All Forum Posts by: Theresa Allison

I'm in desperate need of design help on a flip. We have done many fix and flips, including re-designs but this house has unique challenges. We have an extremely tight budget as we are doing this as a favor to a friend, not as a money maker. It's located in central California which has a soft market. It's already at the top of it's price range and will take some time to sell.

Home was built by the original homeowner and he placed the home reversed on the lot. So you see the back of the home from the street. There is a long winding driveway that leads to the garages in the rear with stairs that go up to the living level and actual FRONT door.

The issue is that there is parking next to the house and direct access to the BACK door without using stairs which is what most people have done/will do. The issue with this is that the back door opens into the small kitchen and an undefined dining/family room. The original kitchen had no wall space for a refrigerator, and the back of the refrigerator was just hanging out for all to see. We are extending the wall to place the refrigerator but that impedes flow even more. The pantry is a cupboard on the reverse wall of the kitchen, so you have to leave the kitchen and walk into the hall to access it.

If you are accessing the house from the actual front door, it's a pretty standard entry. Small entry hall with closet and opens to the living room. Looking straight ahead from the door is the pantry cabinets but you wouldn't know what they are when you enter.

I'm including a layout of the front rooms and a few reference photos. The layout shows the rear entry door (which faces the street) to the east and the true front door on the west of the drawing. Moving the rear door over would have helped tremendously but it's not an option with the budget as the exterior has a very dated stucco style and we wouldn't be able to match color/texture and keep it in budget.

So I'm looking for ways to define the open space directly opposite the kitchen. It's a dining/family room but it's also open to the living room partially. I've been weighing putting hanging/track barn doors on the opening to the living room to provide some definition but am not married to the idea.

Bottom line is that I'm trying to market around the design flaws because we don't have the budget to heavily redesign.

Would also appreciate ideas for exterior trim color and color for the interior pantry cabinets. Interior is being done in the gray palette as that's what hot here.

Property isn't a total toad. 2 acres, 3 car garage with workshop and a full MIL apartment, which you can see on the far left of the photo.

Photos show front and rear of home, view from doorway of back door and kitchen which is immediately to the left, the dining/family room directly to the right and the view from the "front" door and the layout photo.

I'm in desperate need of design help on a flip. We have done many fix and flips, including re-designs but this house has unique challenges.  We have an extremely tight budget as we are doing this as a favor to a friend, not as a money maker.  It's located in central California which has a soft market. It's already at the top of it's price range and will take some time to sell.  

Home was built by the original homeowner and he placed the home reversed on the lot.  So you see the back of the home from the street.  There is a long winding driveway that leads to the garages in the rear with stairs that go up to the living level and actual FRONT door.  

The issue is that there is parking next to the house and direct access to the BACK door without using stairs which is what most people have done/will do.  The issue with this is that the back door opens into the small kitchen and an undefined dining/family room. The original kitchen had no wall space for a refrigerator, and the back of the refrigerator was just hanging out for all to see.  We are extending the wall to place the refrigerator but that impedes flow even more.  The pantry is a cupboard on the reverse wall of the kitchen, so you have to leave the kitchen and walk into the hall to access it.

If you are accessing the house from the actual front door, it's a pretty standard entry. Small entry hall with closet and opens to the living room. Looking straight ahead from the door is the pantry cabinets but you wouldn't know what they are when you enter.

I'm including a layout of the front rooms and a few reference photos. The layout shows the rear entry door (which faces the street) to the east and the true front door on the west of the drawing.  Moving the rear door over would have helped tremendously but it's not an option with the budget as the exterior has a very dated stucco style and we wouldn't be able to match color/texture and keep it in budget.

So I'm looking for ways to define the open space directly opposite the kitchen. It's a dining/family room but it's also open to the living room partially. I've been weighing putting hanging/track barn doors on the opening to the living room to provide some definition but am not married to the idea.

Bottom line is that I'm trying to market around the design flaws because we don't have the budget to heavily redesign.  

Would also appreciate ideas for exterior trim color and color for the interior pantry cabinets. Interior is being done in the gray palette as that's what hot here. 

Property isn't a total toad. 2 acres, 3 car garage with workshop and a full MIL apartment, which you can see on the far left of the photo.  

Photos show front and rear of home, view from doorway of back door and kitchen which is immediately to the left, the dining/family room directly to the right and the view from the "front" door and the layout photo.

TIA for any input.

As self employed folks, we generally end up with no doc type loans. We'd like to do a no doc cash out refi on our personal residence but we haven't dealt with brokers since before the big financial meltdown so I'm not sure what the process for a no doc looks like in todays climate.  Our house appraises for between $750k - $900k depending on the appraiser (yes, it's that varied right now) and we have a mortgage of $167k that we'd like to refi plus $50k for debt payoff, etc.

Can anyone share what that process might look like and how doable this is right now?

TIA

The house is paid off. As their Grandfather built it, it has a very strange configuration which isn't marketable but it's sentimental to them. They haven't even been able to rent it because of its issues.  

They could sell as a total gut at $235k but that runs the risk of being a total tear down which would upset the kids/grandkids. 

We can move a few walls and update quite easily in the 30k range.  It's a mid century Spanish style ranch, good bones, just VERY unfortunate layout issues and no updating since it was built. 

They have no money to do the updating themselves. ARV quick sale price $399k.

What's in it for them is a higher sales price and the knowledge that their family home will remain standing. They offered to split profit over and above the $235 plus the cost of the reno. As this is the first time we've partnered in this way, I'm trying to figure out what an equitable split would be as we are doing the reno and all marketing/showing of the property.

Hi Logan, yes, that's what I mean by profit.

My husband, who is a contractor, and I have been rehabbing and flipping homes for years. A neighbor has approached us and would like to partner with us to get his home sold. He wants us to do the rehab, all costs would be on US for said rehab, and then splitting profits at the end. I have never structured a deal this way before as we are normally buying outright. 

We will be doing all design, rehab, and marketing after the fact as the owner lives several hours away. Is there some kind of guideline for how much our split should be?

Thanks for any and all input.

Hi all!

I started out in property management and moved on to investing some years later.  I am presently investing in my local counties of Kern, Tulare and Kings but I'll invest anywhere the deal is good!

I mainly fix and flip but occasionally wholesale and we also hold a few properties.  

I certainly don't know it all and love to learn about new ways of investing.  I'll offer advice where I can and I'm looking forward to learning from all of you as well.  I'm especially interested in learning about commercial investing and mobile home park investing...two things I've never taken the plunge on.

Looking forward to contributing here.

Theresa Allison