New Flip Blog: We're Adding 1,055 SQFT: LA (Jefferson Park) Home

New Flip Blog: We're Adding 1,055 SQFT: LA (Jefferson Park) Home

Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes

Hello BP Community! As many of you know, I created a blog for one of our recent flips in South Los Angeles with weekly updates. That flip was very successful as we completed the rehab in 11 weeks, had multiple offers and from purchase to close was only 4 Months. As some of you know, we are very creative and artistic when it comes to our flips and we perform upgrades that are not advised on the BP Podcast and many forums (we put colors on and inside our homes and fixtures that are very design-oriented....and not everyone will love it, but the few buyers we do attract REALLY love it) so it should be pretty interesting what we do on this flip.

My partner Zerik and I are now starting a new flip that I feel would be very interesting for BPers to follow, as this one is not your standard rehab. Why?

1. It's a little tiny ugly house: 672 Sqft

2. We are adding 1,055 Sqft

3. We are demolishing an entire garage and storage shed

4. We are getting multiple permits with the city of LA, which can be a huge headache

5. The home is in Jefferson Park and is in an area that is HPOZ (Historic Preserved Overlay Zone) which means there are only certain cosmetic changes we can make to the front of the house.

6. Marrying the old structure to the new one may be a bit tricky

With that said, with all of the moving parts and extended timeline, I will be posting Monthly updates instead of weekly. As before, please feel free to send any questions you may have. 

Here's the deal:

ACQUISITION PRICE: $469K

REHAB BUDGET: $227K

ARV: $935K

TIMELINE: 32 Weeks to finish (8 Months) - We are being very conservative due to LA's reputation with permits...however, we hope to finish in 6 months. 

FUNDING: We are using a Hard Money Lender in addition to private funds for our portion of the acquisition, a portion of the rehab and holding costs. 

The home BEFORE images are below. 

I will have my next update in 30 days to show what we've accomplished and updates on the rehab, timeline and budgets. 

Thanks!

Shawn

7Reply
180 views

Most Popular Reply

Flipper/Rehabber · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 732 votes
8y
Shawn Ward , thanks for the updates and sharing your experiences . It’s a shame the city makes it difficult when people such as yourself want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve a home and neighborhood. I don’t blame you for wanting to avoid working working in “ historic zones” in the future . Best of luck finishing up the project .
See this reply in the discussion

49 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Real Estate Agent · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 27 posts · 11 votes
    9y
    Looking forward to seeing this unfold! What’s your website?
  • Dana WhickerPro Member
    Investor · Fernandina Beach, FL · Member since 2014 · 557 posts · 374 votes
    8y
    Following! ;)
  • Flipper/Rehabber · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 732 votes
    8y

    @Shawn Ward, pretty amazing how much prices have gone up in the area. I've heard there are permit expediting services  in L.A , but don't know much about them. Are you using one of those? Not sure the cost but maybe it could be worth it they can actually help you get things done quicker. Best of luck!

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    @Joseph M. we are using any services, but if you somehow remember a service, let me know? Thanks!

  • Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 36 posts · 16 votes
    8y
  • Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 45 posts · 6 votes
    8y

    I'll be following this one as well. Seems like a good one. I wonder how our LA office miss this one. 

  • Investor · Tarzana CA and Houston, TX · Member since 2015 · 326 posts · 130 votes
    8y

    The photos look like a big lot!  Awesome idea I wish you success.  I love south la but that avr will be record for the area I assume 

    Looking forward to reading this

  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    8y

    What is the size of the lot? Will the entire addition happen by adding to the footprint or will you also be going up to two stories?

    What specifically will the city require of you as far as the elevations in the front to cooperate with HPOZ?

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Hey @Will Barnard ! Good to hear from you man. 

    1. Single story only. Adding to what was the backyard..

    2. Lot is 5,888 sqft

    3. The home was bastardized, so it is actually zoned as a 'non-contributing home' in the HPOZ zone. We feel as if they will not be as hard on us here, but we'll see...expecting the worst of course. 

    Onwards,

    sjw

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    @Alex J. yes..the lot looks much bigger than the 5,888 that is listed...we may have to measure it to see if it is accurate. 

    Actually, we will not be setting a new record. Our home run comp is actually a 3/2 craftsman home that is only 1550 sqft (we'll be almost 200 sqft bigger) and has a smaller lot than ours. Sold for $1.05mill! Crazy. We are not expecting that...but would love to hit it of course. Check it out:

    https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/2321-W-31st-...

    This one went for $917k: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/2158-W-29th-...

    We figure we'll end up somewhere between these 2. 

    Take care!

    sjw

  • Investor · Tarzana CA and Houston, TX · Member since 2015 · 326 posts · 130 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Shawn Ward:

    @Alex J. yes..the lot looks much bigger than the 5,888 that is listed...we may have to measure it to see if it is accurate. 

