Live & Flip

Phew what a ride

I gotta say its been a very crazy few months.  Between the little guy, rehabbing a new rental, and having 18 family members over for Christmas, its been a bit chaotic.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  So here is the long awaited (far to long) update to what is happening in this end of the real estate world. We got a rental property under contract just prior to my son's birth.  During the following weeks the selling agent was slow at getting us all the paperwork and did not even get the pro...

Rehab costs

I need to get back in the swing of blogging. I'll update the rehab costs for the home and give you a general update on next blog. I used a template from JScott over at www.123flip.com.  Its very useful for gathering numbers.  We went about 20% over budget. To be expected for first timers. We will certainly nail it down better on the next one. Overall I'm very pleased with the outcome. Based on local comps, the house is conservatively worth $270,000 and could likely pull $300,000 based ...

Week 6 and 7 Progress

Week 6 and 7 have been extraordinarily busy, hence no updates. My wife and I have been painting nonstop for the last two weeks. The walls had no texture, so we called in a texture guy. In order to prepare for him, we needed to prime the entire house. We used an oil base primer. If you ever prime with this stuff, make dead sure you have a respirator. Its pretty nasty. The texture guy came in on Black Friday and worked through the weekend. We decided on an orange peel texture. The house tr...

Week 4 and 5 Progress

Rather than be several weeks behind, I decided to update weeks 4 and 5 together. Lemme tell you the huge lesson of hire out the work. We saved a bunch of money removing wallpaper and painting the house ourselves. However, the cost of time was way to high. We have worked every night at the house till 9pm for several straight weeks. I have essentially shut down all my marketing and other real estate activities until we are done. Bad plan. Lesson learned for future rehabs. I will budget for ...

Week 2 Progress

Week 2 has been progressing as well as week one. One big thing my wife and I have done is evaluate our budget each week to see where we are and what we have left to spend. So far we're a bit above where we want to be, but not horribly so. The mudroom was drywalled this week and the entry door from the garage installed. The master bath was framed and backer board installed. For the limited master bath usability and objects in the way, we have made excellent use of the space. We had to al...

Week 1 progress

Although this is week 2 of the work, I'll update the week 1 progress as of Friday. The contractors are go-getters. What the two of them have accomplished this week is pretty impressive. The kitchen and all 3 baths have been demolished. All the carpet in the house has been removed, including the tack strip. The mudroom paneling and drywall removed. The plumping in all three baths has been replaced, the new line to the mudroom has been installed. The new master bath has also been framed. ...

Scope of Work

Sorry about the delay in posting.  I thought I would share the scope of work as I give it to my contractors.  I always ask for an itemized bid.  For the contractors I hired, they are paid on a weekly basis.  I pay for work completed each Friday. Here is the scope of work. Post Scope of Work Big picture items -replace kitchen -gut and replace master bath, half bath and full bath -replace windows -create mudroom from main floor bedroom and move washer and dryer there. -remove carpet and r...

The Big Haul

Trash haul that is. Jen, her mother, and I spent most of Saturday cleaning out trash left from the house. 25-30 trash bags so far and we haven’t even started on the basement. 4 sofas, 2 desks, a baby crib, a bed frame and other assorted junk left behind. I probably made 50+ trips up and down the stairs. Pfff, who needs a stair master, I’m a rehabber. The property already looks better. It’s amazing what a bit of elbow grease can do. My very wise Realtor also put an addendum in the contr...

Tree times no more

Well, I am officially no longer under contract on the Tree Times house. A sad situation arose out of backing out of the deal. The sellers agent, who has been pleasant to work with so far, turned ugly. My agent called to tell her the deal fell through. The lender simply did not come in high enough on the appraisal. She proceeded to cuss my agent out and accuse him and me of doing this intentionally. (Yeah, I love giving up $1000 earnest money, just for fun) She also threatened to turn him i...

Bittersweet Symphony

Good news and bad news.  The good news is, the short sale personal property 2nd lien holder(say that 6 times fast) approved for 6k.  We are under contract and set to close on October 5th.  The 2nd will have to be paid for with cash.  Our total closing costs will be at about 10k counting that 2nd.  Not to bad for this property.  Hopefully we can get back into the property in the upcoming week and get a better repair estimate.  This should make a really nice house for us for the next 4-6 ye...