For Sale!

That’s a wrap people! The show is over. The work is done. Let’s pack it up and put this baby on the market!

Well…I guess it is not completely over. The house has to sell first before we are all completely done. However, the house is 98% ready to be handed over to a new owner. The house was staged today by Rita Lopez with Tarragona Design. It looks gorgeous! I could not be happier with the work Rita and her team have done.

My parents have done a beautiful job with the landscaping and my dad with his unbelievably cool mailbox!

Ready for a new owner to love and cherish this home.

Reminder of the house before we started the work.

Living room staged and ready for the professional photographer.

The dining room, light and bright, ready to entertain.

The dining space closed off before the work had begun.

A tired kitchen looking for a face lift.

Comfy office space in the kitchen with a tranquil view of the backyard.

Back deck ready for a cookout or enjoying a quiet morning’s coffee.

Sweet hall bathroom ready to impress the guests.

Closed in cave-like bathroom before the remodel.

Reminder of the master bathroom that once was but is no more.

Jack thinks this room is perfect for a nursery.

One more final picture of the beautiful home.

So the next chapter is selling. We will list the property for $395,900. We have checked the comps in the area and we are not the highest priced house and not the lowest. Other houses in the area that were remodeled and staged similar to ours sold for a similar price. Our fingers are crossed that this beautiful home will find a new loving family.

Coming Soon!

We are in the home stretch people! This past weekend Mom, Dad, my husband and I have been at the flip house nonstop (except for trips to Home Depot). We stained the back deck, installed transitions pieces for the flooring, touched up painted in every room, swept, mopped, hung doors, weeded flower beds, hauled gravel, mowed, power washed, dug holes, filled holes, and more. The house is looking so fresh and new. The old ugly concrete in the front is gone and replaced with beautiful gravel and limestone steps.

The backyard has gotten some updates with a fresh new deck stain and some gravel along the back of the house as well.

Two of the bedrooms are completely done. That feels so good to say!

The master bedroom is very close to completion. The doors have all been installed. The master bathroom is getting very close to being complete. The only thing we have left is to hang the towel hooks and reconfigure the drawer to the sink vanity. But take a look at the beautiful new shower and sink.

We added sliding doors for the master bedroom closet and bathroom. The hope is to give the house a little charm and character.

On Wednesday we are hosting a preview open house for friends and family. We want to show off our work and begin to spread the word about this beautiful home for sale in the hot South Austin market. This house is in a great location and is turn-key ready!

We hope to have a for sale sign in the front yard by the end of the week! Fingers crossed we get asking price in the first week on the market!

It’s In The Details

As we round the corner to the home stretch of finishing our first flip house, the little details are now piling on and overwhelming me. My to do list seems to only grow and every task seems easy on paper but ends up amounted to hours of physical labor.

In effects to keep the costs down, Mom and I continue to work on these little details with the great help from Dad and my husband. Last weekend Mom and Dad installed ship lap in the kitchen. It looks great! They did a fabulous job!

However, now the detailed work on filling all of the nail holes, caulking the top and edges, and sanding, then painting is left to do.

We also finished the flooring and the contractor has been in to install all baseboards and trim around the doors.

Now we are left with filling nail holes in the trim and baseboard, sanding, taping the floor and the wall in order to then paint all the trim. Not to also mention trying to fix my amateur mistakes on the flooring in some areas.

I have been visiting the house everyday, slowly chipping away at these little task that are left to do. We still have not yet touched the outside landscape which still needs to be done.

The countertop installers were back today to install the bathroom countertops. Then the plumbers will return to finish installing all faucets and toilets. It will be so nice to have inside running water again.

Also left for the contractor to take care of will be the installation of the appliances and the drywall repairs in the garage. The garage walls were in bad shape and they had to make additional holes when moving some electrical and plumbing around for the kitchen. So the walls in the garage will be the last item on the contractor’s list to repair. Soon his work will be done, they will move out, and the small details will be left for us to complete.

Additional small details to work out is the idea of staging and realtor for the sale. I know staged houses sell faster and for more money. However, we just need to finalize our budget to see how much money we have to spend on staging. Also I know having a good realtor is very important, however they require a 6% commission which on a house selling for $385,000 is around $23,100! That could very well be my entire profit! So then what??

So many more details to figure out, finish up, and finalize before we put a for sale sign in the yard. I will continue to stop by the house to work on the small projects that matter. We hopefully will finish the trim this weekend and maybe even hang the barn sliding doors in the master. Then we are left with landscaping the final weekend before we list the house. Fingers crossed we have not spent too much and can sell it fast!

