March 2nd, 2010
US080 Ashton works update:
As usual, checks are made on heating, electrical and plumbing systems, to see if they are up to code or in working. It’s not wise to commence decoration and find a leak when the plumbing is turned on later!
With this property the furnace and boiler were missing so we had to replace those. The plumbing and electrics have also been updated. The crew are well experienced on these sorts of jobs and did this within a few days. Good quality taps have been fitted in the kitchen.
All internal surfaces are being repainted in a neutral but attractive cream colour (that some in UK might call magnolia), with white ceilings and trim. We’ve often noticed that rushing work crews in Detroit tend to spray everything in the same colour. Saves time, but our background is in development where we have to attract buyers and good tenants.
No way to accept such an approach and our guys have been trained to make the extra effort to paint skirting, windows and ceilings in contrast colours.
The property will soon be finished and there is no doubt renters will be falling over themselves to rent this one.
Tags: American property, Builders in Detroit, Detroit Property Rehab, Property in Detroit, Rosedale Park Detroit
Posted in Furnace work, General, US080 Ashton | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2010
This is a quality house in Rosedale Park that will really repay some improvement. The property was in overall good condition when we got it but did require a new furnace, new boiler, updated electrics and some plumbing. Along with cosmetic works.
Works have already well under way with this property and here are the ‘before’ photos below for this Detroit property.
Tags: American repossessions, Builders Detroit, Detroit handy men, Detroit Property Rehab
Posted in General, US080 Ashton | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2010
Good street and a house with bags of character; the sort that was selling for much higher than average in the peak days. In other words, just the sort of property that will pay its owner big dividends to refurbish.
The crew have been focusing particularly on the kitchen, fitting new cabinets and making a contrasting black splash-back – a modern aspect to this Tudoresque property. The floor now looks smart with new tiles.
A lot of work has been done on the “internals” of the house – electrics and plumbing and heating system, getting that potentially dirty work out off the way before decorating.
Below are some pics of the new kitchen in San Juan along with pics of the old one. It has a new floor, new white cabinets and the splashback has been painted black to contract with the cabinets. The room will now be painted again
In this house so far the furnance, boiler, plumbing and electrics have been redone, which doesn’t make for good photos really. They will now start on doing the visual parts of the house like painting, drywall etc.
Tags: American foreclosures, Building works in Detroit, Detroit Property Rehab
Posted in General, US076 San Juan | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2010
This nice house is shaping up well. After removal of old carpets, repairs and painting has commenced. Repairs include replacing of old lights with smart new ones. Making good damages to walls and sundries, such as air vents and doors, and some plumbing - making sure everything will function properly.
Stairs to the basement have been covered in hard wearing tiles. And down there, further work has been done on the furnace. It’s proving a tricky machine to get running as the model isn’t common. However, we’ll find a suitable replacement.
Last major job is fitting the kitchen. The previous owners left in midst of refurbishing their kitchen and we have a “bare canvas” to work with. Once done, this will finish off a super house that will provide an excellent home for its tenant and good income for its owner.
Tags: Building works Detroit, Detroit Property Rehab, Detroit property renovation, Detroit Real Estate
Posted in General, US073 Cheyenne | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
Building work update pics on Cheyenne;
Following on from previous post for US073 in Detroit, here are updated pics; so far all the old carpets have been removed, furnace, plumbing and electrical systems checked, some painting done and lights fitted to ceiling.
Posted in General, US073 Cheyenne | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
Roof already done, now internal work
Another typical 3 bed single family unit, on a quiet cul de sac. The roof was completely changed as part of a batch job on a number of houses a few weeks ago, so now it’s time to deal with the interior.
All in all, it’s a good property. No major works. The biggest job is fitting out the kitchen. For some reason, the previous owners had started on completely refurbing their kitchen, stripping out the old, fitting new plasterboards to walls….then stopped, as in being foreclosed.
It’s remarkable how often home owners are spending money doing home improvements not long before the axe of foreclosure falls.
We’ll need to fit a complete set of kitchen cabinets, work surface and sink, plus tile the floor. The next biggest job is replacing the furnace. We’ve tested it and found the circuit board cooked, so we’ll fit another unit.
Apart from the furnace and kitchen, it’s just a matter of painting up and sorting out odd jobs, particularly substandard electrical sockets. And new carpet.
We like this property. It’s going to provide a very comfortable home and has a massive garage to rear. In fact, our rental manager already has a tenant lined up for the place. Only foreseeable problem is the contractor we have on it is a perfectionist! He took too long on US037 Courville house, doing it to a standard far beyond the standard city code. Had to be “3 coats” on everything sort of approach, even though it cost their guy in charge quite a bit of money. He’s old school and finds it hard to adapt to the faster pace of meeting code and moving to next job. But, better that way than careless.
