All Forum Posts by: Valerie Hiscoe

I hate to tell you but, if @Nicole Pettis hadn't mentioned that this was a craftsman style home, I wouldn't have recognized it as such.  I thought it was a cute little gingerbread house - which could easily have suited a turquoise door.  But it's not a cottage, it's a craftsman, and craftsmans are pretty classic as far as colours go.  'Cute' colours not being what first comes to mind.  Earth tones and neutrals (although not white except for accents)  are usually most suitable. For examples, google "craftsman style" under the 'images' heading and you'll get lots of ideas. You might be able to get the book that @Michael Hayworth suggested but they often will only make them available to designers.  The book would be a great help in choosing colours once you see a combo you like, but, don't worry, most major paint lines have similar tone combining systems - you just have to ask how to use them. 

Agreeing with Nicole again, you really need to capitalize on those columns if you want the integrity of the house's style to shine through.  Those (very ugly) shrubs in front  completely hide them.  Not only do the shrubs detract from the style of the property by obscuring those columns, they also confuse the eye with their symmetry,  The most important aspect of the curb appeal of any house is the front door.  Everything that can be done to highlight the door and lead the eye towards it is important.  The door on this house is not centred which the symmetry of the shrubs suggests.  It's misleading and weakens the welcome and curb appeal of the residence.

When it comes to landscaping, don't allow anything to come in the way of the door.  Accenuate that the left side is the 'important' side of the house by having more extensive  (but low growing) foundation plantings as well as a nice sweep of bark or groundcover curving around the sidewalk and side of the house.  Something tall on the left of the house/porch (beside, not in front).  Echo those foundation plantings on the right side but cover only about half the diameter.  A tree with a base of matching bark or groundcover would do well planted in the centre of the right side of the yard to balance the larger garden on the left side.  Simple, repetitive plantings look best.    

Another pointer is that the front door should usually be either the lightest or darkest part of any colour scheme.  In this case, as it's under the shade of the porch, it should probably be the lightest (of 4 colours) because, especially not being centred, it really needs to catch the eye.

Yikes!  I am so amazed by the people who said keep them the way they are.  But @Josh Sandefer was correct in saying that you'd need to strip the cabinets before staining and that's only if they're actual wood and not laminate. Although they do look like wood.

I agree with you and @Joy Panebianco - paint them.  I have to say though that you may be able to make the kitchen even more modern by going with one of the fashionable mid-grey shades which would pull together your appliances and countertop (which you didn't mention changing). Also, in a smaller space, a lot of contrast makes things look smaller still, so a colour that blends together and provides a neutral backdrop enlarges the space. Most paint stores could probably recommend a few colour swatches to take back and check with your countertop (there are a LOT of shades of grey so don't guess.)  But white cabinets are easy, especially for middle of the market.

Maintenance was mentioned and that will be an issue if you don't do it right.  If the doors are not scratched or pitted, you don't have to sand them, but doing so will give you the smoothest topcoat.  Start with Zinsser brand (almost every paint store) primer, the shellac based one if you can get it (which you can if you keep looking).  It bonds to anything. For the paint you use (oil or latex), get the appropriate addditive to smooth the surface, which removes brush or roller marks.  Spraying cabinets is great if you take them out to do it, but you'll spend two days just taping everything off if you do them in place.  Don't go there.

Backsplash was mentioned, functional and fashionable but not 100% necessary. 

What IS necessary is changing the light above the sink and making sure your main fixture provides lots of light and a little style.  You've already got the stainless steel appliances, so kick the lighting up a notch to capitalize on the expensive stuff.

And the faucet.

No dishwasher?

I wouldn't ask but a market that wants stainless steel appliances, wants a dishwasher.

I'll take a look at your other questions to get an idea.

I think a lot of the people on this forum already know, or could find a lot of what you'd be offering, so you might not be getting a fair reflection of the market that could exist for this.  A lot of people want to get into flipping (or at least they think they do) and the resources and experience you offer would be invaluable. What you're thinking of offering, however, might be too in-depth for the masses.  You could offer one 'course' which would include the walk-around etc (make it a bit like TV) and charge $50 for it. For people who are a little bit more sophisticated/informed, (or after they've taken the first one) offer another meeting (or an extension of the first one) with the more in-depth information, contacts, and support.  Three to four hours, especially with on-site visits, is maybe a little short on time. (Teaching people stuff is harder than you think.)  $200 for the more in-depth one and you'll probably even have new realtors taking it.  Speaking of which, that's one of the main ways I'd advertise.  Through realtors.  They're the ones who are called when people are looking for a "good property to flip".

