ONLINEI found this, or rather, one of my clients found it, which brought it to my attention. I'm always amazed at what my clients find searching our ZIP Realty Website. The market is currently chock full of opportunity, and interest rates haven't been this low since post war America, and by that I mean post WW1!
So, back to this place: looks pretty neat, huh? The price is 50k under the market in that neighborhood. I get pretty excited. Then I visit there. Ho-ly shit. I'm not sure what kind of filter the guy that took these pictures used, but I want one. The place was a hodgepodge of poorly done and mismatched improvements, the floor reminiscent of the haunted miners shack in Knotts Berry Farm. There were roaches and spiders scurrying everywhere. That garage looking thing back there? Bootleg guesthouse. The bones of this house are 1941 vintage, but I suspect it was more of a bunkhouse back then; there were several large ranches it could have been a part of in that era. The exterior paint was amateur and the wood peeling everywhere. Major termite damage was visible just upon casual inspection. I told my client who was looking at it (her hands were drawn up tightly together at her chest, body language tells all!)that it would never do for her. There's another guest unit behind the bootleg one, which purports to be permitted. So there's kind of upside if you can save that roof, bring back the garage and get rid of all the termite infested siding. In the home, you'd better plan on jackhammering the slab, and repouring it. While you're at it, add on another bedroom/bath. The tab for all this would probably be about 50k. That makes it even with the neighborhood comps, and you could probably use it as income property.
But the condition in person vs the photo online was like night and day. I imagine internet dating is a lot like this.
The moral of this tale? BUYER BEWARE! ALWAYS SEE THINGS IN PERSON.
REALITY
