Archive for the ‘learn repair skills’ Category
Friday, February 13th, 2009
.
.
Here are the final numbers on the rental property that I purchased.
Price: $106,000
Interest rate: 5.125%
Term: 30 years
Down payment: $21,200
Principal & Interest: $457.37
Taxes & Insurance: $128.87
Total monthly payment: $586.24
Estimated rent: $770
The townhouse is 1100 sq.ft., 2 beds & 2 baths, washer, dryer, carport, and small back yard. It has a great central location and should rent easily. I have another property nearby that is very easy to rent.
It needs some cleanup and repair work in the kitchen, fire alarms, blinds in the windows, new toilet sets, etc. There is nothing big that we have to do to it. With my wife and kids pitching in, we should have it ready to go by the end of the weekend.
Here are a few more photos of the kitchen, the living room, and the back yard.
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses, rental houses, townhouse
Posted in buying fixing renting rehabs, buying real estate, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, house repair, house repairs, investing, investing in real estate, investing in your spare time, investment house, investment property, investments, investmet properties, learn repair skills, learn to invest in real estate, learn to make repairs, new purchase, rental house improvements, rental houses, rental properties, rental property, rentals, renting, repair, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs, townhouse | 7 Comments »
Monday, September 1st, 2008
‘
Investment House Search Update
Despite the debacle last month, my wife and I are back to beating the bushes looking for our next “dream” fixer-upper house. Our plan is to find another one that we can live in while we repair it. That has worked out pretty well on the one we are living in now.
Of course, if a great deal for a regular rental pops up, we’d probably grab that too.
Rains = Leaks
We got some heavy rain Saturday. I received a call from a tenant Saturday night. She reported three leaks in her house. I knew it was time to re-coat the roof last spring, but I thought it would hold out throught one more rainy season. I was wrong.
So, flat roofs being what they are, the roof has to be dry before it can be patched. And, there has to be no threat of rain, or the coating will just wash off again. Been there, done that.
There is a 30% chance of rain today, but for the rest of the week the forecast is 0%. Tomorrow ought to be a good day to take care of it.
Tags:dream fixer upper house, leaky roofs, roof coating, roof repairs
Posted in buy, do it yourself, fence repair, house repair, house repairs, investment house, leaks, learn repair skills, learn to make repairs, making repairs, rain, repair, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs | 1 Comment »
Thursday, August 21st, 2008
Tags:fixer upper house business, home repairs, lean to make repairs, making repairs
Posted in buying fixing renting rehabs, do it yourself, Fix em Up Rent em Out, fix up houses, fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, house repair, house repairs, learn repair skills, learn to make repairs, making repairs, painting, rental property, repair, repair books, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs | 3 Comments »
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
My wife and I laying laminate flooring
‘
The Tucson Citizen Newspaper highlighted the fixer upper business that my wife and I operate in Thursday’s paper.
Entitled Learn to Fix Up Houses, Rent Them Out, it describes some details about our business and mentions my book.
Who says newspapers aren’t interesting anymore?
To read another insightful (to me, at least) newspaper article that I did, see “Fix em Up, Rent em Out” Featured in Newspaper Article.
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:fixer upper house business newspaper article, learn to fix up houses rent them out, tucson citizen
Posted in buying fixing renting rehabs, Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixer upper houses, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, how to start a real estate business, How to start your own house fix up and rental busines, invest real estate repai and sell or rent, investing in real estate, investing in your spare time, learn repair skills, learn to invest in real estate, newspaper, newspaper articles, real estat investing, real estate books, real estate investing, real estate principles, rental properties | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
‘
Some people have a background in home repair and/construction skills before they jump into the fixer-upper business. Others of us, including me, didn’t have those skills. In my new EzineArticles.com piece entitled Learn Fixer-Upper Skills by Doing, and by Taking Classes, I describe two methods to learn those valuable skills.
In addition, by clicking on the Expert EzineArticles Author link to the left, it will take you to a wide selection of interesting articles.
I also recommend How to Remodel a Kitchen for Under $4,000 (Part III – Contractors, Costs, Pictures and a Mea Culpa) over at twowiseacres.com. Rob and Mike’s photos show an amazing transformation in their kitchen. However, I think we might have to chalk up alot of that to the fact that they did go over budget. Could they have accomplished that miracle of remodeling without going over budget? You be the judge.
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:ezinearticles, fixer upper houses, fixer-upper business, how to learn repair skills
Posted in ezinearticles, fixer upper houses, learn repair skills | No Comments »
Friday, December 21st, 2007
A common problem encountered in older houses is the grout can look dirty. For the 1957 fixer upper house that my wife and I are presently working on, the tile grout in the master bathroom was dingy (see picture above). My plan since I bought the house was to remove the old grout and replace it with new grout.
However, last week before beginning the grout removal, I checked my copy of Home Depot’s book “Tiling 1-2-3“. The book suggested cleaning the grout to bring it back to its old glory.
So I purchased some Agua Mix Grout Deep Clean, and some White Tile Grout Coating for good measure.
First, I used my grout saw to lightly scrape off dark spots in the grout.
Then, I used the Grout Deep Clean, which to my surprise, actually did make the grout look cleaner. I let the liquid “dwell” on the grout for 5 minutes, I “agitated” it with a scrub brush, then I waited 2 hours for it to dry. But it still wasn’t as bright as I would have liked.
Next, I liberally applied the Tile Grout Coating to the grout.
The coating did a remarkably good job of coloring the grout to a strong color of white. I was very happy with the results. After the coating dried I applied grout sealer.
After all was done, the grout looked like this.
So, the lesson is, as long as the grout is not badly cracked, you’re better off cleaning and coating the old grout. It can save you a lot of time.
