We mostly finished up rehab on The Probate House over the weekend, including staging and decorating…
I never did get around to posting the BEFORE pics (maybe before we sell it), but here are the final pictures of the house…
The house is deceptively big. Not shown in the pictures is two extra rooms that could be bedrooms or work areas, a storage room in the garage, an “office” in the garage, a mud-room, and another interior storage room. The house is about 2300 square feet, but because part of it was an addition that was laid out very poorly, it’s easy to miss a good part of the house if you’re not searching for it.
After all was said and done, we spent about $20K on rehab — we removed three dumpsters worth of trash, replaced a good bit of siding and trim, reglazed the windows, repaired the roof, replaced the gutters, removed a problematic tree and its root system, remediated all the interior mold and replaced the damaged drywall, treated for and repaired some termite damage to the framing, replaced most of the light fixtures, replaced a couple exterior doors, painted inside and out, and replaced the carpet. We still need to fix a couple minor electrical and HVAC issues, and the house will be ready to go.
Ultimately, this was more a remediation rehab than a structural or cosmetic rehab. In other words, we focused on fixing the mold issue and the root causes of the water penetrating the house; while we also did a bit of structural work (repaired some termite-damaged framing) and a good bit of cosmetic work, the remediation was our key concern and the most important piece of the renovation.
The house is going on the MLS today, and hopefully we’ll get some good feedback from potential buyers…
Nice job. I’ll bet its in a nice neighborhood too. Regarding the sale, do you do anything to sell it, other than listing it?
J,
Looks like a nice house that didn’t need too much work. Were you able to get a good discount because of the mold and water problems??
Wow, it looks great! I would imagine it will sell fast. I sure think it is a good idea to stage houses, you can guide peoples eyes.
Only question: How much would granite cost to put in the kitchen? I think you’d probably get the $1,000 back it costs?
Chris –
Yup, this one is in a very nice neighborhood. The 20-30 year old ranch houses in this subdivision sell for $160-190K, and newer construction in the area is (was!) selling for $700K+.
According to my wife (our realtor), this one is under-priced for the market by about $20K, so hopefully just the MLS listing will be enough to attract a lot of interest. If not, we’ll do some additional marketing (emails, direct marketing to neighbors, etc).
Matt –
Yeah, we got this house for a steal, mostly because of the mold and because it was a probate sale. While they likely could have gotten another $25K for the house, the family was happy to take the quick profit and move on.
Steve –
We ended up not remodeling the kitchens or the bathrooms in this one. Instead we priced it very aggressively and are looking for buyers who really want to live in this school district (it’s one of the best in the area), and want to get in at a great price.
Of the 156 4-bedroom houses for sale in this high-school district, ours is priced the lowest (tied with an REO) at $144,900, with a lot of new construction in the million-dollar range. So, instead of competing with the other houses at fair-market-value ($160-190K), we decided to look for buyers who were interested in the school district but couldn’t otherwise afford it, and who didn’t mind taking on a few projects (if they want to) after they move in.
School districts.
Thanks J, just one more thing to think about! LOL