Tales from a Flip - My Experience Rehabbing a House

Everyone has seen those shows on television where someone purchases a beat up home, renovates it and sells for profit (or not). Well, I decided to try my hand at it - and here is my tale.

I had looked at several homes that were vacant bank owned properties. Most of the properties were money pits, but I did find one that seemed just right. When I walked in the door, the first thing I noticed was the odor. There obviously had been pets in the house, and the carpet reeked of urine. Many of the previous owner's belongings were still in the property. The kitchen still had food, wine bottles and other things in it. Over all, the bones of the property were good, the house was pretty square, and all the original wood trim in place. It really needed a good scrubbing and updating. I knew I had a gem on my hands.

After estimating what repair costs would be and what the house could sell for after rehab, I came up with my asking price. So, I put my offer in. I wasn't sure how a bank would react to an offer, I was expecting an outright 'no', since the property was just listed, and my offer was lower than the list price (which actually was somewhat reasonable). After a counter offer, we settled and I was pleased. We had hoped for a quick close, but I was obtaining my financing right about the time when the mortgage industry began having problems, so there was extra red tape to go through (this is a whole other story in itself). It ended up taking a full 60 days to close without a minute to spare.

The plan was to do the majority of the work myself, with the exception of some plumbing/electrical and the roof. I had planned my budget accordingly. After watching all of those 'flip' shows, I realized that sticking to my budget was going to be priority number one.

I still laugh when I think about the first item I bought to start work on the house: wallpaper remover! This house was covered in wallpaper from top to bottom. It took days to remove all of it. There was even wallpaper behind the shower surround!