Early Retirement Extreme Forums

If I may pick it, sir:
I just caught up on several months of your blog entries, having been reminded about it by your comment on the Rural ERE thread. The crisp writing makes it a pleasure, and it's exciting to hear about your house rehabbing adventure (as well as law school and FI plan; Operation Rockefeller, indeed). I subscribed so as not to miss out on the next chapter.
Clearly, you have some competency as a handyman; was this competency enough to thoroughly evaluate the properties you were looking at last year, or did you contract an expert to make sure your 100-year-old house wasn't going to fall over?
Also, have you taken any precautions with regard to toxic stuff? Asbestos, lead, etc.

Hey Zev,
Thanks for the nod!
My construction experience prior to starting rehabbing this first house of mine was limited to framing, siding and roofing. I was in a building trades class in high school where we built a garage over the course of the school year. Plus I've helped my father and brother on their places. My uncle's a contractor, my dad's best friend is an electrician and his son's a plumber. Plus I worked for two years as a utility lineman which, when troubleshooting a telecom issue, I often had to crawl around basements and attics and so I've had an intimate look at the guts of hundreds of houses over the years so I've had a chance to see first-hand fire damage, flood damage, rot, termites, asbestos. All at different stages, and homeowners like to talk about their house and what they've had to deal with over the decades. I'm naturally curious so I always asked about costs and techniques so I now have a good solid idea of what most home problems entail.
So I've kind of just been surrounded by the stuff all the time and I think I've absorbed a lot through osmosis.
Plus there was a time a few years ago when I pored through a bunch of construction how-to books over the course of a few months when I first started thinking about buying a place.
I have a friend who makes his living as a land lord, and has fixed up all his own properties, accompany me to look at a couple houses.
Finally, with all that behind me, I didn't feel the need to pay an expert. Mainly because I had a thorough look at the place myself. I went up into the attic and poked all the ceiling boards to look for rot. There were a few leaks due to misplaced shingles so I had to check if the wood was also on its way out. It wasn't, once I got up there you could see someone replaced the roof just a few years ago and probably just did a poor job of putting up the shingles. Low and behold, when I got up on top of the roof after I bought the place, that's exactly what happened. They used a nail gun that shot right through the shingles rather than just pinning them down, so they would blow away in a strong wind and the bare spots left behind would leak in a heavy rain.
I checked out every post and beam I could find for rot, noticed all the electrical wiring was modern.
I know, from my utility work days, what asbestos boards, siding and insulation looks and feels like. So I knew there wasn't any around. It's a possibility there's some lead paint in the house somewhere. But I could tell from looking that most of the place has been renovated in the past 10-15 years so, if there is, its been covered up or removed already.
The bottom line for me was, I felt confident that I had predicted 95% of the issues I was going to have to fix. I knew the chances of there being an issue I didn't spot, what the costs of those potential issues would be, and figured it was worth the risk. Plus, the house was only $23,000 so my I felt confident taking that risk. If I were sinking $100,000 or even $75,000 into a place, I'd get a professional inspection before buying.
Though I know there are other landlords and home flippers on this board who may have another view on it.
Anyway, there you go. I'm off to the house to get it ready for the carpets to go in. I'm hoping to post some before and after pictures by next weekend or so. Thanks for reading

Thanks a ton for the in-depth response, Mike. I know of the high-profile reference books for rehabbing--Home Depot, Reader's Digest, Family Handyman Magazine--any others you'd recommend?

You know, I really don't remember what I read. It was probably 4 or 5 years ago. I just raided the library's selections on real estate investing. There was lots of information on inspecting potential properties.
Are you thinking about buying something in New York City? The rents there are enough to put dollar signs in any landlord's eyes.
I'm starting to think about getting a 3 or 4 unit building in Boston or Cambridge where the rents are sky high. But that would be something I'd get in 2 or 3 years when I have high enough cash flow and enough equity to be able to qualify for a mortgage for one. Even dilapidated buildings in that area go for $600k-$800k. But if the units are renovated nice you can get $2,000/month for each one.
It's expensive, but I figure I'd rather manage 4 units to bring in $8k/month than manage 10-12 units to get the same money outside of the city.

Good point about not having to manage as many units for the same income in a high-rent city. I have my eye on the Rust Belt, or possibly the Southwest, actually, for investing. I have been thinking (and writing) about buying in NYC, but I'm broadening my horizons a little as I think about my priorities. Thanks again for the tips and the great blog--I will look forward to getting a big update in a year, (or sooner if you're a Twitterer).
Your story of a year in the desert, as well as some other reading linked to on this forum lately (Prieur, the guy walking around the country with $1 in his pocket), is helping me see the range of options and opportunities.