I’m very new at this game so I’m not sure if anyone has done this. I just bought my first property (big ol’ home) that needed quite a bit of cosmetic work: paint inside and out, new carpet, new tile, landscaping–you get the idea.
My original plan was to use my equity line for fix up costs. However, the costs of all the repairs after taking some bids from “handymen” were a bit higher than I estimated (no surprise, just learning). Problem is that I work a lot of hours and could not do it all myself to save money. I was also nervous with this first deal taking too much time to turn it around…
Well, I play for a women’s traveling softball team, and we were having a team meeting on fund raising ideas. It then occurred to me that I had a win/win situation.
We had a repair party! My whole team came over to my new property a couple of nights and the weekend. We scraped, painted, and one of them even new how to lay carpet! I paid for all the materials (many had their own tools, bushes, etc..) and then paid the “team” for all their labor but at a good discount from what I would have paid the handymen!
They were more careful with the details than I would have been. I tend to slop paint. They were happy and I was happy!
It wasn’t a tremendously huge savings, but as a newbie with limited funds, it was BIG. Not to mention, it was a lot of fun with all of us there painting away. They want to do my next house. I figure that many of us know local high school or adult sports teams or other organizations that are trying to raise a little money. This may not work for a traditional rehab but, on the cosmetic stuff, it worked great.