All Forum Posts by: M Marie M.

Before and After Part 1, the 1st floor

I'm breaking this into two parts, because my computer is old and I need to go to bed.

The above is the first floor. During one of the auctions, a bunch of us piled in looked around and that was it. This is a small house and small spaces need to be approached in a particular way to make it not seem so cramped and small. The picture on the left is obviously the before and the right is the after. Previously, I mentioned the chair and the desk came with the place and the junk removers left it for me. By the time of renovation, the desk & chair went bye-bye. The house is 11 feet wide so space, is limited.

As per the architect, I got rid of the sconces. The floor was sanded and sort of refinished... this is one of a long laundry list of 1/2 a$$ed things, but I digress. So rugs to hide the crappy refinishing job, and the scratches that came after the refinishing.. sigh. I'm offering this furnished, for two reasons, the first being it is very hard to imagine living in the space so small so this helps and second, after talking with another landlord on the block it made sense. Third, makes it easier to go the Airbnb route in a jiffy.

There was no HVAC system in the house when I won the auction. None. Maybe a heater fan in the bathroom. I added mini-splits. My inspiration comes from looking at a bunch of Hong Kong apartments, that's high end tiny living. One thing I noticed were the mini-split systems and I knew I wanted to offer AC.

A slightly similar view but with more of the kitchen. The photo on the left I believe is from the day or a few days after I won the auction. The image on the right is the kitchen. You may notice (or not) the cabinets don't match. Why? Well there is an image that should come in between these two.

This was the kitchen the 1st contractor and the 2nd contractor's sub installed. It was a mess. The small base cabinet drawer did not close, as it kept bumping against the counter's nose. The microwave was not exactly directly above the stove, but the two had different widths. The biggest problem with the microwave was it was installed over the outlet that it needed. The outlet wasn't high enough. That's contractor #1's fault. That made me so angry I ripped out the microwave and donated it to Community Forklift. I also ripped out the upper cabinets as the the layout was just, so, bad. I would have ripped out all (I took out the small cabinet and later put it back) the base cabinets but I was trying to get the house ready in time for the students (failed that) and figured dealing with the plumbing would delay me. It is on my list of things I'll redo when I get the chance. So I went to IKEA, got their cheapest cabinets, something 30" and two 20" cabinets, which gave me more storage than the semi useless above the microwave 30" cabinet and the tall skinny 15"? cabinet. The microwave is one of the smaller counter top type, but it fits in the 20" cabinet and I only have a foot of counterspace so, it goes in a cabinet.

The image on the left is the post junk removal, pre-renovation. The middle is a lovely image of my spouse who, when standing up straight is 5'7", is in the mid-renovated to-be kitchen. The image on the left is the kitchen, prior to me throwing down a rug. The wall had jutted out to hide some pipes. As I've mentioned before, this is a small house, I needed every inch, so the pipes were replaced or moved so the wall was flat. Another thing, the kitchen door originally was short, I had it reframed, and now it is a standard sized door. Because it is a small space, I am trying to use the walls as storage. So I took some old IKEA hangers that used to be in my primary residence and put them in the Baltimore house.

No, I have no idea if the fireplace works. I am saying in the rental ad that it does not. When I bought it, somebody had tried to burn something in it. If I get to Airbnb mode I'll decorate the interior of the fireplace with candles.

Welcome to BP @Andy O'Neal . I'm dealing with a small house in Pigtown/ Washington Village that I'm trying to fill with a renter. If I don't get a renter by next month, I'm Airbnb'ing this thing until Spring.

Pigtown reminds me of parts of the DC Shaw neighborhood in the early 00s. There are some good parts and not so good parts, just like Shaw was.

Contractor Saga- I'm a f-ing font of patience

This photo is from January. This is a 469 sq ft house, and the contractors had been at it off and on (more off) for 3 months. 

I did not want to be a nag, and I was busy with a non-real estate project that had to be ready in February. But I did email, text, and check in and write checks. Things were going off script (ignoring the architectural plans) and I agreed to them because I had hoped it would move things along. There are plenty of emails from the owner and texts from the foreman regarding my patience.

