A Glimmer of Hope

There was a house down the road from this location that we knew would be more successful than our last house based on our newfound knowledge of value, considering appraisal intricacies. This was a 2750 square foot project that needed a complete renovation. Fortunately, we learned to get our ‘as complete’ appraisal first which would tell us if we have the ability to borrow against the future value of the property (ARV - after repair value) to fund the renovations.

We ended up having enough future equity in the home to determine that this project was possible. I remember the stomach-dropping feeling when we heard that the seller accepted our offer. At this point we had two houses, no money, no equity, and a lot of anxiety.

We were able to finish this project against all odds and profited $54k upon the sale of that property. That was a fantastic day. However, this project also took two years to complete and it was 60+ hours/week for 2 years (with no vacations) to complete. This ends up equating to less than $8/hour working on this project.

The real value of this project was the education. Though we learned how to profit, we learned many more valuable lessons. This house required so much more input than the last house. The input taught new lessons and gave us more experience. However, we needed more than $8/hour to keep improving Mattoon’s real estate problem - especially considering the intensity of the tasks.