A little over a year ago, three staff from Progressive Urban Real Estate (Lee Chilcote, Dave Sharkey and Keith Brown) and the owner of Civic Builders (Dave Fragapane) started a small rehab company. We wanted to purchase distressed properties in urban neighborhoods that, despite the downturn in the housing market and the economy, had remained strong and in demand. So we bought three homes - 3804 Whitman Ave. in Ohio City, 1302 Mentor Ave. in Tremont, and 7212 West Clinton Ave. in Detroit Shoreway.
A year later, we've sold two of the homes and are putting the final touches on 7212 West Clinton Ave., which is priced at $149,900 and remains available. Our efforts prove that, while far from easy, it's possible to rehab and sell distressed/foreclosed properties to new owners, even in our current economy.
We did so without any subsidy of the rehab costs. Much thanks to Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH) for writing down the interest rate on our construction loan, and to Shorebank for providing the construction financing and taking chances in a volatile market.
As a result of our efforts, three vacant and foreclosed homes have now been beautifully rehabbed - and two of the three are now occupied by new homeowners and residents of the city of Cleveland!
The above photo is an interior photo of 1302 Mentor after it was rehabbed, before the new owner moved in.
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