WTF? Oh no, you didn't!

I mean, "What the Flip?" ;). What were these rehabbers thinking? Do you see it? The picture wasn't the best, but I am still pretty sure anyone that is capable of viewing this picture can see the flaw. The door frame is completely crooked. Not to mention, the lock that was installed to accommodate the giant that might buy the house. I am 5 feet 2 inches and I couldn't unlock that back door to get out if there was a fire. Maybe, it's a new child safety feature? I am not too much taller than many children. Just a thought.

Unfortunately, this type of work on rehabs is very common. This house has been redone and is now on the market. Old houses are never, I repeat, NEVER going to be completely square. That is just a fact. However, you can fix certain things to avoid this "fun house" effect. In my opinion, it is worth the extra money to fix things like this. Cheaply done rehabs=cheap housing prices and rapid deterioration, which affects everyone in the neighborhood.

You CAN do good rehabs AND still make them affordable for the first time homebuyer crowd. In my opinion, first timers who don't have a good surplus of extra cash should be extra careful with what they buy in order to avoid costly repairs in the future. It is worth a little more money up front to buy a better product (you can stretch that cost over the life of your mortgage). Tons of costly repairs the homeowner can't afford, CAN lead to foreclosure. In that case, we have another crappy house in need of tons of repairs back on the market. If a good rehabber doesn't pick it up, we wind up in a vicious circle. In my opinion, the City deserves better.

I am not saying that houses in need of a little extra love shouldn't be attempted by owner occupants. I show these types of houses ALL the time. However, I am very careful to be very realistic about the time, dedication and potential cost to the customer and make sure to communicate it. Education IS key, this is NOT "Flip this House". A rehab or even seemingly simple repair is not completed in an hour. Not every buyer client has the vision or stamina to take these types of projects on. Just my two cents :) Bottom line, get your inspections, make sure you have good "bones", get quotes on projects that you need to get done immediately BEFORE you buy and have fun!
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Diary of a Rehabber: Let's do the Time Warp Again

The title of this blog is in honor of my good friend Lucia who does the Time Warp dance when feeling blue. Hey Lucia!


So, here is the Gingerbread I have been telling you about. This will be our subject project property for now. I may start blogging about other rehabs as they come along. I just hope it doesn't become too confusing.

All though the outside was cute as a button, the inside needed help, major help.There is "good" old, and "ugly" old. Not every trend is worth saving. There is a big difference between vintage and dated. A lot of what was in the Gingerbread was "dated" not historic. See what I mean?

That kitchen is SEXY, er quaint?

No Ladder? No Problem!

Put the refrigerator in the middle of the room under the hole for the attic. Climb on the kitchen counter and jump! Next, hang on for dear life and pull yourself up. Did you notice that there is not a picture of me doing this?
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Investor Evicts the Pink Panther

It alwaysa amazes me what people leave behind after they move out.
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South City Parking Attendant

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Diary of a Rehab: Acquire the Property

For those of you just joining us the "Diary of a Rehab" is a small series of blog posts about a rehab project currently taking place. Feel free to go back and read the past posts to get caught up.

The last project that the rehabber took on was a complete gut rehab. There was no option for him to save any of the architectural details on that one. Still, I was highly impressed with the level of craftsmanship and attention paid to detail on the project. I gladly listed that house for sale not too long ago. For those of you interested in seeing it go to www.6525westpark.com


Now that I had found an investor with a superior team capable of completing difficult rehabs, I went on the hunt for more properties. In talking with the investor we had determined that the best houses for him to flip at the moment would be small South City Bungalows. Searching high and low we finally stumbled across one that fit the bill exactly. Another investor had too many projects at the time and was willing to sell one of his projects to us! It took forever to close the deal since it was a short sale (for those of you who don't know a short sale is when the bank allows you to sell the property for less than what is owed and they take that in lieu of foreclosure). During the time it was under contract the copper got stolen and thieves took the stain glass from the foreclosure next door. More on all of that later...

The house is a cute 2 bed/1 bath gingerbread with a one car garage and sunroom addition. Problem with it is, a lot of it's original details had been covered up or replaces in favor of hideous seventies paneling, dark kitchen cabinets, beige carpet, out of date wall paper and brass fixtures. At the time of purchase there was no way for us to tell what was under the carpet or behind the paneling. In the rehab world, nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems. We were in for some BIG SUPRISES!

The house is still currently being rehabbed, but I have to catch you guys up with where we are now. Some of these blogs will be about events past. I will let you know when we get all caught up and we are in real time.

Diary of a Rehab, a mini series.

I have been working with investors more lately. Which, has been good and at times very challenging. I hadn't been doing much work with rehabbers at all until I started helping my broker, Christopher Thiemet find good deals. I almost looked at rehabbing as the antithesis of what my business model was. I specialize in historic and vintage in Saint Louis City and surrounding areas, not vanilla flips.


A poorly done rehab can ruin a perfectly good home. I can't tell you how many times I would walk into an architecturally awesome house in Tower Grove South (and other neighborhoods) and be saddened by the fact that an investor had laid beige carpet everywhere, painted the walls a slightly different beige and installed a cheap ready made kitchen. I understand that spending the least amount of money to maximize your profit is the name of the rehab game, but did it have to be so poorly done? I had watched my broker do some awesome rehabs. He would modernize the house while keeping original features. Buyers in turn would get the best of both worlds.

Could I find a rehabbing client that would work with me on preservation?. After all, saving some historic features while modernizing isn't always the most economical route to go. I truly believed if you spent a little more on the kitchen, bath and nice little touches you could generate a great product that was in demand.

My thoughts were...

1. Find a good rehab project in a neighborhood that was anchored by local businesses and other walkable attractions. Sure, you are going to pay a little bit more for this project due to location, but selling the property would be much easier on the "flip" side.

2. Help out the surrounding neighbors by buying up a potential "problem property" that was affecting the values of the homes around it.

3. Spend a little more on higher quality finishes and work.

4. Modernize while keeping as much historical finishes as possible.

Well, guess what? I stumbled into a client that would work with me on these things. So, I figured I would share with you all a lot about the process as we go along. I am having a blast working on these projects. It never ceases to amaze me what we uncover good and bad on a daily basis. Keep posted. All rehabbing posts will start with, "Diary of a Rehab".

I Have to Admit...

2009 was full of personal distractions, and all though I managed to increase my sales, a lot of things I liked to do suffered. One thing I really wanted to do was Blog about real estate and Saint Louis. In a mad scramble to keep up with work flow and newly arising personal issues, I didn't get much blogging done. So, here I am in 2010 starting this blog over. It has a new name, new topics to cover and more information to bring you. I really wanted to make this blog worth while for the reader. So, I kept a close eye on my friend Abby Hawkins' blog. Recently, she started http://www.southcitystl.com/ and has won over tons of readers. So, I am going to be stealing some of her very good ideas (hope you don't mind Abby). I hope I can bring useful information to everyone that is interested in Saint Louis and it's real estate! Also, check out Abby's blog...It has become a South City going out road map.