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Tag Archives: Meadow Arbor

All Right! Another Closing Success!

We wish the new owners all the best!

Yesterday, we closed on the Meadow Arbor house in the San Antonio area. This is remarkable for a couple of reasons. One is that there were no buyers backing out, closing issues, or other surprises. It was a “normal” closing on a normal sale. We’ll take a few more of those.

Our strategy for this one was to renovate it and rent it for a couple of years, to see if it would appreciate in value. It did, indeed! We also ended up having to spend some money on additional repairs, including some horrible sidewalk thing the City insisted we do (there was a crack).

Lee is now doing all the calculating of the expenses we incurred while working on the house, along with the rent we received from the really great tenants, to see how we actually did on the house. As Lee repeatedly reminds us, the number on the bottom line of the closing statement does NOT represent your profit on a rehab!

Buy Anything Yet?

On the buying front, Carol is looking at quite a few houses right now, and is close to identifying a new rehab for our Austin-area group. Russell’s most recent batch of MLS search finds also turned up some that might work for us, so we feel closer to moving forward. Onward and upward!

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Another One Under Contract

Ready for a new family!

We got the good news over the weekend that our Meadow Arbor house in Universal City is under contract! Thanks to Carol for a successful negotiation! Of course, we will accept back-up offers.

The inspection is set for Wednesday, so let’s hope that all the upgrades and repairs we’ve made over the past few years make that a breeze. Our work certainly has resulted in a nice-looking house that will make a great family home.

Tomorrow the option period on Russet Valley will end, so we’re very hopeful that it will be closing in a few weeks. It’s always good to balance your purchases with some sales, right?

Sending good thoughts for all your real estate and renovation endeavors, readers!

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A San Antonio Opportunity

Ready for a new family!

Are you looking for an affordable home in the San Antonio, Texas area? Is someone you know looking to live near Universal City? If so, we have a house for you to consider.

We’ve been renting this house at 810 Meadow Arbor Lane for the past couple of years and are ready to sell it, as part of our original exit strategy. Here’s its story from when we fixed it up originally, with lots of before and after pictures. I’ve always really liked the fireplace.

The garage faces an alley behind the house, and houses a huge patio for entertaining.

Since we originally bought the house in 2017, we have continued to make improvements, so it’s in even better shape than it was to start out with. We had great tenants in the house, too, who were diligent about maintenance. We will miss them!

Carol is ready to fill you in on details and accept your offers. It’s listed at $147,500! That’s a good price for a 3/2 in that area.

Open living room with really tall fireplace!

Please be sure to visit the listing for more details and more photos. It’s a great first home for a family.

There’s already a lot of interest and showings scheduled, so act quickly!

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Re-thinking the Meadow Arbors

Amazing work done on this fireplace.

Number 1

For some reason, the Meadow Arbor 1 house in San Antonio didn’t get all that many nibbles, even with a price change. So, we decided to go back to our original buy and hold strategy and try to rent it out, some time in the middle of last month.

After a bit of a lull, interest in the house picked up, and as of this week, we have found a renter who met all of our requirements, and have a signed lease.

The income will be helpful over the next year or two, and we have hopes that we will be able to sell it for a good profit in a year or two.

front

The front of the house looks much more “alive” now.

Number 2

We are moving right along with Meadow Arbor 2, despite a lack of photos and the fact that Frank the project manager had a construction accident and had to have the tip of a finger re-attached. Yow! The team Frank found to do the renovation are fast workers, which we always appreciate. Too bad they will probably go back to commercial work after this job.

The exterior has been painted in the blues that Carol picked, and of course all bad wood has been replaced. It certainly looks 100% more interesting than it did before, especially the snazzy garage door! And the interiors are no longer many bright colors, which is a relief to the eye. We’ll have more interior pictures soon.

The garage is an aquamarine color.

We were just about to start pre-marketing that house as a rental, when our real estate person in San Antonio, Alba, got wind of a family who is interested in buying the house as an owner finance. Hmm! We’ll see how that works out! Good work on both the rental and the potential buyer, Alba!

(The picture originals are sort of small, but you can get the idea, at least. Thanks to Frank and his subcontractor for taking the time to get us some photos!)

kitchen

Here’s the kitchen all floated and ready for paint.

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The Meadow Arbors Update

The porch area on Meadow Arbor 1  looks so snappy.

Meadow Arbor 1

It took a long time to find a renter for Meadow Arbor 1, but we are getting closer now. That may be surprising to you, but we eliminate a lot of potential renters with the process we go through to qualify them. They have to fill out an extensive application. Our background checks are rather thorough, as well, and you have to be able to actually pay. But a lot of folks aren’t even getting that far!

Our agent, Alba, reported that a lot of people made appointments and didn’t show up. She lives rather north of San Antonio, in Kyle, so it’s not only rude, it’s really inconvenient. We sure have appreciated her efforts to get it rented.

We always have the option of lowering the rent when things take a while, but the house was actually pretty well priced, and we did get applications. You just never know!

Meadow Arbor 2

paint

These colors will contrast nicely with the gray and red of the house across the street.

Frank, our project manager, has his contractors all lined up for the renovation in Meadow Arbor 2. He has also made a detailed schedule, which should really help it move along rapidly. While the house is basically in good shape, there’s still a bit to do, both inside and outside!

There were a couple of bids for the work, one of which was lower and one that was a bit more. The contractor for the lower one was a friend of a friend kind of guy, and seems to have been intimidated by all the documents we ask contractors to sign (the Six Critical Documents, if you studied with the FortuneBuilders). He did not return the forms and stopped responding to inquiries. On the other hand, the contractor with the higher bid has a legitimate business and had no problem signing the forms, so he has the job. This is a great example of why you don’t always accept the lowest bid.

This pile of brush is not exactly a feature, so it’s removal is part of the demolition phase!

Frank is hoping the renovation will take about three to four weeks, with four workers on the job. This week is for demolition and exterior work, including prepping for paint. The plan is for that to take up the first week. There will be a lot of tree trimming and brush removal in this phase. That will make the house look different.

Carol picked colors for this house, too, and they will look great. The Interesting Aqua main color is more green than blue, as is the door color, Waterscape. A happy Marshmallow is the trim!

Thanks to Russell Mangum for the brush photo.

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