All Forum Posts by: Kathryn Bowden

@James Maradits, okay I'll come clean.  We already bought the washer dryer today on black Friday (along with the rest of the appliances we need).  I'm not sure, but I think I can still cancel the order within 24 hours of purchase.  I was really on the fence, so I'm still questioning myself on the purchase ....

As a general rule, I would probably never buy a new washer/dryer for a flip.  There is not one there now.  The reason we think we might like to provide it is it's a tight little mud room and only stackables will work in a bit of a tricky area (that we are creating).  Since it's a small one bedroom 600 sq. ft. house, we thought it might be best to show that it fits for the buyer, so they're not left thinking that maybe they can't fit a washer/dryer there.  In addition, they'd have a nice new stacked washer/dryer, which won't hurt the sale either.  There's a reasonably good chance it would be purchased as a second/vacation home, in which case it will be more move-in ready as well.  But of course we also aren't looking to overspend our money if it's not for a good enough reason(s).  Any thoughts on this?
 

I did get a Federal earthquake/flood insurance policy, in addition to my regular insurance for the flip we're working on.  For the real big one here in Southern Oregon, we'd be potentially in the tsunami zone.  I decided if I was going to sleep at nights, I had to add this coverage.  In looking around, I found you could only buy a minimum of three months coverage (not a problem), but had to pay for a year up front.

@Jeff Kehl, good tip.  I'll definitely look for that in our county records, if it's set up that way.

Will an IRS lien against a property show up at the county courthouse?  If there is an IRS lien, I should definitely find it there?  Thanks in advance.

Your house and story are very impressive.  It shows how attitude, tenacity and perseverance count for at least half of one's outcomes in life.

Thank you, @Matt Gragg.  Yes, we weren't quite done.  :-)  Also, we're planning on adding a little plywood insert in that triangle on the overhang above the door, which we will also shingle.  It will be easy to do, and maybe add a little extra umph.  

@Jeff Berg, thanks for the great explanation.  Yes, I agree, it's kind of a no-brainer and not all that hard to do.  I had ruled anything like that out for the fact that the house will probably not sell for more than $150,000.  But now I'm adding it to my list of items to keep under consideration.  Btw, we will definitely be painting that door an interesting color.  We put that in new (replaced 32" old door) and have not done any of the trim painting yet, etc. (except a little bright white primer that you see in a couple of places).  We were considering a midnight velvety blue for the front door or possibly a green, but were going to wait till we have the siding stained (semi-transparent), before we make a final decision.

Very good ideas, thank you.  And those photos are along the lines of what we were thinking.  What about the idea of say, flagstone?  Perhaps that's not easy to make look good or perfectly flat ....

@Aaron McGinnis, had sort of thought along those lines as well.  Would definitely be an improvement.  But this small town house is going to sell in about the $150,000 range (max), so have to really pick and choose my improvements.