This Virginia historian bought an ‘unlivable’ house for $16,500 in 2020 and transformed it into her dream home — Here's how to invest in real estate if you're priced out of today's market

Historian turns ‘unlivable’ house into dream home

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Betsy Sweeney bought a crumbling 130-year-old house for $16,500 in Wheeling, West Virginia and renovated it into a gorgeous historic home — complete with its original pocket doors, Victorian fireplaces and a vintage bathtub.

“From the time I was a little girl, I always wanted to live in a big old house,” Sweeney recounted on CNBC Make It late last year.

The architectural historian purchased the 3,075-square-foot, three-bedroom property back in May 2020 when she was only 27 years old, calling it “unlivable” due to bad water filtration, brick degradation and structural issues. She couldn’t get a traditional mortgage, so she paid for it in cash and then secured a $100,000 construction loan to do the necessary renovations while preserving the building’s stunning historic details.

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“In addition to being beautiful and cost-effective… I think historic properties are so important — not just for the communities that they’re situated in — but also just for helping people achieve the access to acquiring real estate,” Sweeney added.

“There’s a ripple effect in purchasing and renovating these properties that just simply cannot be achieved in new construction,” she said during the interview.

Whether you want to invest in your current home or you want a savvy alternative to buying property, here are some ways you can invest in real estate without paying a high price for a new home.

Alternatives to buying property

If you’re not looking to purchase a physical property and undertake a complete makeover, but you still want to build wealth through real estate, there are a number of options available to you.

First National Realty Partners (FNRP)* is a private equity firm that makes commercial real estate accessible to everyday investors through its online platform.

FNRP gives you access to institutional-quality, grocery-anchored commercial real estate investments, and you don’t have to scope out the deals for yourself. FNRP’s team of experts manage every step of the investment process* so you can enjoy the rewards of necessity-based real estate instead of becoming a home renovator.

That being said, if residential properties are more your style, you can use Arrived* — an online platform where you can invest in shares of rental homes and even vacation rentals — to get into real estate without taking on the responsibilities of property management.

Getting started is simple. Begin by browsing a curated selection of homes, vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Once you find a property you like, you can choose the number of shares you want to buy. With Arrived, you can start investing in real estate with just $100*.

Make the value of your home work for you

The median price for a home in the U.S. was sitting at around $408,537 just a few months ago, according to Redfin data, and with mortgage rates hovering above 7%, it’s no longer feasible for many Americans to invest in real estate by purchasing a home — unless they use more creative avenues, like Sweeney did.

“It is not realistic for most of this country to buy a house that is several hundreds of thousands of dollars,” she said.

If you do own a home, you can score tax credits and rebates for your renovation projects by making energy efficient upgrades such as installing heat pumps.

If you’re keen on sprucing up your home with renovations, but don’t have the cash at the ready, a cash out refinance loan from Rocket Mortgage* can help you access your home’s value.

A cash-out refinance* is a form of mortgage refinancing that lets you borrow a larger mortgage than you currently have in exchange for access to your home’s equity — aka what you’ve already paid off of your home’s value.

With Rocket Mortgage, it takes just three minutes to get a credit approval* and brings you one step closer to finding the best cash-out refinance loan for you.

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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.