This last week I went to Cincinnati to check out some homes. Homes there are getting pretty cheap with the economic downturn. Most the homes are absolutely uninhabitable... one house I looked at, priced at just under 10k was sold two years ago for 160k... Who in their right mind would pay that much? You had to have seen the house to understand what I am talking about.
One house, priced between 23k and 25k depending on the week, looked so good in the pictures that we made an offer and I flew out there. Below are pictures that I took of the beautiful home last Thursday.
The kitchens both look like this. The sinks are older and kinda antiquey... you can see the blue tape where someone has already sanded the wood trim to refinish... and they also already painted much of the house.
These pictures are in no particular order... In this next one you can see the double doors to the back patio and the stairs that go down to the street. The upstairs (identical) apartment just has a patio, no stairs in the back. The upstairs apartment also doesn't have this ugly red carpet.
A view from the back upstairs patio.
The beautiful garage that can maybe fit 1 1/2 cars... you also must have an SUV to get down there or your little cars will bottom out.
Here is a view of the front yard. This is a corner lot on a heavy foot traffic area... the Metro bus stop is right in front of the house.
Both bathrooms are identical with original features. They both just needed a good cleaning.
Ugly red carpet on the first level apartment... but a nice fireplace :)
Upstairs attic... don't want to call it an apartment... it does have a toilet and piping for a sink... but we would have to build a fire escape in order to call it an apartment.
2nd level apartment with those nice SHINY wood floors. If we stripped out the red carpet on the 1st level it could look like this with some floor cleaning and refinishing.
Shot from the corner.
So the final stats: 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 levels, garage, two seperate units (AC, Heat, Power, hot water... all seperate), good location for bus routes, close to the city, close to a skyline chili, close to freeways, etc... We're pretty excited.
One house, priced between 23k and 25k depending on the week, looked so good in the pictures that we made an offer and I flew out there. Below are pictures that I took of the beautiful home last Thursday.
The kitchens both look like this. The sinks are older and kinda antiquey... you can see the blue tape where someone has already sanded the wood trim to refinish... and they also already painted much of the house.
These pictures are in no particular order... In this next one you can see the double doors to the back patio and the stairs that go down to the street. The upstairs (identical) apartment just has a patio, no stairs in the back. The upstairs apartment also doesn't have this ugly red carpet.
A view from the back upstairs patio.
The beautiful garage that can maybe fit 1 1/2 cars... you also must have an SUV to get down there or your little cars will bottom out.
Here is a view of the front yard. This is a corner lot on a heavy foot traffic area... the Metro bus stop is right in front of the house.
Both bathrooms are identical with original features. They both just needed a good cleaning.
Ugly red carpet on the first level apartment... but a nice fireplace :)
Upstairs attic... don't want to call it an apartment... it does have a toilet and piping for a sink... but we would have to build a fire escape in order to call it an apartment.
2nd level apartment with those nice SHINY wood floors. If we stripped out the red carpet on the 1st level it could look like this with some floor cleaning and refinishing.
Shot from the corner.
So the final stats: 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 levels, garage, two seperate units (AC, Heat, Power, hot water... all seperate), good location for bus routes, close to the city, close to a skyline chili, close to freeways, etc... We're pretty excited.Frequently asked questions... Why Cincinnati? I am from there and I want to reconnect with the city. This year reconnecting will include fixing up the house for two weeks while eating at Larosa's, Skyline, Gold Star, and the Busken Bakery... and also checking out the Bengals workouts in June (much like I did last year) and going to a few Reds games. I'm crazy, but you should have already known that... and by the way, the wife is on board as well.
-Brian
3 comments:
So this is the investment that Kristin was talking about last week! Are you going to move there or just fixing it up to re-sell? Good luck with your house flipping adventures! :-)
WOW! I am way out of the loop here! I had no idea this was even an idea! This is crazy stuff, but if you anyone can pull it off its you two! Good luck!!
That's pretty awesome, Balds. I've got a bunch of tools from my basement remodel, let me know if you need me to go out there for a week to help you remodel something. I have to admit that I'm getting pretty good, too, just ask Mel.
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