Fixer Upper
During the tail end of the previous real estate bust, I purchased a foreclosure that was a real fixer upper. I never took pictures of it in it's original condition but trust me, it was really rough. The good thing is it was in a great location in east Boca Raton. I could walk to the beach, shopping, restaurants and the office.
It may look rough in this pic but it was really rough when I closed on it.
Click image to enlarge.
Boca Raton is a very expensive area and a foreclosure such as this was my only way of getting into a home in Boca.
The first thing I had to do was replace the exterior doors which had holes you could step through. I then painted the interior walls and installed vertical blinds.
I ultimately, built new kitchen cabinets and countertops, replumbed the kitchen, replumbed the bath, retiled the bath, replaced all light switches, replaced all the old two prong ungrounded outlets with grounded outlets, installed ceiling fans in bedrooms, built A/C ducts and registers, refinished the terazzo floors, reskinned and reknobbed the interior doors, installed an automatic irrigation system, sodded the lawn, did the landscaping, repaired termite damage, insulated the attic, painted the exterior and resurfaced the drive. All by myself.
The house was built in 1958 and apparently, no one had ever bothered to plant a tree.
In designing the landscaping, I decided I wanted to be able to go outside on any day of the year and have something ripe to eat. I began researching and ended up planting a ruby red grapefruit, honeybell tangelo, lychee, longan, macadamia, loquat, avocado, two mangos, grapes, coconuts, assorted bananas and half a dozen or so pineapple.
Upon completion of the fix-up but before beginning the edible landscaping.
Click image to enlarge.
I never was able to fully enjoy the fruits of my lanscaping as I sold the house just as the fruit trees were maturing.
I was in Boca Raton a few years ago during the height of the recent real estate bubble and decided to stop by and see how my old house was doing.
Since I sold it, it had traded hands several times and was once again up for sale... for several times what I sold it for. There was no way such price could be sustained and in the aftermath of the 2008 real estate bust, it once again went into foreclosure.