Flooring, flooring, flooring!

I am already so tired of laying flooring. My husband and I have been working on flooring for about 30 hours now. And we are still not finished! I know, we work slow. Here is our progress.

Yes, my husband and I are laying all of the flooring ourselves. However, the carpenters are coming in to the baseboards and trim work, thank goodness! We are trying hard to lay the flooring without transition pieces. We will have to put transition pieces to the bathroom and it one of the bedrooms where the boards just did not match up well.

Other great progress has been made this past week besides just the flooring. The cabinets and counter tops were installed and look amazing.

You can see we went with white shaker cabinets with slab front drawers. Troo Designs did our cabinet work and did a great job. I also choice modern bar handles for a fresh clean look.

I love the counter tops. It is hard to capture in the photo, but the counter tops are speckled with grey and tan specks. DS Surfaces did the counter tops and I am in love with them! I was very nervous about my selection, but I very pleased with how it turned out. Even my son, Jack, approves.

Another transformation that happened this past week was the exterior paint! I love how the house just comes back to life with the new paint job. Thank you Painting 512, they did exceptional work! I could not be more happy with all the work that has been done on the house so far.

Oh, did you also notice the new porch light fixture. I found that for a steal at Restore for only $20. The electrician also visited the house this week to put up some lighting in the rooms. He reinstalled some of the fans and finished out the recessed lighting in the house.

And to come full circle, we are back to flooring again. Matt and I worked on the flooring today for about 10 hours and will (cross your fingers) finish it up tomorrow. Here is our flooring status right now.

So we need to finish the living room, dining room, and kitchen. We also have to finish the linen closet and the hall coat closet. I will be so thankful with flooring is done!

The tile guys were also back at the house today working on the back splash. I will share more pictures of the kitchen on my next post. On our to do list is to install ship lap in the kitchen and open shelving on the sink side.

Oh and I have failed to mention the amazing, hard work of my parents! Mom has been at the house painting and painting. She has worked on all the door frames, window areas, doors, and more doors. She is amazing! Then Dad has been over reconstructing all the shelving in the closets. The closets were a disaster so during demo work we ripped everything out of the closets and Dad has been providing handy man work to rebuild shelves and hanger rods in each of the bedroom closets. He will then move to reconstructing shelving for the linen and pantry closet. Thanks Dad and Mom!

Also on our to do list is landscaping. We would like to rip out the concrete slab out front and replace it with gravel and concrete pavers. We will also add a gravel flower bed along the left side of the house and along the back. We still need to power wash the back deck and stain it as well. The good news is the do to list is shrinking. So check back again soon, we continue to make progress every week!

Painting and Tile Work

The house is really coming together! This is the exciting and fun work where we get to see the design take shape and the house become beautiful once again. Mom, my aunt, and I have been painting the interior ourselves (mostly Mom). She has been working at the house almost everyday painting each room, closet, wall, and ceiling by hand. She has been rolling, brushing, and spraying paint in the bathrooms, bedrooms, hallway, living and dining room. She is amazing!

Last Friday my aunt and I helped her finish the walls in every room. The house is now a clean, modern grey/white color. The bathrooms are a calming, reflective blue/green and the kitchen has a modern distinct black ore accent wall.

Master bathroom with Reflecting Pool paint job.

Kitchen with Iron Ore accent wall and new recess lighting!

Besides getting painting done in the house, the tile was installed in both bathrooms. The crew worked very hard and did a beautiful job.

We are very pleased with our tile section and the subtle tile design in the master shower. It is hard to see in the photos but along the back wall of the shower, the subway tile is vertical in rows instead of horizontal brick pattern. Along the side walls and in the niche it is horizontal brick pattern.

Also this week, the new windows were installed by Travis Roofing company. They did beautiful work as well and we are so pleased with the investment.

This weekend on our list of things to do is to finish painting the ceilings and then begin to lay the flooring! Big changes are coming soon.

The cabinets will also be delivered this week and installed next week along with the painting of the exterior of the house (done by professionals, of course).

We are so pleased with how the project is coming along. We still have a long list of little jobs to get done but so far we are still on our timeline for completion by early August.

I still have some shopping to do. I need to purchase the vanity sinks for the bathrooms and a barn door for the master bathroom.

