rehabs, buy and holds, community and Autistic entrepeneurism

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Just some ideas rolling around in my head, but please give me some input.

A young family member has recently been approved for SSDI [ though he has never been able to work near to full time, he is eligible for SSDI versus SSI based on his late fathers earnings since he is under 22 ] He has started receiving his monthly checks, however we are having a bit of a problem with backpay, which should come to about 20 grand. When [if] he receives the backpay, he is considering investing in a rental property in Southern Colorado. [plenty of fixer uppers for between 40 and 50 grand]

I have recently been having a field day playing with faux granite. It truly looks like, and is every bit as durable as the 'real deal." The main difference is that actual granite in a kitchen can run over 4 grand, whereas you can do an average sized kitchen AND bathroom for under $100. We will soon be experimenting with refinishing cabinets and brushing up on laminate installation, among many other skills in order to work on rehabbing his home [when and if purchased] I have already been given a list of persons in that area of the state more than willing to work for $10 to $12 an hour.

Okay. I am already the main organizer of AutHaven. In addition I have recently accepted an invitation to be a part of an innovational program to promote Autistic financial wealth building and entrepeneurship. So, and this is just the beginning of a thought process that I would appreciate some input on before putting something together to present at the Ocate Cliffs work camp in NM next month. How realistic would it be for Autistics to purchase homes together, rehab, and then help other Autistics, in the same area, to do the same, helping to create an Autistic community within an already existing community that would be MUCH less expensive to get started than the one we are currently planning in Thornton Colorado [ so, it would not be adding a new project so much as altering plans to something that could more easily and financially make this community come together. In addition to that,learning new skills that could lead to more Autistic entrepeneurship. What do you all think? Please keep in mind that I am well aware that not all Autistics are comfortable working cooperatively. Many are.

Thanks in advance,

Vicky

I think it's a great idea. Hard to say more since it's just in the idea stage.
You, amazing woman that you are, I'm sure can move it beyond the idea stage while the rest of us stand around in awe.
I might like to get involved in that though - let me know if you get anywhere with it. It would be nearly impossible for me to start something like that here, property astronomical at best.

Vicky, when you say "Southern Colorado", am I correct in my understanding that this is a different location than (the proposed intentional community location of) Thornton?

I don't see any theoretical problems with purchasing separate residential units, and working to rehab them, presumably in accordance with all local laws and procedures regarding real estate purchase/lease and building codes. For any speciality work or research, there's presumably local advisors available in every major jurisdiction.

While this question may be beyond the scope of the OP, would there be any thoughts for residential real estate leases and/or some sort of "time-share" arrangement? Based on some posts I've read over the years, I think more than a few people would be interested in some sort of ability to periodically visit an ASD-affiliated property.

Pueblo Colorado has fixer uppers for 40 to 50 thousand. That's less than half of what you can comparably find in Denver and it's surrounding area.

$20K is a sizeable chunk of change. The only problem I foresee investing it in a property to flip is that while it's a sizeable chunk of change, it sounds like he'd have all his eggs in one basket. So long as the math checks out and the risks are mitigated, it could work out just fine.. but there remains that element of risk when you put everything you have into one thing that it might not work out as planned and then you'll be out everything you have. Obviously plenty of due diligence needs to be done on property values, repair costs, rental rates & vacancies, local real estate market etc.

$40-50K properties? I know they exist, but that's not even a downpayment where I live. That might be making me a little biased in terms of not wanting to advise that someone go all in on one investment, as the stakes are much higher here. $10-12/hr? Another anomaly. Unskilled labour typically gets paid more than that here for anything construction related. $10-12/hr - is that for skilled tradesmen or unskilled labour? No need to clutter the thread responding to these questions. They're a bit rhetorical. I know that real estate & labour markets vary widely from location to location.

Faux granite.. some sort of faux painted finish vs. Corian or laminate?

As for a team of ASD people fixing up a house, sure, why not? Obviously people would have to have various skills and expertise, and at least some would have to have stronger executive functions in order to plan the work and work the plan. Almost every construction job I've ever worked on, now that I think about it, has had others with ASD traits either working there alongside me or as the boss. Sometimes peoples' ADHD/ASD traits get in the way of productivity, but others they're a Godsend when it comes to creative solutions to complex problems & hyper focusing on a particular task until it's completely accomplished.

The only way I see having an all ASD crew as being a problem is if too many people are too LFA vs very HFA with good to great executive functioning capabilities. I know from experience that when I was functioning much lower, even with the guidance of an extremely patient and productive NT, I certainly wasn't very productive on site & various ASD traits reared their ugly heads and made things quite difficult - everything from communication to physical productivity to time perception etc. But now that symptoms are extremely mild in comparison, I can slot myself into virtually any crew doing any trade & just pick up the tools and materials and learn the process & get 'er done. I've taken on some really small contracts to do myself, and eventually will do more of them, and then over the coming years even more & bigger better ones as my skills and confidence improve. A couple of years ago I wanted to be on this path but couldn't figure out how to do it. Now that the symptoms that once constrained me no longer do, I'm moving along towards these goals as quickly as I can.

On the financial end of things, I had a few hundred dollars to my name last September. Today I'm up over $10K in cash & stocks and shooting for somewhere North of $20K come the end of the Summer in late September mostly via saving and investing wages vs. from flipping or contracting. I've achieved this due to living ultra inexpensively with family and spending as little as possible for the most part. One of the best things about it is that I'm likely earning about the lowest income I'll ever have again in my life (I hope!) & thus I should be able to pick up the pace on wealth generation as the months/years go by.

Over all, I think it could work with the right people with the right skills who have an interest in doing projects like this. Obviously a guy like me might be all over it, but others with no interest in construction or without the level of functioning required might not be such great candidates.

For the (new) location that may be under discussion, has there been any discussion of the availability of local income streams (employement/self-employement/location independent businesses/etc)? While the cost to rehab existing properties may be lower (and I have no experience in real estate improvement business), for a prospective location, the carrying cost of a property will need to be balanced against available income streams.

For what it's worth, I touch on the same issue in this link on Aspergian Discussion ( http://aspergiandiscussion.proboards.com/thread/6/aspie-affilated-multi-unit-housing).

In addition, for the (new) proposed location, would there be any possibility of locating Aspie-affilated businesses in the same location or nearby?

It sounds like a really cool idea! But I'm not entirely clear on how it works... Would a whole bunch of people co-own a single house and be roommates? If so, you might want see if you can find a way to make it a strata, to avoid potential problems associated with co-ownership. It would be awesome if you could find one of those huge old houses that's been divided into 3 or 4 or 5 different apartments.

What is a buy and hold?