"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by Xist

...when Kevin posted a video I asked "How much more is a property worth if it has a larger lot than the neighbors?" and people cused at me.

Classy!

When they cuse you, hit back- recuse yourself.

[Xist]

Arizona here, is that the "Green" that is all the rage in other states?

Can someone tell me what Monopoly would be like if each time that you passed Go you received more and more money?

I stopped by the house after my one Thursday client. The paint is flaking off. A pressure washer would make short work of that, right?

It looks like there is dry rot. Good thing that is cheap and easy to fix!

There are chain-link fences on the right and back, but not on the left. The next house is surprisingly close. I guess that the only way to put in a fence on that side is to put the gate straight back from the house, which is all kinds of weird.

This is across the back fence. Does it look abandoned to you? If I were to look for distressed houses off of the market I would start right here.


The television antenna can come down, right?

It looks like every window and door frame has cracks above and below the corner. It looks like someone replaced pieces of drywall in the kitchen with OSB. One door is missing a frame and it looks like they ripped out a window [or at least the inside trim], it ripped off the paint, and the new trim is smaller than the old stuff, so all of that needs to be patched. The baseboard in that room is missing and the blinds are broken. The floor is missing at least one linoleum tile, but I expected the entire floor to need to be replaced anyway. The shower enclosure does not look right to me. Clearly it needs to be re-grouted, but it looks like it came in pieces that fit together poorly. Also, it appears someone removed the window trim. That looks like Great Stuff with paint over it.

What I can see of the floor is okay, but the sink is mounted to the wall?

Somehow I do not expect that to hold up. Also, apparently all of the storage is the wire racks next to the toilet.

Another room is missing the frame and it does not look like it ever had baseboards.

That makes it easier to replace the flooring.

If the dry rot and paint aren't too bad, honestly, it should not take too much work to fix up, but every project has hidden expenses.

Do you guys see anything that I missed? https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1.../8410334_zpid/

People are insulting and cursing me for various comments that I have left where I intentionally and maliciously used math and reason.

I usually read the first couple of words and move on.

[oil pan 4]

Oh if you use math, reason and logic you will be hated.

[Xist]

Ecky, I still love your quote, it just felt weird to have a signature that praised me.

[Xist]

I wondered what was available in-town for $125,000 - $150,000.

I thought there were some nice homes around $150k, but nothing looked worthwhile, everything was over $100 per square foot, and nothing was nice.

I only found one house between $150,000 and $175,000 that looked decent, but not great: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...8410435_zpid/?

It is under $100 per square foot and it has a big lot, but it is not impressive. Most of the rooms look nice, but smaller than I expected with three bedrooms and 1,800 square feet. It seems weird to stage the house with toilet paper sitting on the toilet and junk all over the yard.

Also, I did not see any grass, just gravel all over.

I wonder how the kids like it.

So... the blue house is looking better, but it still seems more prudent to wait for a better house to come to market, or find a distressed property off of the market, although I do not have any idea how I would finance it.

[Piotrsko]

Blue house. Looked at stuff, but is there a yard at all? Zillow and I have a hateful relationship so no plot view Mostly ok for a super fixer upper that gets low balled offers but won't qualify for federal backed loans. Sink is typical for that era in tiny bathrooms, screwed to studs. Everyone here in Reno requires move in ready condition, so fixers won't sell as is.

You aren't far off in your assessment

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

Blue house. Looked at stuff, but is there a yard at all? Zillow and I have a hateful relationship so no plot view Mostly ok for a super fixer upper that gets low balled offers but won't qualify for federal backed loans. Sink is typical for that era in tiny bathrooms, screwed to studs. Everyone here in Reno requires move in ready condition, so fixers won't sell as is.

You aren't far off in your assessment

The Blue house is a $40,000 lot with a $15,000 - $25,000 house on it. (Depending on condition that cannot be determined by pictures)

Google maps shows a long skinny lot. Zillow says 6,534 sqft (Which is 300 sq ft smaller than my house in Oregon and exactly the same size my house in Alabama)

Personally I like the $22,000 shed on a 2.5 acre lot better.

[Xist]

Your house is the size of this lot?

The shed doesn't have connections or pictures of the interior. I am familiar with the area and it is a mile and a half down a dirt road off a twisty road that is prone to getting icy. This young [and probably spoiled man] died of stupidity on that very road: https://www.wmicentral.com/news/late...1e066a8fd.html

I used to have a client off of that road and the mom once canceled saying there were rollovers the day before. My first winter here my clients down dirt roads canceled each time that we had snow or it melted and turned the roads to mud. This past winter I had fewer clients, but when the one remaining mom off a dirt road [who lived in that area] suggested that we canceled because the roads were garbage I said "Hold my sign!" and pushed through.

It was exciting.

By the way, the listing calls the shed "Half-renovated," so half-converted? Also, it specifies electric and phone lines. My friend in the area says they cannot get the Internet and my phone often does not work at their house.

I do not know what "Across the street" is supposed to mean, there is nothing across the street, so I doubt there are connections there. Google maps shows a property with some kind of building, but it is on the next street, although the property several hundred feet to the south also has buildings.

[Xist]

I asked the HR lady if they found someone. I e-mailed her two years ago asking if she expected to have an opening. I forget why I did not ask last year.

I followed up a couple of times with the guy from Church and even e-mailed him a sample letter:

To Whom it May Concern,

I have known [Xist] for several years and I know his younger brother [brother's name] well. [Brother] graduated from Show Low High School and has autism. [Xist] always helps out his family, takes great care of his brother, and is happy to help his neighbors. [Xist] has shown interest in working for SLUSD as a full-time Speech-Language Pathology Assistant and I am confident that [Xist] will apply the care and responsibility that he has shown his brother to his students and is a good choice for this position

I did not think that I lavished too much praise on myself.

The listing for the blue house shows the yard pretty well, but these are two of the pictures that I took yesterday:

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

Your house is the size of this lot?

No my house is 1034 sq ft living space plus a 2 car garage on a 6,534 sq ft lot
- identical in size to the lot the blue house sits on. My lot is about the right size if not a little too big. My house in TN was on a 1 acre lot that was way too big.

Originally Posted by Xist

The shed doesn't have connections or pictures of the interior....

According to Zillow it has water, internet and cable. It has access to Electricity and phone but they have not been connected.

Personally if I was starting from scratch in a semi-rural area I would go for solar instead of paying to connect utility power.

My phone doesn't work there... That depends on your carrier. In the USA we decided to build out 4+ independent and incompatible cell phone networks instead of one common network. That means sometimes you need to change carriers to get service. I had to switch from T-Mobile to AT&T when I moved to Oregon.

Doesn't have pictures... Sometimes you have to talk to people in person.

While that particular property might not be right it shows what is possible in your area and I like the concept. I've walked through the larger barns at Home Depot and Lowes and thought - this might not be a bad base for a rural cabin.

This one is 456 sq ft



https://www.lowes.com/pd/Best-Barns-...hed/1000406185


The lot is also way bigger than needed which gives the option to slice off a 1/2 acre and sell the remaining 2 acres to recover most of the original investment.