I regret not fighting for the layout the architect laid out in the plans. The problem with a small spaces/ tiny houses is storage. The architect had two closets and a small but very efficient bathroom. The contractor, more accurately the foreman, decided (and I agreed to) a larger bathroom. The photo above to the right is the bathroom showing the shower pan and where the toilet was to go. Left of the shower pan is wasted space. With 469 sq ft, I don't have space to waste. When the toilet did arrive in that spot it was/is awkward storage space as it is a PITA to get into. One day in the future I will add square footage to the rear of this house and I will redo the bathroom.

I did fight for some small things. In the photo to the left there is a smoke alarm in the far right corner above the steep winding stairs. I kept harping on how it needed to be moved. The foreman kept either ignoring this point or made an excuse that it was in a good spot. I then had to point out there was no way to silence a false alarm or change the batteries without risking breaking my neck.

Around late March my art exhibit (the non-real estate project) wrapped up and I could focus my attention back to the house. They were still working on the house when they apparently felt like it, which meant that a week or more would pass with no activity. I understood mine was a small project and figured bigger more lucrative projects were bumping me to the bottom of the pile.

Around April I started running out of patience. Because I documented changes and their awfully slow pace (and this was not my first renovation) I knew at their current rate they weren't going to finish anytime soon, and so I began to nag. I had been avoiding nagging because once I start I can go into very mean, unkind territory. But I had to because there is a certain population I was aiming for with this house and I needed to have it ready for rent by mid-summer.

Years ago I had some friends who were trying to convert their basement into an English basement they could rent out. The contractor they had started coming by less and less often and this went on for about 2 years. I kept telling them, you need to divorce your contractor. At 7 months into this project, I was ready to divorce my contractor. I didn't care about the money, I just wanted out.

Well in May the owner of the contracting company experienced a tragedy, or I'm just a big sucker, but I'll believe the contractor experienced a huge meltdown. Apparently the foreman was stealing money from the owner, the owner's father died and those two things made the company implode. There were 3 major things I needed done that were freaking me out (one being the rear door was just plywood because the back door was in the middle of being reframed) and I was looking at the Maryland Home Improvement Commission's complaint form. The way the form read to me, I had to try to work it out with the contractor. So I did.

The contractor was not in a good place and I gently suggested that he transfer me to another contractor to finish this thing up because we were so close to done. So in June another contractor was brought in, but I was still communicating with the first contractor. That lasted about a week or two when the second contractor, who was a saint, was no longer communicating with the first contractor.

No contractor wants to clean up after another contractor. The second contractor was very kind but didn't seem to want to be associated with this mess, and I didn't blame him. The major things that concerned me were taken care of as well as a few minor things. The second contractor did not charge me for his services, I had to deal with and pay the subcontractors directly, and there was one who did a poor job, mainly because he needed direction (and that's what a GC is for). 

The second contractor was a good guy, but at the end of June I had it with contractors. Besides, most of the major work was done.

What was left were mistakes I could correct. Above is a cabinet that does not close. Not seen, above the stove is a microwave that covered the outlet the microwave needed to work. There were a whole host of a bunch of little things that for the next few months my husband (not a handy man, but he tries) and I spent weekends and lots of annual leave trying to fix the mess. The company I used to clean up the house when I first bought it, I hired again to clean up things left by the contractors that I did not want or that were trash.  Thankfully, the contractors left the paint and some other things. I used the paint to repaint a brick wall and repair a wall a plumber created an access hole for. I also donated a bunch of stuff to Community Forklift back near DC (for taxes). The air conditioning I had checked out by an HVAC company that fixed the obvious problems, as it was a cheap system that wasn't installed properly.

One and a half handy people is not as fast as the professionals, so I missed the main window of opportunity for the target renter, students. There were also some small set backs. There was a downpour and water got into the 2nd floor and messed up a section of wall. So I had to fix that. Then the humidity got crazy high in the house, and the paint started coming off the walls. Then a leak occurred with one of the mini-splits and the wall needs fixing.... one thing after another. That also set me back.

But I was determined to put this thing on the rental market in August, and I did.

Next post in a few days will be the "after". 

I took a quick look at the Zillow site. I agree with @Tara G. those pictures are a little dark. Also there is another unit in your building with the same square footage and they are asking for $37K less than what you're asking. 

You might have to go down on the price. Yes, you're not the most expensive unit but the most expensive unit has more square footage. Sadly it looks like most units around there are selling in the $170-180K range.

