House #16: Rehab Underway

I still haven’t posted the before pictures (I was out of town prior to rehab starting and haven’t gotten the pics from my project manager), but after getting the trash out of The Probate House (three dumpsters!) and determining the source of the water infiltration, we finally figured out how we plan to proceed with the rehab…

At first, we considered wholesaling it in the original condition, but given the mold from some previous flooding and a number of cosmetic issues that wouldn’t be difficult to fix, we decided to actually repair the obvious damage and get the property into livable shape.

Ultimately, this is what we decided to do:

Exterior Rehab:

• First and foremost, there was a good bit of termite damage to parts of the structure that we opened up. So, we did full termite treatments on both the interior and exterior.
• There was a large tree right outside the kitchen door that had a root system all along the exterior of the house. This root system had compromised the flashing and siding along two walls of the house, so we removed the tree, dug out the root system (this took several guys two full days!), re-sided and regraded those exterior walls.
• We installed two French drains in the back yard where water was likely protruding into parts of the house. We redirected water flow into a waterfall system that leads to a sump-pump, which drains the excess water.
• We replaced the sump-pump that was situated at the bottom of a waterfall in the backyard. The broken sump-pump is what allowed the flooding to occur back in September when the harsh storms hit Atlanta and flooded much of this area. Had the sump-pump been working back then, we likely wouldn’t have had nearly as many water issues with this house.
• There was an eat-in breakfast area added to the kitchen after the original build. A number of the studs supporting the addition were termite ridden and rotted. We replaced those studs and then re-flashed and re-sided the exterior.
• We re-flashed a number of skylights on the roof that were allowing moisture to protrude into the house.
• We replaced all bad siding, trim, soffit, fascia, etc around the entire exterior.
• We repaired and reglazed all the windows around the house.
• We painted the entire exterior of the house…siding, trim and shutters.
• We trimmed all the bushes around the house.l

Interior Rehab:

• We removed all the moldy drywall around the house, and remediated all the obvious issues that allowed moisture to enter the structure.
• We painted the entire interior with a two color paint scheme (walls and ceiling…we didn’t do a separate trim color).
• We replaced all the carpet in the house (and left the vinyl flooring in the kitchen and the tile in the bathrooms).

Depending on what the final product looks like and where our budget settles in, we may also replace a couple exterior doors, replace some horribly outdated light fixtures and add some new molding and trim in some strategic locations.

Ultimately, the house should pass FHA inspection when we’re complete, though the new owner will still have some plenty of opportunity to continue to improve the house if he/she so desires. For example, we won’t be replacing the cabinets, the bathrooms are both reasonably outdated with ugly tile, the plumbing fixtures are outdated, many of the doors are old, the back yard — while probably gorgeous when designed — could use some serious landscaping, and some of the windows have failed and need to be replaced.

Our goal by not doing a full rehab is to maximize our profit and cater to the local market. Given that this house is in a very good city with high-end schools, and given that we plan to under-price the property for it’s location and condition, we expect that we shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a buyer who will be happy to take it from here and continue customizing the house to their liking.