All Forum Posts by: Jessica Hood

Thank you!

Thank you, everyone!  I am glad you like it!

@Ramone Reese There are some tricky moments, but it is easy for the most part.  The only times you run into trouble are when you need the floor to slip under something, if your walls are crooked, if the floor is really uneven, or if you end up with a tiny piece where you shouldn't have a tiny piece (like at an end).  But all of those things can be worked out one way or another.

Wow!  What a great experience!  It is so inspirational!  I often see vacant plots of land like that and wonder what they might be worth one day.  Smart move on your part!  I appreciate you sharing your experience with me.  It is always enlightening to hear what others have already been through.

@Shellie S.  You are welcome and thanks!  Yes, it is a lot of work, but definitely worth it!

@Jay Hinrichs  That is fantastic and exactly what I have on my mind!  It is good to hear someone understands what I am thinking.  I do know of others that have started out this way and now are very successful.  Some people just have to take bigger risks within their means to try to get on top of the game.

Gentrification is exactly what is happening.  I was actually trying to think of the word when I wrote my initial post, but it would not come to mind.  I am quite familiar with the process.  I have seen it happen is several areas of Columbus already.  Columbus is on the move, but you have to pick the right part of Columbus.  Some areas are still way too far behind to even think of touching with a ten foot pole.

I have been observing the area I have in mind for over a year now.  Probably closer to two years.  I have studied by personally driving through the neighborhoods, noting investor activity, monitoring the patterns and numbers of foreclosure, monitoring the prices/comps, monitoring county auditor records, and having good chats with my mortgage broker friend who also has bought in the area.

I am so confident that buying and holding in this area could turn out to be quite profitable in the future.  I have heard other investors say "If only I had bought in this area a few years ago, I would have made a lot of money!"  And they are talking about those areas on the border of the one I am eyeing now.

I really think it is just a matter of figuring out how to get my foot in the door.  I am close.  I can feel it.  Once I get my financing figured out, I am moving on it.

@John Hickey  Thanks!  It has been a wonderful learning experience!  I love it!  Looks even better in person!

Trying to get through all the hurdles to closing was a complete nightmare.  Neither of my two 203k projects went smoothly in the beginnings.  There was always some mistake that the bank, title company, or realtor made that held things up.  I believe I won the auction in April 2015 and did not close until July 2015.  We went through multiple extensions and I thought for sure the seller would back out.  I had issues with the bank getting cold feet and demanding every document about myself that I could possibly come up with, plus my unborn child.  

My biggest irritation was with the appraisal process. We were way behind schedule because of the bank. Then the appraiser was taking her sweet time. She had our file for weeks and had not done anything. I am a go-getter. I get things done. I don't like people slacking on the job. So I called my realtor and asked for the appraiser's contact information. He gave it to me and I called her. I got no answer so I left a message. Next thing I know, I get a phone call from my mortgage guy yelling at me because I called the appraiser. Come to find out, it is a major violation for me to be in contact with the appraiser! And because I called her, she reported me to FHA or whoever oversees that! What a B that appraiser was! I had no idea I could not contact the appraiser. My realtor dropped the ball by giving me her phone number. And my mortgage guy never warned me either. Because of all that, my whole deal came to a screeching halt. Dead in the water. It was going to take an unknown amount of time for my deal to go through multiple reviews from various departments from various entities. All to make sure I did not unduly influence the appraisal. What a joke! I never even talked to the lady! I only left her a voicemail asking her to call me back! I thought for sure the seller would walk at that point.

Then, the B of an appraiser took an extra week to do our appraisal on top of already being late.  And... get this... she gave us such a low-ball value that the bank would not accept it.  It was such a terrible appraisal, that the bank even said it must be a joke.  Her measurements and information were even wrong.  FYI, this is the appraisal company that we had all the trouble with...

http://www.villageappraisal.net

After more delays and debating the issue, Wells Fargo finally decided to order a new appraisal from someone else.  The new appraisal came in exactly as I had expected it to.  No problems there and it was fast!

I had my inspection done which resulted in more annoyances.  I asked my realtor if I needed to get the water turned on.  He told me not to because it usually isn't allowed in foreclosures because it could cause damage.  So I had the inspection done with the water off.  The bank came back questioning why the water was not on at inspection and demanded that we redo the inspection.  More delays and more money.  I was mad at my realtor!

Inspection turned up some unexpected things.  The insulation in the attic was inadequate.  The bathroom vents were not connected to anything.  The ventilation in the attic was not adequate.  We needed GFCI outlets.  A toilet was loose.  There were unknown plumbing leaks as the system would not hold pressure, but we could not find any actual leaks.

Then I had estimates from various contractors and chose the one I thought would be best.  I really liked the guy.  He seemed professional and was a referral from my mortgage guy.  I ended up having issues with him, but will touch on that later.

I kept checking on the property during all of this mess to make sure no one had stolen anything or vandalized anything.  Near the end, I discovered that the power was cut off by the seller so the sump pump stopped working.  It was about to storm pretty bad so I had to scramble to get permission to turn it back on in my name.  I hadn't even closed on it yet, but the seller would not turn it back on themselves.

I finally was able to close on the property July 2015.  I was so relieved to finally be past all that nonsense!

More to come...

I am starting this a bit late, but am excited to share my experience.  I am going to post comments with photos in chronological order to catch up!

I found this foreclosure home in Pickerington, Ohio on Hubzu.com.  It was Spring 2015.  It was listed as an online auction with a low starting price.  1,320 sqft split level (4 levels).  4 bedrooms, 3 baths, formal living room, family room, unfinished basement, 2 car garage, and a fireplace.  It had sat vacant for a year.

