Five Closings and Stainless Steel Appliances

It’s a gorgeous day here in Springfield, MA. Right now the thermometer reads 80 degrees.  My partner Dominic just made me aware of something I didn’t realize, we could have five closings this month week. If it happens it will definetly be a record for us. A few years back when I was starting this business I would have been happy to have five closings in a year!!!  Things tend to come up last minute which may delay one or two but what should happen is; we sell two of our finished rehabs, we purchase one pretty house sub2, we purchase one rehabbed house at 70% of ARV, and we purchase the fire damaged three family. We’ve been FLAT OUT BUSY this whole year…. I love this depressed RE market.  

  One little tip I wanted to share is about Stainless Steel Applainces. We have been adding them to all our finshed rehabs, even the lower end starter homes… and the feedback from buyers has been awesome. It is an added detail that puts your finished rehab way ahead of the competition, and is one of the major reasons why I think our houses have been selling so quickly (less than two weeks on market).  Now stainless steel can be expensive so what we do is frequent Lowes and buy all the open box/ display models/ returns that they put out on the weekends. The key is to make freinds with the appliance workers and get them to call you when any good ones become available. We’ve made freinds with associates from both the Lowes near us and they will call us when they’ve got something good. We usually pick up stainless or clean steel appliances for a little more than the brand new white appliances.

Check out this kitchen:

Arnold Ave Kitchen

Arnold Ave Kitchen

This is an 864 sq. ft. ranch. We sold it in one day for above asking price at $121,000. We kept the original 80’s style cabinets that I always like to replace. However once we added the stainless appliances and staged it you don’t even notice the old cabinets anymore!! 
Well I’ve got to run to Lowes, they have a stainless steel Bosch dishwasher that retails for $540 dollars that we are picking up for $315. This will be going into the house on Bessemer.

One Week at Bessemer

We are one week into construction on Bessemer St. Here is a video update:

Construction for this project should run another seven weeks. So far we have been very happy with our new contractor Jason. We have had some bad experiences with contractors over the last six months… cost us alot of time and money….  There are alot of guys out there right now who are very hungry for work and they will tell you they can do anything, than you give them a project and you soon find out they are in way over there head. Just make sure you are screening them well.

I think we bought another house yesterday… we still have to execute contracts but we came to a verbal agreement. I’ll post more details about this one in another post.

Day 4 Highlights

Heres a video I took Monday of the progress so far at Bessemer St. Things are moving along well.

We are starting to get some good publicity from this project. We did a photo shoot yesterday with our local paper that is going to be running a story about the house and our rehab work. We were also invited to a Springfield Community Group to talk about this house, our company, and how we renovate houses and improve neighborhoods. Several of the attendees were giving us leads on vacant houses that needed work! 

Still no closing on the fire Damage Three Family, there are some title problems that need to be fixed. We did put in an offer on another three unit property located in Forest Park. It is a pocket listing that an REO agent brought to us. We’ll see what the bank thinks of our offer. We’re about $20k below what they are hoping to get for the property. If we can make a deal it will probably be a buy and hold for us as it will cash flow very nicely.

I’ll post some more updates tommorrow about our other deals and what we are currently working out.

Dumpsters, Bumper Stickers and Dogs

It was a fun weekend here in Massachusetts. Friday night I went to my good friends wedding, Saturday was beautiful and I got a chance to do some yard work around my house. Sunday I took a trip to Bessemer St to check out the progress. We’re three days into the work and so far it’s been nothing but yard work, clean out and demo. I have a feeling this house is gonna take 5 dumpsters. 

Speaking of  Dogs…. I said I would post pictures of the dogs in their cages… here it is!!!!!

Dead dog in Cage

Dog in Cage

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hahahahah, just kidding…. that’s my dog Teddy. He is a furry Pomeranian that likes to sleep upside down!!!
 
Ok, enough shenanigans, here are some photos from today….
102_5123
 
102_5126
 
Breezeway After Cleanout

Breezeway After Cleanout

Kitchen after Cleanout and Demo

Kitchen after Cleanout and Demo

Wall being removed between Kitchen and Living Room

Wall being removed between Kitchen and Living Room

Bathroom after some Demo

Bathroom after some Demo

 
 
I’m looking forward to starting another exciting week. We’ll be getting contracts on a few short sales that should eventually turn into deals and we also should be closing on the fire damaged three family.
Peace Out**

Work is underway at Bessemer

We closed on Bessemer on Tuesday and work got underway today. The guys cleaned up the yard and began airing the house out. A dumpster will be delivered tommorrow and clean out of the inside will begin. It’s gonna take a few dumpsters on this job as their is quite a bit of trash in the house.  The Humane Society will be coming tommorrow to get the four dogs.

The contractor we are using is actually one of the guys I found on the Craigslist ad I posted about last week. He has rehabbed a few houses for himself in the past and he was actually already on my buyers list… and I didn’t even realize it. He has been doing new construction for the past two years but wants to get back into doing rehabs. This will be a good one to start on.

Here are some pictures from today, including photos of the inside, you can see how trashed the place is: 

Bessemer Before Day One Work

Bessemer Before Day One Work

Bessemer After Day One of Work

Bessemer After Day One of Work

Breezeway

Breezeway

Kitchen

Kitchen

Most Disgusting Bathroom Ever

Most Disgusting Bathroom Ever

 

Living Room

Living Room

Kitchen 2

Kitchen 2

Dining Room

Dining Room

Bedroom Where Fire Started

Bedroom Where Fire Started

First Floor Bedroom

First Floor Bedroom

Back of House

Back of House

 

 The hardwood floors will be done over at Hartford Terrace tommorrow. I’ll put up some pictures of that.  We have two of our finished rehabs closing at the end of this month. Still waiting for clear title on the Fire Damage Three Family…. I don’t think we’ll be closing tommorrow on that one. We also have a rental house that we bought  in February on Ladd St getting finished up, we should have the new tenant in there May 1st.  

 

 

17 Bessemer St

Today we closed on the fire damaged Cape that I referenced in a previous post. This house is really nasty. Here is the newscast video from the fire:

The dogs are still in the basement, we have the Humane Society coming over to remove them and give them a proper burial. The plumbing in the house was not working … so the toilet is absolutely disgusting, overflowing with waste. Once the firefighters went inside the house and saw how nasty it was the city condemned it.  Maybe I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance. The rehab on this house should cost $55k-$60k. We are going to be adding a full dormer to the second level, which will give us two very large bedrooms and room for a second full bath. It will need all new windows, new vinyl siding, a new roof, new furnace, new plumbing, new kitchen, new bath, some new electric, and a new water heater.  This house is in an awesome neighborhood so once the work is complete it should be an easy resale.