Just bought a house for $9,000...

[YoungPadawan]

Yep, just bought a house.

Is it a super sexy house that will have hordes of women knocking on my door, oogling at my new abode?

Nope, not really. It's an older house and has some work that needs to be done with it. (Drywalling, updating the HVAC system, and tearing out the shagadelic calico orange carpet)

But it does something critical for my future unscripted lifestyle. It gives me mortgage-free freedom.

What's the best part? It's a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house and I have someone lined up to rent out the other half of the house.

Living for freeeeeee! Similar to what @G_Alexander did quite a few years ago in one of his threads I think. (House hacking)

I'm pretty pumped to say the least. I've also been developing a product for the past 3 months and I plan on turning the living room into a fulfillment center... lol

On my way to becoming unscripted , baby...

 

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[YoungPadawan]

Here it is:














Lol, just kidding. Here's the rest:

 

[YoungPadawan]

First Floor:

 

[YoungPadawan]

Epic.

That quote alone is the difference between the real haves and the have nots. If one can discipline themselves to save, so that they can pay cash for all personal purchases ie; vehicles, clothing, toys etc, than when a deal comes along such as this, funds should be available.

My mantra is to only borrow when I can generate cash without relying personally on my time in paying it back.
Now, off my soapbox.

Congrats man, awesome job! So what are your long term plans; to continue to live there or to fix up and eventually rent or resell? Looks like that lot is big enough to grow your own veggies!

I am envious!

For sure, I think we have similar methods for money management. If at all possible, I never take out loans for a liability. Only for assets that either can make me money, or make my business more efficient. Buying assets for the long term.

For instance, here's a current purchase/project I'm working on:

I'm building a grain bin that will pay itself off in a year. I'm building it myself because half the cost of building a bin is the labor cost - plus I know that it will be built well. This thing will last 30+ years.

My philosophy is all about building a super low cost foundation - then aquiring money producing (or efficiency improving) assets. It's all about building those 'virtuous cycles' man.

The plan is to stay here for the next 10+ years and to continue to expand the family farming operation and to build a bulk commodity/ag services empire.

Brick by brick...

 

[L457dwj]

My town you can't even buy a garage for $9000 lol.

Well done!

 

[G-Man]

Just the lot that's on is 300k+ where I live. Maybe I need to move

 

[Jaden Jones]

I could buy a house up here for $9000, I just need to have it removed from the property its on...

 

[million$$$smile]

If there is anything to be learned from this thread, it's to always have a cash reserve on hand for purchases that you know you will eventually make anyways

Epic.

That quote alone is the difference between the real haves and the have nots. If one can discipline themselves to save, so that they can pay cash for all personal purchases ie; vehicles, clothing, toys etc, than when a deal comes along such as this, funds should be available.

My mantra is to only borrow when I can generate cash without relying personally on my time in paying it back.
Now, off my soapbox.

Congrats man, awesome job! So what are your long term plans; to continue to live there or to fix up and eventually rent or resell? Looks like that lot is big enough to grow your own veggies!

I am envious!

 

[YoungPadawan]

How the hell is that house $9k?

Does it get internet out there? And is there food within walking distance, and no meth zombie issues?

If so, sounds like the perfect fastlaner's grindhouse.

Yep, fiber optic internet and no meth zombies that I know of. Lol
There's no grocery store in the town though, but there are a couple convenience stores.

If there is anything to be learned from this thread, it's to always have a cash reserve on hand for purchases that you know you will eventually make anyways.

You can pick things up for dirt cheap this way because peoples lives are always changing - whether they're desperate for cash or their lifestyle is changing (moving to a different city, divorce, biz liquidation, etc.). Or sometimes, people are just lazy and want the stuff gone fast.

You can set up automatic alerts on eBay to notify you if a particular product you're looking for is listed under a certain price - then you can snatch it up quickly. You can also set Google Alerts to notify you of particular keywords and price ranges also, and by doing these things, you can pick things up for crazy low prices.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Remember the upstairs bathroom?


