Day 1

We finally had our closing yesterday, the waiting drives me crazy! As soon as our offer is accepted, I want to get in there and get to work. The man from HUD who was at the closing said "oh, closing on tax day- I guess you won't forget that day!"

I'm going to back up a little bit to give you some idea of what we look for in a home to flip. First off, price. The less you pay up front, the more you make in the end. Seems simple, right? The problem is everything that falls in between the beginning and the end. Too many big ticket items needed: roof, furnace, windows, siding, if the price is good, it may be a great buy for the adventurous new home owner, but as a flipper you're going to be putting too much money in to get enough out for a profit. And there is always the unknown. No matter how good the budget looks on paper, if something comes up, you have to take care of it, in the budget or not. One example- the house comes back positive for Radon, looks like you as the seller will have to have it mitigated. The homes we buy are sold "as is". Usually they were a foreclosure, or a bank-owned property, so they come with no background history. It can be a guessing game. These houses usually have no seller's disclosure, no utilities on, and often some major problems. When we walk in to the right house, we know it, it's just a feeling.

Houses talk to me! They usually are saying "help me" or "thank you". Another huge reward for what we do is having the neighbors come out and say "thank you". By fixing up a house on their street and selling it, it's helping to increase their property value and making it a safer neighborhood.

These are some pictures of the new house. It's at 2908 Cascade St. The woodwork in the house is beautiful, and we plan to keep the wood floors and trim intact. It appears that someone before us had started a remodel. The kitchen ceiling has been vaulted and has an open, airy feel. I spent the day knocking out the closet that was put in the dining room. A closet? In the dining room? That's what we thought! And since there was already an entry closet, another one wasn't needed. So I had fun using the hammer, pry bar, and finally crowbar to get the closet down. The nails they used were at least 6 in!

My dad started tearing out the kitchen. The base cabinets were in bad shape, and we plan to change the layout of the appliances, so we'll replace the lower cabinets but reuse the wall cabinets.

Every time we work on a house, I'm always hoping to find money. Maybe tucked away in a wall, or in an old bottle. Well, leave it to my dad to find money today! Of course, it was only $5- but it's the first money we've found!

The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow, so we're planning to work outside. Trimming down the ginormous Rhododendren. Cleaning out leaves, and coming up with a new paint color for the front porch.