After the interior is shaping up, we do plan to move outside to clean up the yard and add landscaping for more curb appeal. Stay tuned!

Making Real Progress

I am shocked at how much progress as been made at the flip house this month. After the foundation work was complete the projects have just been coming along at a great rate.

The foundation need minor adjustments because the house had already undergone major foundation repair years earlier. Olshan Foundation was the company we went with because they had done the initial work on the house and was the best price for the additional work that needed to be done.

Next the bathroom conversion started to pick up pace. My contractor hired the plumbers to come out and move the toilet and shower over in the hall bathroom in order to add a standing shower in the master bathroom.

The bathroom on the left is the master, while on the right is the hall bathroom. The sheet rock was finished today along with new texture to the walls. We will be able to begin painting the bathrooms this week and then tile will go in next weekend.

The kitchen area is also coming along nicely. The garage door has been relocated to the side wall, opening to the dinning/living room instead of opening to the small kitchen. This now gives us space to relocate the frig to where the door used to be and add a peninsula off of that wall to give more counter and cabinet space. Cabinets will hopefully be coming the week after next. We hope to paint the kitchen next week so that we don’t have to paint around the cabinets.

The hallway ceiling was raised to the regular 8 foot height. The ceiling in the hallway had been dropped to accommodate the duct work for the HVAC unit. We have relocated the HVAC to the attic and rerouted the duct work through the entire house.

The electrician has also been at the house adding recessed lighting in the hallway, living room, kitchen, and bathrooms. He also up-dated switches and plugs throughout the house. We will also have to up-date the breaker boxes to the house as well, a not so glamorous expense.

Living room before
Living room now

You can see in the photo on the left the wall between the living and dining room. The wall is now gone and the house has a much bigger, open, and brighter feel to it. The sheet rock needed to be repaired in every room. The crew finished re-texturing the walls and ceiling today. I can’t wait to get in there and start painting!

Mom, daughter, and I worked hard today refinishing the doors to the house. To save a few dollars, we have spray painted the handles black and cleaned up the hinges which will also be sprayed black. We repainted the doors a nice bright white to make everything look fresh and new again.

The house is really coming along and things are looking great! I am excited to start to see paint and tile happen. Then windows and cabinets will be next!

It’s a numbers game

You are possibly wondering what we paid for the house. Maybe you are wondering what is our reno budget. Or you are wondering how much do you think we can get for the house when we sell it. So here are the numbers so far for this project.

List price: $274,000

Purchase price: $276,960

After closing costs: $285,507

Reno budget: $75,000

Resale price: $380,000

Possible profit: $19,493

The estimate for work on the house is currently over our $75,000 budget. I am working to find ways to trim the reno cost at every turn, but it is going to be a real challenge. We are going to have to cut some things off of our work list. The big projects to be done are to add a shower to the 1/2 bath, rearrange the kitchen to create a peninsula for more counter space, repair the foundation, move the A/C unit into the attic and replace the unit, replace all windows, lay all new flooring, repair the walls throughout the house and in the garage, paint the whole house, replace the back sliding door, and landscape to add curb appeal.

All of these projects seem very necessary, but all of the projects do not fit into our budget. We have looked at comps in the neighborhood and creating two full bathrooms seems like a must. Also moving the A/C into the attic to raise the ceiling in the hall and bathroom also seems like a must. We know kitchens sell but, I am rethinking the need to rearrange the layout. In order to stay within our budget, we may need to keep the layout the same and just update the cabinets, counters, and backsplash.

New windows, flooring, and paint is a must but to help save money we have already pulled up all the flooring ourselves. That saved us around $2,600 in demo labor costs. Another way to save money was to hire a separate window company than my general contractor. I found someone who was just a few hundred dollars cheaper but every little penny counts in this business. I have also hired a separate house painter as well to save some money. We will do the interior painting ourselves and possibly install the flooring ourselves to save money as well.

This weekend I plan to do some shopping around for materials. I will also be purchasing all the materials myself to save money. My contractor could purchase all the materials for me, but this cost would be added to his bill which would increase his total cost. Anything I can do myself will help me not have to pay him to do it. I am very lucky to have found a great general contractor who is willing to work with me on my budget and let me do some of these things on my own. He also has experience flipping houses and has been providing me with very helpful advice along the way.

Finally, I thought after all this money talk I would leave you with some design ideas. Here are two pictures I am using for inspiration for the two bathrooms. Let me know your thoughts.

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.