As far as ideas, I have none because it looks like your buyer is old people, and I don't know the old people/ retirees/ active adult market.

The Contractor Saga- Stopping and Starting and Stopping Again

So I got bids from Dave and the contractor who wasn't Dave in September and went with Not Dave in October. I think I was calling Not Dave, X in my last post about the contractors. X started demo almost as soon as the check cleared. I know I said the previous bid winner demoed, well there was more demo to do. The wall in the back of the first floor jutted out and needed to have the pipes moved so I could regain 6 inches.

I know 6 inches doesn't seem like much but let me remind you the above ground square footage is 469 sq ft, every inch counts.

I was impressed. 

Then we scheduled a time to do a walk though I figured it would be a good time to address something in the bid that did not jive with the scope of work. A gas line. Since I figured I would make the basement kitchen a reality later, years down the road, I wanted to keep the infrastructure simple and have an electric stove top. They mentioned a gas line in the kitchen, I did not want a gas line, but when I showed up to the walk through, hey look a gas line on the 1st floor. They also threw in an outside rear yard spigot... not in the scope of work or the bid, but whatever. There was also a water line for a refrigerator..... maybe someone forgot this is a 469 sq ft tiny house and fancy pants fridges with on demand water and ice take up precious floor space (and if they don't they are frigging expensive).

Slightly annoyed, but still impressed.

Then I swung by a week later. Nothing new.

Next week. Nada.

Another week. I noticed some changes.

A change in the ceiling, when they actually paid attention to the architectural plans, that made me happy. In the photo to the left you see the old ceiling. The one to the right you see the new ceiling framing. This opened up the room and made it feel bigger. So more of this. Nothing and disappointment, then something and happiness.

Let's just say October to December 2016 was a lot of a something that made me happy (& sometimes concerned as if they confused my project with someone elses') and a lot of nothing where I noticed absolutely no change and no work done. You'd figure, this is a tiny house. Less than 500 sq feet. When I had Dave working on my DC house he and his crew took 3-4 months gut and finish about 1000 sq ft of house. X was not Dave, Dave's not here man.

Yes, part of this was my fault. Around this time I was working on some professional (my 9-5 job) things and there was some family drama (it involves lawyers, so I'll avoid talking about it here), so I was distracted. Also my dad is a contractor... worst businessman in the world, married to my mother, the worst property manager ever (whom I love). So I was a little too understanding translating the time line into contractor time, which is 2x longer than normal people time.

The owner of X, had mentioned they'd be done around Christmas. I looked at the place and knew they would not be done by Christmas. Christmas 2016 came and went and that will be the next installment of the tale when I pick up in 2017.

I have to go back a bit before getting to the contractor. And if I manage to tell this before my husband finishes the dishes then I'll move on to part of the contractor saga. I'll call this bit:

Being thankful for small favors

So using tools here at Bigger Pockets I wrote up a scope of work. I probably spent more time on it than I should have or just should have left it at the architect's drawings because both contractors, disregarded a lot of the details. The contractor I did go with changed some things up as we progressed. However, this is not the small favor I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful to the guy who won the first auction then demoed the walls and left a mess.

What he did was show me what I had to work with. That brick wall, wasn't exposed at the first auction. Also if you look in the photo above there is insulation in the walls. That tells me something else, that the house was renovated sometime in the late 20th century, I'm guessing 1980s 1990s. You really don't know what you're working with or what you have until you get down to the brick and the framing.

But if you look at the wall there on the 2nd floor, and notice the 6 (actually about 7 or 8) outlets on the wall.... somebody went cray-cray with the electrical wiring. Almost all the wiring was late 20th Century, no aluminum or weird knob and tube stuff. But lots of wiring. Lots. It was a matter of subtraction and rerouting. It was like this thing was some electrician's (with zero sense of aesthetics) project house.

While I'm on the photo above, the architect, suggested changing the ceiling and having it follow the roofline so that the room felt better. This goes back to dealing with the small space issue, later you'll see it made a difference.

Thanks everyone, but the renovation part of this is 98% done, with still a little room for improvement... which is my downfall because I keep thinking of new ways to keep pouring money into this thing, and I gotta stop that.

I've broken up my story because I have a thousand progress photos.

So why don't I continue.....

Ah, the photo is right side up.

