14y/o Florida girl buys house for $13K

[Agent☣Orange]

Link: http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=b511e64e-ace3-4fa5-8c71-6e434176d7ce

In 14-year-old Willow Tufano's neighborhood, the real-estate crisis has meant living surrounded by vacant homes, in the foreclosure epicenter of Florida.

It has also meant a chance to earn some real money, selling items no one wants out of foreclosed homes handled by her real-estate agent mother.


Now, Willow has become a landlord, after buying her first house for $13,000.


Her two-bedroom, one-bath home is in Port Charlotte, Fla., where property is worth about one-third of what it was at the peak. CNN Money picked Port Charlotte, a town on Florida's Gulf Coast with a population of about 48,000, as one of the best places to retire in 2009. At that time, the average three-bedroom house cost about $170,000.

[The Driver]

Watch for that girl, she'll be a billionaire by age 30! I wonder if she has an older sister? You know like 23-24... ;)

[Agent☣Orange]

Heck with the girls. Where are these $13k houses?? Everything in Port Charlotte is still priced like before the crash.

[Tekel]

Her mom is a real estate agent so she probably had word of the foreclosure before it was on the market.

[The Driver]

Heck with the girls. Where are these $13k houses?? Everything in Port Charlotte is still priced like before the crash.

Statements like those make Thumper's allegations more real...


But if you are asking about the houses, you need to check at your Clerck Of the Court registries. That is public info, and I bet that was $13K on Auction, which means that you need to have liquid $$$ to finalize purchase.

[FooSchnickens]

Normally I'd break out my only in florida" shtick, but this is pretty badass. Good on her.

[adamvanxxx]

I'm about to move back to cape coral now.

[The Driver]

I'm about to move back to cape coral now.

Then I hope to GOD that you already have a job lined up, SERIOUSLY!

[Neocataboi]

Link: http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=b511e64e-ace3-4fa5-8c71-6e434176d7ce

In 14-year-old Willow Tufano's neighborhood, the real-estate crisis has meant living surrounded by vacant homes, in the foreclosure epicenter of Florida.

It has also meant a chance to earn some real money, selling items no one wants out of foreclosed homes handled by her real-estate agent mother.



How does one do that?! You go into a foreclosed home take the stuff and sell it? How does that work, and what makes it okay? So much so, that she had 13k in cash?!

[The Driver]

How does one do that?! You go into a foreclosed home take the stuff and sell it? How does that work, and what makes it okay? So much so, that she had 13k in cash?!

Are you kidding? or is this a legit question? You can only sell (or give away) what you legally own. Once the girl took ownership of this house, she was free to dispose of any assets at her convenience.

[Neocataboi]

i didn't know foreclosed homes were furnished. So her mom would buy foreclosed homes, give the stuff to her daughter to sell so she can guy a house of her own?

sorry, but i seriously didn't understand, because there is a plural there. I doubt the little girl can afford multiple foreclosed homes and the stuff that is inside them. It make me think she goes into foreclosed homes and sells the stuff left behind. IE: Stuff no one wants.

[ChrisJuliano]

Mommys $ lol.

[fitftw]

I dont like rich people.

[The Driver]

i didn't know foreclosed homes were furnished. So her mom would buy foreclosed homes, give the stuff to her daughter to sell so she can guy a house of her own?

sorry, but i seriously didn't understand, because there is a plural there. I doubt the little girl can afford multiple foreclosed homes and the stuff that is inside them. It make me think she goes into foreclosed homes and sells the stuff left behind. IE: Stuff no one wants.


They are most likely refering to the appliances and ancialliaries that homes come with. This is just an ASSumption.

[adamvanxxx]

Is it seriously that bad down there?

I am a fueler at the IND airport, and our base is in Ft Lauderdale. I probably could do that but this is just a paycheck not where I want to be.

[Agent☣Orange]

Well yes and no. Every other house around here is abandoned, foreclosed, bank owned, for rent/sale and so on. There are houses here completely overgrown and a real eyesore for a neighborhood.

But...go to buy a run down, vandalized, overgrown shack and they still think it's worth the artificial prices from before. The shoebox next door, and it literally could be the garage for this house if I ran a fence around it, cost $40K originally. Then it shot up to $179k. The trapped owner was trying to get out from under it by selling it for that much, of course, unsuccessfully.

As for this young lady, it's all set up for her obviously by her mom. I don't think she can even legally own a house at her age but that's neither here nor there. It's just that the article makes it seem anyone can buy $14k houses here all day long. if that were true, I'd take three or four.

I've read that Detroit is really like this though; people buying houses for $1K.

[adamvanxxx]

I was looking at housing down there just recently, it is fairly cheap. Just growing up there and this whole winter thing make me want it back. I visited some family down in the cape about two years ago and saw that it was a lot more run down than I had recalled. Yet all down Veterans pkwy was new business.

It is essentially the same story here in Indiana let alone a lot of the US.

[Phatmiata]

Moved this to the Florida section so that it serves as a constant reminder for me to get off my lazy ass and get motivated to get back to looking at real estate investing options.

I see plenty here in in the 29K range, you can get cheaper ones by getting a list from the court house and see what is going up for auction. This just shows you what we are missing out on, time to get busy!

[The Driver]

Is it seriously that bad down there?

I am a fueler at the IND airport, and our base is in Ft Lauderdale. I probably could do that but this is just a paycheck not where I want to be.

Wait, you could transfer to a job in Ft. Lauderdale, but you want tp commute from Cape Coral? :nuts:

In any event, if you have a job that can transfer you, take it! Just not paying state income tax means a paycheck increase, nevermind the weather in FL is WAY better than in Indy!

