The Minneapolis Duplex Behind Curtain Number 3

The other day I got a call from someone on the west coast who wanted to buy one of my duplex listings.

He thought it was a good investment.

He’d never seen it.

Why would he want to invest in Minneapolis duplex?

He thought it was a good deal.

But really, his call was more like the old tv game show, “Let’s Make A Deal”.

You just never know what’s behind curtain number 3.

In fact, last spring I found just that when a southwest Minneapolis duplex came on the market last spring at an unbelievably low price.

I looked at it quickly as I could so my clients wouldn’t miss out on a great deal. It turned out most of the back half of the duplex was missing. It seems there had been some kind of fire…

Needless to say, you should never buy real estate you haven’t even seen.

The second thing the call reminded me of is how very important it is to own investment property you, a trusted friend or family member can drive by now and then, night or day, just to check on it.

Most of the time, there won’t be anything wrong; except maybe a wayward piece of trash in the yard.

Other times, you’ll discover leaking plumbing tenants didn’t want to bother you with, perhaps a broken window or, even, that one of your units has six people living in it (and using water) instead of just the two people you leased it to.

Those problems are more quickly and easily remedied if they’re discovered shortly after they occur…not months or even years later, when you finally carve out a weekend to visit your property.