The other day I got a call from my brother, Bob. He said he was looking around town and he found an old home that he is looking to purchase. It is a real fixer upper. He contacted me because he won’t get credit approval by himself. He has bad credit. He wanted me to be his co-signer.
Bob was not thinking about living in the house. He wanted to buy it to fix it up and to then sell it. The goal would be to flip the house for a large profit. After working in construction for a few summers in the past, Bob is good at that kind of thing.
I thought about it for a moment and I agreed to be his co-signer, if I could see the house first to make sure it was a good idea. That next day we drove over to the house to take a look. Right away I was impressed. The house was on a large lot. There were good views and plenty of privacy from neighbors. The house was definitely run down, but Bob explained to me everything that he would do to fix it up and make it look nice.
The seller wasn’t requiring a down payment and the monthly mortgage wasn’t too bad. I agreed to co-sign on the mortgage.
The repairs went well and we had the house looking good in a few months. By the time we were done the house genuinely had curb appeal. Now, all we needed was a buyer. We contacted a realtor and we started the whole process of selling a house.
Answer the questions about the reading in the Comments box below!
1. What does it mean to flip a house?
2. Why did Bob want to buy a fixer upper?
3. What is good about the house when Bob buys it?
When you are done press on the links below:
http://drewseslfluencylessons.com/2-advanced/home-mortgage/english-conversation-activity-for-buying-a-home/
http://esl-lab.com/apart/newapartments-video.htm
