All Forum Posts by: Caroline Hedin

Most building departments will sit down with you, prior to you purchasing any property, and help you analyze it. Look for "planning", "zoning", and/or "land use" departments. Your first time through, I too would recommend hiring an architect. They can guide you through the process and make the learning curve significantly less painful.

@Tim Holmes, yes, that room was (is) full of junk.  We got pretty lucky/blessed that the rest of the house isn't like that.  We did have to put a new furnace in (it hadn't had a working furnace in two plus years) but beyond the one end of the house, it's mainly cosmetic.  We also were blessed that the occupant has been pretty stand-up.  If he was cleaner, we would probably reno around him and ask him to stay. 

We're likely talking about the same duplex.  Our realtor looked in to it for us and you are correct, the investor ran out of money - sort of.  I understand they were wanting to sell it as-is but if they couldn't get what they were asking, they would find a way to finish it and sell it fully renovated.

We think we can also pull military families with this location.  How have renters been for you in the area?  Have you been having issues keeping the houses occupied?

@Eric Deshaun, thanks!  We still have a lot to do :-).

@Tim Holmes, out of curiosity, what made you decide not to bid? Do you have any properties in the area? One of the duplexes a block down the street was recently for sale but they wanted too much for it based on how much work was still needed. We figured the ROI would have only been around 4%. It's tough to make money in Tacoma we're finding.

@Tim Holmes, we finished replacing the siding on one end of the house. Still so much left to do. He was packing and moving stuff this past weekend. Looks like he'll be out by the end of the month and we'll get moving full steam ahead next week! Glad you didn't bid on this house...then we might not have gotten it 😉.

Welcome Julian!  I'm in Tacoma just getting started also.  One of my bridesmaids is from the Belfast area :-).

Finally a few minutes to update on the status of this project. 

We've been slowly working on the renovation of the exterior of this home and the tenant is slated to be moving out in ten days (although he has not begun packing yet).  We've chosen the carpet and the vinyl and have created our list of items left to accomplish.  I've pretty much settled on a light gray for all of the walls and white trim and ceiling.  We're replacing all of the interior doors and have settled on solid wood with the hope their durability will mean less replacements.  Fingers crossed/prayers said, we'll come in under the $10,000 budget we've given ourselves.  We're hoping to salvage the appliances and perhaps replace them after the next tenant but that all depends on how clean we can get them.

I've yet to come up with a simple landscape plan (not my strength) so if anyone has any great ideas, we're open to hearing them.

The house was built as a 2/1 and at some point (I believe in the 80's), the garage was converted to another bedroom/living room with a fireplace.  The flow is a bit awkward but we won't be changing it.  At some point in the distant future, we may add on to the structure and make it a duplex or add a second bathroom and sell it. 

Here are some photo's of the existing conditions.  None of the work we've done is really visible so there aren't any progress photos to show.

We're hoping to save the kitchen cabinets.  I'll be getting quotes for new doors as I think the existing ones are just too beat up to look "new" for a new tenant.

We currently live in the east side and it is really block by block. Fair warning - prices have increased dramatically over the last two years. A house on our block just sold for almost $200,000. Insane! They purchased at auction for $110,000, spent about four months upgrading and sold it in about two months. Yes, it's cute. Yes, the renovation is nice. But if you look at the comps even the nicest house in the larger neighborhood with immaculate double lot and perfect placement doesn't appraise for that. These people are going to be underwater for years. 

Off topic. Sorry.

Take a drive around the east side. When you see a neighborhood that seems promising, walk it. We've found people to generally be willing to chat in the decent areas. It also helps you get a sense of how much you could count on the neighbors there. :)

Hi Ryan and welcome! Make sure to check out the website Business of Architecture too, if you haven't already. They have a number of podcasts on Architects as Developers.