All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Thrasher

Hi @Gabe Pringle!  Great idea!  I was actually thinking of doing the same thing sometime in the future.  What area of northern MI were you thinking?  I would love to eventually do something like that in the Traverse city/Petosky/Charlevoix area.  So many awesome lakes up there that a small little tiny home rental community could be on.  

I would love to bounce ideas around with you.  

upstairs bedroom

upstairs flex space which could've been a bedroom.  The far wall will be taken out and built out over the kitchen below.  Also, the upstairs will be a normal full 8ft. ceiling

After demo

Here are some photos of the interior of the house both before and after demo.  It's been vacant for over 10 years except there was someone illegal staying there recently even though the water was shut off.  It was condemned by the city.  

We knew it was a total gut job. Needed new plumbing, HVAC and electric, windows, everything.  We're taking off the 2nd floor and adding a full height 2nd story and adding to it off the back above where the kitchen was.  Adding about 600-800 sf of space.    The covered front porch is coming down and will be an open porch.  The front door will be moved to the other side of the house since that's where the driveway is.  

If anyone in Grand Rapids wants to stop by sometime and check it out or talk about the project, let me know. I love meeting knew people in the industry.  

front living room area 

dining/living looking towards the front living room in previous photo.  Door on left was a bedroom.  Door on the right is the basement stairs.  Door in the middle is a closet under the stairs going up.  The stairs going up will be moved over top of the basement stairs as they should be which will open up the space a lot. 

downstairs bedroom which will be open and part of the living/dining area

this was the existing kitchen which his now completely gutted down to the studs

@Heather Klompmaker.  I'm not sure it's typical or not.  I don't think so but because this house has been vacant for so long and hasn't had a survey done in forever, that might be why?  The survey was only a few hundred bucks so not a big deal.   I'm about to post a bunch of interior photos both before/after demo. 

Hi @Heather Klompmaker.  It's coming along.  Slower than I had anticipated but that's mainly because this is our first flip and we are working on getting all our contractors lined up.  Most of the interior demo has been done.  Now we are just waiting on getting a survey done next week to give to the contractor so he can get a permit.    I'm sure once we have one flip under our belt things will move faster on the next one.  

the ARV has gone up to 145-160k based on recent home sales and new developments happening in the area. However we are realizing our rehab price is going to need to come up as well. I'm a little nervous but I know it's going to be amazing when done.

I recently found an old rusted starter pistol inside the walls of a house I'm flipping.  I ended up giving it to the former owners son.  It was completely rusted and unusable.  After thinking about it though I probably should've turned it in since it was hidden inside the wall.  

@Benjamin Van Buren  it definitely helps to have another set of eyes especially if you lack the vision.  Another thing that you can do to maybe get inspiration for projects is look online.  Pinterest is one place I am constantly looking for ideas and things that would be easy to do in my projects that would add value and character and the wow factors that buyers are looking for.  Pinterest is full of designers and people with vision.  If you have a friend that uses it as well, you can share ideas with each other via Pinterest as well.  Just a thought.  Happy to help with any ideas you might have.

Great post @Joe Assad!  As a professional photographer myself I can agree that it's almost always a good idea to pay a professional for photos.  Photos from your camera are not a good idea when marketing a property.  There's a lot more to it than just good exposures though.  Someone who understands architecture and will make sure the vertical lines from the walls are straight as well as looking for things that distract from the photos.  All digital photos should be edited so having a good knowledge of software editing tools like Photoshop and Lightroom are necessary for editing as well as creating HDR ( high dynamic range) photos.

@Jayne Overbeck I would love that info as well.  thanks!

thanks @Matthew Kendall  I'll give them a call!

thanks @Katherine Sherrit

thanks@Derek Lacy   

For most of the work I will be hiring licensed and insured contractors but I figured for the small amount of demo that is left and cleanup after the demo I could just hire some cheap labor.  But I don't want to be held liable if someone steps on a nail or falls and breaks a leg.