I remember when I bought my first apartment building. I was living in a condo two blocks away across the street from the ocean, in a little town called, Winthrop. Winthrop is a peninsula, population around 18,000 across the harbor from Boston. The year was 1981. Wow! so long ago……
I used to jog by this apartment building every morning and wonder why, who ever owned this jewel, didn’t take care of it?! I saw dollar signs all over this building………..with its broken down fence around the parking lot, front stairs and chimneys that needed pointing……..fallen down storage bin in the parking lot along the holes in the tar, faded lines so you could not differentiate the parking spaces……chipped paint over the clapboard that surrounding the building….the balconies in the front units (2 of them) storage for bikes, boxes, clothes……just a mess! The roof when missing many shingles. I hope you get the picture.
But, what I saw everyday jogging by was what I could do with just some cosmetic work to make this a money pit and a real jewel! A property that everyone would want to live or own a unit here someday……..I could see this! Talk about imagination!……..This picture, with all my improvements! Sooo real!
I didn’t know how I was going to buy this building, but I KNEW I was going to own it as soon as the owner was ready to sell it!…………I had no idea about construction……….no money………tenants?!……..all the nightmares I would hear about tenants!
Over the years I was looking for someone with money(while I was saving), someone with construction background, I read tons of books on how to manage property, find good tenants & keep them, went to real estate seminars. I was preparing myself for the inevitable. I was going to own this building! And, I think I was doing this on a subliminal basis……….I didn’t write anything down, or tell anyone my plans…………I just knew I was going to be ready when this building came on the market!
And then it happened! The building had a sign on it “for sale”. I was ready! It was 1993! I asked a woman with construction background to be my partner! From 1981, when I first moved to Winthrop, to 1993, I had saved money, I had great credit, I already owned a couple of small units in the town. I had the backing…….so I went for the kill! I made an offer to this 85 year old man that accepted the offer! I was soooooooo excited! Couldn’t wait to move in & start the repairs and improvements that I visualized over twelve years!
Over twelve years we did the following to the building: replaced the fence around the parking lot, filled in the holes in the parking lot, made fresh lines so everyone in the building knew their parking space and where to park their cars, pointed the front stairs and chimneys, took down the storage bin(which added a parking space) painted all the wood around the windows, vinyl sided the building white with black trim, repaired the two front balconies on the first and second floors and adding a balcony on the third and forth floors. All the front units are about 100 feet from the Atlantic Ocean! The VIEW is to DIE for!! This is where the sun rises…..on the East……And, had a blast doing to all this!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was my vision!!!!!! New roof. The front balconies were only for furniture, no storage allowed……Imagination!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whtbmwmasterkey 