We purchased the property right next door to our house back in the summer as an investment property. We have been in full renovation mode since.
The house was a beautiful stone home, built in 1950. The curb appeal was where the beauty stopped.
This was a foreclosure home, so we knew before we even looked at the house that there would be some issues. However, the house was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home with a good layout. It also had a attached one car garage, a detached two car garage and a fenced in backyard. So to us it was a great investment and why not start with a house right next door to your own?!?
We saw the "for sale" sign posted on a Friday and made an offer on Monday. We got our offer accepted, so the renovations began!
The house was very dirty and smelly on the inside. The previous home owners obviously had gotten used to the smell. It was a mixture of smoke, pet odor, pet urine and musty/wet smell. Let me just tell you that the hubby couldn't stand to be in there without wanting to gag. Once we painted all the walls and ripped up the carpet the smell was mostly gone, but once we sanded the hardwood floors it really helped our smell issue!
The entire house got a fresh coat of paint.We painted all the walls and ceilings in the house. We were trying to go for a neutral color since the house was smaller. I wanted it to feel more open.
The hubby didn't want to paint the ceilings, until this picture when he painted white paint on top of what should have been white. What a difference a little paint can make!
Since we plan for this property to be a rental property, we wanted to refinish the hardwood floors. In the long run it will be cheaper than constantly having to replace carpet. They turned out fantastic! They still need the polyurethane coats, but then we will really be in business.
We laid down laminate flooring in the kitchen. It's much easier than I thought it would be! My brother-in-law and I managed to tackle it without many issues.
I removed terrible wall paper borders down in the kitchen and bathroom. Let me tell you the inventor of wall paper should be shot. It is terrible to take off the wall, even with wall paper remover gel spray. Talk about making a mess!
We took care of the whole musty smell by adding two dehumidifiers down in the basement. Talk about a huge difference. I don't know why more people don't invest in them. It's under $200 to keep from having mold and mildew show up!
.jpg)
We still have a lot of little things to do. Add trim to the kitchen and bathroom, polish the kitchen cabinets, add the handles back to the kitchen cabinets, add appliances, paint all the air vents, put all the light switches back on, lay the bathroom and back entry floors, paint the window trim and baseboards. I feel like we knocked out a lot of our big projects, but we have a lot to go before our new renter lives there in October.
But I think we are well on our way to a great investment property!
Until next time,
Kara
This was a foreclosure home, so we knew before we even looked at the house that there would be some issues. However, the house was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home with a good layout. It also had a attached one car garage, a detached two car garage and a fenced in backyard. So to us it was a great investment and why not start with a house right next door to your own?!?
We saw the "for sale" sign posted on a Friday and made an offer on Monday. We got our offer accepted, so the renovations began!
The house was very dirty and smelly on the inside. The previous home owners obviously had gotten used to the smell. It was a mixture of smoke, pet odor, pet urine and musty/wet smell. Let me just tell you that the hubby couldn't stand to be in there without wanting to gag. Once we painted all the walls and ripped up the carpet the smell was mostly gone, but once we sanded the hardwood floors it really helped our smell issue!
The hubby didn't want to paint the ceilings, until this picture when he painted white paint on top of what should have been white. What a difference a little paint can make!
Since we plan for this property to be a rental property, we wanted to refinish the hardwood floors. In the long run it will be cheaper than constantly having to replace carpet. They turned out fantastic! They still need the polyurethane coats, but then we will really be in business.
We laid down laminate flooring in the kitchen. It's much easier than I thought it would be! My brother-in-law and I managed to tackle it without many issues.
I removed terrible wall paper borders down in the kitchen and bathroom. Let me tell you the inventor of wall paper should be shot. It is terrible to take off the wall, even with wall paper remover gel spray. Talk about making a mess!
We took care of the whole musty smell by adding two dehumidifiers down in the basement. Talk about a huge difference. I don't know why more people don't invest in them. It's under $200 to keep from having mold and mildew show up!
We still have a lot of little things to do. Add trim to the kitchen and bathroom, polish the kitchen cabinets, add the handles back to the kitchen cabinets, add appliances, paint all the air vents, put all the light switches back on, lay the bathroom and back entry floors, paint the window trim and baseboards. I feel like we knocked out a lot of our big projects, but we have a lot to go before our new renter lives there in October.
But I think we are well on our way to a great investment property!
Until next time,
Kara
Comments
Post a Comment