I checked it out with my realtor and knew immediately that it had that cheap "ugly duckling" potential.  Ugly house in a very nice neighborhood on the edge of the city.  It sat at the end of a large  quiet cul-de-sac.  Good sized yard and well kept houses in the neighborhood.  Even the landscaping was quite nice.

My only real concern was that there were some foundation, wet basement, and mold issues.  That is enough to scare most people away.

I had a structural engineer come out and tell me how bad he thought the foundation was.  We had some inward movement of the walls due to hydrostatic pressure.  Horizontal cracks in the walls and water seepage.  I was informed that all we needed were 15 steel I-beams installed for reinforcement.

I knew the other basement water issues would be fairly easy to solve.

I was not concerned about the mold as I have dealt with this before.

The outside of the home was hideous.  Some of the wood siding and trim needed replaced.  The roof had three layers of old shingles.  Plus typical cosmetic stuff.

The inside was worse.  Nearly everything had that old 80s/90s dark and dreary look to it.  It smelled horrible.  Animal urine soaked carpet in many rooms and mold in some areas of the lower levels.  Broken and non-functioning various small things.  Bad seals on some of the windows.  Condition of the plumbing was unknown.  Breaker box needed to be updated.  Some electrical needed to be replaced in the basement.  HVAC appeared to work.  Water heater looked newer, but didn't know if it worked.

For the price, there was nothing scaring me away.  I got my property specific pre-approval for a 203k renovation loan and started bidding on the property.  I only had one other bidder who I later found out was actually a neighbor!  Haha!  But I quickly outbid him.  

I was the high bidder for quite a while and could have stopped bidding below the reserve, but I did not want to lose the property and continued bidding until I hit the reserve.  After two years of fighting fierce competition on other properties I lost, I wasn't about to lose this one.  I won the bid at $93k.  Having looked at comps and the analysis from my mortgage lender and realtor, I KNEW this house was worth more.

This was the start of a new adventure and one heck of a crazy ride!!  More to come... stay tuned... :)

I have installed laminate flooring in 3 homes now.  I am talking about the type of flooring that looks like wood planks, but it is actually a type of pressed micro-board material (something to that effect).  I am a huge fan of laminate flooring!  It is fairly easy to install and you do not have to be a professional.  Just do your research first.  Watch videos and make sure you have a good grasp on the requirements.  

Here is what I have learned about it...

Pros:

• It is excellent for DIY.  It is fairly easy to cut with a table saw and jigsaw.  I also use a Dremel to do intricate cuts or sanding down to increase space in complicated areas.
• No glue or nailing required.
• Interlocking pieces just snap together.
• Typically cheaper than hard wood or bamboo.  Great for middle class or lower class homes.
• Comes with a pretty good warranty.
• Looks just as beautiful as hardwood if you buy a decent style.
• Quiet when walked on.
• Slightly flexible so you can bend it into places you could not with hard wood.
• Durable.  Not as much as hardwood or bamboo, but holds up quite well.
• Easy to clean.

Cons:

• Can be a bit fragile during installation or package transportation.  The edges that snap together can be easily broken off if banged around when not snapped in place.
• It can sometimes be difficult to get 100% proper alignment of all edges.  You may have to fuss with it a little to get it right.
• Planks can sometimes be a little warped horizontally, but so can hardwood.  A little finesse or using a different plank will work it out.
• Should not be used in bathrooms, due to the high moisture and water contact probability.  This material is not made for wet areas.  If exposed to too much water, it will expand and deteriorate, leading to breakage/warping/peeling of upper layer.  I have not experienced that myself because I would never do that, but I have read about it.
• Not considered a high grade material, so not something you would really want to put in a million dollar home.
• There have been some incidents where some brands have contained physically harmful chemicals that off-gas into the home and make people sick.  This is supposed to be better regulated, but you just never know these days.  Do you research.

My recent installation was in a home that had animal urine soaked carpet and minor urine soaked subfloor.  We tore out and removed all carpet, debris, staples, and removed any raised bumps that were in the floor.  We hammered down any nails where the floors were squeaky.  We added screws to reinforce squeaky areas.  We replaced a small section of water damaged subfloor.  We pulled up the quarter round.  We coated the entire subfloor in Kilz Original which is the BEST method for sealing in foul odors!  I undercut around the stair case, room divider railing, doorway trim, and stone fireplace to allow the floor to slip under. We removed all of the floor vents.  We used floor leveler on uneven concrete areas.  Then we lay down underlayment and installed the flooring.

Backside of old carpet! EEEW...

Stinky room now smells clean with the walls and subfloor coated in Kilz Original:

You can do all your cuts with one of these, if you don't have a saw.  Pretty easy!

Undercutting so the floor will slip under...

Dremeling out the leftover bits of the extra layer of subfloor that extended under the cabinets...

Apply concrete gap filler/floor leveler as needed:

Undercut the stone fireplace.  Then slipped a layer of underlayment, a laminate floor plank, and another top layer of underlayment under the lip.  Then, I used mortar to fill in any gaps where the old stone/mortar broke off.  The top layer of underlayment served as a removable barrier between the mortar and temporary flooring I slipped in there.  Allow the mortar to dry. Gently pull out the temporary flooring and then peel away the top layer of underlayment from the dry mortar.  Use a Dremel to sand down any ugly spots.  Voila!  Now you have perfect mortar/stone alignment when you install your new flooring!  PS... I used Valspar Stone/Concrete Stain to paint my stone.

Note:  The color of the new mortar will match after painting it.

Nice clean undercut around the stairs and railing...

Looks brand new!

By the way, if you do mess up the first attempt, it is salvageable.  You can pour a second coat right over the first one.  If you have lumps, you just sand them down first.