Detroit Property Rehab « Building and renovation projects in the US

US076: Job Done!

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

April 5th 2010

This elegant, Tudor style property has now been restored to its former glory.

A wide range of jobs have been done: Hardwood floors shine, walls are repaired and look smart with new paint. Kitchen is new and bathroom looks great. Plumbing and heating are restored. Plus a range of smaller bit essentail repairs, such as new light fittings, new carpetting and sockets.

All now looks new, from repainted basement to roof. The owner is now in possession of a valuable property.

We estimate its value as now nearly DOUBLE what the client paid just a couple of months ago, with room for price to go further over next couple of years and beyond. If that isn’t a cracking investment, we don’t know what is!

We keep repeating the mantra – this is a once only opportunity to buy good American property for…peanuts. It’s very much for real, as this project illustrates. The key is to select a bargain like this house and let us take the hassle of refurbishing it. That way lies big profits.

Tags: Building works Detroit, Detroit builders, Detroit property, Detroit Property Rehab, Detroit Real Estate, Property Detroit
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US080 Ashton; Works update

Tuesday, 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
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US080 Ashton; Works start

Tuesday, 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
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US076 San Juan; New Kitchen installed

Tuesday, 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
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US073 Cheyenne; Work well under way

Tuesday, 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
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US077 St Mary’s; Works almost done!

Wednesday, 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
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US018 Somerset; Project Finished

Thursday, 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
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US077 St Mary’s; New Project

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

(3rd Jan 2010)

A double job

This is an excellent Detroit property. Solid, in a generally good condition, with recent windows, nice exterior fascias and sidding. But, being a split level with two apartments, it means the expensive items like furnaces and fuse boxes are doubled up.

There was a heap of rubbish to clear before work started. It’s amazing what is left behind after foreclosures. Our work crews must be accumulating quite a store of ornaments, old clothes, vacuum cleaners, lights, radios…we’ve even seen expensive luggage left lying around!

Main issues are a big hole in the downstairs kitchen ceiling where a leak has taken away an area of plaster. Sam situation with the downstairs dining room too.

Also the fuse boxes have been stripped of fuses and a lot of wiring work will be needed. Plus, one furnace is missing and the other pretty much shot and boilers have been removed That’s a lot of money when ducting and piping is included.

First job though, as always, is change of locks.

Here are some pre-work photos for this foreclosure property:

Tags: American foreclosures, American property, Detroit builders, Detroit Property Rehab, Property Detroit
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Furnace replacement: Wrestling with a 500lb gorilla

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

It might seem a straightforward job – replacement of old furnace. It might be if the new furnace was the same size as the old. That is didn’t weigh 500 lbs. And you didn’t have to take it down a narrow staircase!

A refurbishment job on a 3 bedroom house on Haverhill Street, Detroit included replacement of the old furnace. You can see from the picture of the old piece of kit how old it was. Circa Titanic era, by the look of it! It left a trail of rust on removal.

To save the property owner a couple of thousand dollars, a good, second hand modern style furnace was acquired. A really heavy duty one that is incredibly heavy. Luckily, our contractor is a muscular 15 stone guy and with his work partner, they slid it down a ramp made over the stairs. It took a whole Saturday afternoon just to get it down to its new home in the basement.

As you can see from the pictures, there was a lot of work fitting the replacement. After making a level base, the old flue pipe had to be replaced and so too all joining pipework . This means quite a number of expensive valves and joints. It’s a big job and matching new to old is always tricky.

Pictures are unfortunately on the small side but should give a good idea:

Tags: Builders in Detroit, Detroit Property Rehab, Detroit Real Estate, Furnace replacement work
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US061 Mansfield; Job Done in a Month

Monday, January 4th, 2010

The crew have finished up in this property and it’s looking a whole lot smarter than when they arrived.

New front door with step. Windows and shutters painted. Inside, the hardwood floors look really good sanded and varnished.

All wall surfaces newly painted in light shade. In kitchen, revamped and is now fine for renting (or selling). New sanitary ware, and very importantly new heating and hot water system.

All in, a job well done, quickly and without hassle. And the proof of this in a tenant snapping it up as soon as offered. We tell our clients there is big rental demand in Detroit. Yes, there is, BUT, it’s got to be the right sort of property. Better houses in decent locations, like all the houses we process.

And what tenants scramble to rent, will sell for a nice price later on for sure.

(In the photos the boards are still on the property as these pictures were took last just before the tenant moved in. We usually leave boards on until tenants move in).