Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

SignUp Now!

It didn't look like it would be a success but it was

johninottawa

0
REIN Member
Joined
May 27, 2011
Messages
78
Couldn't have done this one without LLR. This was so fantastic I actually yelled out in a crowded elevator when I read the text about it... but the back story first.

After I bought and renovated my first 3 houses, I got an opportunity a flip house that someone wanted to get out of quickly without a lot of effort to advertise. I saw it as a fast way to add another suited house without having to go through a renovation. The deal took a lot of juggling to set up, the upstairs part of the flip was done but the basement wasn't. After a lot of back and forth the deal included the sellers contractor finishing the "in progress" basement suite renovation. Lesson - don't get someone to do work for you if they don't report to you.

In spite of a having a normal home inspection before subject removal and an additional inspection of the completed renovation work, 2 months after closing the problems began. It started with water in the basement. This led to opening a wall, which led to finding some plumbing problems and opening more walls. More problems , more walls, more problems, open ceilings, structural problems, on and on. To be honest there were days I didn't even want to answer my cell phone when I saw it was a call about this house. At the end it was a complete gut and rebuild of the basement, as well as dealing with property drainage and structural issues.

The seller who bought the house in a foreclosure continued to maintain that all the areas with problems had not been touched by their contractor. Lawyers said it came down to one word against another without some concrete evidence of what was done when.

What really saved this situation was the REIN lesson of building a strong team. In this case I was able to fall back on having Jared Hope/LLR both as my management company but also as my contractor. Jared and his team stayed on top of the the problems as they came up, kept in contact with me and helped figure out solutions. They went beyond both normal property management and ordinary contractors. They also kept the upstairs tenant happy through all the work and juggled the city inspectors who were breathing down my neck to get the suite legalized while each day brought a new problem and delay.

It was not an easy road but I am pleased to say that it was worth it to stick it out and work through it all. I learned some new aspects of renovating as a result, it pushed my envelope for the scope of work I could have in a project, and, in the end, staying true to the quality I want in all my houses paid off. And so did having the excellent LLR team's expertise in suited houses.

I just began to appraise and refinance (see this post about how to get the best appraisal). Jared followed through for me on this as well by meeting with the appraiser to showcase the quality and provide excellent comps. Because this work had been so huge, even allowing for the market increase, I thought I'd be happy with a lift just equal to costs and that an extra 10,000 would be fantastic.

So back to me with the awkward elevator moment yelling "holy c**p". The day after the appraaisal I got a text that told me it came in at and additional $25K above fantastic. In the end quite a win, that is going to let me add another house to the portfolio shortly. In this case, one of Jared Hope's high quality turn key suited houses.

The real lesson here is a I had a plan that was working - buying houses ready for a renovation to turn a lousy suite into a great one, by working with a trusted proven company (LLR). Instead I had to mess with it (yes Don Campbell I know...). But after having made the mistake I came back to what was working, worked through the adversity, stuck with the plan ad got a win out of it after all. It also helped to have the support of REIN and REIN members for advice and just venting all the way through.
 

Ally

Research Assistant
Registered
Joined
Mar 24, 2009
Messages
16,743
Wow, great story! Thanks for sharing.
 
R

rob ohs

Guest
Guest
Amazing story and great post indeed.It is interesting to read such wonderful story .Keep it up :)
 
Top Bottom