All Forum Posts by: Ryan Schuler

They have an app too, but I could t get it to work for the Memphis market. Try that out and let me know how it goes. I'm interested to see if it gives you any extra info.

You have to sign up on their website first, www.propertyshark.com . I think you can look up owner data and a bunch of stuff for free. I just looked up my own property and was amazed by how much info was on there. Looks like a great resource for an investor.

Thanks @Charlie Fitzgerald for the advice. No I'm not trying to do anything illegal, just trying to figure out what is and isn't illegal. I don't mind forming a partnership with my father if that is needed, just curious if there were other ways to get funds from him.

Thanks.

I am in the beginning stages of looking into how to work a deal with my father on my first investment property and the best way to structure a deal with him where he would provide a chunk of change for the deal.

I recently read a lot of posts in the forum "Cash Gift From Parents can't be used for investment purchase?" that was started by @Brandon Hall. 

One suggestion that was not brought up but that I have a question for is- Would opening a joint bank account with my father help with the technicalities of the "gifting of funds" or would it not matter? I have an old bank account that I believe my father still has access to (was originally granted access to the account along with me to have control in case funds were short when I was a kid and I never took him off). I actually still use that account and have all my money from work direct deposited into that account. His name is not actually on the account though. If they just transferred money from a bank account at the same bank would the "gifting" requirement/rules still apply?

Thanks,

Ryan

Just signed up for the Memphis REIA! Heading to my first lunch networking meeting today. I'm looking forward to meeting some guys and learning more about the Real Estate here in Memphis.

Anyone in the Memphis REIA- feel free to connect with me here on BP. I would love to make some more contacts and build up my network. I'm interested in getting involved in all aspects of Real Estate to find the niche that I want to focus on in the near future.

Thanks for all the feedback guys, it has been a challenging undertaking for sure. 

Once we got the floors finished in the kitchen we had the cabinets, appliances, and countertops installed and we have started to put in some wainscoting around the walls. We still have to paint, do the backsplash, and finish some trim work, but we have been living in the house since June and probably finished most of the major stuff by mid-July/August.

Here are some photos of the kitchen in progress and now (with things still needing to get done):

We had to put two layers of drywall/ shim the wall out 1/2" on this wall to make it line up with the area that is already drywalled to the right (the Breakfast room).

Once we had this wall in place and did all the drywall tape and everything, we were ready for the cabinets!

We changed the original layout of the kitchen somewhat. Behind the tall cabinet used to be the entryway to the kitchen. If you go to the left and around the breakfast room you now exit that way. We needed a place to put the Fridge, and this was the most logical place. Behind that open cabinet on the left is actually an old chimney that we think used to be used for a woodburing stove. We thought about removing the fireplace but decided to just cover it up like the previous owner. we wanted to limit our cost and the wall is actually useful for the cabinets.

This is the view walking into the kitchen from the left. You can see the breakfast room ahead with the windows.

And now the countertops....

We went with white appliances to go with the cabinets and to eliminate worries about smudges on stainless steel. You can see the wainscoting on the right that I have started to install.

I actually had to do some handyman work and build a cabinet myself, which you can see in the bottom left below. I painted it and now it looks like it was part of the cabinets and gives it a "custom" feel. The cabinet company didn't have any cabinets that narrow.

We also put new laminate wood flooring over top of the wood floor in the breakfast room. The room was built over an existing cellar and was obviously not original to the house. There is still access to that cellar though, and we plan on using it as an emergency shelter for tornadoes, etc. Here are some photos of us covering the floor, and working on the access hole. We still have not covered the hole yet, but plan on building in a bench that has a foldable seat to access the cellar.

Here is the breakfast room before the new floor. The cellar access is in the top right of the photo.

Here is my dad working to open up the hole to change the diameter a little bit to make it easier to get in the cellar.

We put down some thin paneling before putting the floor down to level it and make it easier for the new floor to go over it.

Here you can see the new entryway from the back door. That room is a laundry room. The opening used to have a wall, but it seemed like at one point it was open before.

We had a system going to where my dad stayed in the hole, I helped knock the boards into place, and my girlfriend's dad was outside cutting the boards to size, so that we weren't constantly running in and out of the house to make cuts. Worked pretty well. We laid the floor in probably 4 hours. We also laid some foam down under the flooring to make it quiet and insulate from the cellar below.

Here is the finished product, for now...

Still have work to do, but we are getting close!

Originally posted by @Alex Craig:

Did you pick the cheapest price of the bids you received?  The best way to go about this is you act as the contractor and sub everything out.

 No I didn't always pick the cheapest bids. In some cases I did. I based my decisions on references, price, and how I felt dealing with the people that came to the house to do the estimates. I am a sales person myself, and like to think I am a decent judge of a person's trustworthiness, so I just kind of felt them out and asked a good amount of questions. I would love to learn more about what you are talking about though as far as being the contractor and subbing things out. 

Back to the story...

Before we did the kitchen, which was next on the list, we decided to update the floors in the home. We pulled up some old linoleum in the kitchen and discovered old original Pine floors. We were originally planning on covering the kitchen floors 

, but when the guys came to refinish the floors they told us that you can't even get wood like it anymore, and that it was in good enough shape to be refinished. After getting a few quotes we decided to use Germantown Hardwood Flooring to repair our floors, and that we would get the kitchen, hallway, dining room and living room refinished. The hallway and the kitchen both had this black mastic stuff covering the hardwood (from the linoleum in the kitchen and old carpet that was in the hallway), but the guys did an excellent job in refinishing it and you couldn't even tell it was there before once they were done. I wanted to get the bedrooms redone as well, but we had just moved in and I didn't want to have to move ALL of our stuff out of the house again. Plus we were about to go on vacation soon, so we decided to just do the common areas. There were some old dog pee stains throughout the house from the previous owner, so we went with a darker stain than before in order try to mask them a little bit.

