Well, I’ve gone and done it again. I’m like skanky Britney Spears; “Whoops I Did It Again….” Went on a little buying spree over the past couple weeks, and still planning to do more. Actually I’m being coy, I went on a serious BENDER unlike I’ve been on since attending my last college Keg-er. Here’s what we picked up over the past three weeks. The Three Pigs as they will affectionately be referred to from here on out.

Check out the video. Take a look at these MONSTERS!

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Holy Muv’ did we take a long time to finish this one. Truth is, we ran into a BUZZ-SAW with my new most UN-favorite CON-tractor. (A brief word to the CON-tractor) I know you’re out there still. You got me on this one and the others, but karma is a bitch my friend -- and no bad turn goes unnoticed by the karma gods.

But I digress.

With no help from the CON-tractor, we completed this monster and got it out on the market. If you go back to the original posts, you’ll see that Mary Ave came a LONG, LONG way. Originally a two-unit aprtment building, we transformed it back into a single family home with 4 beds & 2 full baths. It has all new windows, plumbing, dual-zoned HVAC, electric and of course, all the Craig Fuhr-style trimmings.

As for major floor-plan changes -- we opened up the stairway at the foyer, then closed off the entrance from the foyer to the living room. We then turned the living room, and adjacent sitting rooms into a massive master suite complete with a bedroom sized bathroom. This is my biggest bath to date, complete with a corner soaking tub and huge stand-up shower. Walk through the new french doors in the bathroom to a massive walk-in closet. Seriously, this sets the bar for walk-in closets. Its HUGE.

In the kitchen, we closed off a window and the door leading to the back yard. We then added a laundry area to the kitchen, and new french doors in the dining room lead to the back yard deck. Pretty cool. The dining room was finished with a tray ceiling and butlers pantry. The living room has a tray ceiling as well.

ALERT: I’ll be doing a “NOTHING HELD BACK” review of this entire transaction via webinar VERY SOON so stay tuned for the details on that.

This is a little refresher on all the “before” progress: HERE

Here’s the after pics

Here’s the final video

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Here it is. Another rehab complete, another house on the market, and oh -- because this update has taken so long -- another house under contract. When its 6 teeth-chattering degrees outside and there’s 84 inches of snow on the ground, I often wonder why the heck I flip houses in the dead of Maryland’s winter. But I know, its all about the spring pay-off, people! When you live in the northeast, buying crappy houses in November sucks -- but selling them all in April is oh, so AWESOME.

Say it with me, CHA-CHING!

That’s brings me to the final episode of our big rehab flip on Kipling Parkway. You’ll recall that this house started out with a super-sleepy layout; basically a 3/1 with an unfinished basement. We transformed it into a open and airy, kick-ass, 4/3 with a HUGE finished basement. I was REALLY worried about turning the existing kitchen into a bedroom, and turning the cave-like sun-room into a kitchen -- I mean, I REALLY worried, but upon listing the house we had a ton of showings, and every last potential buyer loved the layout.

The place was on the market and under contract in less than a week.

Check it out. Shoot me your comments below.

Video

Pictures

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When you’re flipping houses, there’s nothing like staying in the same neighborhood. You’ll recall that we just completed two very successful rehab flips in PG County. While driving around one day, I thought, “What the heck, I’ll take a look at this piece of crap REO property that a local wholesaler referred me to.” The asking price at the time was pretty crazy, so I waited. I liked the house, but it was just too high.

Waiting works people. When buying REO’s, patience is often rewarded.

This house will be transformed from a sleepy, tired, outdated and horribly laid-out 3/1, to a open, airy, luxurious 4/2 with a master BR and BA to die for. We’ll demo the main bath, trim, kitchen, windows, and basement. We’ll open up the main bath by extending it 18 inches and we’ll bring the kitchen into the 21st century by demo’ing the wall between the kitchen and sunroom (too killer). This will give us a sweet breakfast bar and very spacious dining room. The basement won’t have a tremendous amount of room for family, but it will have a super-spacious master bedroom with jacuzzi-bath. I’m also adding a few other Craig Fuhr-like touches that you’ll just have to stay tuned for.

Can’t give away all my secrets.

Here’s the before video:

Check the all the before pictures:

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Well, it’s finally done, and here it is. I know I say this about all my deals, but Hamilton Ave is truly my greatest rehab yet. Some lucky homeowner is going to get a great home when they buy this Craig-Fuhr-rehab (I promise, that’s the last time I’ll ever write in 3rd person). The place is spacious, and luxurious. Its quaint and opulent all at the same time. The home has it all. Lots of space, super open and airy layout, high-end finish, tons of storage, a kid’s dream for a back yard, -- and it absolutely perfect for entertaining.

