Well we closed on the house yesterday.  The house is a 3 bed / 2 bath / 2-car garage block house in the Northwesterly Pine Hills area. (For those not in Orlando, Pine Hills is an infamous area of town often tagged as "Crime Hills" but the area covers nearly 20 square miles - some parts are war zones while other parts are actually nice.)  This subdivision is a decent 1980s (and late 70s) working class neighborhood. 

This house was listed in the MLS in November as bank-owned for $149,000.  Another investor actually called me about this one.  He had just closed on it for $85,000 just 2 weeks earlier by lowballing the bank and agreeing to close before the end of the year.  He was asking $105,000 but accepted $98,000.  Not a bad deal for him either.  At the top of the market in June 2006 this house sold for $192,500.  We signed a contract last Thursday and closed on it this Thursday by obtaining private financing for 100% of the purchase price.  It definitely pays to know where to get the money quickly.

The outside is reasonably clean for an REO property.  You can't see it real well with these photos, but there is T-111 siding attached to the front.  We plan on pulling that off and then painting and stuccoing over that - it is block underneath.  We also plan on removing some of the outdated decor around the front posts and the overhang.  The chimney has some rotten wood on it, so we plan on replacing that with hardi-board siding.

-----The back side.  I blew up the right rear roof of the porch.  That is a car door on the roof.  Go figure.

-----This is the back porch.  I am not sure what someone was doing here.  If you can't tell, that is a home-made wet bar and 2 church pews.  Either this was a weekend hangout for drinking buddies or else someone was preaching sermons on Sunday morning??

-----The living room.  We are probably going to leave the chimney alone but build a mantle over the fireplace.  All the tile and carpet is getting ripped up, and we are putting down fresh new tile in the living room, wet areas, and foyer. -----Master bathroom.  Eeeeew! This is getting a big makeover including re-tiling.

-----The hall bath.  Re-tiling and upgrading here also.  The tub faucet is disconnected so a plumber needs to fix that.  -----The master bedroom.  You can't see much from this angle.  It is dirty.  New carpet to go in all bedrooms.

-----The kitchen. All these cabinets and counters are going bye-bye.  Most of the doors are buckling.  The counters have cracked tile.  The window over the sink is plexi-glass and held up with some sort of contractor tape. 

I will try and give an update on the progress every week.  The goal is to have it rehabbed by the end of January.  That might be a little optimistic, but it is do-able.  I will be happy to give any Realtors, investors, or buyers a personal tour of this property.

Copyright © 2007. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Rob Arnold, ABR, CPL, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public,             

407-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com/ www.WeBuyHousesFlorida.com/

Your full service and investor friendly Realtor in Orlando. Contact me for more information on Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate.  Florida Orlando flat fee MLS listings and Florida Orlando For Sale By Owner services available. We buy houses cash in Central Florida including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Ocoee, Apopka, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, and Debary.