Regulations are a lot more lenient in the rural areas for a start. The other big advantage is no frigging construction unions to drive prices up.
Nope, that includes labor. The materials were delivered on Wednesday, one crew came in on Thursday prepped the land, poured the concrete and ran the utilities. Finally the last crew came in on Saturday morning at 6 am to begin construction and were loading up there tools leaving at 3:30 pm the same day, finished. Try to accomplish that in the city.
It would take an outlier just to buy fixer uppers and turn them around in 3 years even if you had a starting investment sum. Even in 1995. The real question is how exactly the person was able to get the funds to buy 5 fixer uppers. Seems to be the big mystery. I'm also dumbfounded how someone in 1995 with a Master's in Business would end up taking a McD's job to make ends meet. Zero sense whatsoever. How would you even pay your loans? Like I said the story is pure BS because the crackpot wants to prove his not so important point. Or he is very naive about his "friend's" claims.
What do you mean by regulations are a lot more lenient? Contractors don't have to follow the building code? We are just talking about fixer uppers, so I don't think unions matters. Unless your friend bought skyscrappers, then that's another story all together. Back to the procedures... The 1st fixer upper your friend bought; what needed to be fixed. And what was the material cost?
In the city everyone has his hand out for fees. In this rural area you submit either blueprints for new construction or lessor remodel plans to the township trustees. The one permit that is required costs $25, new or remodel. Each step, depending on new construction or remodel; framing, wiring, plumbing & finish, you call the office a day in advance and they send an inspector to assess the work up to that point the next day, no charge. The subs in this area all know the inspectors and know if they try to cut corners the inspector will shut the project down till they get it right. If that happens the contractor or project owner simply will never use those subs again and put the word out to everyone about the shoddy work they do. Subs know they live off of their reputation so if you want to stay in business, you always do a great job in a timely manner. I just called my friend and he said he paid about $30K for his first property and put about $12K in materials, labor was mostly free because a lot of his friends chipped in but he did come out of pocket about $6K for labor over our volunteer help. (The union comment was in regards to labor costs) The property was mostly cosmetic. It was a mess. He said the bank put a value on the property of $40K before the rehab (15 years ago - 1996) (no money down construction loan due to 25% equity and the bank requirement to complete the rehab in 120 days. He had to have perfect inspections as well which was part of the loan. He said the project was completed in just over 90 days and the final appraisal on the property was $88K. He said today that same property is worth $175K, free & clear. He rents it for $950 a month.
That's an amazing fable, but still does not explain how he purchased the property being an assistant manager at McD's. That's all everyone was asking you since you're so proud to bring up this infomercial like story.