Toni D’Angelo-Lott, who proudly wears her bright yellow “I love ugly houses” button everywhere she goes, constantly tells people that it’s more about crunching numbers, supervising contractors and managing people than it is about picking out a nice exterior paint color.

“There are TV shows and a lot of seminars that tell you it’s easy. It’s not,” said D’Angelo-Lott, owner of the HomeVestors franchise in San Antonio.

She should know. She learned the business at a young age from her father, Ken D’Angelo, who had real estate businesses in Dallas and Houston in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the early 1990s, her dad founded HomeVestors, the Dallas-based real estate rehab company that became known for its “We buy ugly houses” billboards.

HomeVestors is a franchise that trains people how to buy and sell or rent homes for a profit. In 2005, its 250 franchisees had purchased more than 6,500 homes across the country.

D’Angelo-Lott runs the San Antonio franchise with her husband, Kenneth “Brownie” Lott.

Q: What’s an ugly house?

A: Oh boy. You would know if you saw it. Some houses we buy really are ugly. The ceiling is falling in. There are roaches everywhere. They’ll leave animals there. It’s so smelly it will make your eyes water. Just about everything that’s there is broken or outdated. It goes from that extreme to houses that are in pristine shape. There are ugly houses in every price range.

Q: How many houses do you buy?

A: Last year we bought 65. Our goal is 65 to 70 this year.

Q: This is a family business for you.

A: There can be pitfalls. I worked with my father for years. It’s not like having an employee you can fire or a boss you can just get mad at.

You bring the emotions and the history of your relationship to work. But the benefits are great. I learned a great business early.

Q: You helped your father with his rent houses when you were young, right?

A: I remember one house in particular. The tenant smoked and threw cigarette butts into the yard. My dad gave me a penny per cigarette butt. I was out there all afternoon picking them up. Someone in the office said I’ve been doing this since I was 3, and I think that’s about right.

Q: What’s the most expensive home you’ve bought?

A: It was worth around $900,000. I don’t recommend it. The numbers look really good on those, but it costs you so much per day to own it. They take a longer time to sell.

Q: Is there an ideal?

A: In San Antonio, it’s $79,000 to about $150,000. That’s our sweet spot. Houses that cost $80,000 to $90,000 just fly of the market, especially because they’re all remodeled once we fix them.

Q: What’s been your biggest mistake?

A: It was probably buying that big house. It never did sell. In fact, I’m living in it now. It was on the market for a year and a half at least, maybe two years. It took longer to renovate. We’ve done it, and it looks great now. It’s just too big of a project. So stay within your sweet spot. If you’re going to live in it, that’s OK to spend the money. But not as a (side) investment.

Source:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA080107.02E.UglyHouses.29c7509.html