Flip blog - The heart attack house

[Aaron McGinnis]

With apologies to J Scott - typically, my team and I refer to our houses by the street number. In this case, we have two houses side-by-side, and referring to them by the street number is confusing everyone... so we're going to try the whimsical name approach. =)

The first house is going to be a tear down, so we won't properly get started with that until probably next month when we get the plans ready and the city approves our permits (I expect permit approval to take 30 days)

In the meantime, this house I can start talking about. I've named it the Heart Attack House because it was owned by a gentleman and his wife, and they were going to renovate it and let their daughter live in it while she went to Georgia State. The guy was a contractor, so he figured he'd do the work himself.

Sadly, he cut his right thumb almost completely off, then had a heart attack. Then his daughter decided she didn't want to go to GSU anyway, so the project sat abandoned for 2+ years.

UNTIL...

We bought the house next door (I'm going to call it the Sinkhole) and decided that the biggest problem with the Sinkhole was the Heart Attack. So I found the guy and made him an offer he couldn't refuse... (Actually, I think we both won.)

(Ironic side note: My electrician was actually working with the guy to begin with. Small world.)

Our first step will be clean-up and correcting any unfinished/not to code framing, and some trivial moving of walls to make it 'just the way we want it', then we'll be off to the races with the rest of the process.

The house isn't huge. It's framed out as a 2/2 - about 1100sqft. However, it is an intown neighborhood where the houses (and the lots) aren't typically more than about 1500-1700sqft, and 2/2s actually sell.

Here are some pictures of the before.
https://picasaweb.google.com/109521566223059674424/HeartAttackHouseBefore?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCO-yrIrMn5Hl_gE&feat=directlink#

If anyone is actually interested, I'll do my best to keep this thread updated with our progress.

The next immediate step is the installation of a temporary power pole and getting that city inspection taken care of so we can get power on to the property. With a little luck, we'll be able to get started on the framing corrections next week.

We'll also have our structural engineer come out and make sure that the foundation is sound before we start buttoning it up. This is a big deal for me.

Biggest challenges so far are dealing with an extremely tight lot (It's about 40ft wide and 120ft deep), and incomplete framing, and possibly a questionable foundation. Also asbestos will need to be removed.

All in a day's work, though!