Real Estate Investing

Blissfully, I was out showing houses again today to a buyer ready, willing, and able!  You always see odd things when you go to the homes of other people and today was no exception.  We saw a home where the sellers had attempted to panel their walls with the leftover laminate flooring.

Perhaps the thing that tickled me the most was how the seller used the cord-around as wall trim.  Also, if you look closely, you’ll see the rope design element AND the wall outlet inside the fireplace.

Paul Campbell, an agent in my old hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, wrote a warning to people flipping homes,

It is so easy to walk into a vacant house and spot a home that someone has bought and is trying to flip.  Especially if it is someone who is not a professional remodeler.  Typically these homes are in need of repair to the repair.  Recently I showed a home to a client where the attempted updates to the kitchen included a two piece granite top that was at least half an inch off at the seam.  They had also attempted to update the kitchen without installing a dishwasher.

Often these “get rich quick flippers” also will not bother getting a home inspection.  So when they try to sell the home things such as electrical problems or even worse mold problems raise their ugly head and the “flipper” ends up losing money.

I’ll have to agree with Paul.  It’s quite obvious when some people flip a home.  You can see the shoddy work sometimes or smell the leftover dog and cat odors where subfloors weren’t replaced as the new carpet went down.  May the buyer beware!

TLC has a great new home improvement show called DIY Disaster Rescue.  Right now it appears it can only be seen in Canada… or so one would think.  If you want to see how that big fancy yard with no privacy fence is fixed, you can watch online here.

Making a home improvement can sometimes only be as expensive as a few bags of mulch, some flowers, a can of paint, and some hard work.  Julie at Our Neck of the Woods had some before and after pictures showing the results of their new flower bed.  It looks great!  Here’s the before and after.

BEFORE

AFTER

Interestingly, more and more people think the skills needed for do-it-yourself projects are on the decline.  I can’t believe that people would actually be uncomfortable changing a lightbulb, but it might just be true, according to the site Home Improvement Quotes:

Only a quarter of us would be happy tackling some tiling compared with two-thirds of us happy to try a spot of wallpapering and three-quarters of us willing to wield a paintbrush. It’s no surprise that fewer than one in ten will attempt larger jobs like fitting a new bathroom or kitchen without some expert help. Many struggle with more simple home DIY / maintenance – the study showed that a fifth of us aren’t entirely confident when it comes to changing a light bulb. No matter how many other people we have with us.

I do feel entirely comfortable changing a light bulb so count me in the four-fifths of people who have that can-do attitude!

I’ve finally passed Painting 101, but I’m not sure I’m ready to take the Repair the Deck course.  The experts say it’s a lot easier than it sounds, so here’s a step-by-step how-to guide.

1. First, go pour yourself a tall glass of icewater (that’s my step, not recommended by experts).
2. Remove the rotten boards from the deck- we’re talking about the ones you’re replacing.
3. If you have rotten support beams, use a reciprocating saw to cut them (and don’t forget your safety goggles).
4. After removing the beams from underneath, measure them so the new ones can be the same length.  Also remember to use the same size lumber.  The experts this is to insure “fit” … I say it’s because you already know that size will hold up the deck.
5. Now take a break and enjoy some more water. Maybe take a quick 30-minute siesta (again, my suggestion because this next part sounds very complicated…).
6. Drive wooden sticks into the ground next to the new support beams and attach to the beams by drilling pilot holes.  After, use galvanized deck screws to tighten the beam to the stake.
7. Measure new deck boards using the old rotten or warped deck boards.  Cut the new pieces from the same size lumber with a circular saw.
8. Using galvanized deck screws (NOT nails or they’ll come up… just ask one of my buyers that… they’ll tell you).  Make sure to pre-drill pilot holes to avoid splitting the wood.  You  may have to tap in the new pieces to fit against existing boards.
9. Clean up your mess.  Or have your roommate clean it up because - after all - you just did all the hard work.
10. Have your roomie also grill out some steaks for you.  Or chicken.  Or a vegetable skewer.

Ta-Da!  Done!  Now you really can relax on your secure, like-new deck.