Comments on: Good Deal or Not? Dual Staircase Edition (Reader Request)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:28:29 +0000

Great. Let’s have more posts that present attainable opportunities like this.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:25:27 +0000

Yes this was a foreclosure and is the same house that was evicted that PoP posted about a few months ago.

http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2009/09/a-very-sad-sight/

By: ShawContractor

ShawContractor — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:28:58 +0000

As another contractor who lived through 2002-2005, I guarantee you this is going to cost 200k minimum to rehab. There is serious water damage in this unit.

By: RCP

RCP — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:36:41 +0000

Anon 5:20: That’s the kind of thinking that can get some people in trouble when they’re home-buying. There’s this sort of romantic notion of fixing up an old house over time with sweat equity. The truth is, the kind of repairs these ancient homes need is almost always well beyond the capacity of your average homeowner to tackle. Things like replacing broken windows, mold remediation, major plumbing electrical, etc. Taking on a project like this without a really clear understanding of the scope winds a lot of people up in foreclosure.

By: Bloodhound

Bloodhound — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:23:56 +0000

You could step inside blindfolded and smell the combination of mold and even less pleasant odors in that house and realize it’s a major, major renovation.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:20:07 +0000

I don’t believe it cannot be done for $100K or even less.
What I mean is that if the owner made it livable, i.e. HVAC, plumbing, building made sound (e.g. roof) the rest could be done over time and perhaps by the homeowner.
Also if the owner does not insist on making this place look like the inside of a new condo.
It’s called sweat equity.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:11:56 +0000

@anon 4:42

Amen! $100K seems like a lot of money, but it’s not when you’re talking about new roof, new systems, K&B. Let’s not even get started on labor. If you want a really sh*@!# gut job flip, put only $100K into this and hope you can rip some unsuspecting 1st time buyer off in 6 mo. That just sounds like bad karma and so 2005 to me.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:42:12 +0000

Jamie, I am a very good contractor and trust me when I tell you , not in a million years could you renovate ANY house in Petworth for 100K (not a gut job anyway). it is 100K just in materials alone, not including labor (unless it is a piece of crap flip job, which I would NEVER do to anyone).
Expect to spend 150-175K to get the kind of house people really want.

Just one extremely conscientious contractors opinion mind you

By: anon

anon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:26:00 +0000

I’d buy it. BTW: Open House on Sunday

By: Jamie

Jamie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:31:28 +0000

Predict it will sell for at least 250. Unless the floors are completely unsalvageable because of the water damage someone noted, it’s an easy renovation. Good deal.

The math is really very simple. House on 700 block of upshur street listed at 584K was under contract in a week. Now you know what the upper end of the market is in Petworth. If you can save the floors and walls in any house this size, the most you’ll spend renovating it nicely is $100K, probably less. That’s a lot of margin for error.

No brainer.