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Tag Archives: Mattress 8

A Contractor for that Mattress House?

“I’m very good with digging through rubble. You guys should have hired ME,” says Vlassic.

The good news is that the Mattress 8 project in Temple no longer has any mattresses in it.

The bad news is that it doesn’t have a contractor working away in it, either.

It’s not for lack of trying! Lee and Mandi have been contacting potential contractors, scheduling meetings, finding the potential contractors are flaky, and starting the process again. Lots of times. I know that all our mentors say Craigslist is a great place to find contractors who will work for reasonable rates, but we are not lucking out in the Temple market at all.

But maybe the tide has turned! Lee met with another potential contractor, who even has a team and is interested in investing. His initial estimate is in line with what we think the project will cost to get it up to rental quality. We’re just waiting for the bid now.

Cross your fingers, or whatever you do to support your real estate redevelopment friends, and hope this one works and we can MOVE on this project!

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Speaking of Contractors…How’s Mattress 8?

Yes, there’s a lot to do on this house.

You may recall that we were ready to roll on the Mattress 8 house renovation a few weeks ago. Or, like me, you may have forgotten about it, because it’s out of sight, so out of mind.

Since I remembered it, here’s a little update. We got the bid from the contractor we selected, then didn’t hear from him for a few days.

It turns out that a close relative had become very ill, and our general contractor was having to care for his family. He has no idea when he will be able to supervise the work on the Mattress 8 house. Poor guy! We certainly want him to prioritize his family right now.

But, we still need to move along on this project, time being money and all that. So, Lee and Mandi looked for someone in Temple to replace him in the work. They found someone who can at least do some of it, so we should be getting started again in a few days. Then maybe we’ll have some photos.

Or Else?

We actually put up some For Sale signs on the house. We do have some interest, so we might be able to sell it without doing anything! Woo!

It’s back to that crystal ball image we posted last time. You just don’t know what’s coming up. Contingencies and back-up plans really come in handy when the unexpected occurs.

 

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Mattresses and Mushrooms

There’s a good chance we won’t be using this “free” sink. On the other hand, it’s in good shape…

Hello again! I just thought I’d write a quick note to update you on the Mattress 8 house. We got the bid in from our contractor, Richard Nagle, and Lee really liked it a lot (in other words, it was lower than we had feared it would be). So, we accepted the bid and will get started when he has time on his schedule.

One reason the cost for this renovation will be low is that we aren’t fixing the house up to be a showpiece; we are fixing it up to be a livable rental property For example, we are repairing the roof, not replacing it, we’re not tearing down walls, and we are going to use as much as the “free” material we found in the house. Continue reading →

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Looking around at the Mattress 8 House

There is a row of trees in front of the house with these creative tire surrounds. Each has a different paint scheme. This explains all the tires in the back yard: future lawn art.

Yesterday, Lee and I went to meet up with one of our contractor partners to look over the Mattress 8 house in Temple, so he could put together a bid. Lee had already started by giving him a list of the things he wants to see done (the repair estimator!), but there’s nothing like actually seeing a place to make clear what the priorities will be. And since this house is quite a mess, we will definitely have to prioritize.

Exterior

One thing I noticed is that much of the “yard” was once paved, but grass has grown over it. There is an asphalt “something” right behind where the snazzy collection of trees in tire planters sits. We also have to put on a new roof, for sure. We are thinking about putting a metal roof over the current one. Why? Because there are a lot of metal roofs in the neighbhorhood, so it will fit in.

I think this view creatively hides the worst cracks. But they are there. And look at those two trees at left. Eek.

There are all sorts of cracks in the stucco on the exterior. That is easily explained by the fact that the house leans and sags in multiple directions. Luckily it’s pier and beam, which is easier to level than a concrete slab. Once the house is level, we can patch things up.

In addition to replacing all the windows, there are some nice touches on the exterior that we hope to emphasize eventually, such as the shutters and decorative exterior beams. The house can be quite cute, even without spending too much money.

I still think those trees in the front have to go, though. While they don’t hit the roof, if they blew over in a storm it would be bad. Removing the trees might enable us to put more of a front porch on, like a deck or something.

Continue reading →

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Mattress 8 Closed!

At least this much stuff has been removed from the house.

Lee got all the issues with the closing documents fixed, so we were able to close on the Mattress 8 project in Temple yesterday. Hooray for officially having another project to work on.

He went by the place after the closing and found that much of the intriguing junk we were looking forward to scavenging had already been removed. Darn for the potential treasures, but yay for not having to pay so much to have the place cleaned out! There turned out to be another entire bedroom that Lee had not been able to get to before, so it’s a 3 bedroom one, just like it was supposed to be.

On the right of this lovely bedroom photo is a lot of flooring. Hmm.

The mattresses and extra refrigerators, and all the interesting glassware are gone, but as you can see, there’s still plenty to remove. There are also some intriguing building supplies still in the house, like drywall and flooring. Maybe they are not all ruined!

Lee is currently negotiating with a contractor to get working on the many, many repairs needed. I’d share more photos, but, really, you see one pile of junk, you’ve seen them all.

Carol has been working on acquiring a house in San Marcos, so maybe we will have more to report on that soon. We think it’s on the borderline of what we want to pay and also that there may be a bidding war, but you have to try!

Other than that, Carol and Sierra are mailing things out to market for us, so we are hoping for good results.

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