Playing in the Dirt

We spent the afternoon doing landscaping over at Brooks St. I generally don’t do too much work at our properties myself, I leave that for the real contractors, however I do enjoy doing the landscaping from time to time. I don’t go to overboard, I usually will just plant some shrubs, evergreens and an ornamental grass or two. My favorites are boxwoods, azaleas, spirea, rhododendron, and Alberta spruces. I like to throw in some ornamental grasses for color and dimension. Because I use mainly evergreens I use the red mulch to add some more color as well. The main goal is to make it look fresh, clean and not too cluttered. If I can, I will try to save the mature landscaping already located around the property, but most of the time everything is so overgrown and unkempt it is best to take it all out and start fresh.

Heres what we did at Brooks St today:

Landscape Before

Landscape Before

 

Landscape After

Landscape After

 

Landscape Before

Landscape Before

Landscape After

Landscape After

House Before Landscape

House Before Landscape

House After Landscape

House After Landscape

 

We didn’t do too much, but it definitely helps the overall curb appeal of the house. We landscaped that whole front bed for less than $200, and most of that cost went to the three tall Arborvitaes, which cost $30 apiece.  The arborvitaes are a great foundation plant, especially in this situation as they block that ugly front wall pretty good.

Closing… my favorite seven letter word

Every real estate investor knows that closing days are very special….. whether you are selling a finished rehab, or closing on that great deal you just spent the last few weeks negotiating. It’s the culmination of all your hard work, endless phone calls, restless nights, and dealing with attorneys, lenders, buyers, sellers and agents….. and hopefully they result in nice paydays.

On that note, we sold our short sale rehab on Arnold Ave today. We put together a short little case study video on the deal…….

This property was a rehabbers dream …. a cosmetic renovation that we were able to purchase at a big discount, rehab quickly, and sell the first day on the market!