This house, more than any I have ever done, presented so many challenges in terms of its original layout. As we know, challenges are simply opportunities in hiding.

I think we did a pretty good job uncovering the opportunities. Check out the before and after video of this great rehab. I’d be happy to hear your comments.

How about a whole crap-pile of pictures for ya?

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Here it is. The beast, the nemesis, the magic mansion that will soon turn into dollars falling from the sky -- God willing. This, my investing pals & pallettes, is Diller, and like the comedian of the same name -- in its heart, Diller thinks she’s beautiful, but she needs some serious cosmetic surgery to bring her back to life.

Even though its been vacant for some time, the house is in remarkable good shape. The problem is, she was broken into a few apartments, and the layout is beyond horrible. We won’t have to do a full gut, but because of the house’s sheer size, the rehab budget for this one is $70,000.00.

We’ll bust it up and make a gorgeous modern layout, add 3 full baths, and 2 1/2 baths. We’ll gut the kitchen, transform the attic into an fabulous owner’s suite, make the front porch into a all-season oasis, add some stone to the facade, replace all the windows…. You, know, we’ll do what we do!!!

Here’s the kinda lame before video. Stay tuned for more.

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Damn -- ugh! Its every year at about this time that I quite simply shut down. I get the winter blues. Like a delicate flower, I need sun, sand, water and a little fertilization (in the form of alcohol). I need a vacation. So when you watch this video, just know that I wished I was somewhere else while I was shooting it.

Anywho, we’ve made some serious progress on this place in just a few short weeks. We’re essentially ready for sheetrock. Check it out now, ’cause the next time you’ll see it, it will be a whole different place.

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There’s something about Mary…Avenue. We’ve been working on this monstrosity for about two weeks. Once complete, this will be my second greatest “real estate” accomplishment -- that is because I’m about to get started on what will be my greatest. Stand by for that update.

Anyway, we picked up El-Crappo from a bank, of course. The original buyer flaked (he did not close) after he bid $10,000 over asking price. What an ass-hat! I wound up getting the house for $7,000.00 UNDER asking price. Hey, Ass-Hat -- I win. You lose. Game over!

Oh, did I mention the 15″ of water in the basement we found 1 day before settlement? Another great day!

Set up as multi-unit with a horrible layout, we will transform Mary from a 3/1 to a 4/2 with a killer modern, opulent and exquisite layout. Wait until you see the master-suite. It’s a room that just keeps giving. Long and short….my wife is pissed that I keep making houses nicer than the one we live in.

Check the video of all the before shots. Update 2 is already in the can, and will be coming soon.

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This is my little giant. Such a small looking house from the outside, but on the inside it just keeps giving. Kipling has been an enjoyable little retail flip that has really kept me up at night. The layout of this house was nothing short of disastrous, so when I got in there to do my thing -- it really took a great deal of planning to bring the layout up to the 21st century.

I talked about this in previous posts -- when you walk in a house before and just after demo, you need to stop and ask yourself, “Does it work? Does it give the buyer what buyers want in today’s market?”  If it doesn’t, take the time to make sure it does. Do not just trudge on with ordinary. Really pause to think of how you can make the house work better. That’s our job, right?

This house had a smallish kitchen that was completely separated from the rest of the house. It had no flow, no open-airy feeling. The sun room was anything but sunny, the basement was cold and dank, and the upstairs dormer bedrooms were, well, they were dormer bedrooms.

We made the sunroom area the kitchen, the kitchen a bedroom, and one of the dormers became the master. The basement is finished, and the place has a whole new feel. It been transformed from a 3 br / 1.5 ba sleeper to a 4 br / 3 full bath modern marvel

We’re almost done, but check out the progress video below:

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This update has been a long time coming. As I was walking through the house this morning, on what should be the final week of this rehab project, I was reminded that I haven’t really done an update lately on my little red-headed stepchild. So here it is, our retail house flip in District Heights.

We got a little off track with this rehab project. I learned that I will NEVER do a flip again without pulling permits, and that I will always use trusted sub-contractors, especially when using a new general contractor. My contractor for this job has dealt with some pretty heavy setbacks, in terms of, horrible subs, very angry inspectors (who actually shut us down), and a steep learning curve for pulling building permits. Heck -- even God took it out on the poor guy, with two massive blizzards!

Through thick and even more thick, my guy has hung in there and he’s bringing this job home. Check it out our progress video below:

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