenses and initial land so we will have gotten our 10-12 acres paid off for.

We are looking at a 19 acre plot of land with a house on it. We would like to puchase the land which is in 2 tracts being sold together at an auction. There is a 1 acre trac with the house and an 18 acre trac with a beautiful area to build surrounded by mostly timber. Our goal is to rehab the house and sell it with the 1 acre then subdivide the other 18 keeping about 10 to build a house for ourselves, 1 to build a spec house and divide the rest into in a couple lots that range from 1-3 acres.

What are the steps we need to take in order to subdivide? The property is located about 2 miles outside of the city limits. I know the land has to be surveyed, a road will have to be put in (unless we can get permission to use a driveway already in place). Are there any permits we need? We want to have the details worked out before we bid on the house in order to know high to bid.

Thanks!

Maher Bateh

I asked that same question a week or so ago and most people said yes. I talked to a broker here and was told I could buy/sell in my own name I just have to disclose that I am an agent. If I buy/sell in my husbands LLC name I have to disclose that I am related to the company owner.

I started working on my license and hope to be finished by the end of May. I'm currently a school teacher so I want to finish and have the summer to focus on making contacts etc.

Good luck!

Justin S.
Last year was our first year investing and we are only looking at flip number 3 which is why I'm still cautious. As far as how we want to run the business. We don't mind having a lower profit on some houses if it means our money is not tied up for as long and we have more consistant payouts. I know we can't make $30,000 everytime in this area (Ave selling price is $120,000) Our goal is to always have a one going. We could get 2 flips done in a year or 10 and either is fine since this is part time for us. Last year we only did 2 and the payouts were good but each one took us about half the year to complete. Also looking at neighborhoods, the first house sold in 1 day the other is sold before we are ready. This house is in a neighborhood with average days on the market of 11.

Jim M. The basement has been partialy finished already so we planned to just fix it up some. Finish the drywall, paint, and flooring.

Jim M. Only having an estimated profit of $10,000 is what concerned me since it is so much lower than our other ones. It should take half the time and if needed would rent for about $1200/month. I think I estimated the rehab cost high but unexpected things seem to come up and $10,000 doesn't seem to last long.

If we take this one we would do all of the work ourselves and plan to put in all new flooring, paint, new kitchen cabinets, new bathroom fixtures/vanity (already has a new jet tub) and finish the basement. It's a small house at only about 850 sq ft.

Sorry for the lack of info, was just trying to get an idea of what other people's goal dollar amount to walk away with was but here's what we did.

The first house

bought for $14,500
Bought the lot next to it for $1,500 (due to property line problem). We put about $25,000 into repairs and 5 months of work.
Sold it for $67,500
After realtor fees etc came away with a profit of a little over $20,000.

The 2nd house
bought for $17,500
Have about $18,000 and 5 months of work in it
Selling by owner so no realtor fees, will walk away with about $34,000

The House we are looking at

Asking price is $84,500 our Top offer would be about $72,000 (sellers countered another buyers $65,000 offer with $75,000)
Estimated rehab cost $20,000 and 2 months of work (assuming we don't find any major hidden problems)
Local realor says it should resell for $110,000
After holding expenses should profit a little over 10,000

Thanks for your thoughts

We are looking into bidding on our 3rd rehab. We have done 2 in the last 12 months with both having a very high ROI for this area. Both sold in the $65,000-$70,000 range.I realize we were very lucky and it won't always happen like that. Both were forclosures and took 5 months to complete. (We do the work ourselves outside of our full time jobs)

How much do you guys look to make on a house in the $100,000-$120,000 range? We are looking at a house in a very desireable area. The asking price is higher than we worked with before and will sell for more The ROI is only about 1/2 of the others but the amount of time/work will also be much less and should be able to go back on the market in a month or 2.

What do you think, try it or not? Thanks