As far as how we did it it we hit a badly advertised property auction. I'm glad it was badly advertised! There were 3 of us bidding. It was buy as is. We have always been very frugal despite never having a big income so we were in a position to do cash. It was not an absolute auction and the seller did have the right to refuse the offer. They didn't simply because it was cash and a fast closing.
We have purchased enough property to know the basics of what to look for. All looked sound. It's a very hot neighbor hood with young home buyers. Great schools. Great rentals for landlords. We knew the area was a win for a rental or a flip.
It was a disaster as far as stuff to get rid of. Craigs list FREE section was my best friend. I took home enough scrap lumber from the garage for everyone's bonfire. Many trips to pay for dumping at the landfill. It was a horrifying amount of garbage.
We put in New entry doors. I sold the gorgeous original doors. We took off some horrid stuff they did to the foundation and used a heat gun to get enough glue for 10 houses off. Repainted the aged shutters. Ripped carpet off the deck. Used a heat gun again for a whole day to get more darn glue off. Used a gorgeous solid stain. We actually found gorgeous railings for the patio in the garage attic. A few coats of paint and they were great. I cleaned up the yard and remulched. Lots of great perennials once the weeds were out. Trimmed the shrubs that hadn't been done in years. Power washed the house and garage.
We primarily did one side as the smaller unit is occupied. Great at that paid to keep the utilities on and the taxes etc. We did a few things in the occupied unit that were not up to snuff. New entry's, fan, one floor. OH and door knobs. Most of the works was the 3 levels of the larger unit. Fresh paint everywhere after taking of layers of wallpaper. Lots of cracked plaster fixed. All new flooring throughout including a bathroom that had carpet. Ceramic tile looked awe s one with the claw foot tub. New bathroom fixtures, New lighting and ceiling fans. A bit of plumbing. We replaced stove, fridge, washer, dryer. Refinished the cupboards. Shingles. One other bizarre thing was there were no bedroom doors!
So nothing major on the list. Really it was a house with great bones that had just been neglected. Frankly I'm shocked investors were not flocking to the auction. Guess I'm glad it was poorly advertised. Ironically we had 15 showings in a bit over a week. Mostly investors. A couple offers were from property management companies. Lots of labor and time but not a ton of cash to get it back to being a great home.
I couldn't share before pics sadly. I managed to accidentally delete 6 months of pictures! I'm not going to say it was easy. Frankly it was exhausting and ate up summer. I actually sat on the stairs crying one day as I was so overwhelmed trying to d o most of this alone since I was the one with time to do it. But hey I was free labor.
I really think I'd like to do it again if we could get another diamond in the rough. I think I've found one but the timing is bad. I am going fulltime after working 10 to 15 hours a week the last 21 years. However a flip a year with those numbers would be more $ than I'll make fulltime. So now the decision us another rental , flip or invest.