Before pix! Demo starts this weekend!

We closed on the house and the loan is funded! Alleluia! I was not sure this day would come. I am relieved and overanxious all at the same time. I picked up the keys this afternoon and mom and I met there to plan and measure. Here is a current picture of the kitchen.

My plan for the kitchen is to remove the fur downs from above the cabinets, remove all cabinets and countertops, and add recessed lighting. We also plan to move the door to the adjacent wall and relocate the frig to where the garage door is currently. Then we will extend the counter to the back wall as well as extend it out 4 feet into the dinning space to make a peninsula for seating and extra storage.

The little nook under the window is awkward space I am trying to figure out what to do with. Right now my best option is to remove the overhead light, add recessed lighting and stage it like a small office area.

Great thing about this kitchen is that the appliances are all relatively new and in good condition so that will save us a ton of cash. Thank you sellers!

For the redesign, I have started to plan vintage marries modern design. It seems many designers are going this route so hopefully it will bring lots of buyers and a great price point at resale. I am thinking shaker style cabinets, keeping the straight door pulls, adding subway tile backsplash with dark grout behind the stove. For the floor we plan to do some type of wood-like flooring with a light grey tint. I will keep the farmhouse sink and do shiplap with open shelves on the side with the sink.

Let me know your thoughts by leaving comment. I will add more before photos next time as well as share demo pictures when we start slinging sledge hammers!

Closing today (we hope)

So after the drama of Rocket Mortgage dropping us like a lead balloon we scrambled to find a new lender and continue on with the purchase of the house. We went with a local lender our realtor suggested and now we are all set to close today (hopefully!). I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed because so many things have already fallen in on us regarding this investment that I just can’t assume anything will fall right into place.

However, I am getting excited and already have purchased a few items to go in the house. I am looking to marry vintage feel with modern design as many designers are doing these days. I would like to make the house look very appealing to many people but at the same time add charm and character. As a buyer, that is what I would want.

I am also needing to keep a very close eye on the budget and try to save money every where I can on this project. Our contractor’s bid come back much higher than I was hoping and it did not even include all the “fixes” I had in mind for the house. I plan to do some more shopping around for some of the work to help cut some of the costs. For example, my general contractor has included paint and windows in his bid but maybe I could find someone to do it for less. I also plan to get started on the demo work ourselves to help save money. We may end up painting the interior ourselves to save on the budget.

We had the final walk-through the house two days ago and all looks to be in order. I will take pictures of the interior next time I visit the house, hopefully today, so I can share some before shots.

Denied

Yep, that is right, our loan has been denied. Four days before we close, early on a Saturday morning, Rocket Mortgage (Quicken Loans) decided to screw us. They have denied our loan because they have decided they don’t do short term mortgages. In other words, they decided not to loan to someone who is going to flip a house.
I was honest and up front with them the entire loan application process that this was our intention. I did not hide the fact that we were looking to flip a house. They knew this was an investment property for us and I told them we would not be renting it out but instead turning around and selling it again.

So why did they wait till four days before we closed to inform us that they did not do this type of loan? No one will truly never know. What I do know is that I will never apply for another loan with them ever again and I will be telling anyone who will listen to never apply for a loan through them either.

What is next for us you ask? Well, this is not the end of the line for us. I am not ready to give up on this crazy endeavor. I have reached out to another lender who is local and my realtor suggested. Of course, it is a Saturday so no one is jumping to return my call but as I see it the fat lady has not sung yet, we still could some how pull this off.

I do feel very bad for the seller, I know they will be very frustrated and disappointed with us, which I completely understand. They actually asked us to not use Rocket Mortgage (Quicken Loans) and I did not listen. I need to make sure I listen to all advice that comes my way, even the unsolicited advice.

We will not be closing on Tuesday. Hopefully, I will soon have a new closing date and a path for moving forward with our first flipping project. Until then, I will continue to watch HGTV and look up design ideas on Pinterest.

The search

It all starts with a search. I had been on a house hunt before. Actually twice and both times I ended up very pleased with the outcome. However, those searches were very different from this search. Those searches were for a family home. A house to live in and actually call home. This new search was for a project. A money maker. A challenge. A new endeavor.

