Investors Buying Up Old Palestine Houses to Restore, Resell

By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer

PALESTINE — Investors from as far away as England are snapping up historic homes throughout the city.

Independent real estate investor Justin Hilton of Austin likes old houses, buys them, fixes them up and sells them. He enjoys restoring historic houses and selling them to people who need to buy a home.

Hilton bought “around 100” in the last three years in Palestine and gradually — one by one — fixed them up for sale.

Last month, an investor from London bought 15 restored properties from Hilton and an investor from New York bought 11.

“Mostly they are buying them for rental income … cash flow,” Hilton said, observing Palestine has “a very tight rental market.”

Hilton was not surprised investors from England and New York purchased houses in Palestine because he had earlier sold properties to a lot of investors from California as well.

“Palestine makes a lot of sense. People from other places can really see it. You are getting a tremendous value,” Hilton said. “The same house you would buy in Palestine for $100,000 would be over $1 million to $1.5 million on the West Coast.”

Hilton met investors from England and New York on trips.

“I travel a lot all over the world, so I have a lot of connections with people in different countries and I talk about Palestine wherever I go. The investors are friends of friends I met traveling,” Hilton said.

Hilton discovered Palestine when he went to visit an inmate in a prison outside of Palestine who had been in a youth group he led years ago.

Hilton has been buying, restoring and selling old houses for 20 years all over the state in cities such as Austin, San Antonio, Killeen, Waco, Houston and Galveston.

“We usually buy bank foreclosures, fix them up and we owner finance them,” Hilton said.

Of the 100 houses Hilton bought in Palestine, he has sold about 90. He is looking for more but said there are definitely a lot fewer old houses needing to be upgraded in Palestine now than there used to be and they are harder to find now.

When restoring old houses, Hilton’s approach is “a mix” of installing new plumbing and electric wiring, yet retaining the historic charm. He tries to bring the house as close as possible to its original form, finding a balance between the look of an old house and new amenities.

Hilton also consults with Neely Plumb, Palestine’s Main Street manager/historic preservation officer, who has records on the history of the houses and who has lived there.

He has “done well” off sales of a lot of houses, despite losing money on a few.

“It’s all in service of making things better, Hilton said. “When people come in and see that 100 houses have new paint jobs, it gives … a sense that investors are not afraid to invest in Palestine. The whole town starts to have a feeling of a redone village, rather that a lot of houses (needing) maintenance.”

Hilton added, “The rare thing about Palestine is that its city government is aligned in historical preservation and also doing a lot to promote economic growth through light industry and tourism. It’s a pretty on-the-ball little city. The mayor is progressive.

“A lot of towns don’t work as a team, but in Palestine, they work as a team for the common goal of bettering the city and preserving historic homes. It a very impressive community.”