All Forum Posts by: Dylan Long

Looks great! Love seeing the darker painted cabinets! 

Michael,

Post a few photos up and I may be able to give you a few samples to get the wheels turning.

Thanks Joe,

Hard to estimate a good price on it, as there are no inside pictures and the realtor said the bank wouldn't allow a showing inside. I've looked in the windows and have seen a room without a partial ceiling, and no kitchen appliances, but have no idea about what the other rooms hold. Could be a 20k flip, could be a 50k flip . . .

The exterior has a 8" diameter hole on the outside that has been open to the elements and leads to space between the interior and exterior walls for what is assume is the whole 1.5 years, so no telling what water, mold, creatures have infiltrated. 

Was really hoping to get a walk-through so I could walk a GC through there and get a better estimate on repairs (and a better sense of what works and doesn't). 

Hey all,

There is a home in my area that has been vacant for about 1.5 years now. It's in a good neighborhood, and definitely has potential to fix up. Don't think it's in livable condition currently.

Realtor sign has been in the yard for over a year too, but realtor says it's not available yet, and doesn't know when. 

Doesn't seem like anyone is really in a hurry to move this thing, all the while it's deteriorating. I did mention to the realtor how bad it was looking (it's next door to my friends house), and he called me and said I must have said something as they sent a crew to mow the 3ft grass and weeds.

Anything I can do to push this, or am I just playing hurry up and wait?

Any thoughts on total renovation costs? 

Unless labor and materials are extremely cheap I just can't fathom a way in which you could install all of that and still make a profit at 40k. You're essentially talking about replacing everything but the studs. If the floors are warped, you'll likely need new subfloors all over. If there is mold, that could mean serious remediation and/or new drywall everywhere. 

It's likely sat empty so long as no one could figure out a way to get it into livable condition and make money on it :). 

I agree with the paint suggestion. I actually like the look of wrought iron though :).

In my humble (and often worthless) opinion, it's the colors and finishes of a house that give it that classic feel (or that modern feel) vs. the sectionalization (new word perhaps) of rooms. Yes, having smaller and more rooms is characteristic of certain older-style homes, but I'm not sure that's what gave it it's classic feeling. 

Provided it's in the budget and would add value to your project, I think there are ways to change the internal layout to be more appealing to most buyers, but keep that traditional feel they're after as well. I'm sure there are a ton of "I want classic character, but open concept," buyers out there :). 

Over the past 5-6 years I've just been reading up on general construction types of books from Home Depot/Amazon on plumbing, lighting, drywall, etc, as I like to do a lot of the work myself. This lets me design things that are realistic to implement.

Outside of this, most of what I do is search forums like this, browse Houzz and Instagram, watch TV, etc to get a better sense of design trends, ideas, etc. At this point I'd consider my design sense to be more on the practical side, and am working towards doing designs that go beyond practical. Looking at it another way, I think my designs fit 200-300k homes well in my area, but wouldn't be suited to 300+ where things tend to get more stylized. But I'm getting there.

I have learned to use the Chief Architect interior design software to a fairly strong degree, and I have spent a few years now just building random rooms and bouncing them off friends/family. My wife, for example, loves to cook, so I can usually get a good sense of what kitchen layouts work well and what don't.

As far as formal interior design training, I don't have any. I haven't studied the "hard" principles of what some would consider "good design." I'm sure it would be helpful, but I haven't hit a point where I feel not having that has inhibited me. I feel like good design is fluid, in that it's whatever fits the needs of the owner, but is also done with future owners in mind. When I encounter specific questions or want to know what the "right" way is the do something (such as the 'kitchen work triangle' for example), the internet is always there waiting :). 

Sorry, this may not help much :).

I think the question is, what is the minimum you'd need to do to bring it up to the 135k range. Are we talking some paint, some finishing touches, and steller staging, or is it closer to the other end of the spectrum? No sense in doing the extra work to break even. But if there is money to be had in short order by investing 5-6k, go for it. 

Between white and black appliances I'd generally go black. Mainly because even stainless appliances feature black parts, but never white, so to me it "feels" closer to stainless than white appliances. 

Can the cabinets doors be repaired with a sand and repaint? The kitchen doesn't look terrible. The floor looks decent. It really needs fresh paint on everything, some new window dressings, and perhaps matching appliances (color-wise). 

Bathroom doesn't look bad. I'd probably repaint and replace the standalone sink with a vanity of some kind to fill that gap between it and the toilet a bit. 

I've never messed with basements before, as we don't have them really in the PNW. Not sure what is typical over there in terms of basement finish. What do the comp basements look like?