The first house we flipped was at the corner of Main and Hope. It wasn’t exactly the glamor of Scott Yancey’s Flipping Vegas but Kelly & Steve’s Flipping Avoca had a lot of drama!
Steve found the house on the MLS. It was owned by an elderly man gone into a nursing home who just needed to sell it, so for $15,000 it was ours. Well, not entirely ours. Steve met a guy named Guy at a Lehigh Valley Real Estate Investors Association. Guy is a money guy. He put up the money, we put up our “expertise” to actually flip the house. He was suitably impressed that we flipped our own house from a hopelessly outdated 1960s relic to something that would net us about $50k profit if we’d decided to sell it. That and the fact that we’d built a little business with rentals was enough for him to believe he’d make a nice return on his investment. Investors tip: go to those REIA meetings and network network network! You’ll be able to do more deals with partners than you could do on your own, especially when you’re just starting out.
It was a big house – still partially furnished and with the requisite peeling wallpaper, cracked plaster and bare incandescent light bulbs. Walking in I noticed how cold it was, crypt cold. It was March when we closed, with the first tentative warm days of spring, but the house had kept the cold of winter. Typical of older homes. It was solidly built, with high ceilings. Large rooms. It definitely had potential!
You entered the home through the front door into a large room – a front parlor or living room. There was an equally large room next to it that would be better suited for the sectional couch and flat screen TV. Behind that was a smaller room, likely a first floor bedroom.
It was a big house – still partially furnished and with the requisite peeling wallpaper, cracked plaster and bare incandescent light bulbs. Walking in I noticed how cold it was, crypt cold. It was March when we closed, with the first tentative warm days of spring, but the house had kept the cold of winter. Typical of older homes. It was solidly built, with high ceilings. Large rooms. It definitely had potential!
You entered the home through the front door into a large room – a front parlor or living room. There was an equally large room next to it that would be better suited for the sectional couch and flat screen TV. Behind that was a smaller room, likely a first floor bedroom.
Straight back from the front room was a narrow hallway, for some reason the owner had paneled it with FRP – a material used in bathroom shower surrounds! Very strange. There was a bathroom there off to the right – the only one in the whole house.
At the other end of the narrow, paneled hallway was the outdated kitchen. Old scuffed linoleum, a beat-up stove, and a gorgeous old vintage sink that unfortunately had no place in the modern kitchen I was designing in my head. There was a pantry off to the left – a sunk-in pantry that required a step down. The kitchen was obviously an addition – it was built one step higher than the rest of the house!
Speaking of steps – the second floor was accessed by the narrowest, steepest, scariest staircase I had ever seen! It was a narrow passageway between two plaster walls. No railing. The steps were so steep I thought I might need a Sherpa. And they twisted! How on earth did they get furniture up there? How did they get up and down those steps every day and night without someone getting killed? Upstairs were three bedrooms. One was of average, certainly respectable size. The two in front were impressive. This being a very old house, none of them had closets. An antique wardrobe, much like the one that would take you to Narnia, was still in one of the front bedrooms. Again – how did they get it up those stairs?
How to re-design a house in 15 minutes or less. That’s about how long it took me to redesign Avoca after the walk-through. Laminate hardwood throughout – unfortunately those old floors could not be saved. Widen the doorway between the front room and the kitchen area to create a more open flow. Blow out that narrow hallway for a straight shot back. Yes it would mean making the bathroom smaller, but that’s OK because it’s going to become a half-bathroom/laundry room. We’ll put a luxury bath upstairs, in place of the smaller bedroom. That’s a trick I learned when I remodeled my own house – turn a 4 bedroom/1 bath into a 3 bedroom/2 bath. And for godssake put the main bathroom on the same floor as the bedrooms! Tile in all bathrooms. And the kitchen, too - tile and attractive countertops. Lots of cabinets – it was a large kitchen. The kitchen design would be uber-important because that would sell the place!
And those stairs had to go. I was at the Pittston Diner after walking through the property a second time when I casually mentioned to Steve on the phone that I couldn’t wait to get rid of those stairs so it would be easier for me to be at the house with Savannah. I was worried about her breaking her neck on them! Dead silence on the other end. He wasn’t planning on replacing the stairs! “Are you kidding me?” “That puts us way over-budget.” “Well then you better cut back in some other areas because no one is going to buy a house with stairs like that!” “Why not?”
