BuyRenovatedForeclosures.com

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!

We are making great progress on our full renovation of 225 Colebrook Road in Fredericksburg, VA. And I do mean FULL renovation: from completely tearing out all of the old, worn out interior to changing the layout to now starting to add all the luxury details. Let us know what you think!

We would be happy to give you a tour of the house before we open it to the public. If you’re interested, just email us at deals@prsproperties.com or give us a call at (703) 378-7466.

As I have written in the past, the lure of buying a junker bank-owned property and fixing it up yourself to save money can be both exhilarating and crushing–sometimes all at the same time!

Here is an example of how easy it is to entangle yourself in all the many elements of a renovation. These are all changes we’ve made to one of our current properties. No doubt the future buyer will be ecstatic about all of the lovely changes and updates we’ve made…but before you buy a fixer upper, ask yourself whether this is something you can handle on your own. If so, more power to ya! If not, why don’t you give us a call to see what already-renovated properties we might have available.

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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!

With so many homes going into foreclosure these days, there has been a lot of attention to getting a great foreclosure “deal.” Let’s take a look at what is really going on with this latest real estate rush. I’d like to share my knowledge in order to help you make a smart foreclosure investment, and keep you safe from the common pitfalls of buying a foreclosure home.

Here is what I see from being out there every day looking at properties. The banks lent on all kinds of houses, both new and old. Many of the newer properties that are now bank-owned are in need of minor repairs: paint, carpet, a door here, a window there. You should always remember the saying “buyer beware,” as things like appliances, heating and air conditioning systems, roofs, gutters, garage door openers, and water heaters can go bad even in a newer house. But if you are handy, or have a brother-in-law like the guys on This Old House, you are probably good to go.

Unfortunately, most foreclosure homes are fixer uppers. If a homeowner was unable to make their mortgage payments, they probably weren’t able to pay for all of the necessary repairs or upgrades to their properties either. Sometimes when people realize they’ll be losing their home, they just give up and stop putting any more money into it, letting the problems with the property’s condition just compound. In the worse case scenario, they may even trash the house on purpose out of anger or frustration.

So here you are, all excited about getting a deal on a foreclosure. It is an old house and kind of had a rough life, maybe even some abuse by the previous occupants. Yeah, it is a little dated and the layout is a little obsolete, but your real estate agent told you it will only cost about $20,000 to make it a place of your own. Since you paid such a low price for the house, the extra money isn’t a problem. Piece of cake!

Ever had sheetrock or plaster dust with your morning cereal?

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