Historic St George House (BEFORE)

I’ve always loved the show house hunters, but I never thought I would be following in their footsteps. Travel has allowed me to see and experience many places, and fall in love with the culture and history that is so unique to each place. It truly is a special when a place captures so beautifully years and years of history.

First off, let me just say — I’ve never EVER bought a house on auction. This experience as one for the books, as it’s not a cookie cutter buying process (although part of me loved the adrenaline that came from being a part of a competitive bidding war). Let’s start with some numbers.

Specs: 2520 square feet, .19 acres, duplex zoning (meaning you can rent to 2 separate tenants)

Starting Price: $200k ($75 / square foot)

Comps (Other Houses on the Market): $550k-$700k

We heard about the auction randomly from a friend the day the house hit the market, it was to be listed for a week for as many people to get their offers in as possible and the house would ultimately go to the highest bidder. Now, I am from Utah and know this market well, and I always recommend starting out purchasing real estate in places that you have lived, that you understand, and that you feel comfortable with.

I didn’t have time to travel 8 hrs roundtrip to Southern Utah to see the house before I could but a bid in, so we did what we call a “blind offer”. Our first offer was $250k with a $280k escalation clause (meaning if anyone bid higher than ours, we would be willing to increase our offer up to $280k to beat out those offers. I was honestly very skeptical that we would get chosen. We put our offer in by the end of the week and waited.

Monday we heard back, of 30 offers we were one of the highest bidders! Let me be frank, we go lucky here — because at this point no one in the city permitting office could officially confirm that the property was a duplex which led a lot of people to put in lowball offers (good for us). I called the county first thing Monday morning and learned that they had discovered the property had a “grandfathered” in permitting status as a duplex, making the value of the property skyrocket.

What next? The seller wanted all of the highest bidders to give their last highest offer. Of course. I’ve since learned that this is a tactic in auctions to increase the price you make on the sell of your property (smart, but not ideal for me as the buyer). Andrew and I spent 24 hours running numbers, and remember we still haven’t seen the property yet — which makes it MUCH harder to estimate how much work it will need.

Ultimately we offered $291k with a $301k escalation clause, because a lot of people like to bid even numbers, $290k, $300k, etc… and that was the strategy that landed us this house. The next highest offer was $300k, and just like that BAM without yet walking the property we inherited the ugliest house in all of St George.

Winning Bid: $301k cash ($119 per square foot)

Goal: In 3 months time refinance for $650k (you could sell, but our strategy is always to hold and rent)

However, it’s often the most distressed properties that end up with the most beautiful outcome. We can’t wait to take on the restoration and renovation of this property over the course of the next 3 months. With Wander Camp as our focus from January – October, that gives us 3 months to get to work.

Welcome to the St George House, a 1950s brick home in the middle of Southern Utah’s Historic District. Even though this property isn’t ancient, for the West Coast this is considered “historical”, as there aren’t many homes still standing from the late 1800s.

This is going to be the biggest renovation (and maybe even some demolition) project we’ve taken on to date.

I’m terrified and excited.

Just take a look at the photos to see how much work it needs…. let’s go!

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I’ve always been a big real estate investor. At least 30% of my investment portfolio lies in real estate, with the remaining in start-ups and stocks (typically index funds like the S&P 500, as I don’t have the time to day trade — yet). If you want to learn more about how I leverage Real estate to grow my personal wealth, comment below and stay tuned for future posts!