This is why Scott needs Amie on Flipping Vegas. I don’t know if it’s a man versus woman, Venus and Mars thing or what – but neither my man nor Amie’s man can see the things we see in a house! I’m not intending to be sexist. I am sure there are many men who would have noticed those stairs were unacceptable. My man was not one of them. He needs me. It’s nice to be needed.
Hiring contractors – high drama!
I’m sure there are some very fine professionals working in the construction trade in northeastern Pennsylvania. We just haven’t met that many of them. Probably they’re busy on higher paying jobs. Our mission will be to find one or two of these highly professional contractors, who have a steady crew working under them that they are 100% responsible for managing. Those contractors will make a lot of money off us, because we want to flip a lot of houses. The story I’m about to tell you about our experience flipping Avoca makes me never want to do this again. But of course I’m going to. A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
We closed on Avoca in March of 2104. First we gave our handymen a shot at doing the renovation. Our guys did good work on our rental units, but speed is an issue when you’re flipping a house. Our goal was to get it finished and on the market for the summer selling season. Our guys couldn’t work that fast, so we had to bring in some reinforcements. We hired a “professional.” I liked this guy. He convinced my husband (when I could not) that we needed to demo the plaster lathe and drywall the whole house, which is what we did at our house in Swoyersville. It’s so much more modern. So we hired him.
Things went downhill rather quickly. He put one guy on the job. And he was, as far as I could observe, a drunk. The guy managed to get the drywall up, but again, speed was an issue. Steve wasn’t happy with the quality, either. But the final straw came when he got to the stairs.
The stairs were a huge undertaking. The plan was to rip out the old, unsafe staircase, demolishing the side wall at the kitchen. We would reorient the stairs, putting the second floor landing on the opposite side of the opening, have them go straight down to a mid-point landing with the rest of the steps at 90 degrees down into the kitchen. We’d have to eliminate the old pantry to make this happen. The end result would be a modern, attractive staircase wide enough to accommodate modern furnishings. The new owners could get their king size beds up to those huge second floor bedrooms!
The one-man show our contractor put on the job was able to handle the demolition. But he built the new stairs without any kind of plan. The bottom steps were a wide 48 inches at the kitchen, but at the mid-point landing they narrowed to 26 inches! Code is 36. I gained a significant amount of weight in my first pregnancy. If I got pregnant again and gained another 60 pounds, I probably wouldn’t be able to use those stairs! I’d be stuck at the landing, they’d have to call the fire department, jaws of life…
Steve went up the stairs and hit his head on the ceiling – he’s 6’ 3’’. Oops. Guess someone – maybe the “professional” contractor – should have noticed a problem?
All of that didn’t get this contractor fired. What got him fired was that he argued with Steve about the acceptability of these stairs. Steve had to bring in the borough inspector to convince him! The inspector told him to correct the stairs, but he never did. The guy put the rest of the drywall up, but never touched the steps. So Steve told him to leave the property. He called Steve’s cell phone later that night, uttering drunkenly slurred threats. Steve refused to give me his number so I could call him back and let him know in calm, dulcet tones what happens to people who threaten my family. It’s not a good idea to make this ginger snap.
Meanwhile, we had hired a couple of guys who specialized in working with gravel and mortar to help us solve our wet basement problem. They graded the backyard to keep rain water from flowing in and parged the basement walls. They discovered a rotten sill plate under the kitchen addition and fixed that for us. We missed it when we bought the house because there was a foot of snow on the ground. Investors tip: leave room in your budget when flipping a house, because there will ALWAYS be surprises!
And those stairs had to go. I was at the Pittston Diner after walking through the property a second time when I casually mentioned to Steve on the phone that I couldn’t wait to get rid of those stairs so it would be easier for me to be at the house with Savannah. I was worried about her breaking her neck on them! Dead silence on the other end. He wasn’t planning on replacing the stairs! “Are you kidding me?” “That puts us way over-budget.” “Well then you better cut back in some other areas because no one is going to buy a house with stairs like that!” “Why not?”
This is why Scott needs Amie on Flipping Vegas. I don’t know if it’s a man versus woman, Venus and Mars thing or what – but neither my man nor Amie’s man can see the things we see in a house! I’m not intending to be sexist. I am sure there are many men who would have noticed those stairs were unacceptable. My man was not one of them. He needs me. It’s nice to be needed.
Hiring contractors – high drama!