So that chair and the metal desk came with the house. I used it as a place to sit while waiting for tradesmen and the two contractors. I placed that hook on the wall where the coat hangs because, that place was dusty. Note the location of the brick fireplace barely seen on the edge, because the photo below is the other view of the 1st floor. That's it. That is the whole 1st floor. The house is between 10.5 and 11.5 feet wide and 22 feet deep, space is an issue.

So after the architect, yes overkill, but I wanted someone who understood small spaces, and he was the one who informed me that the house that I thought was a little shy of 600 sq ft was 469 sq ft. I used that to challenge my property tax and got a small change, so, something useful came out of it. 

The architect drew up a plan for all three floors (there is a basement, I may or may not share photos of that) and showed how such a small space could be workable. The kitchen was in the basement, and the architect's plan kept it in the basement. There were a few aesthetic lighting changes on the 1st floor (get rid of the sconces). later he drew up plans to deal with a problem of the stairs leading to the basement.

Oh, yeah.... the stairs. I hated the stairs. They are steep and windy.

okay back to sideways images.....

After getting the plans and guessing at the cost of renovation, I decided that I could only afford to do the 1st and 2nd floor. The kitchen would have to come upstairs and be a mini-bar like kitchen. I was thinking, something along the lines of a dorm fridge or those tiny kitchens I've seen shoved into motel rooms.

So then came the fun part of getting a contractor.

I called around and emailed and waited. The ones who got back to me quickly (or at all) were waaaaaay out of my price range. So I decided to call my contractor who I knew for years who did several renovations for me on my personal residence. And to balance him out, a contractor whose company did a presentation at an investor gathering.

My contractor, Dave, we have a nice long history, a relationship. But I started wondering if I should start seeing other contractors. When he did the walk through we bickered with each other, disagreeing on almost everything and he did not care for the architect's plans. However, he did make some points that I took into account later. The other contractor, I'll call X, came with a worker and we did the walk through and it was very positive. When I got both their bids, they were in the same ballpark and within my budget, which was around $50K ish. I decided to go with X, since X was a Baltimore area (Dave is DC) firm.

I signed the contract in October 2016... and that is where I will end this part. Tune in later where I will tell you my story of contractor woe.

This is a story with drama, drama I did not want. And I can't say what kind of ending it has as this rental property is still on the market and has not caught a renter. But (I know I should stop starting sentences with conjunctions, I skipped college English) there is a redeemed house that is back from the dead up to rejoin the living.

This story starts in 2015, October or November. A house on a street that I liked in a neighborhood I checked out in Baltimore came up for auction. I went to the auction, I did not win the auction, but that was okay. Because little did I know that same house would reappear at auction 3 months later, but 1/2 demolished. It seems the person who won the auction started to demo the property before closing. For some reason he did not close and thus the house came up for auction. In the sideways photos above, you can see the state the property was in.

So I went to that auction, and this time I won it. Stuff just got real.

First thing I did was insured it.

Then I hunted and found someone to do the title work. Auctioned properties seem to be funny things and not everyone does title for them.

Then I sat on my hands for a month, paid for the property with cash (money came from various sources, including savings), and then tried to clean up the property.

Then I gave up on cleaning it myself and looked to have someone else clean it. One guy wanted $2k to clean up this very small house. Then I found a company on Angie's List that did it for $500-600.

Then I had some minor work done. I had a plumber put in an interior water shut off valve. I had a roofing company investigate the roof and put a reflective coating on it. That all cost about $2K.

I looked at the property and I tried to reimagine the space. I drew drawings and had trouble seeing how things fit, so I hired an architect. I know I'm loosing money on this thing, but decided that this was going to be a learning experience. He cost $3K.

So it's about 5 months since winning the auction and I have drawings and a plan and I have to find a contractor. 

Tune in next time when I continue the story, with contractors.

This is for the District of Columbia not Washington State right? 

Okay, update time. I did the 3M test wrong, I have no lead in the house. The inspector came through, did a visual inspection, had several wipes and the rests came back saying I had less than whatever they test for so I passed. So all that worry over nothing.

Regarding the Maryland Department of the Environment's website where I had to register, that site hates Firefox. I am having the darnest trouble registering my property using Firefox, so I had to switch to Safari (I'm a mac person).