Stupid Real Estate Investing

So the time was 2005, and real estate prices in Miami were soaring. My then friend Vince called -- he was going to a "preview sale" of a pre construction of a condo conversion of a complex in Palmetto Bay. They were taking a run of the mill garden apartment complex and turning the units into condos, naming the place the Italian romantic Villaggio at Palmetto Bay. I was reluctant, as I didn't know anything about real estate investment, but Vince pointed out that our kids would need places to live, and since prices were approaching those of NY, after college they'd learn they couldn't afford anything...we could rent the units, etc... So I went with him, and got caught up in the frenzy, like a true idiot. There was a model, and I walked in, and saw a standard 2/2 like the type Wifey and I moved into when I was in grad school, though this had nice wooden kitchen cabinets and a granite countertop, and stainless steel appliances. I thought to myself, wow -- these are probably going to sell for about $100K. Nope -- the units were going for $230K, and with 2 parking spaces, it would cost $234K. Vince immediately wrote a check -- for a unit whose tiny balcony overlooked the pool -- his cost nearly $250K. I took a step back, realized that Vince handled finances like a coke head handles coke, and this was a patently stupid idea. Ha. As if! I joined the frenzy and bought a unit across from his -- for $234K. I gave a deposit, and waited the 9 months for completion. After the unit closed, I hired old realtor friend Joyce Leach to find a tenant, and she did -- a nice Burmese doctor and his family, relocating from NYC. They paid $1000 per month and stayed a year. Next came Lenny -- he stayed 9 years, and I never raised his rent -- and he never bothered me with repair requests. Later, I learned my friend John bought a 1/1 right next to mine -- for his ailing Dad to live in. Sadly, his father died in the hospital without ever moving in. When D1 finished college, I reminded her that there was a great, clean 2/2 waiting her. No -- living in boring suburbia wasn't doing it for her -- she rented a place on Brickell, and has been there 6 years, recently moving to Midtown. Withing a year of owning the ripoff place, it became clear that things were worse -- plumbing leaks everywhere, requiring a whole dig up of the walkways. And then some white trash clients started a fire, which destroyed 1/3 of the complex, and the rebuilding took over 2 years. Still, Lenny stayed, and at least the place didn't further drain finances. Until now. We've decided to move my mother in law into the unit. Wifey hired Nestor, our friendly handyman, to make the necessary repairs. Lenny, a 55 year old man, lived without a kitchen light for years -- it required 2 flourescent tubes, which I was able to replace. And one of the toilets is missing a tank cover -- it broke, and he never replaced it or asked us to. So Wifey and I went over to Home Depot Friday, and bought a new toilet, lamp for the dining room ceiling, and other supplies. Nestor came today to begin work. He called to tell me that when he took out the existing toilet, he couldn't believe it. IT was simply glued with caulk to the tile floor -- they never bothered to connect the toilet to the sewer line. The flange is all corroded, and now Nestor will have to literally dig up the bathroom concrete floor to install the new toilet. He was amazed waste never flowed out around the bottom of the toilet -- maybe it did. So all told, it'll cost us thousands of dollars to fix the unit now -- to have my lovely mother in law there. Last I checked, the units were selling for about $120K. The Ds would have to keep the unit into THEIR middle age to ever get back what I paid... As the great Clint Eastwood said in Dirty Harry, a man's gotta know his limitations. I definitely know mine now, as a real estate investor. I'll leave that arena to those who know...