Hoarder house turned into a *gem* in NW Chicago!

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Hoarder house turned into a *gem* in NW Chicago!

Jennie Berger
Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Single family home in NW Chicago. This is a 1920s brick bungalow that was a hoarder house. It was a foreclosure and bankruptcy property listed on the MLS. Our realtor helped us negotiate this deal against 4 other offers--2 of which were higher than ours. Our terms were flexible and such that sellers could leave the property as is and we would take care of everything. In addition, we allowed the sellers to live in the house for a week post closing to give them extra time to pack and move.

We started renovations May 18, 2020 and completed them Sept 1, 2020. This was a full gut rehab with the addition of large dormers on the 2nd floor, a brand new 2 car garage, and a back deck. Open house is this weekend--Sat & Sun Sept 5-6, 2020!

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

Our goal is first to provide solutions for homeowners in distressed situations by offering flexible terms and strong cash offers. We knew we could negotiate a better price on this type of house considering the condition it was in. Older single family homes (with good bones) on the NW side of Chicago are a rarer find being that many generations of families typically live in them and pass them down to their kids. When one comes up, it's always a great opportunity!

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

It was listed on the MLS. We work with a few realtors who scour the internet for us as well as find us off market deals. In order to secure this deal we:
-Waived Inspection
-Gave a $5,000 Earnest Money deposit
-Agreed to take the house in As-Is condition
-Offered Cash
-Offered flexibility by giving sellers more time to stay in the house and pack--they remained for 1 week post closing

How did you finance this deal?

-Cash on the purchase
-Hard money for 100% of the rehab

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

*Lender: Continuum Capital (Hard Money lender in Chicago) - Very easy to work with and payments always on time
*Attorney: Justin Strane of Shapiro/Strane - He is just the best!
*Realtor: Maggie Antillon-Mathews - Managing Broker at Realty of Chicago - A great resource for us since she has a huge network of industry professionals and is always willing to help negotiate on our behalf

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Most Popular Reply

Elena Zhebrun
Rental Property Investor 路 Chicago, IL 路 Member since 2020 路 10 posts 路 5 votes
6y

Beautiful, what a gem!

Would you mind sharing how did you find the contractors for this project, who did you use in terms of design/choice of materials, etc.?

Thank you for sharing!

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  • Jacob Bohrer
    Rental Property Investor 路 Canton, OH 路 Member since 2020 路 58 posts 路 22 votes
    6y

    @Jennie Berger Bravo! Looks great!

    1Reply
  • Wonderful Togbey
    Rental Property Investor 路 Chicago, IL 路 Member since 2018 路 28 posts 路 11 votes
    6y

    @Jennie Berger amazing work!

    Thanks for the motivation. I鈥檓 currently looking for a flip deal to end the year strong!

    Commenting for good luck!

    1Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Mike Nelson:

    With a bungalow in Chicago, one challenge is getting the new work, including the second floor dormer to look in the character of a Chicago Bungalow.

    For sure! The original house had a smaller dormer on the front with white-ish siding. We increased the size of the dormer and changed the siding to 'Nordic Blue' to make it feel more modern and bright, while still trying to maintain the original charm of the 1920s Chicago style bungalow. 

    1Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Wonderful Togbey:

    @Jennie Berger amazing work!

    Thanks for the motivation. I鈥檓 currently looking for a flip deal to end the year strong!

    Commenting for good luck! Glad we could inspire you a little bit--are you looking in certain areas of Chicago?

    0Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Jacob Bohrer:

    @Jennie Berger Bravo! Looks great! Thanks so much--really appreciate that!

    0Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y

    @Marlen Weber If you go to the first page, about 3-5 posts down, I created a reply post in a separate section and uploaded a bunch of photos. I can see them--hope you can too! :)

    1Reply
  • Eric M.
    Flipper/Rehabber 路 Louisville, KY 路 Member since 2008 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
    6y

    Nice. Am impressed with the speed of the work. My flips are DRAGGING this summer. 

    In my experience, that is not a hoarder house...it's a normal messy foreclosure. Hoarders stack to the ceiling!!

    0Reply
  • Marlen Weber
    Specialist 路 Plano, TX 路 Member since 2020 路 2k+ posts 路 861 votes
    6y

    @Jennie Berger right on, I'll check it out. Thanks for letting me know. 

    1Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y

    @Eric M. Three floors, plus the garage and back yard, stacked from floor to ceiling it was! The before photos I posted are post-junk clean-out. 16 trucks later馃憖...there was no room to even walk through the house. You could say we kind of bought it *sight unseen*. We literally didn't see the 2nd story until we closed on the house, cleared out the junk and made a path to open the door to the 2nd floor. You had to turn sideways to walk down the stairs to the basement. You. Have. No. Idea. What. We. Encountered. 馃槄 Even the junk removal crew said it was the worst they'd ever seen.

    1Reply
  • Eric M.
    Flipper/Rehabber 路 Louisville, KY 路 Member since 2008 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Jennie Berger:

    @Eric M. Three floors, plus the garage and back yard, stacked from floor to ceiling it was! The before photos I posted are post-junk clean-out. 16 trucks later馃憖...there was no room to even walk through the house. You could say we kind of bought it *sight unseen*. We literally didn't see the 2nd story until we closed on the house, cleared out the junk and made a path to open the door to the 2nd floor. You had to turn sideways to walk down the stairs to the basement. You. Have. No. Idea. What. We. Encountered. 馃槄 Even the junk removal crew said it was the worst they'd ever seen.

    Well, you cleaned it up well. Good job.

    1Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y

    @Eric M. Thanks--it was fun!馃ぃ

    0Reply
  • Jennie Berger
    OP
    Lender 路 Chicago IL 路 Member since 2020 路 358 posts 路 230 votes
    6y

    Decided to add some last minute trim--chair railing and crown molding on the first floor. It seems to really makes an impression when you first walk into the house--what a difference we feel!

    0Reply
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