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:

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 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.

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.

We added a sliding door at the back of the house where the windows used to be located, because we got rid of the original rear door. We got rid of the original rear door so we could put in a new shower for the new luxurious master bathroom in the new master suite, which we created from a large unusable existing room. The renovation of this room required raising up the floor level to match the rest of the house, which caused us to re-design the structural posts and piers supporting the floor joist system. We had to run the plumbing through this joist system and create an access to it from the crawl space, causing more structural issues to deal with before getting the framing inspection approval. Oh, and to make the master suite nice, we cut through the brick walls to add two windows in the bedroom and one in the bathroom to make the space light and airy for the new buyers.  And I’m not even going to get into the cost of all these changes…

Now do you have an appreciation for renovation cause and effect?

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:

#1) There was a full unfinished basement with a drive-in garage under the house, lending itself to a terrific amount of additional living space, and we had to re-design the finished basement with today’s active family in mind. A powder room was decided upon to complement the huge family recreation room, the newly separated garage, and the large laundry/storage/utility room entering from the outside. The advice we got from our team was to make the floorplan open, but with some separation for multiple activities. With some work, we created a media room that opens to a recreation area. They are separate enough for dual activities, but the new owner can easily encompass both areas if needed.

#2) We were caught off guard by the number of floor cuts we had to make in order to meet today’s new codes for the laundry room drain and the utility floor drain. These were in addition to the new powder room piping we installed. For our guys, it was no problem that a major concrete saw and a jack hammer couldn’t deal with. Of course, don’t forget the good old fashioned shovel needed to dig down to the under-slab piping. The inspections process wasn’t so bad, after we got help from the inspections and code officials.

Even if you know the business as well as we do, seek out any and all help. You won’t regret the time you spent to get it done right the first time. We know from experience that it is a heck of a lot cheaper to do it right and pay for it once than to tear it out and do it a second time.

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?

Ever cranked up the hot water for your morning shower before your long commute to work and got a blast of cold water? Come home exhausted from your day in the trenches, faced with ripping out the rest of that wall you thought was going to be a breeze? How about hauling the plastic bags of construction debris to the landfill in your Prius? But remember, it is only $20,000 to fix the place up, no big deal.

The fact is, choosing a fixer upper foreclosure means investing not only money but a lot of time and effort into a home that is not move-in ready. The renovations will take nearly all of your free time, and you’ll be living in chaos in the meantime.

If you’re willing to put up with all of these things, buying a foreclosure directly from the homeowner or at a bank auction may be the perfect choice for you. If money is the most important factor, you will certainly pay the lowest price going this route. If the value of your time and your quality of life are also factors — like they are for the many people we work with — consider purchasing a foreclosure home from a responsible investor. You will still pay much less than the market price for the house, but all of the repairs and renovations will be completed so all you have to do is move in to your new home.

All real estate investors are not created equal, and you should be careful when evaluating the quality of their work and selecting who to do business with. But that is another whole article…