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Monthly Archives: May 2019

Where Did the Hermits Go?

Half of the Hermits are in Florida right now. Carol and Russell are busy, still in Texas. Mandi is busy, still in Cameron. It isn’t all work that is keeping me busy right now. Let’s discuss, shall we?

Me and my little welder!

Shameless Bragging

Last Friday May 17th, my 17 year old son Matthew took a very important test for his future. He passed! He is now a certified welder! I’m very proud of him! He has been working at this for 3 years since he was a freshman. He passed both visual tests, and both strength tests! How amazing is that?! Now, he is exempt from his end of year exams because he kept his grades and attendance high. Way to go, kiddo!

 

Mandi, Relax!

Look! There’s the Hermit Haus!

Sunday, I took a wagon ride with my cousin Nanette through Cameron. It was such an awesome and laid back day!  Her mule, Mose (pronounced like Mow-z) did, in her words, “A hello job!”

We got to talk a lot about days gone by. I have always said that my Pa taught me to ride. I need to amend that actually. My Pa taught me to sit. Nanette taught me to ride. We rode those ponies all over this town for miles and miles. Somewhere I have an old picture of me from about the fourth grade riding in one of the parades. That was common for us.

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A Short Respite

Why no blog posts for a few days? Lee and I (and Anita) fled the state of Texas and drove to central Florida with the goal of taking a real break. So many of our travels are work related that we just needed to rest and refresh.

Construction as far as the eye can see.

Of course we have had some real estate observations. How much the Orlando area has grown shocked me. I know Austin has done the same thing in the last 20 years, but I didn’t get the same shocking impression there, because I’ve been there.

It used to be solid greenery, with a few lakes, out here.

Here, I clearly recall there being nothing but trees out here in the area close to the giant attractions. Now I can sort of see some trees way off in the distance from up here on the 14th floor.

We’re staying at a condo at a resort, mainly so we can see some friends. We’ve come to the conclusion that the designers chose the furniture mainly for the way it will look in photos, not for usability.

Not exaggerating here. This truly is the most poorly designed and uncomfortable chair any of us have tried to sit it. Even Swampy the gator is sore.

That’s a good lesson to learn in our business, too. Don’t just renovate a house to look good. Make it work well, too!

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Oh Wow! Look at Washington!

There’s a proud little fellow and beautiful garage doors.

I knew something was up when I started getting all sorts of excited texts and messages. Friends just had to be happy for us when they took a look at the fresh paint going up on the exterior of the Washington house in Cameron, where the renovation is coming to a close. Cody even sent a bonus kid in his photo. I don’t know what’s more great to look at, his son or the garage doors. That color is exactly what I wanted!

So, of course, the first thing I did this morning on the way to the office was run by and look at the paint in person. On my gosh, the main color is also just right. The colors go so well with the brick on the house that they look like they’ve always been there. Whew. I always worry about color choices until I see them in their intended application. For this one, I was pretty sure, since I’d held the paint samples up to the brick, but you never know if the sample will really be the same as the actual paint.

These colors really are appropriate. Not boring, but tasteful.

They’re still working on the paint, and have the doors left to do and a bit of trim, but it’s mostly pretty fantastic. All the doors will be the color of the shutters and garage doors, so there will be a nice contrast. Before everything was solid yellow, and while it wasn’t a bad color, it was pretty bland.

Inside the House

When we went inside, we could see that the flooring installation was still in progress. They appear to be down to the difficult parts, where they have to cut around things and make interesting shapes. Even though the flooring is covered in dust from cutting pieces, you can still see that it’s going to look really good. Jennifer and I should pat ourselves on the back for making such a nice choice in floor color. I was especially happy to see how nice the flooring coordinates with the granite. The whole house looks like someone had a clue about what they are doing, so hooray to us!

Everything goes together so well. And it’s great to see the vinyl in the bathroom. It’s waterproof!

Cody says they should be done in a week or so. I can’t wait to come back next weekend and see it all pretty.

The lawn people were there mowing away, so I couldn’t get all the shots I really wanted to get, but the idea is clear. Also, dang, the lawn looks awfully nice after all the rain we’ve been having, too!

Here are just a couple of more photos of the flooring and exterior progress, taken while trying to stay out of the way of the remodeling team and the landscapers. There’s nothing better than a sunny day and a pretty house!

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Contract Signed! Fingers Crossed!

This is my happy avatar face! (It’s too early as I write this to put in my real face.)

Definitely, definitively, and darned right, the highlight of yesterday was finding out what the multiple offers on Russet Valley were, and deciding which one to accept. Ah, that’s a nice position to be in!

So, after the 4 pm deadline for offers passed, Carol analyzed them and sent them to me and Lee to review (it’s our personal house, remember). She also calculated our profit (potential) and other useful real estate agent stuff, so we could make an informed decision. In the end, we accepted one of the offers, and are very happy for the new owners, who said really nice things about the renovation job.

Why We Are Happy

While making a little money will make us happy, the fact that this whole process fit in with our goal of making a better life for everybody makes us even happier. On our blog for potential sellers, I wrote up the story of this house, which you might enjoy reading. From an investor standpoint, though, there was a lot to make us feel good:

First, we bought the house to help out someone who needed to move away fast and had no time to clean up a house that was in rough shape and full of fleas. We bought it at a reasonable price that enabled the owner to start a new lift, and we made the house livable. That provided income for our painters and other contract workers. Continue reading →

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What?! Multiple Offers?

I’m darned happy. Even my avatar is happy.

You know, when you watch those television shows about the “flippers” and how they make a beautiful house, then have multiple offers to decide on, you think that happens every time. Well, followers of our team know pretty well that it does NOT happen every time. We had all those offers fall through at the beginning, then have had a couple of painful sales that got messed up by things outside our control, which I will not go into today…

BUT

The Russet Valley house, while not an official Hermit Haus Redevelopment project, was worked on by our team, and it’s a WINNER. We had an offer right after the first open house, when we weren’t even finished getting the lawn and garden in shape. By yesterday, we had two offers. There is a rumor of a third coming in today.

Bidding War!

Just had to share this one more time. What a transformation!

No, that’s not happening. Instead, Carol is doing what any ethical listing agent would do, and she has given all interested parties until 4 pm today to get in their best and final offer. That saves everyone the pain of going back and forth endlessly. We are quite excited to see what lucky family will get to live in this great home.

And I know I keep saying this, but wow, has this project turned out well. It also helps that it’s on a corner lot in a quiet, friendly neighborhood. No wonder it’s so popular with buyers.

We will update you tomorrow on how things come out. Thanks for sticking with us, friends.

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