Great house deal in Florence

[sandnsea]

I was at yardsales today and ran across a home for sale that I thought I would share. I've got no interest in this at all, in fact all I could tell you is to contact Coldwell Banker in Florence if you're interested. The house is on Mitchell Loop, it's an estate sale so the family is looking to get the sale done as fast as possible.

It's about 2000 square feet, 3 br 2 bath. It has a formal living room with fireplace, formal dining, huge kitchen with dining, and a seriously huge family room with a fireplace. I think it's one of those double sided fireplaces. The bedrooms are all spacious and have quaint things like built-in desks and stuff. It sits on an acre in a nice wooded area south of Florence. It was probably built in the 60's, it has that feel to it. It's in good condition, you could move right in. But you'd probably want to do all new flooring, paint and probably update kitchen cupboards at some point. Great house - $199,000!!! For Florence, that is a steal. You could fix this place up and turn it for $250,000 quite easily or live in it if you've been thinking of moving to the coast.

[exlrrp]

1. Turn it or keep it?

I buy houses, fix em and turn em, about one a year for the last 20 years. I'm looking for investment property here in OR (I live in Brownsville)and really like the coast. Ive been looking in Newport and thinking about trying farther North. Florence could be good, tho.
I think buying beach property is even more dependent on the economy than buying a regular home. When the pinch hits, the vacation home is always the first one sold.
Ive been predicting a burst in the housing bubble for some time and think its getting closer--I'm holding back my cash for the fire sale
ButI think it won't be so big in Oregon because Californians are going to be buying up this state over the next few decades.

[sandnsea]

2. Florence is a retirement town

While there are a lot of beach vacation homes here, the real estate market is geared more towards retirees. That particular piece of property would appeal to either retirees or local govt employees and the like, not so much a vacation home.

I'm looking at buying a different house sitting on 2 lots, so I'll probably sell the other one, if you're interested in that.