This is the time to buy real estate in FL!


Good luck!

[Tekel]

Here is how I read the story:
- Mothers real estate company obtained forclosed homes
- Daughter takes on the task of estate sales to liquidate all the furnishings
- Daughter uses profits to buy one of said foreclosed homes.

[rolly]

try to find a deal like that in The Bay Area, CA.
Not gonna happen, I have been house shopping for some time now and prices are just about the same as before the crash 400k +, just better interest rates.

[adamvanxxx]

Wait, you could transfer to a job in Ft. Lauderdale, but you want tp commute from Cape Coral? :nuts:

In any event, if you have a job that can transfer you, take it! Just not paying state income tax means a paycheck increase, nevermind the weather in FL is WAY better than in Indy!

This is the time to buy real estate in FL!


Good luck!

If that was the case I wouldn't live in the cape. But I am also pretty sure we have accounts at Ft. Myers airport.

Just our US headquarters is in Ft Lauderdale.

[Small White Car]

i didn't know foreclosed homes were furnished. So her mom would buy foreclosed homes, give the stuff to her daughter to sell so she can guy a house of her own?

sorry, but i seriously didn't understand, because there is a plural there. I doubt the little girl can afford multiple foreclosed homes and the stuff that is inside them. It make me think she goes into foreclosed homes and sells the stuff left behind. IE: Stuff no one wants.

It's called 'property preservation' and it's going to be an exploding market for a brief amount of time and if you can move on it do it.

The down side is most of the 'homes' you go into are crack house eyesores, property preservation is cleaning out the junk, covering the holes and mowing the lawn every couple weeks.

You also get to meet the crackheads who occupy these places.

Of course I'm only talking southern California but it could be the same all over.


You get paid by the banks and property owners who are usually compelled by the city to clean the rat hole up.






So all you need to do is get to know a code enforcement officer and hand him a list of local shanties and some season passes and BOOM! You're in there!!!

[The Driver]

It's called 'property preservation' and it's going to be an exploding market for a brief amount of time and if you can move on it do it.

The down side is most of the 'homes' you go into are crack house eyesores, property preservation is cleaning out the junk, covering the holes and mowing the lawn every couple weeks.

You also get to meet the crackheads who occupy these places.

Of course I'm only talking southern California but it could be the same all over.


You get paid by the banks and property owners who are usually compelled by the city to clean the rat hole up.






So all you need to do is get to know a code enforcement officer and hand him a list of local shanties and some season passes and BOOM! You're in there!!!

Ummm, yeah, that's not even close to what was described here... But it is rather informative!

[Phatmiata]

here is how I read the story,

......... girl shows everyone in American you CAN buy a house if you save your money, AND you can get them for as low as $19 per square foot if you know where to look!

I know there are tons of folks that would have just blown that money on a new car, car parts (me), clothes, computers, stereos, musical instruments, gambling, drugs, etc, etc.

Heck, look at the folks that win the lotto, they are generally broke within a few years, at least this kid will own something she can make money off of ! I'm jealous my folks didn't teach me real estate so early on!

[tonnygarden]

I saw plenty of houses here in the range of $30000, you can get cheaper by taking a list from the courthouse, then let's see what happens with the auction.

[kung fu jesus]

Well yes and no. Every other house around here is abandoned, foreclosed, bank owned, for rent/sale and so on. There are houses here completely overgrown and a real eyesore for a neighborhood.

But...go to buy a run down, vandalized, overgrown shack and they still think it's worth the artificial prices from before. The shoebox next door, and it literally could be the garage for this house if I ran a fence around it, cost $40K originally. Then it shot up to $179k. The trapped owner was trying to get out from under it by selling it for that much, of course, unsuccessfully.

As for this young lady, it's all set up for her obviously by her mom. I don't think she can even legally own a house at her age but that's neither here nor there. It's just that the article makes it seem anyone can buy $14k houses here all day long. if that were true, I'd take three or four.

I've read that Detroit is really like this though; people buying houses for $1K.

The daughter is a sort of tax shelter for the mother. It is also a way for the daughter to start making money for later life expenses, like college or entrepreneurial endeavors.

Yes, Detroit is like that and has been for quite some time, since the 80's. Abandoned homes/neighborhoods were crime hotspots. You know what happens in Detroit around Halloween? The night before Halloween is called Devil's Night. It evolved into a 2-4 night festival of arson. People would burn the houses down to eliminate them because the city wouldn't tear them down.

I have an old childhood friend who now owns an entire block of land in Detroit. He's an artist/sculptor who uses the vacant land for farming, studio ground, whatever he needs it for. I believe he bought all the land for about $10-15k.

White collar areas don't see huge drops because the surrounding area is still deemed as valuable. It's a speculation and the empty homes are inventoried and maintained by the banks by contractors like Mike mentioned. They are backlogged and then released back onto the market in a controlled fashion so the banks can get a better price for them. It's sort of a supply vrs demand principle.

[Agent☣Orange]

You couldn't pry a thing from banks around here. They don't spend a penny on upkeep for repo'd houses, just let rot while neighboring homeowners lose value in their houses.

I think if a bank is going to have the sherrif throw people out in the street because they conned them into that refinancing gimmick, they should be required to pay property taxes, utilities, water, electricity, maintain the lawn, structure and post an insurance bond for anything that might happen to the house while it's vacant i.e. arson, flood, vandalism.

[kung fu jesus]

that's how houses started meeting an end through arson in Detroit.