All Forum Posts by: Melissa Dinas

Nice! I was reading an article which claimed that black front doors sell for higher $$. IDK if it's really true but I hope so for our sake (my property also has a black front door!)

Good luck!! What's the sale price? 

So here are some photos of the interior and a brief description of the work. Sorry for the rotated photos but I can't rotate them here and this is how they're uploading. If anybody can explain to me how to fix it, please do!

Above is the living room with a very sexy gas heater fireplace. She's a beaut', ain't she? Obviously, that's coming out and hopefully there's a working fireplace behind it. The far room is the dining room. The front door is on the left.

Above is the existing cabinetry. The wall to the left of the cabinets will be knocked down to open it up to the dining room. 

Here's the master bedroom - with a door opening into the kitchen! That will be filled in. The ceiling has some old staining and texture drooping (which is also happening in the living room). The 2 other bedrooms look like this (minus the ceiling issue) but smaller. 

Here's the bathroom. It will be gutted. Initial plan was to demo the tiles and paint but when I removed the mirror, I discovered that the wall is just a thin, bendable sheet of some type of cheap wood! So the whole thing needs to come out. 

I thought this was just crazy! It's an old oil or gas tank used for heating the house...right in the middle of the hallway!! I can't imagine the fumes. The tank will be removed and we will be installing a nice linen closet. 

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So, that's most of it. There's a bonus room off the other side of the dining room that is an enclosed portion of the front porch. I'll probably dress it up as a home office/kids playroom. And another small room off the other end of the kitchen that was likely the back stoop that someone framed in. It will be the laundry area and exit to the backyard. 

Basement photos to come soon!

@Caleb Heimsoth yup, I can't wait to finish this project for several reasons, not the least of which is so I can sever ties with dhm!!

@Will M. Ballard Thanks. I have an electrical issue as well but I knew it going in. It seems like someone did a beautiful job rewiring the house and then wasn't paid so they snipped every wire, including in the basement and outside! 

@Rick Baggenstoss nooooooo!! It's just where the water heater, hvac, etc. are mostly housed. It seems like someone tried to make it into a livable space at some point but it turned out looking like a creepy holding cell for a kidnapped person. (I tried to upload a photo but it's sideways and I can't rotate here) What I'm needing to do is stop the flooding that's pouring in through a cracked window and some cracking on the concrete along the the foundation. Also, the areaway drain is completely blocked up so water gathers at the bottom of the stairs and flows right under the doorway into the basement. So. Yeah. Lots of rain is definitely not helping my situation! 

@Rick Baggenstoss Thanks, she does have great curb appeal. The main floor is nice as well even though it's only a 1-bath. The basement however is scarrry! I knew I was gonna have to put some work into it but my worry factor has gone up exponentially with this "record-breaking rain" we've been blessed with this past month! Thanks for the note on "no concessions"...it took me 4 months to hook this one so I'm very familiar with the competitiveness. What I wish I'd had was a better chance to get mep's in there during diligence. Something I will definitely stay on top of moving forward.

@Arthur C. the HML I use sets up the LLC and truthfully I don't much about it at this point. So much happened and it was such a flurry just to try to close on time so I didn't lose my earnest money (due to the HML being unreliable) that I didn't even study that part. I will now that you've mentioned it. Thanks!

@Kevin Polite Yes, indeed! I'm still expecting to make some kind of profit although not as much as I had initially thought because of issues with the HML as mentioned before. But in the back of my mind, as long as I at least break even, I'm thinking I'll be fine because of the experience I will take to my next property. Thanks for the recommendations!

@Stephen Herbert I see you have sold your property. Congratulations on that! And on your positive attitude...I'm sure it wasn't easy to keep it as you were going through the process. 

What did you end up selling the house for? And how long did it take to sell?

@Mendel Robbins Thank. This one is a flip. Although it would've been good to BRRRR too. However, I'm building up my cash at this time so that's why I'm doing flips right now.

@Kevin Polite Thanks...I'm needing that luck! The process to close was crazy and a some things I didn't know about got past me (this is my first project) so I'm hoping to be able to stick to the numbers I saw before the start of the project. 

I heard the same thing about EP permitting but my contractor has an expediter who commonly works in East Point so I'm expecting it to go smoothly (fingers crossed!).

Here are the numbers:

Purchase: 88k

Rehab: 50k

Resale: 185k

Profit: 15k

I was hoping to be able to clear more (don't we always want that?) but a few things have slowed down the process:

1. I had to find a new contractor. As stated in my OP, my first contractor disappeared into thin air.

2. The closing occurred right before Christmas/New Year holiday so getting anything done is hit/miss. Therefore my timeline has grown a bit longer than I had anticipated which means more overhead, less profit. 

3. The HML gave me wrong information and the draw process is quite different than how it was explained to me. That means I have to figure out how to make money available that I wasn't planning on and how to reimburse myself. It's so convoluted and too much to type out but if anybody reading this is planning on using Do Hard Money, please consider going a different way. If you are currently trying to find your first deal with them, good luck!!

@Johnette Crawford Yes, I did use a HML. It was so frustrating! I don't know if it's like that with all of them or just the one I ended up picking. I used Do Hard Money.

My husband is a very traditional kind of guy. He has always worked hard for an employer, brought home a paycheck, put some away for his retirement, paid his bills and allowed himself some for fun. He's always done things the way they've always been done because - hey, that's how they're done, right? He will be grinding it out this way for the rest of his life because that's where he's comfortable. The biggest risk he takes is when our finance guy moves our mutual funds around. 

Unless there is a laid-out, clear & obvious plan, he's not getting into it. No matter how much researching, learning, reading a person does, he will ALWAYS find the negative or pitfall. (He walked my first investment property for the first time today and the first two things out of his mouth were, "So it's not an open floor plan" and "The master bedroom doesn't have a walk-in closet".)

Some people will just never "get it". Some people will only get it after they see the success at the end of the journey. I hope your wife is at least the latter and can change the way she sees you after some success. Although my husband isn't the type to do this on his own, he is supportive of me doing it. It makes it easier to not have someone saying those things you listed in your OP. 

I do hope you get things sorted out with your wife. The only advice I can give you is to talk as little about it as possible. Talk about the weather, the dog, the neighbor's stank kids, whatever! I've chosen to just not speak to my husband about anything regarding the property. No matter what's happening, when he asks me how it's going, my answer is always, "Fine!". Even when things are going great, I don't get into details with him. It just never ends well because he just doesn't understand the passion. 

All the best!

@Sam Shueh No it isn't. These are the rolling hills of Georgia!