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Tag Archives: Villa Park

Carol Saves the Day at Villa Park

You may remember our Villa Park casita, where Anita and I lived last year, and which had the most disaster-fraught renovation in history. We rebuilt this little house completely, saving only the shell of the outside (the city required we keep the dimensions and roofline). We even installed a new, real, foundation to replace the three slabs with no rebar and no plumbing it previously had.

We had a hard time renting it out last year, because we were unable to stage it once we moved to the Bobcat Lair, and people being unhappy that it shared the yard with the house in front. But, when we did get a fence and all that, we got some really great renters who were settling in nicely. One of them even got an award at the local elementary school.

Unfortunately, the other renter got a great job promotion that required moving to scenic Bentonville, Arkansas (there are other companies besides Wal-Mart there). We certainly didn’t want to force them to stay, so Carol jumped on getting it rented again.

Why it worked this time

We were motivated, because if we couldn’t get it rented, the renters would have to pay until we did, but if we rented it quickly, their initial deposit would cover that. Carol got to work and made this nice Facebook ad:

You get a screenshot, because I can’t make it play here.

Click the link to see it live, I hope.

https://www.facebook.com/BigAustinHome/videos/1800913923318570/

We all shared it everywhere we possibly could. People lined up to see the space (literally, four families went to see it in 15-minute intervals), and it was rented in just a few days to some other fine folks with no kids and no pets! Hooray!

It worked because the tenants had decorated the casita nicely, which showed how well it “lived.” The current tenants cleaned it up (they were motivated) to perfection, so people just loved the place.

That’s a real lesson to remember: staging truly helps sell or rent houses. I now really wish I’d done a better job the first time.

We sure appreciate Carol’s hard work to get the casita rented so fast! Lee and I won’t even notice a drop in our cash flow. Win!

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Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

The large yard before fencing.

Every homeowner knows that work on a house is never really done. There’s always something that has to change: things break, improvements need to be made, times and styles change, and so on. We rehabbers know it, too.

In the case of the Villa Park main house and casita, changing market forces meant our original rehab exit strategy had to be altered to making the houses into rentals. With that change, we were faced with a dilemma—we’d have two separate tenants and only one backyard. It was fine when Carol and Russell lived in the front house and Sue Ann and I lived in the casita; we’re all friends and enjoyed the spacious yard together, even with the occasional lacrosse ball flying over the back fence from the youth sports field on the other side. It doesn’t really work when two or more strangers have to share a yard.

 

The strings make sure the fences are straight.

One of the first things that come to mind when you’re going to have two sets of strangers sharing a space is privacy. Everybody wants to feel as though they have space they can call their own and to determine when and with whom they share that space. Some people need more privacy than others do. Some people are introverted. Some people are extroverted, but don’t necessarily want a wide-open view into what their neighbors are doing all the time. As landlords/rehabbers, we get it. As Hermits, we really get it.

Continue reading →

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Another One in the Plus Column (Villa Park!)

The improvements keep on coming! Yesterday, Lee and I signed the lease on the Villa Park casita. Now that was a project with huge ups and downs. It’s a real relief to get that property finally bringing in money and not just sinking it into a deep pit of mud caused by the endless water main problems we had with the property. It really feels like the struggles of last year, when everything was like pulling teeth, are letting up.

As the seasons change, this tree goes from leafy green to bare with red berries. You just have to patiently right for the right time for berries. Sorta like waiting on profits.

It turns out that the rent on the main house pays the mortgage on the property, and the income on the little house can go for other things.

Our personal business is now in okay shape, as we’ve acquired a couple of other properties with some other investors that will be bringing in money monthly. A house we financed for another investor friend should close any day now, and make all of us money. We can use these income properties for the cash flow to live on while we do the rehabs to build wealth. We are now building up our reserves for inevitable property repairs, as well as our funds to invest in more projects. It apparently is how things are supposed to work, and I guess they are working!

Being a small business is not for the faint of heart. But it IS for those of us who educate themselves about the risks involved. Remember that real estate investment is not like on television. It’s a lot of work, and you’re not always hauling in tens of thousands of dollars every week.

