Well, a friend of mine put an offer on a foreclosed duplex across the street from me.



The property was rented up until September and then it was vacant. A foreclosure notice went up about 2 weeks ago and I was curious about the asking price.

When a "For Sale" sign went up last week, I called to get the asking price.

$99,000!! I was totally floored. I paid $160k for my place and that was the cheapest purchase on the block in ten years.

I called my husband who was hanging out with our realtor friend. My husband relayed the asking price and the realtor immediately called the agent for the details. There were already 3 offers on the place.

The realtor put in an offer of $135k for a mutual friend of ours who has been looking to get into real estate by getting a duplex.

Over the last few days I had become a little bitter. This place was bigger than mine, a free standing property (mine is a rowhouse), and it has a double balcony! An upstairs and downstairs balcony. It had features I would love to get at a cheaper price!

Today we learned that her offer was accepted. So we all went to see the property. Why they didnt see it before, no idea. But since it is across the street from me- I got to go too.

I walked in, and instantly I had waves of stress and dismay radiate over me from the poor condition of the inside. It reminded me of my huge renovation that was completed in April and I realized...I am in no way ready to go through another renovation! The memories this place brought back were not good.

So I learned that I am not leaving my property for a long time...I cannot put myself through another renovation.

Back to my friend, she was overwhelmed. The place was in need of the same thing mine needed...tear down and start over. Actually it was in worse condition because I was able to continue renting my property out after purchase and had to ask the tenants to leave when I was ready to start construction.

This place...is not able to be immediatly rented. The kitchen was missing several parts of it, the 2 additions built onto the back were falling (I thought my floors were uneven), the porches do not feel secure under your feet. And the roof is leaking.

So the bad news is that my friend is going to pass on the property. It would need too much money to get it rentable, and be a long term constant repair property unless the structure was fixed and everything was replaced.

She is not looking to buy a major multi month long renovation.

The good news is that this is the worst looking property on the block and it is not immediately rentable without a good amount of improvements. So whomever does buy it will have to do some considerable improvements to it, ultimately raising the value of the neighborhood and my property!

I am quietly hoping it gets converted to a SFH like mine was. It would be such a great SFH with so many porches and being such a huge building!

So, changes on the block are coming!