With so much going on these days, I thought I would just post another general update on everything going on…
House #1: The Corn House
The Corn House is coming along nicely, after 5 weeks of rehab work. While technically the rehab was scheduled to finish this past Friday, I had pulled the contractors off for about a week to do some work on The Bulge House, so it’s only fair to add another week to the official schedule. I’m hopeful that this one will be substantially finished by the end of this week, but have a feeling there will still be some minor details to attend to in the coming week or two.
All the kitchen and bath tiling is completed (including a nicely tiled shower), the cabinets are refinished, the walls are painted, we have new vanities in the bathrooms, new toilets, new lights and fans, and new hardware (faucets, switches, outlets, etc) throughout the house. Also, the deck is 90% complete, much of the basement work has been completed, and the carpet is going down today. That leaves the appliances (tomorrow), the hardwood flooring (Wednesday, I believe), and then a whole bunch of detail work later in the week.
My biggest concern about this house right now is the exterior. While my GC did a lot of demo in the backyard, and a bunch of generic landscaping (mowing, trimming, etc) a couple weeks ago at the beginning of the project, the exterior is once again starting to look overgrown. Additionally, the “corn stalks” that were cut down in the back yard have already grown back nearly 3 feet in three weeks! I’m thinking I may have to spend some extra money to bring in a professional landscaper and get this done right, once and for all. Not to take anything away from my GC, but this is a big job, and likely requires someone with some good landscaping experience.
Hopefully I’ll have some more pictures to post later this week detailing the progress being made…
House #2: The Bulge House
The Bulge House is still under contract, and we have about 6 more days left in the buyer’s due diligence period. Other than some requests to keep some of the window treatments from our staging (which we granted) and an offer to buy some of our staging furniture for about half of what we bought it for (which we made a counter-offer on), we haven’t heard much from the buyer. I believe that they had their inspection over the weekend, as I noticed a lot of things moved around and a lot of dirt on the floor. I also noticed that the door to the attic had been forced open (it apparently had been painted shut when we painted), which leads me to believe there was an inspector up there.
I guess we’ll hear more this week from the buyer once they get their inspection results back; while I don’t believe there are any major issues, I fully expect the buyer to try to negotiate whatever she can doing her due diligence period, and getting inspection results presents a perfect negotiating opportunity for her. As for the request for the staging furniture, we counter-offered at a price that was still considerably less than we paid for it, but only offered the deal if the buyer agreed to not ask for any additional concessions. The buyer wasn’t ready to do that just yet, so the issue of selling some of the staging furniture is still open.
Lastly, the buyer’s lender is still quite convinced that they can get around the FHA 90-Day Rule, and close on this one by October 15. I’m very skeptical, and while I’d be thrilled to close that quickly, I’m fully expecting this one to not close until November 24 at the earliest. If anyone knows any loopholes in that FHA rule, let me know; I haven’t been able to find one yet.
House #3: The Second Chance House
The Second Chance House closed on Friday, and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to start construction today. I’ve been trying to keep my GC engaged on this one, just waiting for the close, but since it took so long (and closed spur of the moment), I’m not positive he can get his crew together on short-notice and be ready by today. We’re meeting early this morning to finalize the details of the contract, sign the papers, and potentially hand over a first check, and I’m hoping his guys will be ready to start demo by the time we’re finished.
This house will be getting a major interior remodel, with a number of walls being torn out, and the entire family area of the house (living room, dining room, kitchen) being opened up into one big area. Demo will likely take 3-4 days (including a bunch of exterior demo), and I’m expecting some major transformations to take place quickly with this one. I’m excited about this project, and really think this could be an awesome house by the time we’re finished. It better be — there is a lot of sales competition in this neighborhood, and while this house has a lot of curb appeal, it’s going to take a great remodel to make it really stand out from the crowd.
Hopefully I’ll have a lot more pictures later in the week…
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