ADDING VALUE
OPEN FLOOR PLANS
This extremely open floor plan includes a kitchen (set off by an island), living area, and dining area. Image courtesy of Patricia Russell.
Opening UpValue TEARING DOWN WALLS HAS NEVER BEEN SO PROFITABLE.
by Carole VanSickle Ellis
2
said Johnson. He refers to many of these distressed, older homes as the “perfect storm” for fix-and-flippers. “By the time you get in there and you reconfigure two bathrooms and move the kitchen around, you could be looking at an extra $10,000 in your rehab budget,” he said. THE PAYOFF Fortunately, all that reconfiguring comes with some pretty solid payoff when the property goes on the market. According to a study by home remodeling specialists Remodeling Image, which was founded by current editor-in-chief of the company newsletter and real estate investor Alex Biyevtskiy, the payoff on opening up a floor plan without adding any more square footage to a house can be as much as 60 percent. Master bedroom additions that “take over” an existing, adjacent bedroom
struction, which means the remodel is pretty much a complete overhaul,” observed Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)-based contractor and owner of Finishing Touches Remod- eling, Blake Johnson. Johnson works only with investors and maintains an active project list of dozens of homes in the area. “That means you have to re-do every- thing,” he explained, noting that thanks to reality real estate television (of which he has been a part) “you have to take your remodel to the nines” in addition to bringing older homes up to current safety codes. Not only does this process include updating plumbing, electrical, and other interior systems; it also includes adding bathrooms, modernizing master bedrooms into master suites, and creating updated floor plans in outdated homes. “If you’re going to be jackhammering the entire floor to put in new PVC pipe anyway, you might as well update an outdated floor plan,”
018 is likely to continue to be a sellers’ market according to
recent reports from Trulia. The company released the results of a recent survey of more than 2,000 homeowners indicating that only about three in every 50 home- owners are planning to sell their home this year. While that is not good news for the inventory in most housing markets, it is good news for real estate investors working with homeowners who may not fit the “typical” seller mold. Of course, with atypical seller circum- stances come atypical properties. This means that investors will likely spend much of their 2018 buying, renovating, and either renting or selling older properties, damaged properties, or properties that are otherwise somehow unusual. It’s the nature of “buying low and selling high.” “These days, we are going into a lot of homes that are 1940’s and 1950’s con-
48 | think realty magazine :: april 2018
thinkrealty . com | 49
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker