Our Pool House Reno Reveal + Q&A
As you know, we bought a house to flip and have been renovating everything! If you’re new here or new to me we announced [in this post] that we bought a flip house! Anyway, I kept every update my Instagram Stories [@verbalgoldblog] and saved everything under the FIRST FLIP tab on my highlight section. So if you want to follow along and get a behind the scenes or just see how the process of our house flip is going – that is a good way to see it all on video! Follow along here: Instagram highlights #myfirstflip . It’s been a lot of work and I’ve learned a ton along the way as you’ll see.
I’m happy to answer any questions you have about the process of a house flip so drop them in the comments or on IG and I’ll make sure to include them in this blog post and update it as they come in.
This almost 50-year-old home was in bad condition when we bought it. The house is 1440 sq feet, with a huge lot, an in-ground pool, in a good area with a great school district, centrally located, in a potential up and coming neighborhood (in my opinion) that has no HOA, with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. The previous owner really let it go and when he did attempt to do updates, he did them himself, meaning we had to take down everything and start from scratch! We didn’t want our house flip to look “DIY” and to be honest, we’re not very handy, so while we did all the demo work ourselves, we hired contractors and professionals to put it back together.
You can see our listing on Zillow here! Our house flip got a lot of action on Zillow. Almost 4300 views and 300 saves in the first month!
Before and Afters of our house flip
Front of House
Read more on the landscaping transformation here.
Guest Bath
Master Bath
Read more on the master bathroom transformation here!
Guest Room 1
Master Bedroom
Guest Room 2
Kitchen
Living Room
Dining Room
Back of House + Pool
Garage
Q&A of our first house flip
- What has it been like flipping your first house? Stressful. Super fun and exciting at first, but the entire process is overwhelming. I did it all myself, obviously with help, but meaning I didn’t have a GC. It probably would be a lot easier with a general contractor managing everything but you still have to pick out paint colors, grout colors, and make tons of decisions. Overall, I’m glad we did it. It’s been on my bucket list for a while so I love knowing that I can do it. I’m even considering getting my real estate license.
- What all did you do? Answering that in detail below.
- Where is everything from? Sharing that below as well.
- Would you do it again? Yes! I’d do it a bit differently, but I’d definitely do it again.
- Who staged your house? I did with the extra things I had around my house and also with the help of Shop The Little Marketplace Smyrna.
- How much did you spend on the house flip? More than I wanted to for sure but I’ll go into more details about that below.
- How long did it take to sell? Answering that below.
- What did you learn? Plan for the best but prepare for the worst. It really is a risky business.
- Why did you decide to flip a house? I watched way too much HGTV and DIY Network house flip shows and always wanted to try it. We had the opportunity and pulled the trigger. I’m pretty spontaneous and just happy my husband wanted to join in on my crazy.
We scraped the popcorn ceilings off ourselves! Talk about an arm workout!
Timing of our first house flip
We bought the house on July 13th, 2018 and rented it out for 4 months. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out and we didn’t like being landlords. We always had the intent to renovate it and go slow, but when the renters left we had to pick up the pace. We started flipping the house Oct 6th, 2018 and finished in 19 weeks. So basically it took around 4 months to complete. Keep in mind during this time as the project manager, I got pregnant, slipped a disc in my back, had to keep up my 3 other businesses, and traveled to Bimini, St.Lucia, London, San Francisco, Hawaii, Arkansas, Vegas, Curacao, Aruba, and Coeur d’Alene during renovations. My husband had a full-time job the entire time so we spent some late nights and almost every weekend at our flip house. Plus, November and December were super slow due to the holidays.
We listed the house on March 7th and got an all-cash full price offer 5 days after we listed the house. Then, a week later, we got 2 additional offers, both full price. These buyers even wrote us a song and sent us a video of them singing it. Very cool. Unfortunately, all 3 of those offers fell through. I’m not even sure what to blame it on. First-time uninformed buyers, bad realtors, us listing the house too soon prior to doing our own inspection, an extremely exaggerated inspection report, the wrong buyers… not sure.
Either way, our bubble totally burst. So we relisted the house on April 4th, 2019 and got two more offers, our fourth and fifth. We accepted an offer on April 19th, 2019 that has a closing date of May 6th. Unfortunately, that fell through as well due to financing and probably realtors not vetting the buyers finances properly. Fail. So we relisted the house…again…on May 11th and got 3 offers that day (our 6th, 7th, and 8th), one above asking, which we accepted! Everything finally went through and we closed on June 7th 2019! It took about 35 weeks (8 months) to renovate and sell. Considering everything we went through, I’d say we did an okay job on our first house flop. I’m pretty proud!
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What All Did We Do On Our House Flip
Everything. We started by cleaning the house out. There was so much crap left there so that took awhile. Then we pulled off the layers and layers of paneling that surrounded every room as well as the nasty carpet. Then we took a sledgehammer to everything to remove the upper kitchen cabinets and walls. We scraped off the popcorn ceiling (the worst – I lost 10lbs that week), sanded the ceiling (crazy messy, you’ll want one of these!), and removed layers of wallpaper. We even got up all the old tile. Basically, Home Depot was our second home because of the number of major tools we had to rent regularly.
Some of the hardest things were transporting tools and materials. I had to pick up like 400 pounds of tile myself from Floor and Decor and then unload them at the flip house myself, we moved 50 bags of mulch more times than I’d like to admit, moving hay and pine straw in our cars, getting doors from Lowes, taking trash to the dump, moving furniture back and forth, etc.
