Hubby spent time at his house in Austin, Michael was flipping houses before it was hip, although he didn't make a lot of money doing it.
More info:
How did he begin? He identified two buildings on E. Voorhis Avenue that were condemned flop houses. The city advised him that back taxes of $16,000 were owed on the buildings as was $302,000 in building code violation fines. The houses were scheduled for demolition, but City Manager Mike Abels told Arth that for $950 the city would board up the houses, delay demolition and give him six months to purchase the buildings. Arth took the deal.
Arth and his wife, Maya, sold their California home (at a loss), and drove across the nation, a nine-day journey punctuated by six breakdowns. The day after they arrived, he sent Maya, who was pregnant with their first child, to live in her native Bulgaria for two months while he got situated. On the last day of the city's six-month extension on the two houses Arth wanted to buy, he cobbled together $16,000 and bought them for back taxes. The city forgave the building code violations. He then began work on the houses, while sizing up the entire neighborhood, walking the streets and inviting drug addicts and dealers to leave. They did.
The neighborhood convenience store re-emerged as a bona fide convenience store with security cameras, a no loitering policy and a police edict assuring the store would be run henceforth as a legitimate business.
The exhaustive work began on the two homes Arth purchased. During this time, Arth lived in another decaying house. The owner simply flipped him the keys. No heat. No air. No class. But no rent either. Arth later bought the house and restored it.Today the structure is home to the Arth family, including Sophie, 18 months. Just a few steps across the street is Arth's office.
Over the past two years, Arth has purchased 19 structures representing some 28 homes including houses, duplexes and one four-unit apartment building. He has relied on private lenders for mortgages. Banks weren't interested.By now, others have purchased buildings, including Maggi Hall, who bought several houses that anchor the southwest corner of The Garden District. Attorney Lisa Starke has purchased land and plans to build an office that will fit in nicely with the neighborhood restoration. A couple is considering opening a gourmet store and restaurant in the neighborhood. There soon will be a neighborhood newspaper, the Garden District Gazette, that will be edited by Ramona Whaley, who also manages The Art in the Garden Gallery, which exhibits Arth's artwork and photography.
The drug addicts and dealers have vacated and respectable tenants have moved in. Among them are some semi-retired people, young families, single professional women, a journalist and a photographer.The initial work is centered in the core area of the Garden District, near S. Amelia and E. Voorhis avenues. As more people respond to the concept of a "garden district," restorations will reach from S. Amelia and S. Alabama avenues and from E. Howry and E. Euclid avenues.
In addition to the physical changes in the neighborhood, there is a genuine neighborly aura. As Arth walks through the neighborhood, narrating its evolution along the way and pausing here and there to pick up litter, he is greeted warmly by residents, each of whom knows him by name - a testimony to his accomplishment and the notion that one man can make a difference.
http://michaelearth.com/gard_manvision.htm
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