Diary of a POP TOP Second Story Addition Project

[Todd Whiddon]

Intro…

Keeping with the spirit of @J Scott 's  “Diary of a New Construction Project” where we jumped into a HUGE project that we never really had done before, “Tear a house down and build a new one back”. This adventure will document our first foray into “Pop Tops” or RIPPING the roof off a structure and building a second story addition in its place!

While everyone involved in this project has a fair amount of rehab and general construction experience, this is the first time any of us has “raised the roof”, so if anyone with more experience sees us about to make a mistake feel free to chime in! Otherwise this post will detail EVERYTHING involved with the acquisition, permitting, zoning, planning, construction, and sale of a MAJOR addition renovation.

Also, along with this thread on BP, I’m going to host a few “Q&A Open Houses” at the project. “Before, During, and After rehab”, so any readers in the Atlanta area that want a behind the scenes look at how a project like this takes shape, shoot me a PM and I’ll send you the deets.

We’re about 2 weeks out from demo, which should give us enough time to catch up on planning and permitting so that the thread will be “Real Time” when the roof comes off!

P.S… Since Real Estate is ALL about the numbers, here's the QUICKMATH on the project. Purchase 225k Rehab 175k-ish ARV 525k-ish We'll dive into the numbers more on some later posts….

[Todd Whiddon]

In the interest of FULL DISCLOSURE... The following is a paid CELEBRITY endorsement for the J Scott Center for Kids Who Can't Real Estate Good and Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too and will be compensated by the alcoholic beverage of my choice.

It was a dark time in my life...  and I needed help.  I needed to make some cash and FAST!  

Call it luck. 

Call it Destiny. 

Call it what you want.

But while dumpster diving behind a local Chinese restaurant, I stumbled upon J's first Audio Cassette. "Flip a House, Not The Bird" It was this tape that started my journey into Real Estate MOGUL-DUM. I was in AWE of how J laid out step by step how to channel my anger away from Semi-Truck Drivers and Global Warming Activists into more constructive things like changing FHA Guidelines and Quantitative Easing.

I couldn't get enough. I went to the local library and did a !YAHOO search for this new beacon of hope I only knew as "J"  I didn't quite understand why it kept showing pictures of a bunch of guys in sunglasses playing cards, but there on page 7 of the search results was a link to 123Flip.com

I knew this "FREE" website was too good to be true, so I sent J a letter and a check for $50,000 and asked him to be my Guru.  I never heard back from that letter, but I saw an ad for J's GUARANTEED TRILLIONS WHILE YOU SLEEP REAL ESTATE event and knew I that if I could plead my case in person, he would have no choice but to take me under his wing.

It was a capacity crowd of 100,000 people.  I stood in line for close to a week to make sure I was FIRST. And my sacrifice paid off...

From that moment my life was NEVER the same.  It was like some of the magic Real Estate dust that was all over the top of J's black shirt got sprinkled on me. I COULDN'T LOSE!

I asked someone for Money... THEY GAVE IT TO ME!

I put an offer in on a house.... IT WAS ACCEPTED!

I told a contractor to fix the house....  SHE DID IT!

I put a 4-Sale sign in the yard....   IT SOLD!

So anyone looking for to replicate my UNBELIEVABLE results, I highly recommended enrolling in the J Scott Center for Kids Who Can't Real Estate Good and Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too