Info on Terry’s Book
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:Fix em Up Rent em Out, fixing tile grout in old houses, repairing fixer upper houses, tile grout coating
Posted in fix up houses, fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, grout, grout replacement, house repair, house repairs, learn repair skills, learn to make repairs, making repairs, property damage, real estate books, rehab, rental house improvements, repair, repair books, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
Veterans Day my wife and I, as veterans of many fixer upper house battles, refinished the hall cabinets and painted bathroom and bedroom doors.
The permanent hall cabinets had been scratched up in the fixer-upper house that we are living in and repairing, to ultimately turn into a rental house .
Steps in refinishing wood cabinets:
Step 1: Take off the cabinet doors.
Step 2: Remove the old paint or stain. I used 150 grit sandpaper.
Step 3: Apply stain. I used Watco Danish Oil, which is applied with a rag and is used to both protect wood as well as to stain it. Make sure you apply test patches of your stain to an inconspicuous area of the piece to be stained. Most stains dry a shade or two darker than the color you see.
You control the color by the length of time you let the stain penetrate the wood. If it gets too dark, moisten a clothe with the recommended thinner and wipe again to dilute and wash away some of the pigment. Since this stain is oil-based, make sure you either work outside or have plenty of ventilation.
If the wood is thirsty, it may take more than one coat to get a smooth finish. Wipe in the direction of the grain.
Step 4: I’ll apply polyurethane after the last coat dries, for extra protection.
Angy expertly painting a bedroom door. She’s using Behr’s Ultra Pure White, Semi-Gloss Enamel (Wait, I’m not ready!).
For more info on converting a house to a rental, see my new book (due out September 2012) entitled “How to Turn Your Home into a Rental Property, Instead of Selling It!”
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:fixer upper houses, house repair, painting, refinishing cabinets, turn your home into a rental house
Posted in fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, house repairs, how to turn your home into a rental property, learn repair skills, making repairs, refinishing wood, rental house improvements, repair, repairing properties, repairing rental houses | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
If your circumstances are such that it is impossible for you to start investing in real estate today, you can start by just meandering in that direction, like a lazy mountain stream.
You can program your mind to pay attention to anything related to real estate. Cut articles out of the newspaper, buy books at book sales, ask friends and co-workers how they purchased their house, watch for free classes or seminars. You can be constantly learning and preparing for the day you will purchase your first fixer-upper property. As Paul and Sarah Edwards point out in Making it on Your Own, “virtually anything you need to know is available to you through books, tapes, workshops, seminars, public education programs, consultants and training programs.”
I meandered for approximately 11 years before purchasing my first investment property. Now I wish I had started sooner, but you can’t begin until you have the desire and the knowledge. Sometimes, desire and knowledge can be acquired simply by observing someone else operating a successful business.
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:investing in real estate, Making it on Your Own, meander towards fixer upper classes, Paul and Sarah Edwards
Posted in fixer upper houses, fixer-upper business, fixing rental houses, How to start your own house fix up and rental busines, investing in real estate, investing in your spare time, learn repair skills, learn to invest in real estate, learn to make repairs, real estate investing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
Sunday was a day to continue work on our present fixer upper house.
The house had a leaky cooler on the roof when we bought it. I repaired the roof with E-LAS-TEK rubberized roof coating (for flat roofs like we have in Tucson), but I had not repaired the ceiling until Sunday It had been stained by the water from the roof.
(The picture dates are wrong. I didn’t update the camera last time I changed batteries.)
I scraped the old paint away above the bathtub. I used joint compound (“mud”) to patch the spot. After the mud dried, I brushed on “Kilz” to cover the stains and to prevent any future leaks from the roof to stain the ceiling. Later, I will paint it again with the white latex paint we are using for the bathroom.
Another project I worked on Saturday was to continue painting the house roof overhang. It could easily have been 50 years since some sections of the overhang were painted, other sections never had paint. The wood absorbs the paint like a sponge. The wood is so old that, in places, a it has a hair-like covering. Before painting, I scape off the hair (I give it a shave) with one of my “mud” spatulas. You could probably use a wire brush too, but it comes off pretty easy with the spatula.
I started off using the cheap $1.00 “throw-away” brushes that you can buy at Home Depot. They didn’t hold the paint too well, so now I am using a more expensive brush which is working a little better. The paint spreads a little easier.
Most people wouldn’t notice whether or not the overhang was painted. However, we want this house to last a long time, so the paint goes on.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, my wife & I do the repairs on this house in fits and starts. Since we live in the house, we don’t have the the pressures to do it rapidly, like we did for our last fixer-upper house. (For more info, see my latest book “How to Turn Your Home into a Rental House, Instead of Selling It).
For that one, the “Planeta” house, we worked late into the evenings and we would take turns getting up early the next morning, to put a few hours in before going to work. One of us would stay home with the sleeping kids. Making the monthly mortgage payments and all the repair costs that we were racking up, gave us real motivation to finish and get a renter in there ASAP.
In the present situation, it works best for me when I set easy short-range goals. Right now my goal is simply to get up early & paint for one hour before I eat breakfast and get ready for work. On weekends I can do more, but just an hour a day keeps the ball rolling.
Subscribe in a reader
Share this: del.icio.us | Digg | Ma.gnolia | Reddit | Stumble Upon |
Tags:ceiling repair for fixer upper, cheap paint brushes, do it yourself, e-las-tek, kilz, living in fixer upper house, painting, throw away paint brushes, turn your home into a rental house, turn your home into a rental property
Posted in do it yourself, fix up houses, fixer upper houses, fixer uppers, fixing rental houses, house repair, house repairs, how to turn your home into a rental property, learn repair skills, learn to make repairs, making repairs, painting, repairing properties, repairing rental houses, repairs, turning my home into rental property, turning your home into a rental property | No Comments »
