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Hey folks, check out this video tour we did of the completed renovation at Bristol Court in Woodbridge, VA. We’re planning on doing one of these for each of our projects from now on, so stay tuned for more drastic transformations! This was our first real attempt at a video tour, and we’re looking to continue improving the quality and usefulness of upcoming videos. So let us know what you think. Are there any details that you wish we focused more on? Is there something else you would have liked to see? The neighborhood, perhaps? View from the front door? Let us know what you think!

To see just how dramatic the transformation was from “trash to treasure,” check out the Before pictures posted earlier: 3391 Bristol Court.

This home has been sold to a wonderful family, but we are always working on something new. If you’re looking to purchase a home in our service area of Northern VA, MD, and DC, let us know and we’ll help you find just what you’re looking for.

Thanks to everyone who came out to our open house in Fredericksburg to see the results of all our hard work. We received many compliments on all the design changes made to the house, which made it bright, open and modern.

We also got a lot of positive feedback about the benefits of doing a preview open house instead of a traditional open house. With a preview event, all major work has been completed but the finishing touches–such as paint colors, carpet colors, and appliance models– are undone, which gives potential buyers the ability to customize their home so they don’t have to change anything after moving in. And one lucky family is doing just that!

Here are some photos from the open house:

I just can’t help but brag about the amazing transformation going on at Colebrook Road. Take a look at how the unfinished basement looked before we started:

And take a look at this progress photo of our finished basement!

Even the darkest, dingiest spaces have potential if you know how to look at things!

Having a large room available in the house at 255 Colebrook Road, we decided to create a spacious second master suite, complete with a luxury bathroom and big double-headed shower.

After our personal experiences dealing with elderly family members, we decided to go the extra mile to make the whole suite handicapped accessible. We created a shower that has no step-over threshold. In the event a buyer or family member is in a wheelchair or requires a walker, they won’t have to worry about rolling or stepping over the threshold to get into the shower. For future needs, there is wood blocking installed in the framing of the walls for hand rails and a shower seat.

Having wheeled many a stretcher into homes during my long career in the fire department, we decided to install 36-inch wide doors to the master bedroom and bath in the event the suite will be used for an elderly or infirm resident. You’ve got to start thinking about these things as you get older, or reach the age when you find yourself caring for aging parents.

This foresight adds a bit more time and effort up front of course, but we know how much of a difference it can make to someone’s quality of life in the future, which makes it a no-brainer!

The joy of riding a train from Connecticut to Washington, DC is that I have time to write. I only wish my fingers could go as fast as Amtrack on those those straightaways!

I have a little more to share about a challenge we faced during one of our current renovations. Whether you are looking to buy a home or you are renovating an older home yourself, you are likely to run into something like this.

The Oddities of Prior Renovations

Many houses are renovated little by little over the years–an addition here, closing in a porch there, knocking out walls to combine rooms or building walls to divide them, another addition years later…often resulting in an odd, higgeldy-piggeldy layout. We ran into just such a challenge with this renovation, and it nearly had me pulling out what is left of my hair! Hopefully you can benefit from our experience.

The home had an original carport that had been enclosed many years ago. Unfortunately, when they built the floor at that time, they dropped it lower than the rest of the house’s floor level.

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Hey everyone, it’s been a while since last writing. We’ve been working so hard, taking care of business, that I almost forgot to take care of the real business — YOU.

Recently we’ve invested in three properties that need various amounts of renovation. The one I want to speak  about now is our Fredericksburg single family home on one acre. This place was owned by a man who had many difficulties keeping the place up. After he passed away, his son inherited the property and realized that he had neither the time, the resources, nor the energy to tackle the renovation needed to either live in the property or to sell it conventionally. And this guy is even in the building trades, so you can imagine the amount of work we were up against when we got the call to consider purchasing the property!

A careful assessment was completed and a renovation budget was prepared. The potential of this property is awesome, but we knew we would have to roll up our sleeves to tackle this baby! Even with our many years of experience, this one posed a couple of challenges:

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Here are some in-progress pictures of the house at 255 Colebrook Road in Fredericksburg, VA. We’ve finished the demolition phase, have fixed and updated the plumbing and electrical as needed, and have begun rebuilding the interior spaces. It’s amazing how much better it looks just from being cleared out and cleaned up!

255 Colebrook Road, Fredericksburg VA 22405

When we found this property it had been neglected for long time, both inside and out (see for yourself below). But the all-brick house has great bones and we have some great ideas about how to clean everything up, improve the layout, and modernize it for current homebuyers.

We are already at work on the renovation, and are making good progress. I know the pictures look pretty scary, but just scroll down the page to the before-and-after results of our last project at Mount Pleasant to see what an incredible transformation is possible. I’ll be posting some in-progress pictures in a couple days so you can see how much of an improvement has already been made.

Everybody out there who’s looking for a great deal on a great home can get details about this property before it goes on the market by signing up for our mailing list to the right.

The renovation of 14111 Mount Pleasant Drive in Woodbridge is complete and we will be hosting an Open House this weekend: Saturday, Feb. 21st and Sunday, Feb. 22nd from 1-4 pm both days.

A mortgage lender will be on site to offer guidance and answer your questions about the best way to get financing, and help will be available for both English and Spanish speakers.

The house is looking really good!! I will post the final pictures tomorrow. In the meantime, check out the flow of everything from the floor plans below, and feel free to drive by to take a look at the house for yourself.

I hope to see you this weekend!

We’ve got two properties for sale in Durham, NC: 916 and 918 Elizabeth Street. Check out these videos on YouTube to see the finished product!

916 Elizabeth Street

918 Elizabeth Street

For more info about these houses, sign up for our buyers’ info list by using the form to the right. Or call Kita Graham, our Durham representative, at (919) 332-3157.