Clean–Really Good

Sometimes we find a flip that the owners really took care of the carpet, or better yet just had it replaced. With the onset of the market fall out many mid priced homeowners were met with foreclosures as their only option. The higher the price point ,the higher the quality of the carpet…usually. So in our search for potential flips we have come across homes that just needed a good cleaning; no replacement necessary. You can determine this on your first walk through and make note on your Property Repair Estimate Sheet.

We would suggest investing in one of those steam cleaners. Lord knows we have used ours plenty of times. It is truly amazing what a good steam clean can do for some dirty carpet. You can find a good one online for under $300. This is something you could definitely work on during your lunch hour.

Replace

In almost all our flips it is necessary to replace the carpet. It is in reality one of the top items on our SOW almost always. Nothing make a home look newer inside than replacing the carpet and a fresh coat of paint. Lots of times the carpet will hold the odor of the previous home owners. If they were smokers or had animals we don’t have to tell you that your potential clients will be turned off as soon as they walk in the door and the odors hit their face.

Be smart about what grade of carpet you choose for your flip. Make sure you choose neutral colors that won’t be hard to match furniture and decor. Also make sure the new flooring is comparable with the rest of the homes in the area. While builder grade carpet is mostly fine for flips, make sure it is comparable to other homes in the area. Easy way to check this is other listings on the MLS.

Strip Away

Sometimes you are lucky enough to find a nice surprise just laying there under the dank, dated carpet. Like one of our flips from our Flipping House series, The What Lies Beneath House, where we were shocked to find hardwood under the carpet. Hardwood floors are still a trend that have sticking power; homeowners want it. So if you flip up a corner of carpet on your flipper and discover solid hardwood flooring, you’re in luck. Remove the carpet and sand the floors. Keep in mind that you can always install engineered wood flooring or, as a last-ditch attempt, wood-look laminate flooring.

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• Check for hardwood. Many older homes that are carpeted have decent hardwood floors underneath the carpet and carpet pads. Before you make plans for a new floor, check to see if there might be hardwood floors lurking below that carpet that was installed back in the 70’s.

What lies beneath…

• Decide if you actually need new floors. This is a big one. Many carpets can be salvaged with  professional cleaning. Smelly carpets can

Now that’s better

sometimes be refreshed and opportunities for you to win the bid as smells usually turn residential home owners off. Bathroom and kitchen tile  floors may just need to be thoroughly cleaned to make that grey grout sparkling while.• Keep it simple. If you do decide to replace the floors, remember to keep them neutral and not too fancy. Don’t install a busy kitchen floor or bright blue carpet, no matter how much it appeals to you. Remember you are rehabbing the house so that it will appeal to potential buyers; not your personal taste.

• Do the work yourself, if you have that expertise. You can save some money by doing some or all of the labor yourself. However, this tip we suggest loosely as we are trying to save you time also and sometimes doing a job yourself will directly compete with what you are trying to do by flipping houses part time—making yourself a comfortable future with out taking time away from your family.

• Consider the neighborhood. Do the neighbors all have hardwood or tile in the bathroom? If not, don’t price yourself right out of the neighborhood. Make sure the new flooring is comparable with the rest of the homes in the area. This could be a mistake that will cause the home selling for less than what you put into it and for less than other properties on the block. Easy way to check this is other listings on the MLS.

Again since flooring can be a main focal point to any house sell be sure to make a wise decision when considering your options. The more you stage your potential flip to the wants and desires of potential buyers, the quicker you will see results from flipping houses on a part-time basis.

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The What Lies Beneath House

The nick name for our next house might remind you that we got a little surprise when we started to rehabb this house. We found nice hard wood floors and are refinishing them. Here are some in progress shots that will show you how it is coming along.

refinished Hardwood floors

The Kitchen

Since kitchens are always nice focal points in houses we want to make sure to upgrade the entire kitchen. Here are some in progress photos of what we are doing with the kitchen area.

As normal this house is getting  the basic rehab plan too–carpet, paint, and kitchen and bath rehab.

Lastly  here are some pictures to what we are doing with the addition. As you may remember we are converting it to a master suite since it had a full bath. This will definitely help sell the house!

Outside addition

Check back in a few weeks to see how The “What Lies Beneath” House turns out.

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The What Lies Beneath House

The nick name for our next house might get you thinking you are about to hear a horror story. With all the terrors you hear from veteran house flippers about mold infested foreclosures, sinking foundations, and roofs caving in…  But every now and then we get lucky. Here we found a little diamond in the rough that is not only a simple and easy rehab, but even contained a little surprise to sweeten the deal.

We found this HUD foreclosure on the MLS. If you have an investor-minded realtor, they are hound dogs for sniffing out good deals on the MLS and can be the key to being a successful part time real estate investor flipping houses. Keeping to our lunch time schedule, we drove to this property, walked through in 15-minutes, filled out our property repair estimate sheet, and emailed our realtor the offer amount easily before their 1:00 food coma set in.

The Plan

Kitchen Before

As normal this house needs the basic rehab plan we try to stick to with our investments: carpet, paint, and kitchen and bath rehab. It also needs a little landscaping to add curb appeal.  At 1300 square feet the target completion time from start to finish should be no longer than 2 weeks.

During the demo phase of this rehab while ripping up the carpet, we discovered nice hardwood floors underneath, hence the nick name. “What Lies Beneath.” Typically we replace all carpet but instead we will sand and refinish the existing hardwood floors to make it really pop.

Nice Hardwood floors underneath old carpet

Furnace

While the hardwood was a pleasant surprise, we received an equal offsetting surprise that the furnace had a large crack and was un-repairable.  This is a great example of what happens when you don’t activate power at the property for your home inspection and the inspector is unable to diagnose the mechanicals.  Lesson learned – have the utilities activated for an inspection!

Addition on back of house

Lastly we noticed this house had an addition that was being used as a family room, but had a full bath and could easily be converted to a master suite. This will definitely help sell the house!

We bought this house because of its good location and its combination of good schools, low crime, and convenient access to shopping and interstates. At the same time it will be affordable to the 1st time home buyer—your target audience because they represent the biggest pool of buyers.

Stay tuned to see what our progress on The “What Lies Beneath” House!

To learn more about Part-Time REI visit us at http://part-timerei.com/

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Linked In http://www.linkedin.com/company/part-time-rei