We also had contractors helping us so they moved the electrical and plumbing, put up drywall, replaced doors and framing, refinished the hardwood floors, and painted the entire interior and exterior.
I mean it was never-ending. We touched everything. Down to the studs. Some things I can’t even believe we did.
Master Bedroom- Removed paneling on all 4 walls, added drywall, removed popcorn ceiling, changed lighting, added carpet to the master closet, new doors, new paint, pressure washed master bedroom private deck.
Master Bathroom- Gutted the entire bathroom. Replaced the tub with a glass enclosed shower with a rain shower head, new tile floors, new vanity with a new vessel sink, new lighting, new paint.
Guest Rooms- New carpet, new paint, new doors, new lighting, removed popcorn ceilings.
Guest Bathroom- New tile floor, new paint, new lighting.
Kitchen- Refinished kitchen cabinets (sanded and painted) with new hardware, new faucet, added open shelving, new oven, added an eat-in wood bar countertop, removed old tile and feathered in new wood floors (sanded and stained), removed old wallpaper and added tile backsplash to the ceiling, refinished the sink, new pantry, new lighting, new outlets, new door.
Dining Room- Removed all paneling and old wallpaper. Removed the wall and laundry between the kitchen and dining room. Moved the plumbing, electrical, and water heater to create an open concept. Replaced sub floors due to rot and water damage. Feathered in new wood floors, sanded and stained. New lighting, new drywall, new paint. Removed popcorn ceiling.
Living Room- Removed popcorn ceiling and paneling, new drywall, new paint, new lighting, added carpet to the hall closet, painted the fireplace, new fireplace mantle, sanded and stained wood floors, new electrical outlets.
Garage- Removed paneling, new drywall, new paint, new door, new garage motor and springs
Landscaping / Outdoor- Removed limbs from the giant oak tree out front, bought a chainsaw extender and cut down limbs ourselves and burned them in the backyard, then hired a professional to do the higher ones, added a swing, seeded the yard, cut down all overgrown shrubs, got rid of a giant debris pile in the backyard, planted rose bushes and tons of new plants in front yard, planted a living fence (a row of arborvitaes that grow to 18ft) in the backyard, added mulch, added pine straw, pressure washed all paved and decked surfaces, cleaned pool (so many times), removed shed, cleaned up fence, added fencing, painted the mailbox and added numbers, added shutters, painted the exterior of the house, new lighting, new doorbell, new soffits, cleaned gutters, and mowed the yard as needed.
You can watch more behind the scenes of our house flip on @verbalgoldblog Instagram story highlights called “First Flip“!
By the numbers
Sale price $253,000
Purchase price $162,000
Reno budget $38,600
Closing costs $21,990
Gross profit $91,000
Net profit $30,410
If you want to know what we spent and on what let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post!
What We Used for our House Flip
Paint Colors
Before I get to the paint colors, let me tell you there is so much about paint I didn’t know. Like to use a semi-gloss on kitchen cabinets and molding. That there are so many options like flat, interior, semi-gloss, and exterior paint. If you’re doing it yourself, pay close attention to the type of paint you’re buying and make sure it’s the right kind for where you want to paint.
One thing I didn’t know… even if you replace all the doors and they look white, they aren’t. You have to paint each door and the framing that comes with it. If you’re paying someone to do it, that could run you $50-100 per door plus paint.
As far as the paint colors go, we used agreeable gray for the majority of the walls including the master bedroom. Because the house is small, I didn’t want to paint the trim in a darker color or paint the house a darker color. My goal was to make it look as large as possible, so we painted the house and all the trim a stark bright white, specifically, White Ice 2139-70 | Benjamin Moore. We painted the kitchen cabinets and the fireplace a nice creamy white, SW 7008 Alabaster. I wanted to make a statement in the kitchen and since I didn’t do a statement tile I decided to paint the lowers a rich blue. Then I tied it in by painting the front door and all exterior doors in the same blue. We used SW 6509 Georgian Bay.
Lighting
Would you believe me if I told you I replaced all of the lights, inside and out, including the fans and got 3 chandeliers for under $400? I’m good, you guys!
So let me share my top finds with y’all because updating the lighting in your home can totally transform your entire space! Plus, it’s quick and easy. I watched a youtube tutorial on changing a ceiling light and would you believe that I did it myself?!? Yup! Just make sure you turn the power off at the breaker first. It’s super simple. I saved myself $100 per lighting install there! Click the link below to see everything I used in our flip house!
Read More: The Best Lighting For A Rustic Chic Farmhouse
Thank Yous
Hard to believe we didn’t get a gift from our realtors after everything but WE gave an amazing gift to the buyers thanks to Crawford McWilliams Art who custom painted the house! They loved it!
So if you’re a realtor I highly recommend using Crawford McWilliams Art to give your clients custom paintings of their new homes!
Any other questions, leave them below. Time to find another house to flip. J/K we’re taking a break for a while since I’m pregnant. But this was definitely an experience!
Read Next:
10 Tips For First Time Flippers
Our Pool House Reno: The Power Of Landscaping
Our Pool House Reno: What Changing Tile Can Do For Your Master Bathroom
Introducing “The Pool House”, Our Atlanta Fixer Upper!
The Best Lighting For A Rustic Chic Farmhouse
