The Mansion

The Glamorous Life of a Real Estate Investor

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021 Travis

I haven’t been writing lately.

I haven’t been doing anything remotely close to my daily routinely lately.

I’ve been dealing with our current Detroit rehab and all the goings on with that 24/7. And this isn’t your typical “my contractors screwed up” or “we’re running behind” or some other small hiccup.

This is more like “some squatters next door decided to break into my house and start stealing stuff at night” type crap. It’s a long story, and it likely doesn’t all need to be written out but I slept in our rehab Sunday and Monday night.

The Verdict (aka Appraisal) is in

August 10, 2021August 10, 2021 Travis

The appraisal for The Mansion came in yesterday. This one was a nail biter, mostly because we had so much on the line. The final number is $240,000.

If I’m being reasonable about it, I’m quite happy. But I can’t help feeling a bit underwhelmed. I know that if we were to list the home for sale we’d be shooting for about $300,000. But we aren’t, and the sold comps aren’t as strong as some of the pending and active ones.

The appraiser was awesome. I’m not blaming him. But there’s only so much he can do with the existing data, and he did his best I’m sure.

Our goal with these homes is to get all of our money out once we refinance. I haven’t tallied all the numbers and costs yet, but it’s going to be close. For now I’m just focused on getting our tenant moved in and closing the refi.

Appraisal Day for The Mansion

August 6, 2021August 6, 2021 Travis

We’re finally here. Barely.

It’s appraisal day for The Mansion and while the house isn’t perfect yet, it’s as close as it’s going to get for now. After all, perfect is the enemy of all progress.

Our contractor stopped by this morning to grab the refrigerator and get it into place. There are a couple vanities that need to be installed, some hardware on the exterior door, exterior paint touchups, etc. Nothing like last minute!

Stress and Rehabs

August 4, 2021August 6, 2021 Travis

Back in September 2020 I wrote about The Mansion for the first time. I’d have to look back on my notes for when we got started on this one, but it was some time during the winter.

It’s been a journey!

We fully gutted the (previous) duplex and reconfigured the floorplan to make it a natural feeling single family home. We’re on the home stretch, but it’s been super stressful.

The appraisal was supposed to happen last week Thursday. We were scrambling but it was clear (Wednesday morning) that we were nowhere near ready. I managed to push the appraisal until this Friday.

And it’s still going to be close.

My first self-sourced deal: The Mansion

September 14, 2020August 4, 2021 Travis

Kaitlin and I had a “date night” last night. Our babysitter has been working out gloriously since July. She’s been an absolute lifesaver. And so we ask her to do a few hours on the weekend once in awhile, usually a Sunday.

We don’t do anything glamorous. Usually we’re off to check on a rehab and grab a quick bite afterward. Yesterday was no different.

A couple months ago I decided to wholesale my own deal because inventory is low where I want to buy, competitive, and… well, wholesalers suck. I was confident I could do a better job myself.

And I did.