I’m sure there are some very fine professionals working in the construction trade in northeastern Pennsylvania. We just haven’t met that many of them. Probably they’re busy on higher paying jobs. Our mission will be to find one or two of these highly professional contractors, who have a steady crew working under them that they are 100% responsible for managing. Those contractors will make a lot of money off us, because we want to flip a lot of houses. The story I’m about to tell you about our experience flipping Avoca makes me never want to do this again. But of course I’m going to. A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
We closed on Avoca in March of 2104. First we gave our handymen a shot at doing the renovation. Our guys did good work on our rental units, but speed is an issue when you’re flipping a house. Our goal was to get it finished and on the market for the summer selling season. Our guys couldn’t work that fast, so we had to bring in some reinforcements. We hired a “professional.” I liked this guy. He convinced my husband (when I could not) that we needed to demo the plaster lathe and drywall the whole house, which is what we did at our house in Swoyersville. It’s so much more modern. So we hired him.
Things went downhill rather quickly. He put one guy on the job. And he was, as far as I could observe, a drunk. The guy managed to get the drywall up, but again, speed was an issue. Steve wasn’t happy with the quality, either. But the final straw came when he got to the stairs.
The stairs were a huge undertaking. The plan was to rip out the old, unsafe staircase, demolishing the side wall at the kitchen. We would reorient the stairs, putting the second floor landing on the opposite side of the opening, have them go straight down to a mid-point landing with the rest of the steps at 90 degrees down into the kitchen. We’d have to eliminate the old pantry to make this happen. The end result would be a modern, attractive staircase wide enough to accommodate modern furnishings. The new owners could get their king size beds up to those huge second floor bedrooms!
The one-man show our contractor put on the job was able to handle the demolition. But he built the new stairs without any kind of plan. The bottom steps were a wide 48 inches at the kitchen, but at the mid-point landing they narrowed to 26 inches! Code is 36. I gained a significant amount of weight in my first pregnancy. If I got pregnant again and gained another 60 pounds, I probably wouldn’t be able to use those stairs! I’d be stuck at the landing, they’d have to call the fire department, jaws of life…
Steve went up the stairs and hit his head on the ceiling – he’s 6’ 3’’. Oops. Guess someone – maybe the “professional” contractor – should have noticed a problem?
All of that didn’t get this contractor fired. What got him fired was that he argued with Steve about the acceptability of these stairs. Steve had to bring in the borough inspector to convince him! The inspector told him to correct the stairs, but he never did. The guy put the rest of the drywall up, but never touched the steps. So Steve told him to leave the property. He called Steve’s cell phone later that night, uttering drunkenly slurred threats. Steve refused to give me his number so I could call him back and let him know in calm, dulcet tones what happens to people who threaten my family. It’s not a good idea to make this ginger snap.
Meanwhile, we had hired a couple of guys who specialized in working with gravel and mortar to help us solve our wet basement problem. They graded the backyard to keep rain water from flowing in and parged the basement walls. They discovered a rotten sill plate under the kitchen addition and fixed that for us. We missed it when we bought the house because there was a foot of snow on the ground. Investors tip: leave room in your budget when flipping a house, because there will ALWAYS be surprises!
Learn from our flip: My hope is that the story of our exploits in real estate investing will inspire you, and point out pitfalls you could avoid. Writing about them is like therapy for me – I realize we have faced some incredible hurdles in the last 8 years! One thing I try to do is get the lesson from each and every one of them. Steve used this nightmare experience with the flip to start the NEPA Investors Network, which meets at 7pm the second Wednesday of every month, currently at the Grotto Pizza at Wyoming Valley Mall. Anyone can come. $5 gets you in and includes pizza & soda. Our goal is to put our heads together and figure out problems like this issue with contractors. Everybody we know seems to have to same problems finding quality people to work on our flips. If you’re reading this and you’re in the construction trade, or you know someone who is, I urge you to crash our meeting. You could walk out with a lot of work!
When we fired our “professional” contractor and his drunken minion, our gravel & basement guys asked us to give them a shot at completing the work. So we did.
I wish this was the happy ending to this story. But alas, the epic drama will have to continue next week.
When we fired our “professional” contractor and his drunken minion, our gravel & basement guys asked us to give them a shot at completing the work. So we did.
I wish this was the happy ending to this story. But alas, the epic drama will have to continue next week.