Yes, Virginia, this stuff DOES work… - Posted by Ric
Posted by Ric on November 28, 2002 at 22:56:58:
Does this real estate thing work? And can you buy property no money down? You bet your sweet bippy you can. I just did. How, you say? Well, here goes…
Drove my “farm” neighborhood back in July. I found a house with grass two feet high and about 10 of those free newspapers rotting in the driveway. I looked in the tax rolls and saw that the owner lived in CA (I’m in Georgia). I wrote a letter asking if he wanted to sell the house. He called back within 72 hours of me mailing the letter saying that he did. He arranged to get me the keys, and I took a look at the house. Though it was in fine shape structurally, cosmetically it was a mess. VERY dirty, lots of yard maintenance needed, smelled like smoke, exterior molded and mildewed. I figured the house was worth about $75k fixed up. After figuring what a realtor, a handyman, a painter, and a yard man would have cost to fix the place up to top-end retail condition, I made him an offer of $62,450, not expecting that he would take it. He did (waitaminit… why didn’t I offer him $60k!!!). Anyway, I fixed up the home while awaiting closing(with his permission… and yes, I know what a risk that was) --paint, carpet, yard work, and pressure washing the exterior. Got a loan for $77k. SO… after paying the seller, paying closing costs, and fixing up the place, I put somewhere around $1000 in my pocket along with almost eight grand in equity, and I will easily be able to rent it out for around $200/month more than my note.
Would I recommend you do it this way? Not necessarily exactly the same, but maybe with some variations. For instance, I wouldn’t recommend you do fix ups before closing. After meeting with this seller, I felt rather sure that he wouldn’t screw me over. He didn’t, thank goodness. But the point is that I honestly did this with NO money down. Though I paid for the paint and carpet out of pocket, I was reimbursed at closing! It works… now I just have to do this over and over and over… OK, so I might never get this lucky again. Point is, that I have a) learned a lot, b) purchased a valuable asset, and c) had a lot of fun!
Press on, it’s worth it!
Ric