Daniel Webster said: “The world is governed more by appearance than by reality.” And, that’s exactly how your customers will judge your fix-up job.

If you spend $5000 working under the house, you can consider that money to be mostly a gift for the next owner. If instead you can spend that money for beautification like exterior paint, carpets, new lawns and a white picket fence around the front, you’ll not only be’ in harmony with Webster, but you’ll also be adding sizzle items that both buyers and renters are willing to pay you for!

HIGH PROFIT PROPERTY

My Haywood property consisted of 11 older rental houses on a two acre lot. It was com­pletely overrun with weeds and brush when I bought it. About 50 percent of my fix-up profits were earned by simply cleaning and hauling.

… drive-bys and quick peeks make the sale…

When Haywood sold, I had made a $150,000 profit. The profit cost me roughly $20,000, which I think you’ll agree, is not very much to spend for that much profit. This is fix-up lever­age’ For the Haywood job, I’m talking about 7.5 ­to-1 leverage. That means for every dollar I spent doing fix-up and clean-up, I got back $7.50 when 1 sold the property. I might add that during the 14 months I owned Haywood the monthly rents were increased over $1200. Natu­rally higher rents equate to a higher resale value.