So, I'm slogging through my batch of project houses.

Back in March, 2016, we purchased a batch of five homes from one burned-out landlady. The houses had belonged to her husband; he had died; she didn't know how to screen; she rented to anyone with money; tenants trashed her house and didn't pay; she had health issues; she was in bankruptcy; she didn't keep up her houses; and the City was going through and starting to condemn them, one by one.

So she approached us and said, "Please!" and we bought five units on four properties for $2k total. They were each very significant renovations. One unit serves as storage; two units are working; one unit has a month or two left for its renovation; and one unit is on the back burner and keeps getting bumped for something else. :P (That last one, her new husband had an emotional attachment to, asked if he could work on it for us, and so we were going to hire him for $x to start the tear-out. But he had heart problems, and so he couldn't submit himself to that kind of activity.)

We noticed another house of hers that was next door to the one we're currently working on. It was actually a cute little house, unlike the trashy, sad, broken places that we were getting. We asked if we could include that in the package deal, since she was getting out of the biz, but since that house was actually nice and not in danger of condemnation, it was off the table. It had a desirable tenant, whereas the four units we got were vacant, and one unit we got had an undesirable tenant.

Was over at the current renovation this morning, and my handyguy mentioned the Desirable Tenant at the Nice House had moved out yesterday. She loved the house and had lived there for 3 years and would have stayed forever--- but the roof leaked in the dining room. She'd been trying to get the landlady to fix it for months, but always got the runaround. Then there were some big storms two weeks ago, and a branch fell out of a tree and punched a hole in the roof. But the landlady says, "You're the tenant. That's your job to fix the roof."

I'm sure it's happened any number of times... something that's an asset under the management of X turns into a liability and a headache to his widow or heirs when he dies.

Deanna,

You had me at '5 units for 2K'.

Landlord in my neighborhood is starting down this slope. She has much bigger houses than I like to buy, or I'd be in. Union stickers all over the back of the vehicles the landlord drives. But, apparently they don't want to hire the union workers to do the work....

Nice that you got the great deals, and are restoring the houses to good places to live.

I remember you tell us about these awhile back, and I sat at my keyboard drooling for 15 minutes thinking, "How can I be more like Deanna?" These deals DO exist! Not every day, and maybe only once in a lifetime, but they do happen occasionally. It's the spice of life.

We've heard the phrase "making money." This lady did the opposite and destroyed money.

@Sid, we're sort of like farmers. Where most people see a stinky pile of manure, a farmer sees opportunity and potential. :) But there are days when I wish I had a little less stinkiness to transform!

But it's a tradeoff-- what I save in money I pay to the seller ends up getting paid to the handyguy, the plumber, the electrician, the A/C guy, the yard guy, Lowes, and plus the value of my time, as it sits around not earning money during the renovation process. And that's something that a lot of people don't want to fool with-- they'd prefer to spend more up-front so they have a better chance of getting it working from day 1. And that's a perfectly valid business model as well. But since I care less about what it does for me in 2016, 2017, 2018, and I care more about what it will do for me in 2023, 2024, 2025... I'm able to play the game my way.

I'll see if I can put together some pics of the current renovation, to show where it was when we bought it, and its subsequent progress.

Just sell em AS IS with seller financing??

Deanna,

The pics look great!

For what it's worth...I got tired of my new exterior doors being bumped and scratched during reno so we secure the building with old dented doors prehung doors and install my pretty JumpBackLoretta front door last.

Helps me relax when they are dragging lumber and drywall thru the doorway!