Just wrapped up an interesting project at work.

Jeremygavin

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2012
2,054
Cape Cod, MA
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2011 520 Sedan Bridge
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As a background I Flip houses and own a We Buy Ugly Houses franchise. I have owned and operated the franchise full time for 12yrs and flipped houses on the side before that. I don’t usually get into showing my projects too much because they are mostly just single family homes that we renovate and either keep for rental or resell. Usually they are typical renovations that we try to keep very simple so nothing too interesting.
This property we bought this time last year was very different. It is a single family row house in Boston. They are very hard to get and worth a lot so being in the discount home business we don’t get too much opportunity on places like this. We decided to keep it as a rental and do a full gut rehab on it. We did a project like this about 4 years ago and they are a ton work with but fun as it is out of the norm.
It took 1yr and $170k Renovation. 4 months of that was just to get the permit from the City of Boston. It will rent for $4500mo. 280deg views of Boston from the roof deck we added. It is 1256sqft total with 3 bed 1.5bath on 3 floors. The whole house is only 12ft wide x 30ft long All rooms are 12’x12’ with the rest used up by the stairway.
This was one of most fun projects we have done just because it is so different from what we usually buy.

Before pics:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oz8vxlsqsbfhta5/AADSXyET4Wvu7RI6NYeSVp82a?dl=0

After pics:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ugiivazrdp7njx8/AAC5-gDWH5Uv6ffZLE0Ms4w1a?dl=0
 
Looks nice. Rents must be craze high in Boston. I thought Toronto was bad.

If it was on one of the flipper shows on TV they would say it was a $75K reno. I am always amazed that they say they can gut and reno a kitchen for $20K on those shows. Maybe if you buy the cheapest materials you can get and maybe if you don't count any labor cost at all.
 
Looks nice. Rents must be craze high in Boston. I thought Toronto was bad.

If it was on one of the flipper shows on TV they would say it was a $75K reno. I am always amazed that they say they can gut and reno a kitchen for $20K on those shows. Maybe if you buy the cheapest materials you can get and maybe if you don't count any labor cost at all.

It is funny you say that because I can probably gut and reno a kitchen for less than $20k. I am a general contractor and I have 4 guys working for me full time on project so I can keep my costs way down.

Rents are crazy high in Boston. This neighborhood gets about $1500 per bedroom. It is right near the Hospitals and Northeastern University. House values are as well. This property is worth $750k. That’s $597 per sqft. It’s crazy.
 
Wow...that is an amazing transformation. Nice job. The brick is fantastic. The staircase just finishes the whole thing off.
 
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Jeremy, that turned out beautiful. Is that a partially finished basement? Poor house was fortunate you came along. Those before pictures are sad. I just don't get the whole hoarding thing. Good luck with the rental.
 
Jeremy, that turned out beautiful. Is that a partially finished basement? Poor house was fortunate you came along. Those before pictures are sad. I just don't get the whole hoarding thing. Good luck with the rental.
It is a laundry room down in the bamsent. Ceiling height is just over 6ft so no living space down there.
We buy border houses a lot and this one was one of the worst. No running water and we took 30 trucks (each truck equivalent to a 10yd dumpster) worth of junk out of the house. It is only 1200sqft.
 
Beautiful job!

In regards to the before pics - who in the hell lives like that?
 
That’s an amazing transformation. I thought those home shows were staged with the crap people leave behind but I guess not. You really have to be able to see the diamond in the rough.
 
It is funny you say that because I can probably gut and reno a kitchen for less than $20k. I am a general contractor and I have 4 guys working for me full time on project so I can keep my costs way down.

Rents are crazy high in Boston. This neighborhood gets about $1500 per bedroom. It is right near the Hospitals and Northeastern University. House values are as well. This property is worth $750k. That’s $597 per sqft. It’s crazy.

Do you want to do a reno at my place on the lake in Canada!
 
That's an amazing job. The before pics are pretty disgusting.
Our neighbor is a hoarder, some of her kids got together a few years ago to clean the place up, and they found a couch they had forgot was in there.
They ended up not finishing because she couldn't let things get thrown away.
She was standing next to the dumpster crying like someone would who just lost a loved one.
 
I had jury duty last week, and the only tv channel they allow is the one with all of the renovations, watched quite a bit of “love it or list it”. That looks just as good or better than what we saw on those shows! Quite the transformation.
 
Beautiful job!

In regards to the before pics - who in the hell lives like that?
Unfortunately more than you think should. About 30-40% of our buys are horder houses. Some worse than others.
 
That's an amazing job. The before pics are pretty disgusting.
Our neighbor is a hoarder, some of her kids got together a few years ago to clean the place up, and they found a couch they had forgot was in there.
They ended up not finishing because she couldn't let things get thrown away.
She was standing next to the dumpster crying like someone would who just lost a loved one.

It is a serious disorder. About 3 years ago I Had to take the same action with my own father. While not in tears I had to have him leave as I took 3 truckloads of stuff out of his basement. He kept getting in the way not letting me throw things out that had been down there for ever. At one point he told me not to throw away some stuff that was at the bottom of a pile that he didn’t even know was there.
 
It is a serious disorder. About 3 years ago I Had to take the same action with my own father. While not in tears I had to have him leave as I took 3 truckloads of stuff out of his basement. He kept getting in the way not letting me throw things out that had been down there for ever. At one point he told me not to throw away some stuff that was at the bottom of a pile that he didn’t even know was there.
Once back in the '60's my mother said, 'While your Dad is gone I want you to back the dump truck up to the garage and clean it out.' I was just minutes from heading to the dump when he drove in the driveway. He was pretty mad, crawled up on the truck and start throwing some things back off.

Most items he reclaimed were accompanied with 'if someone was looking for this it'd be pretty hard to come by'. Of course I already knew that because I had went to the dump many times with him. We'd unload our junk/garbage then go shopping in someone elses. We often came home with stuff that was 'hard to find' or 'still good'.....hey, look at that, the dash from a 1927 something or 'nother, you don't see them much anymore, better grab it.

There were a couple times when I said 'Ma's not going to like this'. He'd say, 'she just doesn't understand about these things.'

We weren't hoarders, we didn't live in pigsty, Ma kept things neat, clean, and tidy. She was a 'but, we don't need it' person. Dad was different, he often saw what she couldn't, a manly trait I suppose, he recognized 'that might come in handy some day', and more insightful yet, 'someday somebody is going to want that'.

Every once in a while he'd get his chance to say 'seeee', like the $10 jukebox he kept in the basement for years or the rough looking baby grand that he stuffed in the warehouse corner after some guy had paid him to haul it to the dump.
 
So, I'm curious if the neighborhood is gentrifying? Or is this a "one off" in a permanently blighted area?...........Actually, I just looked at the neighborhood on Google maps street view. It looks like a nice neighborhood.
 
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So, I'm curious if the neighborhood is gentrifying? Or is this a "one off" in a permanently blighted area?...........Actually, I just looked at the neighborhood on Google maps street view. It looks like a nice neighborhood.
It is an up and coming neighborhood. The neighbors that have lived there a long time have told me that 15yrs ago they would leave the house at night because of safety concerns. Now it a safe neighborhood and properties are starting to turn over and get renovated. Northeastern university is 1 block down and their influence is pushing more and More into this neighborhood.
 
That's awesome. I remember being in college in my rental apartment thinking that owning rental properties in the shadow of a university is the way to go. Simply put....Built in and practically guaranteed business backed by deep pocketed parents!
 

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