Here are some looks at the work before and after:

Living room before-

After-

Before, hallway:

End of Hallway Before, there was an opening under the carpet that was an access to the crawlspace. They filled it in nicely.

Hallway and end of hallway AFTER:

In the dining room we had a floor heater that no longer worked, so we decided to remove it and have them fill in the space for that as well. If you didn't know it was there before you would have almost no idea. You can see a little more grain in the wood, but other than that you can't tell. 

Before:

After:

As I said before, the kitchen had this black mastic on it like the hallway. We restored it to the original Pine color at the recommendation of multpler flooring guys, based on the type of wood. Looks great now. The existing flooring was nailed down with these flooring nails that were a pain to try and remove, so we ended up nailing them down further into the wood in most cases. You can see them in the wood now and it is kind of cool, giving the floor even more character.

After-

Now that the floors were all prepped and ready, we could have them bring in the cabinets and countertops that we had ordered.

Originally posted by @Curt Davis:

Great location on Nelson in Cooper Young!!!

 Thanks Curt! Yea we love the location. The amount of work needing to be done to the home has been an overwhelming, but a welcome challenge. I would love to meet up with you some time to pick your brain about the Memphis market. Let me know if you would be up for lunch some time!

***TIP FOR OTHERS****---We started getting estimates for everything at the beginning of January, and it wasn't until about mid February that the electric began to be worked on. It was march/april before the plumbers got started. The contractors took forever to get back to me on estimates for all the work, and many of them did not get back to me at all. I asked a bunch of different guys to get back to me in January but I think the job was just too overwhelming maybe and they knew it would be a lot of work with the home being so old. 

- The first improvements were to the electrical. I had an idea of about what it would cost to update the box and the service, but it ended up about $1200 more than I anticipated because I didn't realize how many more  receptacles the house needed to be functional in today's world. Total investment was about $5400. They didn't rewire the home completely, but rather updated the service, added about 10 outlets, added a microwave outlet, and fixed some problem areas throughout the home that were needing updates (incorrect wire splicing, etc).

-Next, and probably the biggest expense so far throughout the home, came the plumbing. My original intention was to leave the current plumbing and just add onto the existing line to eventually add a second bathroom. I also wanted to add a new hot water heater since the existing one was 30 gallons and I new I wanted to add a dishwasher and possibly a second bathroom. 

When the plumbers came to look at the lines he told me that they were leaded pipes and that they would not guarantee the work they would do to add onto the existing line. They suggested that we put in a new service line from the street to up the diameter of the pipe from 3/4" pipe to 1" pipe, and update to PEX pipe instead of copper and lead (existing). I agreed and they began work on replacing the lines. We also began to work in the bathroom.

-Anyway, we got started on the plumbing and we unfortunately realized that the floor in the bathroom was not stable. My original plan was to incorporate a closet into the bathroom and use the existing flooring, but just tile over it. Once we started breaking things up I found 6" of concrete base under the tile, and rotting joists from a combination of a leaking bathtub, termites, and water coming in from a vent in the crawl area under the house. We then knew we had to tear up the entire floor and rebuild the entire bathroom from scratch- walls, floors, fixtures, etc. We decided to do it ourselves (we being my girlfriend and I). Luckily we had help from both our fathers- hers a retired carpenter, and my father had worked in construction as a teenager extensively and knew what to do.

Here is the original Bathroom- By now we had already removed the plaster from the closet (which was attached to the beam on the left) along with the pink sqaure tiles that were along the base 1/3 of the room.

Once we started tearing up everything, here is a progression...

Above is my Girlfriend's Dad cutting the joists from the old closet.

Once we identified that the studs/joists in the floor were rotten, we scabbed on to the ones that were bad with new 2 x 10 boards and supported them with a crossbeam underneath. We then put supports in about every 13-24 inches so that it ended up looking like a checkerboard. This is my Dad helping...

Once we had the plywood floor base down, we then laid the cement backerboard overtop to tile. Before doing that though, I took pictures. Not only to have for reference as before/after, but also so that I knew what was behind the walls/floor and where in case something needs to be worked on in the future.

After bringing in the new space from the old closet and moving some things around like a rubix cube, we added a second vanity to make it more spacious and easier for two people to operate.

I decided to put this little shelf in on the backside of the tub rather than use a soap dish or corner dish. It looks nicer and is actually easier to install for a DIY'er without the worry of water leakage down the line. 

Next was to lay the Tile. We contracted that out. The estimates ranged from $1100 to $750 for the same work, and we were actually the most comfortable with the least expensive guy. He did a great job. Would recommend him any day. His name is Charles and he works for Memphis Tile Installers. Give them a call if you need some work done.

The Red is the Waterproofing membrane that I put on before he started tiling...

Finally after about 3 months of working on and off, getting the plumbers to work, tile guy to do his job, and us to build, paint, insulate, level and shim, we ended up with a final product which we are really proud of. I wanted to sort of keep with the age of the house in the design, hence the subway tile, wainscoting, and small floor tile. It may not be 100% on point with the design of the time, but it looks nice. We also incorporated a transum window, which we removed from the kitchen, into the back wall of the bathtub.

The Bathroom is really what took us the longest to accomplish, since we were doing it ourselves and trying to work with the plumber to matchup our timelines on when things would get done. i have learned that scheduling things and matching up your time with theirs is often the hardest. I can definitely see the value in a contractor that does electrical, plumbing , and GC work.

This is the (nearly) final Product (walls are navy Blue):

After the Bathroom came the Kitchen...