With Steve’s rehab course as my guide, I was starting my first rehab and was actually not that terrified. Somehow I felt that with a purchase price of $13,000 I would be okay if any unexpected repairs came up. And yes, they DID come up. That is one thing I have learned through rehab ?EXPECT ADDITIONAL REPAIRS. 



The owner called me up on my ‘trading post?ad, desperate to sell his house.  I was a beginner and wanted to take things slow.

He, on the other hand, wanted to sell the thing yesterday. Thus, the calls from him were relentless! He REALLY wanted me to take this nightmare off his hands. So, I did. 

I negotiated a short sale with the bank, therefore discounting a $50,000 existing mortgage down to $10,000. Throw in $3,000 for overdue taxes and the purchase price was $13,000. It was a three-bedroom, one bath, 1,300 square foot old frame house built in 1920 - with potential to be very charming (if only someone had painted it a nice color!). It had been vacant for five years and looked terrible. The after-repaired value was about $75,000. 

I originally thought I would spend about $28,000 rehabbing the house (it needed EVERYTHING practically), but ended up spending $42,000. The sewer/water line, roof and structure needed help, which I did not count on. Thankfully, since I bought the house at the right price, the extra repairs were not a complete disaster. Upon finishing it, the house appraised for $84,000 and looked wonderful! The neighbors were very happy, since this eyesore had been transformed into the cutest house on the block. 

Having studied Steve’s course, things went very well. Without it, the project could have been disastrous. What helped me the most was the section on estimating repair costs. I had bids that were completely outrageous and, thankfully, knew so because of his course. It is amazing how a contractor will meet with you to bid a job, initially ask $8,000 for a roof job and, within three minutes, is down to $4,000 - just because I knew better and told him so. The power of knowledge!

- Zoe Kivio, Virginia


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