. Given the choice between two investment properties: both 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,700-square-foot single-family residences listed at $125,500, one turnkey in Stockton, California, and the other a fixer-upper in Chapel Hill, in North Carolina, and with the sole objective of obtaining the maximum profit from my investment, I would choose to purchase the Chapel Hill house. Since I believe the listing price of that property is lower than its true value, and since I expect a growing real estate market to increase the value of the home by 10% over the next two years, I think that with an additional investment of Con $50,000 in renovations and a two-year buy-and-hold rental strategy, I could sell the Chapel Hill house for a profit of more than $180,000. As it stands, the Chapel Hill home is worth well over $125,500. In October 2013 (the most recent month for which data is available), a mid-range 3-bedroom home on the market in Chapel Hill was listed for $154 per square foot and sold for $150 per square foot , according to real estate market data aggregated and reported by Zillow. For a 1,700-square-foot home like the one on offer here, these numbers equate to a current median list price of $261,800 and a current median sales price of $255,000. Other price estimates per square foot for 3 bedrooms in Chapel Hill, like those provided by Trulia, are just higher. Even allowing a generous 30% discount off Zillow's average list price for this property's needed cosmetic upgrades, $125,500 is still a full $53,000 less than the property's true market value. The data suggests that if I were to simply buy the house and the next day relist it at its true price, I could expect to sell the house, without waiting... middle of the paper... 2011 prices and after major home renovations property: I believe I could easily sell the Chapel Hill home for $338,640, the expected median sales price of $282,200 ($166 per square foot for a 1,700 square foot home) has increased by 20 percent for turnkey condition of the property. Minus the purchase price and renovation cost of $50,000, plus the rental income of $17,419.65, the total profit would be $180,559.65 – an outstanding 143.9% return on my initial investment. And that assumes that Zillow's pricing data, the lowest I've found, is the most accurate, and it assumes that the housing market is simply catching up to 2011 prices rather than exceeding them, and it assumes that the rental rate I can charge for the newly renovated apartment the properties in 2014-2015 are still in line with the market average of 2010; the real return on my initial investment could be even higher.