Thread: The hunt for a bargain property

Originally Posted by mlk_man

Gilligan, I grew up not too far from you in the Lake Buchanan area. Loved it there!

Mlk_Man,
Lake Buchanan is a nice area, however the wildflowers are not as colorful this spring because of the lack of rain. Several baby boomers from Austin are buying lots there to live when they retire. Instead of building houses they are getting these park model mobile homes. Sure the little houses are nice looking but some cost over $200 a square foot. A 10 x 20 can cost $40,000. One of my relatives talked to a salesman of the log park models and he averages selling one per day.

http://www.lonestarparkmodels.com/

Hmm... its been awhile since I last updated this. As i write, I am currently in DC area in my hotel room. all renovation to the house were completed in early part of June. Until now, it is sitting vacant not because there are no renters looking for a 3bd 2 bt house but because i've been busy doing something else.
I finally got off my butt and put an add in the newspaper for 3 days. It states, "2bd 2bt nwly ren. hse w/new ACs, fridge, stove furn. typ shtrs util incl. $1478 sec 8 ok" I had to show it to 8 different people and I finally chose one. She gave me her voucher for GHURA but I had to go to this TDY in DC. So I am writing this in my hotel room at 1 am because i can't sleep.
I'm only going to be here for 3 days so i'll be back on Guam by Friday. I'll do the voucher and give it back to my future tenant by Sunday. GHURA will then set up an appointment to inspect the place and if it pass (it should) we will then have a contract signing and my future tenant will move in to the property before end of July.
In the meantime, I am paying the mortgage out of my own pocket for the month of Jun and July. I would have had it rented earlier if i don't have to leave so often.;-) My next trip is on 8 Jul for the Philippines again... So what am I getting out of this deal... I will most likely get $1438 and will set aside 300 for utilities. That gives me a remaining balance of $1138. I am paying $850 for mortgage to include escrow for real property tax and insurance so this will leave me with $288.00 per month... That is $3456 per year. With 8k expenses for fixing up the place, 3k for downpayment, and 2 months of rent of $1700 this total to $12700 investment that came out of my pocket. This comes up to about 27% cash on cash return on my investment.

Later, I will create another thread to show you the true return on equity or investment. I am sure that it will freak everybody out once they find out what the return on investment this one little project will be giving me year after year after year. Too bad, i can't manage my TSP like a real estate.;-)
P