    Actually, we will not be setting a new record. Our home run comp is actually a 3/2 craftsman home that is only 1550 sqft (we'll be almost 200 sqft bigger) and has a smaller lot than ours. Sold for $1.05mill! Crazy. We are not expecting that...but would love to hit it of course. Check it out:

    https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/2321-W-31st-...

    This one went for $917k: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/2158-W-29th-...

    We figure we'll end up somewhere between these 2. 

    Take care!

    sjw

    Excellent find best of luck.  I've dealt with my fare share of non conforming and it can get tricky make sure you have an experienced architect that knows setbacks etc...you will crush it

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Yep @Alex J., my partner is an architect, so hope it will not get too loosey goosey. :-)

  • Contractor · Albany, GA · Member since 2017 · 57 posts · 33 votes
    8y

    Looking forward to seeing what you do with the place!

  • Tommy MartinezPro Member
    Owner · Downey, CA · Member since 2015 · 71 posts · 22 votes
    8y
    Hey Shawn Ward I’d love to team up and possibly provide you appliances for your flipping ventures. I own an appliance company in Downey and we sell new and scratch & dent appliances with huge discounts. Pm me if interested
  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Hey guys!

    So, we are into our 2nd of a planned 8 months of rehab. We are of course hoping to finish earlier and our new sub that we are using feels he can definitely make it happen. The hold up will be with the permits and dealing with the HPOZ in the neighborhood. Here are some updates to share for the first 4 weeks:

    REHAB (images below):

    • Our demo crew did an incredible job removing the old garage and shed in the backyard
    • All internal demo has been completed
    • Our draftsman worked with my partner Zerik (who's an architect) to come up with our addition plans and it has been submitted to the city. We've had a hiccup that we are working with the city on now. Totally not our fault! Crazy, but one of their inspectors forgot to tell us that there is a crazy rule in the HPOZ that there is a 10' offset from each property line on each side of us for any additions. The lot is not large enough to build our planned addition with having that much space taken away from us. Their supervisor apologized. So now, we are working with a Plan A (to get a Variation approved) and Plan B (to get a compromise of 8' each side, which would require 10 neighbors approving of it. We are hoping Plan A works so we do not have to get signatures. Fingers crossed. 
    • All new framing on the original structure is complete
    • The new stairs into the basement is done. The original stairs led from the backyard. We'll now have an internal staircase, which will allow for a nice room. It will not be permitted, but it should add about 400 sqft to the overall home, which will still be permitted at 1700 sqft.
    • We are working with a new Sub we haven't worked with before. He comes highly recommended and his pricing was too good to turn down. He and his crew also work very fast!

    TIMELINE:

    • We are in Week 4 of 32 in Rehab & on time
    • Our Sub feels he can get actual work time done in about 3 months (without permit holdups)

    BUDGET:

    • Our new sub contractor's contract has allowed us to save money on our original projections, so we may be able to get everything done withing $200k. We'll see. 

    SELL:

    • Plan is the same to take the home to market with the agent we used for La Salle & Mercury, Nicole in April or May of 2018.

    Thanks so much for reading, and I'm looking forward to the next update in a few weeks. As usual, please feel free to ask any questions you may have, as my goal here is to help people see the entire process, step by step in real time. 

    Onwards!

    Shawn

  • Kuba F.Pro Member
    Real Estate Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 694 votes
    8y

    @Shawn Ward Man, what a beautiful mess.  Why not permit the basement?

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Haha! Yes it is @Kuba F. ! We'd really like to permit it...but the cost of the engineering that the city would need to have done due to a home like this, it would take too much time and money for what it will return for us in ARV. We'll get a lot of value with the basement without having to permit it.

    All the best!

    sjw

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Hello BP! 

    So, I've waited a bit to update since there hasn't been much action...and 100% due to the HPOZ and city requirements for us to make changes to the property. What once was thought to have to do only with the front of the house, has actually hit us with the back of the house. 

    Come to find out, there was some sort of restrictions were implemented years ago after other homeowners began to add to their properties in the back, and pushing their homes closer to the neighbors by expanding their square feet. This lead to some ridiculous restrictions of 10' offsets, which most of the homes are originally only 5'. 

    Long story short, we had to get signatures from 6 neighbors, which you can imagine took time with people's schedules, etc. But, after 3 weeks, we finally got all of them and can now submit for our next round of permits. 

    We have dug up the trenches for the foundation and laid the steal frames, and now waiting on inspection to happen in order for us to begin laying concrete. 

    But, since this all had to happen, that is all that has been done in the past month. We still have a lot of time, but HPOZ may be something to bring me to a pause next time I am investing. 