This is what it looks like currently:


I'm in the process of tearing out the millions of layers of wallpaper that they put over the plaster every time that a piece of the plaster cracked.



I've found that it works pretty well to wet down the wallpaper a bit, let it soak a little, and then scrape it off. I will say - my shoulders/arms are going to be shredded by the time I get done with this. lol

I'm also working on tearing out the badly cracked plaster. Everything is pretty messy at the moment.

This sounds kind of nuts, but I actually am really enjoying this rehabbing process. It's really satisfying visually seeing your progress and checking things off of your to-do list. The Fastlane venture that I've been working on for quite a few months now takes a lot of computer time, so this is sort of a refreshing break from the computer.

Something that I've been doing lately that I've found to be helpful, both with my house as well as my Fastlane venture, is to write the amount of time I spent on it. Then, at the end of the week, I add up the hours and I'm that much closer to my goal. I don't focus on the huge task at hand - just putting in one hour of work at a time.

 

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[YoungPadawan]

Goodbye shagadelic orange carpet. You will not be missed.

Hello hardwood floor


Here's some nightmare fuel that was in one of the rooms



Sort of reminds me of this video:

View: https://youtu.be/azEsDoQXkP0

 

[YoungPadawan]

Alright, as promised, here is how to get dirt cheap (or free) internet…

I was going to do this at my house, from my parents house, but unfortunately, there are too many trees (and a hill) for it to work well enough. But I will show you what to do anyways.

So, let’s say you know someone that lives within viewing distance of your house (or shed, or treehouse, or where ever you want internet). You’re sick of paying crazy internet bills and decide that you want to work out a deal where you split the internet bill with your friend that lives a couple miles away.

Warning: this is somewhat complicated. If you aren’t somewhat tech savvy, or have a small understanding of computer networking, I wouldn’t recommend attempting this.

So… basically what you need to do is set up something called a “Point-To-Point connection.” Here are the tools you’re going to need to set up a connection that has a line of sight within 5 miles:

Two of these:
$130

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EHSV4W/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Two of these:
$20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MRRPNSD/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

One of these:
$7

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LX23L5I/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Two of these:
$33.34

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003D1QPHK/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

Two 6 foot ethernet cables (approximately $12

And one of these:
$27.49
https://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-300Mbps-Wireless-Router-TL-WR841N/dp/B01GS37NV6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1542326662&sr=8-2&keywords=router&refinements=p_72:2661618011

Total Cost:
$230

Next, go to your friends place, get next to his router, and hook up your Nanostation and POE injector like in the horrendous MS Paint picture I made (I have attached it below). You will want to use the weatherproof cables to hook up to your Nanostations to your POE injectors in your friends house (or treehouse). Follow this tutorial to set up both of your Nanostations. He’s using a Nanostation M5, but the setup for a Nanostation M5 Loco will be the same:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZxJPBukjbY

Next, you’re going to want to set up your router. You will want to install the open source software called DD-WRT to allow your router to extend its capabilities and to allow you to turn it to “Repeater Bridge” mode.

How to do it shown here:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJaYE9Yk7gc&t=35s

and

Installing DD-WRT on the TP-LINK TL-WR841N

Once you get your router up and running, hook up your nanostation to the router and enjoy the simple life of low cost internet browsing.

So there you have it. Internet to your treehouse for dirt cheap (or free) depending on your arrangement with your friend.

All in all, it's somewhat complicated. I might be doing this for a friend in the future so I may make a video.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Home renovation/construction hack:

If you only need equipment or tools temporarily, buy used tools off of Ebay. That way, their value won't depreciate (compared with buying new). Then, when you are finished, simply list the tools on Ebay again for the same price you bought them for.

Renting tools/equipment for free!

 

[YoungPadawan]

Props. Mind if I ask what city? I’m guessing it’s in a rural area?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep, it's in a microscopic town, which is a big reason why it was so cheap. (population of 125) It's in Southwestern Minnesota.