Amazingly enough it was not hard to like a house because it was just that. I just needed to like it. I did not need to fall in love with it and see it as a home for myself and my loved ones. I just needed to see if I could improve upon it. And lucky for me, I am an optimist and a strategist and I think that I can help just about anything. So I made an offer on the first house I saw. Yep, the very first house I stepped foot into, I made an offer. And it was not accepted. So I looked at more houses and put in more offers. Guess what, those were not accepted either. Yes, some offers were less than asking price because let’s face it, some people are asking way too much. Some offers were exactly asking and some where even over asking price. One house I put an offer on was on the market for one day, I offered $22,000 over asking and I did not get the house. That is crazy, right! That house received 24 offers. In one day!

But my search as hopefully come to an end for the time being because someone finally accepted my offer! Well, at first they did not but their first offer fell through so we said our offer still stands and then they accepted it. Kinda crazy but that is how the market works in my home town. Oh, I guess I should tell you that my home town is Austin, Texas.

So currently, I have two more days in my option period. The inspector was at the house yesterday and wrote up a 37 page report about the house. These reports can be very scary but I am an optimist and refuse to be scared off from a project. The inspector suggested we have the pipes looked at and the HVAC looked at as well. So tomorrow two more inspections along with a visit from my contractor to start the estimations for all the work.

I think I failed to mention that my mother is my silent, not so silent, business partner in all of this. So when I say, “I bought a house.” what I mean is we bought a house. However, my mom is great and I think trusts me with the project. Which I am not sure why because honestly I have never done this before. But really what could go wrong? With a hot market like Austin, we are bound to come out ahead! Right?

So besides starting a new endeavor of trying to flip a house, I thought why not start a blog at the same time. This will be a great way to chronicle my adventures, my ups and downs with the project. Then when this first house flip is done, I can read back over this and decided if I really want to try it again or if this crazy hair brained idea as passed.

It looks like a go!

After the inspectors report, we decided we wanted to have additional inspection of the plumbing and the HVAC system of the house. Yesterday, we received good news from both inspections! Plumbing looks to be in good shape and so does the HVAC system.

We also had a contractor out to see the property and discuss the projects we have in mind for the house. He is a realist and cautioned me about trying to do too much, like move walls to expand the two bathrooms which included rearranging all of the plumbing. I understand his perspective and will think it over. I am just not sure how we can get top dollar for a home that only has one full bathroom and a half bathroom in the master bedroom.

Here are Mom’s sketches of the house. The first sketch is how the house is currently and the second is our proposed renovations.

Here is a sketch of the house as it is currently.

Here is one option with the bathrooms extended and reconfigured.

The house is only 1,270 square foot. It was built in 1971. The kitchen needs all new cabinets and that would mean we would need to replace the counter top. Which is unfortunate because I like the current counter top but it is just not enough and it would look like a patch job. The house also needs all new windows and doors. Even bedroom and closet doors.

We, of course, will also be putting all new flooring in throughout the house and painting the full interior and exterior of the home. There is also wood rot along the back of the house that must be replaced and we will be converting the garage back into a garage. It is currently a storage room where they have removed the garage door and replaced it with a regular door. Lastly, we would like to add a front porch and extend the gable out to create an inviting and updated look to the house.

We still have not yet closed on the house. That is still a few more weeks away. So no work to be started yet and no pictures of the interior of the house until I am actually the owner. So check back again for more details on how my first flip is going.

Flipping a house and starting a blog

Hello. My name is JC Sanders and I am a first time house flipper. This blog will chronicle my experiences with flipping a house. I will share photos, experiences, costs, decisions, and all the in-between.

I am not a professional contractor or real estate agent. I am also not a professional writer so pardon the grammatical errors, the run-on and fragmented sentences, the missed placed commas or forgot punctuation. Just read it for fun and maybe for inspiration.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Here is some light reading that is trying to change my mind and bring about doubt. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/mortgages-real-estate/08/house-flip.asp

I do know this is very risky and will be hard. I am not looking to make a fortunate or even a quick buck. I am hoping to learn some lessons and skills. My goal is to make a profit, be inspired, try something risky, and come out the other end.