Type in the 'Search' section "mentor".  See how many hits you get.

I'm just too darned far away.

 By the way, WOW, good job.

I have to agree with @Manolo D. Your insurance coverage is a #1 priority.

Just to reiterate what others have said, first check your zoning.  If it's legal to have a suite, move to step 2, check to see which changes would need permits and then see if the changes you have made will be up to code (but don't do anything yet) (except for those egress windows.  Dont screw with that)  If things look pretty good with the above (doesn't necessarily have to be perfect), move to step 3, pull a permit for the suite (only, for now).  Be aware that in some areas, once you pull ANY permit, you may now be required for ALL your essential systems to be up to code.  Find that out first too.  It's a something-safety-something requirement. Have drawings ready of everything you've done, everywhere, and if you know something isn't quite up to code, tell the truth anyway. (Don't do any work or change anything though until an inspector tells you to do it.) The more prepared and professional you are to answer questions and present the information on everything, the less likely you are to have to do much.  Same inspectors that are looking at the work of the inexperienced plumbers and letting it go, right?  It sounds like they might be pretty reasonable in your area.

If the above is not going to work, sell the house.  It's too big for you.  Just don't advertise it as a house with a suite (but charge for it) and pass the problem on to someone else.

My fingers are crossed for you.

Although this might not have been 'the one', in my opinion, you were looking in the right place.  There's going to be a lot of competition, and not nearly as much profit (usually) on a house that needs 'lipstick' improvements. If you can walk into a place with fire and/or water damage, or something else equally intimidating, (umm, extensive mold probably being the exception), and be able to see past it, then you are in a good place.  As long as you know what you're looking at (rewiring, HVAC system, framing, etc) and your estimates include those calculations, your profits will grow exponentially. Spend lots of time on learning estimating though because you might have under-estimated this one. Why don't you estimate it now, time and money.  For practice. We'd probably all be curious to know in the end.

But I also have to say that you didn't mention in your first post that it was a classic old beauty - I'm sad to hear of another one gone.

Salvage potential? 

Just out of curiosity, if Ron Legrand turns out such well-trained wholesalers, why wasn't the guy you were talking to about buying your house using one?

Is Ron Lagrand a successful wholesaler or a successful guru? Someone here must have bought from/through him. Or not.

If it was so hard to find the phone number,  what other fine print is going to be too small to see?  And an answering machine?  Are they going to call you back so you can cancel your subscription? 

And no offense to @Orlando Paz but I would wait until he's finished the course and made his first deal before he'll truly be able to comment on its effectiveness in the real world.

Is there a real estate club near you that you could attend? You never know, you might meet an investor who will teach you how to birddog for them.

Taking a course won't get you any closer to taking action though.

Do you have a year and a $100,000? Because if you don't, you're going to have A LOT more trouble borrowing $100,000 for repairs (or $50 or $80) than you would for a $60k property and $20k for repairs. Unless the land alone is worth $80k, no one is going to give you money to learn hard lessons with on a $5k piece of property. 

If you know how to do all those things, your time is invaluable to do something else.

@Jim Adrian, an architect I'm following, might have some input specifics (except I don't know how to make the @name thing work so he probably won't see this).

I personally come from a design background, landscape design specifically in this case.  There's one very big principle of landscape design that all the rest of curb appeal follows and that is: The Front Door is the focal point.  That means that, right from the street, people should already be led towards the entrance.  The door itself should either be the darkest or the lightest and every accent that you can muster should lead towards it.  Beef up the trim around it.  Add pots, maybe a bench, and some really great lights.  Any plants that block the view should either be removed or tiered into the walkway to further highlight the way to the door and the sidewalk should be as wide as possible.  Widen it with stones or bricks if you don't feel like pouring concrete, but two people should be able to fit side by side. Those are the general principles but the house, as is, seems to be less welcoming than it could be. (Of course the angle of the photograph doesn't do it justice either because it just looks like a red carpet into the garage.)

And just FYI,  repetition is another universal design principle.  To highlight something using plants, for example, never put in just one thing, always plant at least 3.

I agree with you that a wash a a new trim colour would freshen it up. Just driving around the neighborhood might give you an idea of what colours you like and would fit in.  But apart from that, I'd put additional thought and the biggest investment into highlighting that welcome mat.

I'm pretty sure Jim would agree with the above principles but he might have some specific input that would really up your game.