First deal off my own windshield was $11,000, through a probate I didn't expect
Small numbers but they're mine so here they are.
Collapsed carport on a 1,340 square foot ranch, roof of the carport sitting on what used to be a car. Grass to my knee. I logged it in November on a drive I almost skipped because it was raining.
Owner name on the assessor site was a woman born in 1931. Mailed 40 letters that week including hers, cost me $32 in stamps and paper because I wrote them by hand and my handwriting is bad enough to look sincere. Her daughter called nine days later. She'd died in the spring and the house had been sitting since.
Under contract at $118,000. Sold the contract to a flipper for $129,000, so $11,000 gross. Title fees and my $500 deposit came back out and in, netted a shade under $10,400.
What nearly killed it: the daughter thought she owned the house because she was named in a will. Title told me the estate had to go through probate first and that whether it needs the full process depends on the state and how the estate was set up, so an attorney handled all of it. That was 41 days of me calling a paralegal every Tuesday and my buyer getting less friendly each week.
What I'd keep: handwriting the letters, at least while the volume is 40 and not 400. And driving in the rain, since nobody mows in the rain and the yards that are bad are still bad.