 

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[minivanman]

I have a friend that we will call Kevin, cuz that was his name , and he bought a house in about 1992. Had 3-4 roommates..... never paid 1 penny for rent or bills and now has a paid for, very nice house. He has never talked about any other of his finances but I'm sure he has saved and saved.

 

[YoungPadawan]

Hey neighbor. People don't know how inexpensive housing is in those rinky dink towns.

Heck yeah! That's the truth.

I was reading on one of the documents my realtor gave me that said the yearly property tax rate for this house is $89...

 

[G_Alexander]

Awesome my man @YoungPadawan!

Now just rent out 3 (of the 4) bedrooms for a couple hundred dollars each per month and create a positive cash inflow. Not sure what your town room rates look like, but you might be able to squeeze somewhere between $300-$600 per month out of those 3 rooms combined that you don't use. Then you're really on the path brother!

Make your money work, while you sleep. Rinse, and repeat.

Cheers, and congrats!

 

[YoungPadawan]

Bathroom before:


Bathroom after:


One of the upstairs bedrooms:



After of living room (sorry it's messy lol):


So the total renovation costs were around $15,000 as I did most of the work myself. I could get about $45,000 for the house if I sold it I think. (not totally sure, just an estimate as I haven't had it reappraised or anything.)

I've been kind of lazy and haven't worked as fast on the upstairs. The bathroom and hallway just got sheetrocked and it is still being renovated.

 

[Vigilante]

post pics

 

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[GPM]

Nice. I love those green carpets!

I lived in a place that looked pretty similar to that in a rural Canadian location for about 2.5 years. Rent was $400. It was great. Split that with my cousin who I was living with at the time. Allowed me to save a lot of money

 

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[msufan]

I just want to echo the shock that others have expressed that you can get that for $9000. $90,000 I could see, but $9,000?! Unreal. Great work.

 

[Merging Left]

Nobody has asked, but while $9,000 sounds like a great deal on the house, what will it be worth when you have fixed it up a bit? Are other houses in your area selling for significantly more than what you paid?

Either way, living for free is a great accomplishment and you won't have to fear going all-in on anything since you still have a roof over your head!

 

[YoungPadawan]

Dude congrats on the hustle. Rehabbing a property is way more than most folks can mentally undertake!

Don’t want to scare you, but something to think about - have you had any of the materials tested for asbestos/lead/cadmium/chromium?

The 60’s was a hot era for asbestos, usually in mastics for flooring, pipe elbows, etc. - but sometimes that old plaster has asbestos in the skim coat and sometimes the scratch and brown coats. Old popcorns also had it, it was a great reinforcement for finish materials and sometimes caulk. There are places you can send a sample to in a plastic baggy and they’ll test it.

If any of that construction or renovation work took place between 1930-ish and 1980-ish, best to have it tested.

Can’t wait to see it finished!

Yep, I bought some asbestos kits on Amazon to do some testing. As for the paint, particularly on the floor, I'll probably just paint over it and not sand it just in case of lead paint. Definately a smart thing to test!

 

[YoungPadawan]

I definitely have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm pumped!

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Kansas city has plenty of houses around that, but not nearly that size or the lot size. good score.

Plenty of 'em around Troost and Prospect I bet.



Don't mind the bullet holes, it's a fixer upper!

 

[Kak]

A big congrats! Very good move.

 

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[shubham525]

Damn , I can't even buy a house like that in India for this price in cities.

 

[Almantas]

We should pick your house as the location for the next summit. I'll take the shed! Lol.

On a serious note - well done! The house looks lovely!

 

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[mike24601]

It's funny how tastes change over the decades. Just think, at one point someone said "ugh, that hardwood floor is so dated and hideous. Better cover it up with this orange shag!"

If you have really squeaky floors, there are special screws that you drill through the floorboards and down the length of the joists, then the heads get broken off and you can't see the repair. I have used them before to decent success in a squeaky house.

Also those bears look vintage and could be worth a pretty penny. If you haven't torched them yet you might like to do some research and list them on eBay or something.

 

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[YoungPadawan]

great deal !
what is your family farming business?

Grain farming. Corn and soybeans

 

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