Renovation Finished & SOLD!

It all happened so fast. Our renovator finished the renovations a few weeks ago. While we were waiting for the photographer to take the photos, we put up the for sale sign at the front window. Then before we even had a chance to list, a realtor called. Before you know it we had an offer. This Friday we officially sold the place.

Here are the final numbers compared against originally planned.

Estimated: 
$215,000 purchase
$20,000 renovations (the townhouse is similar to Mom & Dad’s townhouse we just renovated) $15,000 for Realtor fess, lawyer fees, etc.

Estimated Cost: $250,000
Estimated Sale price: $290,000

Actual:
$215,000 purchase
$18,622 Renovations
$19,984 Realtor Fees, Lawyer Fees, Condo Fees, Utilities, Property Taxes, Interest payment etc.

Actual Cost: $253,606
Actual Sale Price: $293,500

So we made $39,894. About $106 less than the $40,000 we estimated. Not Bad! To be honest I think we got very lucky because the Calgary housing market is pretty hot.  But $40,000 good profit so if we had a hard time and the time on market dragged on we were prepared to take less profit.  Also, the rental potential is great for this place so that was going to be our backup plan. 

Now we are pumped to find the next project.

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Update on the Reno Project

We took possession of the townhouse this week.  We already had a couple of quotes for the renovation and decided on a renovator.  He's already started the demolition.  Of course we could make even more money if we did the renovation ourselves but realistically that was not going to happen in a timely manner.  With the renovator, he said he will bed one early February, which is a good time to list it.  If we were to do it, with our busy schedules it won't be done for months.

The renovator's quote was quite reasonable.  Looks like we will still be within the $20K budget including buying new appliances.

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Renovation Project bought!

It's been a long process and lots of waiting.  But the Reno project I wrote about is bought.  We take position in early January.  This is perfect timing because Beau and I will be back from our vacation around the same time.

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Let's buy a renovation project

I’m so excited.  Beau and I put in an offer on a townhouse.   It’s a court sale so I’m not sure when we will hear back.  However, here are the numbers if we get it at the price we want.

$215K purchase

$20K renovations (the townhouse is similar to Mom & Dad’s townhouse we just renovated)

$15K for Realtor fess, lawyer fees, etc.

Projected sale price $290K based on two similar listings in the same complex listed for $300K.  One is conditionally sold.

Projected profit is $40k.  Respectable.  Also, if some things happens to the market and we cannot sell, the economics still works out to hold this as a rental unit.

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Painting - Our new house & Parents' new house

My life has been a blur of painting lately.

Last week we painted our new house.  More Lessons learnt.

• Do not try to paint over a dark grey with a light color
• If you are going to do it PRIME first
• No matter what your eyes tell you about under tones of yellow, grey etc. Artisan White is just another type of white

We chose the Artisan white because the place is so small and needs a light color.  But if I had to do it again I'd choose just a tiny little more color.   We ended up doing 3 coats of paint.  Mostly we are done except for one room and the hall way which only has one coat.  These we are waiting until the bathroom renovations are done because thing might get scratched.

Tomorrow we are going to prime Mom and Dad's basement.  The same renovator is doing their basement and he's giving up money off for doing the painting.

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Bathroom renovation - Demolition

Sunday we got to demolishing the bathroom.  Turned out to be a lot more work than expected and Beau has to go back during the week to finish it during his free time.

We realized the bath tub is just a fiber glass cover over the old bath tub and tiles.  We decided to replace the bath tub.  I started taking out the linoleum floor and there were three layers underneath it.  Some layers looked wet.  To be safe we are going to take the whole floor out and put in a new sub floor.  That's one thing to keep in mind with renovating.  You don't know exactly what you are getting into until you start demolition.  Always leave some room in your budget for the unexpected. 

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Plans for our new House - The Painting

We learnt something important at our last rental.  A paint job makes a world of difference.  The rental was look worn out and smelled horrible.  Two coast of paint and it was looking new and refreshed.  Our new house was painted a dark grey color with darker grey baseboards and trims to match.  The previous tenants painted the living room and master bedroom but left everything else grey.  It made the house look small and dark.  So in addition to a new bathroom we are going to paint.

