Baseline

Let’s start with the baseline.  A couple years ago we decided to buy a house in the Memphis area.  We started our search online, and found a Realtor who was himself a house flipper in a past life.  While looking through MLS we came across a foreclosed house with this picture as the representation:

 

Ummm, what does the, you know, house look like?  These guys need a better realtor.  There was also one more picture that looked pretty much like this

 A backyard and porch area completely covered in leaves.  All I saw was mildew, raccoons, and every Saturday during football season spent raking leaves.  But we decided to give it a shot.  Here’s a sample of what we saw

 

Pretty sweet huh?  Not terrible, but not great either.  The power was off, so it was like 40 degrees in house, and it smelled like animals.  Every room needed something.  But, where others saw a lost cause, we saw potential.  This area had been off our list as most of the houses we saw (in our price range) were outdated.  Meaning, I had to pay full price for the house, and then put another 20-30k bringing it out of the 1970s.  However, this house was at a significant discount of the price of houses in the area.  We got a good house in a great area for a great price, and we could remodel it like we wanted.  And look at that porch!