Old Little House Between New Big Houses.
I am looking at "this old house" stuck between new 2 story 250K houses. (about 15 feet away on each side-very urban) I can buy this for roughly 60K, put 10k in work, and rent it out. It is on .17 acres and about 1050 sq ft. Asbestos siding. The neighboring houses tower above it on both sides. Basically, the area used to be the projects but some builder came in, bought up as many lots as they could get, and started building these 2 story frame houses (very nice) everywhere. What is the best use for the "leftover" property? Anybody have any experience with this?
JohnCl
[ Edited by JohnCl on Date 07/06/2004 ]
Yeah, that's what kinda crossed my mind, too. Buy it for 60k, perhaps build a 130k house, and sell it for 250k. Gives you a little margin for error, and you could still put a few bucks in your pocket.
Hard to say for sure without knowing the market there, but I'd say that buying it for fixup and rental would be the last option on this property. If the surrounding houses are all new bigger and better homes, then the neighbors will not be too fond of a cheap rental within their new, higher classed neighborhood.
Sounds like that this would be a "scrapper" property. You buy the property, scrape the old house off the lot and build a new one. In short, doing just like the builder did. Biggest question is whether you can buy, demolish, and rebuild and still make money with the $60k initial purchase price.
Roger