    REHAB (images below):

    • Trenches done
    • Steel framing set

    TIMELINE:

    • We are in Week 11 of 32 in Rehab & on time
    • Still surprisingly on time, as we built in extra months for permit issues

    BUDGET:

    • We are on budget still and have only spent $40k of the planned $194k of rehab

    SELL:

    • Plan is the same to take the home to market with the agent we used for La Salle & Mercury, Nicole in April or May of 2018.

    'Til next month...lets hope we are MUCH further along. 

    Thanks!

    sjw

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    8y

    Tough house to rehab since the footprint is so small.  Almost better suited as a rental house.  Huge demand for those...

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 732 votes
    8y

    @Shawn Ward , sounds like the city is making you jump through hoops.. not surprising for city of L.A . Such a huge bureaucracy. 

    Best of luck with the next steps in the rehab.

  • Specialist · Ann Arbor, MI · Member since 2016 · 356 posts · 191 votes
    8y

    Smart of you to have a realistic timeline and to have anticipated delays.

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Thanks @Sarah Lorenz and @Joseph M. ! 

    @Brian Ploszay the footprint is small, but since we have comps at $917k-$1.05m, the play for us is adding the sqft and flipping it for maximum profit. The cost of the property included mostly the land, since the home itself is pretty worthless, and we wouldnt be able to cash-flow it after the rehabbing and just trying to rent out the 672 sqft. Cap Rates are VERY low here in LA. 

    Thanks!

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Hello BPers!

    As you guys know from my last update, the Jefferson Park HPOZ was our big holdup. Well...its still the same. I had to actually go over our representative at the city's head and contact her boss and her bosses boss to get a response. They finally responded, and told us what we needed to re-submit. Our draftsman was slower than wanted, so that cost us pretty much a week. We are now waiting for a response to let us know if they have everything they need. If to do, then we still have to go in front of the board. So, the waiting continues. 

    I also had to contact the city inspectors who left us a notice to stop all work (even though we were working on non-HPOZ specific items) and had to nicely work my way through the different levels and was able to keep one of our fees at $300 instead of around $1200. 

    We now have good communications going on and hope , in the best scenario be back up and running in 3-4 weeks. Sad. SAd. SAD!

    Our saving grace may be the fact that instead of our normal 10 week timeline to finish a normal flip, we accounted for 32 weeks to complete this one since we are adding sqft.

    REHAB (images below):

    • Trenches done
    • Steel framing set in foundation trenches
    • Cabinets are being done off site and 50% done
    • Awaiting approval with HPOZ for our plans

    TIMELINE:

    • We are in Week 17 of 32 in Rehab

    BUDGET:

    • We are on budget still and have only spent $54k of the planned $194k of rehab

    SELL:

    • Plan is the same to take the home to market with the agent we used for La Salle & Mercury, Nicole in April or May of 2018.

    Thanks!

    sjw

  • Real Estate Agent · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 125 posts · 37 votes
    8y

    Amazing! Lot of progress 👍

  • Real Estate Investor & Consultant · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 620 posts · 386 votes
    8y

    Unfortunately nothing much to post this month....why you ask? The process it takes to go through this one HPOZ in Jefferson Park.  I will share more details below in order to help others avoid this going forward.

    Details:

    REHAB (images below):

    • We had to hire an architect/expediter to support our next round of meetings with HPOZ

    TIMELINE:

    • We are in Week 22 of 32 in Rehab
    • We are far behind schedule now due to the HPOZ
    • We are meeting with HPOZ staff on 3/13/18 in order to see if we can finally get our plans accepted

    BUDGET:

    • We are on budget still and have only spent $54k of the planned $194k of rehab

    SELL:

    • Due to the delays, this home may not go on sale until the Fall 2018. It was originally planned to go on sale May 2018. 

    NOTES:

    So, due to the horrible experience dealing with the staff at this HPOZ, I would strongly recommend anyone investing in LA now to steer away from this neighborhood. Not only have we had this experience, here are a few examples of why any investor should hold off here:

    1. I went to the last board meeting and there was a resident (not investor) who just wanted to paint the outside of his home, and he had to wait 2 MONTHS to get an email response from the lady leading the HPOZ!

    2. We were in escrow just last week one property and in contract to buy another in this neighborhood (numbers looked great) but we decided to pull out due to this same issue. We decided to lose our EMD in escrow in order to avoid future losses and delays on another property

    3. That same property can't find a buyer now because other investors have decided to stay away also.

    Unfortunately, the biggest losers are the neighbors because they are relying on these upgrades to have their property values rise and also they have really old ugly houses sitting there that can't be sold now (unless they are steeply discounted from already good prices).

    I hope to have better news next month. 

    Shawn

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.