We debated whether or not we should paint or buy new baseboard and trim.  Finally we decided against it.  The baseboards are very similar to what we wanted and the trims are ok.  Buying all new would mean more we have to buy new baseboards and trims, paint them, and install them, instead of just painting. 

Beau bought our paint during the week and I took Saturday off from the office work to help. We spent like eight hours taping, sanding, priming, and painting.  We didn't even complete one room.  I finished priming all the rooms except for the hallway and master bedroom - we are leaving that until we finish renovating the bathroom. Beau finished one coat for the two bedrooms.  I'm pooped.  We are going to take the night off.

Lessons learnt:

• Painting baseboard and trim takes a long time
• Dollarama has cheap painting supplies.  Do buy knee pads, drop cloth, and paint trays from there.  Don't buy brushes, rollers, and tape from there.
• A foam roller makes things look much better than brush
• Painting baseboard?  Not a 3 hour job like originally planned

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Plans for our new house - The Bathroom

It's been weeks since we got keys to the new house.  But with Beau and I being so busy with the rental, new job, we only had time today to meet our renovator and go over details of what we want to do.  Since he's done so many projects for us this year, he's willing to break the work down and letting us pick what we want to do ourselves to save money.

Our first priority is our bathroom.  The current (and only full bathroom) is dated and dirty.  The sink is so heavy the stand is starting to crack.  Also, there is no backsplash so the back wall is starting to mold.  The toilet yellow and dirty.  The showering has frosted glass sliding doors with so much scum on it I don't think I'll ever wash it off.

So it is a complete redo.  We are going to do everything except for the tiling.  We are thinking of keeping the tub because it's in pretty good condition.  Here's a photo of the original bathroom.  Stay tuned for photos of the progress.

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Save money on Renos – Do your own painting

When the upstairs tenant left in rental A we decided it was a good time to do renos.  Originally we were going to do the renos on our own.  However, when our renovator quoted the price for the bathroom and kitchen, we decided to let him do it.  We thought we give the place a new coat of paint ourselves though.

Painting is the best way to instantly refresh a place.  We find the place cleaner and brighter.  It even smelt better.  We thought we figure out how much painting ourselves saved us.  Our renovator said he would have charged use $800.  We spent about $50 on paint (cheap because we went to the miss tint section and grabbed what was available in the quantity we want) and about $100 on paint supplies.  Savings $650.

It’s not that hard to do even for a rookie like me.  It took two of us about 9 hours to paint approximate 800 sqft.  We picked an off white color so it was more forgiving if we made mistakes, and painted two coats.  I was a little worried when the first coat was drying because it looked very patchy.   But once it dried it looked much better and when the second coat dried it looked great.
Actually, the same guy is renovating our parent’s place so we already talked to him about doing the painting.  He agreed that he’d do the sanding and prep and we do the painting for a $1000 discount.

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Demolition is hard work

My mom and dad hired a contractor to renovate their entire basement.  However, to save some money we offered to do the demolition ourselves.  I have to admit, I’ve lived a pretty easy life in the sense that I have never repaired, built, or renovated anything in my life.  I’ve never even moved my own furniture.  I was actually kind of excited to do demolition.  Obviously when I thought that I did not know how much work it was.

For the last two weeks, Beau and I have spent our after work hours at my parents’ place tearing down their basement.  It’s not difficult.  It doesn’t require precision or skill.  But it does require strength and endurance.  The deal was that we’d leave all the garbage in the garage and the renovator will take it away.  When half way through the demolition dad said we should consider moving it out to the yard, the thought of moving all that garbage again nearly broke my spirit.  I thought I was fit and strong from the gym.  Truth is it just gave me a false sense of fitness until I had to carry 800 square feet’s worth of carpet and carpet liners, ceiling, and dry wall upstairs.

If you are considering demolition, I have some advice.  Get proper tools, it’s hard enough tearing things down, I can’t imagine doing it without proper tools.  Get good masks.  It might look clean until you take down the ceiling.  I was too lazy to wear my mask one night, and ended up hacking up dust all day the next day.  Wear gloves and sturdy shoes.  There are a lot of nails.

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