On that first house we learned a lot of really good lessons, but it was time to go on to house number 2! In 2002, we purchased another house at a foreclosure real estate auction in a hotel room in a local city. We had been in the property before we purchased it, and actually submitted an agreement of sale to the listing agent for the purchase of that home. At the time, we offered $16K for the home, to the listing office, and were rejected, when the "owner", the bank, decided to sell the house at public foreclosure auction, using a licensed auctioneer. We registered before we went to the auction, and bought the house for $13K, instead of the $16K that we offered originally. Now, after settlement, we all were the owners of a small 2 bedroom semi-detached home that needed a new roof, the basement dug out (it was a dirt floor), new windows, and a lot of cosmetics. My family and some industrious teenagers went into the home to haul dirt by the bucket load up the steps and into the backyard. After we had removed over a foot of dirt, we hauled down the steps bucket after bucket of sand so that we could lay brick on the floor. The brick, we hauled over from a barn about seven miles away that someone wanted out of their yard. Of course, that was all taken down the steps as well. Luckily, the basement was not a very large area, so that it only took 4 of us about 15 hours to complete. However, we certainly were exercising forgotten muscles hauling dirt, sand, and brick up and down numerous steps for a couple of hours at a time!
After we were finished with the basement, one of the investors in the club was going to repair the house for us. We have since learned, that for us to hire someone is a good idea, but usually not to pay someone by the hour! This investor was not making income from any other source except the small amount of work that he could get from the investors' club. Being a little bit green at that point, we did not analyze our costs as we should have, and ended up paying this man for numerous shopping trips to get supplies and materials, numerous smoke breaks, and lots of "I feel like talking to people" breaks as well. At that time, I learned more of the "language",(meaning my scraper was not a spatula, and the philip screwdriver was not a starpoint) and was in the process of learning how to do some of the repairs myself. I watched, listened, and learned a lot between then and now. I now can install any kind of floor myself, paint, install ceilings, doors, windows, cabinets, and much more! I know what people are looking for in the houses that they purchase from us. I now can shop at building materials auctions knowledgeably and with confidence, knowing what the prices of individual materials are.