I love taking a house from disrepair to looking fantastic and saying “we did that.” While the we is made of the team, I love the feeling of being a part of something that takes what is ugly and transforms it into something wanted by a future homeowner. The thrill of the process and the stages of transformation gets me going like building the puzzle to win at a game. It’s not always fun with the unexpecteds that weren’t caught during pre-purchase inspections – a finished basement that floods, a header beam needed, animals living in the attic, and the list goes on.
I’m still very novice in the pool of many of my peers, and know there is still so much to learn. While my lack of experience causes me restless nights lying in bed, with every flip I know there will be learnings that no amount of seminars and books will teach. So when I do go for mentoring via seminars, it’s that much more profound because I can relate it to the experience I’ve had.
I’m going to record my progress of a little 2 bed, 1.5 bath, 1050sqft house we picked up a week ago. We had originally planned to fix some sheetrock from a leak in the roof, patch the roof, and touchup some paint – all in for less than $5,000. We had some unexpected things pop up that required bumping up to a prehab/minor rehab level:
- Deck turned out too dry-rotted needs to be torn down and rebuilt
- More leaks found in the roof that require a complete roof
- Comps showing we really needed to be at the higher side to attract folks to the 2 bedroom community.
So to the point of this article: I’m going to record some videos of my rehabs as an effort to get better from the community’s involvement. I know this is going out on the vulnerable side, and I’m 100% open to any and all feedback and constructive criticism you may share. This specific house I mention above didn’t get enough video of the beginning, getting into the nooks and crannies to show everything we found that needed fixed/adjusted. But it will give a great start of things to come.
