How do my husband and I buy, remodel/fix-up houses and sell them for business/income?

Question

My husband and I both love HOUSES. We've both done construction;I've been a superintendent twice for two major residential construction builders in my area, we have tools, I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing Interior Design (I'm quite confident in my talents), my husband LOVES redoing and making house plans (he plans to be an architect), we love business, we build our own furniture, and we love old/abused homes to remodel, fix up, and sell!! How and where and what do we do to get into this??

Answer 1

I have been interested in this too for a long time... you need capital to purchase a property and perform modernistations with... the way i see it you can raise this capital in several ways...

Borrow, Beg or Steal... (that's the basic ones)

Convince a bank of the worthiness of it as a business and get a business loan or equivalent...

Mortgages - take one out, increase the one you have or take outn a second...

Investers - find someone with the money who would be willing to invest it for a resonable share of your business, I am guessing they wouldn't want anything less than a 20% stake in the business and for large sums maybe more, perhaps 40%, remember 51% gives them control and they may ask for this if they are not 110% convinced of your abilities and that you will make them money, remeber they will be business people too and they are only concerned about making money...

Once you have the house of course don't live in it, and ABOVE all else do not decorate it how YOU would like it if you were to be its inhabitants, try to think of who your target market is... young professional, young couple looking for first home, young family, big older family, old couple of retirement age etc...

I am no financial adviser (yet; i am working on it) but I hope this helps you a little...

Answer 2

I am currently in the process of buying a house off the tax rolls. I have gotten a list from the local taxing authority and have pre-toured to determine which properties are workable. I attended an auction and hoped that no one else would bid on the property. The end result is I'll be making a $50.00 bid and will probably win the property and can begin the work to fix the place up.
I like you have extensive experience in maintenance and look forward to re-working the entire house over. I plan on doing the wiring, plumbing, and having coax, phone, and ethernet routed to each room from a central point for ease of maintenance.

Keep in touch and we can see how we both do in our endeavors.

Answer 3

Colorado is under Spanish real estate Law like most western states, Other states east of the Missouri use English real estate laws. The difference is in the type of tenancy Tenant in Common(Spanish) verses Joint Tenancy(English). Here in Colorado my neighbor had her daughter put on the title of the house just before she died. Her husband was a joint owner and went to probate court after she died and had it overturned. In Colorado your name must be on the title for a minimum of 3 years in order to be considered an owner. Which means you have paid taxes and have had maintenance and other expenses associated with the property even if you are not on the title you still have ownership if you're married and the time you're married is split 50/50. So, whatever the house was worth before and after marriage is subtracted the spouse is awarded half of what the house is worth after that or the worth only during time of marriage. Other things apply like if one wasn't an occupant or the other didn't pay rent while separated or make house payments or upkeep. This is fair. Even though it was a gift from her mother it didn't hold up in court. Check your local laws or contact an attorney for a free consultation to be sure.

Answer 4

If you live in a burb.Contact City hall ask about urban renewal programs.I live in Aurora IL USA.If you rehab an abandon house.You buy it cheap and the City gives you 20,000 to fix it.They also have interest free loan programs that you pay back when you sell the house.If you live in the Chicago area try URB.They finance,you work.Finance is the key.If your credit is bad you'll need URB or similar financing.DON'T BUY BALLOON FRAME HOUSES(wall studs and floor joists usually rot where they touch,so wall is not attached to floor).Also make sure foundation is at least mortared stone but preferably sound(no cracks)concrete.Avoid flat stone and sandstone foundations

Answer 5

The difficult part is choosing the house to buy and getting it for the right price. What you want is a rundown house in a good street, at the price of a rundown house in a bad area.

After purchase, everything else can be project-managed but if it is the wrong house or bought too expensively, you start off wrong.

Answer 6

In my experience, I made a small place habitable, then listed and costed everything I wanted to do and tried to take one area of the property at a time.

If you want to make it a proper business don't live in the property, get surveyed by an independent surveyor, cost it and pull up timing plan, and find reliable tradesmen to carry out the re-modelling, and don't forget, white ceilings and magnolia walls.

Answer 7

in the u.s. i presume.? If you buy a house, fix it and also live in it for two years then your profit is TAX FREE. so if you find one thats real bad, stay in your current home till it's livable, then move in and finish the detail work. make it your permenant legal address for two years then sell and move on again. It has to look like you are living there. voter registration, drivers license etc. Its the best way to keep more of your profits.

Answer 8

Check with the county tax collector's office and see what's up at the Sheriff's auction. Many good fixer-upper's are sold for back taxes and foreclosures.

Answer 9

find a house to buy, do most of the work yourself, and then try to sell it yourself

Answer 10

Do you have food stamps?, because let me tell you, down here in Miami is only misery and violence august 2006