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Working as Designed

water

Lakefront property is always in demand…

We hear the phrase “working as designed” a lot when dealing with the things our contractors do. Hey, why are all the light switches backwards? Oh, that’s working as designed. Um, why is there no water pressure? That’s low-flow faucets–working as designed? Well, you know what we mean.

Today I’m sharing an example of something working as designed. You may recall that we had quite a few issues last year with the water and sewage lines going from the B unit at Villa Park (the casita). It had to be done, because previously water flowed IN to the little house. Nice.

Our team had to put in a pump to get water to the street, because of the way the land sloped, they had to do a whole lot of contouring around the house, and well, spent months fixing pipes. The city inspector kept insisting on more and more improvements before passing the house as fit to occupy, so we did them all.

It didn’t help t hat week before last, someone drove over the sensitive pipe area next to the house and it had to be replaced. Sigh. Beside the point, but more money on drainage. Or drains. Or pipes. You know what I mean.

But this past weekend, it rained and rained. Actually, it kept raining until mid-week. It was quite the test of the new drainage system at the casita. As the photos show, there was water all around the little house. It might have flowed out to the soccer fields behind the house if there was any space between the bottom of the fence and the dirt, but, our contractor was right when he said, “Hey, it’s working as designed!”

Water, eater, everywhere EXCEPT in the house. We win.

It’s really good to see that all those changes the inspector insisted on having us make were the right things to do. The house remained high and dry, while water flowed in an orderly fashion AWAY from the house. Working as designed! Yes!

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Villa Parking at Long Last

Yes, that is one cozy living area. But it's great for two people and a tiny dog!

Yes, that is one cozy living area. But it’s great for two people and a tiny dog!

Ah, Villa Park, the project with two dwellings, with all the flooding, the pipes, with the irritable inspectors…that has been a project that tried the patience of Lee and Sue Ann. Although it’s a property we acquired long before we started Hermit Haus Redevelopment, we’ve all been involved with it all along, since Carol was our real estate agent when we bought it, and now Carol and Russell are living in the main house on the property and doing a bunch of landscape work.

But today we focus one more time on that casita in back. That’s right, it’s finally not just a project, it’s a HOME! Last week burly men and women showed up at Sue Ann’s large suburban Braesgate house (sniff), removed enough furniture to live for a few months, and drove it over to Villa Park. They parked it all in the casita, and she got to unpacking. After all this time, by gosh, she wanted that place to look like a residence. And it does!

kitchen

The dining table and chairs fit in the kitchen just fine. And since the photo was taken, a larger fridge magically showed up.

The photos here are of the cozy little living space and the giant master bedroom. Sure, there aren’t any pictures on the wall and there aren’t many home decor items, but at least a person can sleep, eat, and sit.

We know this has been a big relief to our general contractor. He heard the news that the house passed inspection while on a cruise vacation. From what we hear, he immediately indulged in a good number of potent tropical drinks to celebrate the end of THAT nightmare. That was one lengthy and costly project, though he is proud that it came out very well, and eventually make us some good rental income. We figure at least we provided employment for quite a few workers during the project, so it’s not a waste.

Tomorrow a moving van will arrive, carrying all the possessions of our colleague, Anita, whose renovation story we shared last week, has fled Baltimore for relatively balmy and slightly less volatile Austin. She and Pickle the Pup will fill one of the bedrooms, while we’ll use the other one as an office and storeroom. It will be cozy, but fun, we think!

Since Villa Park is not our final parking spot, most of what Anita owns will be stored in the Villa Park Big House, along with my couches, which are making Carol and Russel quite happy. They certainly would NOT have fit in the casita!

Plenty of room for a huge bed in this bedroom. This, however, is an air bed.

Plenty of room for a huge bed in this bedroom. This, however, is an air bed.

What’s next? There is a rumor that (we hope you are prepared for this) Sue Ann and Lee’s long-awaited Bobcat project is about to get going. Of course THAT will cost more than predicted…turns out we get to rewire it. And, off we go! Theoretically it should be done early in 2017. Yup. It was originally supposed to be finished early in 2015. After this, we all sure hope we get to do some more speedy projects.

For those of you in the USA, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Peace to you and your families. We all have a lot to be grateful for, even though sometimes it’s hard to find those things. Finishing this project is truly a thing to inspire gratitude! Now, off to finish cooking a big meal to share with friends.

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