A dose of reality

We spent our first working weekend at the house this weekend. We're officially paying for electric and water. We completely stripped the floors. We met some neighbors.

So far, we've gotten estimates from the contractor who will be doing our ceilings and doors and a bunch of other odd jobs. We priced tile installation, and ended up deciding to do it ourselves. On Saturday, we met with someone for the cabinet re-facing and got those on order. We're still waiting for the call for someone to come measure for the countertops (which have already been chosen) The A/C guy was supposed to come on Saturday, but never showed up. Mike finally called him, and he said he was stuck at another job, but would come right after church on Sunday. His church got out at 11:30. Sunday morning came and went, we did what we needed to do, cleaned up all our messes, packed up all our stuff to go back to Tempe.... and still no A/C guy. Mike left him a message at 3, and no response. We gave up at 4, and headed back home.

We're going slightly over what we'd budgeted on the kitchen, and will be making up for it in other areas. It looks like we might need to find another A/C guy. All-in-all though, a productive first weekend!

Here are some pics:


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Welcome, and our first house

I thought I'd start a new blog, completely dedicated to house updates! My own little Flip This House. In the interest of not being completely tacky, I'll leave out the parts about how much we're spending or making and all that good stuff. I will say this though: While there seem to be a LOT of fix-up houses on the market, there aren't a lot of the right kind - at the right price, in the right neighborhoods, with the right things wrong. I am extremely glad that we 1) did our homework (lots and lots of homework) and 2) that we held out and waited for just the right property for our first flip.

The stats on the house:

Built in 1988
1900 sq ft
3 bedrooms, 2 bath
2 car garage
living/dining combo, great room & family room
big backyard & patio

We closed on September 15th

The plan:

We have a few system upgrades to make, but it is otherwise mostly cosmetic. Brand new kitchen, new bathrooms, new flooring throughout, new paint, new ceilings, new doors, new hardware. Get all the re-habbing done, and have the house completed and move-in ready by the end of November. Live there until at least January 2008, when we can take advantage of the tax break. We also hope to start buying others to strictly flip while we're living at this one. That's the plan.... we'll see how it measures up to reality :)