Buy It - Fix It - Stage It - Sell It

[Sherry Hackett]

Investment Info:

Other fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $182,000
Sale price: $235,000

Originally purchased this town home as a rental property. During the next 12 months, I spent time off working on improvements and upgrades to the property. As an Interior Designer, I got a little carried away :-)

Refinished kitchen cabinets and replaced laminate counter tops with a high quality, seamless granite installation. Two tone neutral decorator paint throughout. All new lever door handles, new light fixtures, marble top bathroom vanities, new faucets and bath hardware, new toilets, new ceiling fans and much more.

By the time I had finished.. I realized I did not want to use this home as a rental property, since renters often tend NOT to take very good care of things. I made the decision to list it for sale the following spring when the market traditionally picks up.

Staged it to sell and sold it summer of 2019.
See before and after photos:

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

As an Interior Designer, I love fixing up ugly homes and making them as pretty as they deserve to be.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Shopped for properties with a Realtor.. found a property in need of some TLC.. and made an offer.

How did you add value to the deal?

Improved and added upgrades to every square inch of the property.

What was the outcome?

Sold the property for the highest price ever paid for a similar property in the development.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don't get too carried away improving a property which was intended to be a rental.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My partner and I did most of the improvements ourselves.. with the exception of installing the granite kitchen counter tops.
We also chose to sell the property ourselves.. using a flat fee online MLS listing service.