We're tired of pouring money into our house, but Brian really loves home improvement. So, we've tried a couple of times to buy a foreclosure house around home or move to a new "project" house with no success. Since he also keeps up substantially with the Lake Superior market, he knew this one would be a winner. It would be fun to own while working on it because we have more opportunities to get "up north". We can finally "prove" the concept to ourselves that you can make money by renovating properties, hopefully...
Every so often, you hear stories of foreclosure purchases being a real pain in the neck. This transaction went so smoothly that it was surreal. Do we really own this place?!
Before we came up north for vacation in August, Brian saw this property and his interest was peaked. He sent an inquiry to the lising agent just asking what the association costs would be and for any other information she might want to share. The association fees were high enough that he didn't look back. We did not visit while on vacation because the ongoing costs were deemed too high. Then several weeks later, I prompted that the association would be okay as long as it included everything, Brian wasn't sure what it included and agreed to ask the agent again. Before he got around to doing that, the agent sent him a notice that the price was being reduced and corrected her previous information about the association fees. We decided at that price, we couldn't go wrong, but it's a foreclosure, so let's toss out a low-ball offer anyway. The bank countered with the magic number that we were hoping to settle at or below and "the rest is history" as they say.
We bought the place without laying eyes on the property. Only looking at pictures and realizing that with an association owned exterior and heating system, we have the skills to fix anything else that is wrong with it and it wouldn't cost more than we would want to manage. We can have it as long as we want it and can choose to sell or put it in the rental pool when it's "ready". Now, I have the big challenge of keeping Brian reigned in on the budget for the place!
Enough chatter...
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| Dang that's a fantastic view! |
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| Love the wood-burning fire, hate the green plush carpet. |
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| The ceiling was covered in hooks with these gaudy fake plants hanging everywhere. |
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| Hotel sized bathroom and more of that awesome greenery. |
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| Want to lighten and brighten that up! |
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| 2nd bedroom, it has a private deck overlooking the great lake. |
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| What a sweet piece of shoreline! |
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| View from the rock beach, our unit is hiding behind the big pine. |
This first visit's goals: 1) see what we bought. 2) clean it up so we're willing to sleep/stay in it. 3) get it properly locked where we hold the key. When we asked the realtor, how we would get in/get the key, she said that there's a key in the kitchen and the door would be open for us. The door was open for us, but no key to be found and neither door lock functioned properly.
