Roadrunner
After: Exterior features painted brick and red trim, for interest.
We have this house under contract, and for now it is rented. We will close in the middle of October, 2018 (soon!) and the renters will officially own the house. It’s an interesting story–the purchasers are renting for 6 months (turned out to be longer), then buying, because they are waiting to qualify for a particular type of loan. It’s a win-win for all of us, though!
Visit visit this page for more finished photos.
Before: Not the prettiest house on the block. Perfect for us!
Our real estate agent friend, Judy, brought us an off-market deal to look at in March 2017. The house is in Bryan, Texas, in a fantastic neighborhood. This is a market (Bryan/College Station, Texas) we’ve been wanting to get into. The house, though quite large, is most definitely the worst in the neighborhood, which is just perfect for our business model. We trooped over to take a look at it, had a nice meal and pondered. Lee put together the numbers on the property and figured out how much it would take to renovate it to the level of the other houses on the block, and get it ready to sell. He offered that much, even though it was much lower than what the owner had stated he’d like to get for the house.
We got word in early April that our bid had been accepted. We closed on the purchase on May 11, 2017. The house is on Chaparral Street, so we named it the Roadrunner house (one of the other names for roadrunner is the chaparral cock).
How Did We Get It?
Speaking of our business model, it helped us get the house under contract. There was actually another investor/rehabber who put in an offer on the house, and it was very close to our (very low-ball) offer. The reason our offer was accepted is that we submitted a spreadsheet showing what we would need to do to the house in order to sell it, how much it would cost, and a projected reasonable profit. The other investor did not.
Before: There was apparently some utility work done in the back. New grass!
Another reason we got it also fits in with our model! The owner no longer lives in the area, and had rented the house out to some friends for a couple of years. How was he to know that the one cat they were allowed in the rental contract had expanded to four cats and a dog, with all the odors and stains that go along with it? Not to mention the four children and THEIR stains and messes. The owner came back into town to “clean up,” and told the real estate agent “just sell it.” He was in no mood to get the house ready for a retail sale all by himself! We had thought that might be the case when we first looked at the place.
After: Back of house with lots of new doors and windows.
In fact, when we met with Ruben to come up with the plan and budget for the project, we met the owner. He said he was glad someone with experience was going to do the project, since he’d have been starting from scratch, and just didn’t have the time or energy. That’s our business model in action, once again!
Before: A sad kitchen. The wall in with the opening has to GO.
What’s the Plan?
We haven’t decided exactly what renovations we are going to do, because we’d like more than one bid on the project, but the plan is to renovate this one for sale, so that it will fit in with the rest of the neighborhood, which is full of houses that have been renovated, re-landscaped, and kept up beautifully. This is in contrast to our other current project, Meadow Arbor, which is getting renovated to be a rental.
After: There are all new appliances and backsplash.
There’s a lot going for the house. It’s so near a high school that any children could walk to it. All the bedrooms are extra large, and there are HUGE closets in every single room. There is a huge covered patio and a large yard. It’s a family dream. We just have to figure out SOMETHING to do with the very odd kitchen (definitely we have to get rid of a wall or two), update the bathrooms, and increase the curb appeal.
We have just finished rehabbing the Roadrunner house. Scroll to the bottom of the page for more “before” pictures. And visit this page for the beautiful “after” photos. We are sorry the model of the Alamo didn’t stay.
Updates
Want to know what’s going on with the project? Here are some blog posts with pictures and stories to tell you more. The post with the “after” picture is first. The rest are in chronological order:
September 18:
May 29:
June 26:
July 6:
July 9:
July 11:
July 14
July 23
August 1
August 9
August 16
August 23
August 29
October 26:
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- This is in a niche in the garage. Someone was proud of their kid.
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- A perfectly reasonable 80s bathroom.
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- This honking big fireplace blocks one’s ability to make an open concept. But it’s cool.
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- This is where the kitchen gets confusing. Many doors to many things.