Pictures below property pre-works:
Tags: American foreclosures, Detroit property, Detroit property renovation
Posted in General, US073 Cheyenne | No Comments »
February 18th, 2010
Tidy Up
The crew have pushed on well and just about finished this off now. Kitchen is looking very smart with new plumbing and decoration.
The hallway and staircase have been laid with very hard wearing green “grass” like material and the stair tread in non slip rubber. These material could be used outside such is their resistance, but inside they should protect the floor from hard use.
That’s one of the main points about renovating for tenants as against just for resale – reducing future maintenance is important. Keep paints and carpet neutral (hence beiges we typically use for carpets) and put down low maintenance surfaces like vinyl tiling.
Blinds have been put up (a lot of windows!) as required for general renting and work items are now being cleared for city inspection and tenant viewings.
Tags: Detroit property renovation, Detroit Real Estate, Foreclosed property Detroit, Property renovation Detroit, Tenanted Detroit Property
Posted in General, US077 St Mary's | No Comments »
February 17th, 2010
Another great property – proper brick and stone built house on a sought after street. The first job that needs doing right away is the roof. It’s leaking and nothing less than a complete re-roof will do, including base boards.
Often, houses that have been foreclosed are poorly maintained. As you might imagine, the owners were very short of cash, may be for years before. The foreclosure is only the last act in a long downward spiral, during which non vital expenses were cut. So, a tarpaulin that changed from temporary to permanent and the unrepaired damage to upper rooms.
We tend to use specialist roof crews for such jobs; not our regular “ground” crews. After a couple of weeks getting quotes and squeezing the roofer’s margin, we finally decided upon a well experienced crew. They are replacing rotten roofing boards, before replacing the shingles.
A quick comment on roofs in Detroit for the building minded. They are almost all made from overlapping bitumen tiles, nailed to plywood sheets. Up to 3 layers can be added before all must be removed and replaced with new. We are ripping off all the old layers on this house including the rotten base boards, hence the massive skip to one side. Once this job is done, one of our normal crews will blitz the inside.
Posted in General, US076 San Juan | No Comments »
February 3rd, 2010
Photos from 27th Jan 2010
Great progress has been made on this property in the past two weeks; it’s really unrecognisable as the same place.
A door now separates the two apartments, with the staircase refurbished (see rubber treads for a neat utilitarian finish) and the whole place finished in a lovely white/cream decor which sets off the elegant interior.
A number of new lights have also been fitted and the usual overhaul of the electrics to be ready for code inspection.
Quite a bit of work has gone into the kitchens, which have been rubbed down, repaired and painted. They will now look attractive to renters, as does the whole place.
And the new beige carpet finishes it all off.
We really like this property now. To be frank, we aren’t fans of split levels. They tend to be in seedier areas of town. We made an exception with this one as it’s in a good location and was basically a really good property. All that it needed was a thorough makeover and now we’ve done this, the owner can look forward to double rents and a much more valuable asset.
Tags: Builders in Detroit, Detroit construction, Detroit Property Rehab, Detroit property renovation, Detroit Real Estate, Property Detroit
Posted in General, US077 St Mary's | No Comments »
January 28th, 2010
We haven’t posted an update before finishing on this project, but suffice to say the builder knocked it on the head quickly. There was some small delay whilst owners arranged stage payments via PayPal (they are slow and charge a lot – not a good choice for transferring larger sums of money), but this was no big deal and we are really pleased with the job.
The place is unrecognisable now. The shell of a top floor has been portioned, wired, doors hung to make an extra bedroom plus side storage.
The whole building has been redecorated and nice carpets laid. Lots of small jobs needed doing to pass “code” – like filling cracks, getting the garage door working, giving the basement a good makeover and repairing front porch steps.
At end of job, our building manager does a snagging list, if there are minor problems to sort out. It was decided the kitchen floor was not good enough. So we replaced it with new tiles, at NO cost to the house owner.
This shows how loath we are too charge extra on a job, even though prices are estimates and not fixed quotes. We know people like to know where they stand and we are developing a good track record of sticking to prices.
The owners are well pleased on this project. Final cost came in at no more than half their original quote! Saving them at least $18,000!
Tags: Completed Detroit project, Detroit property, Detroit Property Rehab, Detroit property renovation
Posted in General, US018 Somerset | No Comments »
