600 E Geneseo St - Our First Fix and Flip

On August 5, 2013 we closed on a duplex with the intent of keeping it as an income property. But once we started getting into the repairs (a veritable "pandora's box") we quickly decided to make it a flip... and have been working ever since... But we listed it in mid-June and just got an offer last night, so figured it was time to put this post together - a celebration of sorts!

So here's what we've been up to...

Unit A (Upstairs):

Bathroom:

How would you like to whack your face on that thing in the corner (attic access from kitchen) every time you shower?

Demo of attic access stairs (found an issue of the Denver Post from Thanksgiving 1938 in the wall).

New lath and plaster to best match the wall thickness.

New floor (starting underlayment for tile).

Finished: New tile, refinished claw-foot tub, custom wood-framed mirror, LED light fixture, new paint and trim throughout.

 Kids' Bedroom:

This room was touched the least of all upstairs - just paint. That's the tub in the refinishing process to the left.

Finished: Paint, curtains, white outlet/switch covers, and teepee.

Kitchen:

Not too bad a first blush, but then you notice that the floor is 1/2" higher than the other floors due to the multiple layers of vinyl, etc. Really poor use of corner space and the fridge was just standing naked opposite the sink.

No dishwasher, funky counter overhang and exposed pipes under the table.

... and a lovely view of the laundry room through the windows of the original 1890 house (?)

New floor prep...

Had to level up the corner to get the floors nearer to parallel - one sloped to the west, other sloped to the east.

Reinstall base cabinets. I was able to match the existing cabinets and add a lazy susan to the corner plus an 18" base cabinet next to the range. Moved the right-most cabinet over to make a space for a dishwasher.

some drywall/plaster work on the "new" attic access.

Storage bench to conceal the exposed pipes that supply/drain the laundry room.

Built a fridge cabinet with storage above to dress things up a bit. New vinyl is in, but wish I'd have saved that for last - just had to be really careful not to ding and scratch it up.

Dishwasher install.

Finished: New floor, refreshed cabinets (added crown moulding to tops), new sink and faucet, new counter tops, paint, trim, white outlet/switch covers, and light fixtures.

Turned the funky window to the laundry room into "Pinterest shelves".

 Living Room/Dining Room:

Nasty built-in bookshelf and hearth.

... progress at its finest! Four layers of drywall and glued-on tile... yuck. Thank goodness the floor underneath was in good shape.

New plaster.

New trim.

Finished: Trim, paint, white outlet/switch covers, light fixtures, and curtains. 

Master Bedroom and Walk-in Closet:

The crown jewel of the property - the famous Taj Mahal room! 

Removed the Taj Mahal arch and trim - replaced with trim to match the rest of the house.

Entrance to the master bedroom (front door and living room of the original house) was just an arch - no door! More demo work...

Brought in the right side of the wall to fit a standard door frame. Trimmed it out to match the rest of the room and installed this nice door I found on sale at Home Depot. Was kind of a tricky project to extend the door jamb to fit the 10" thick plaster wall.

Finished: Paint, trim/trim repair, light fixture, and white outlet/switch covers.

Laundry/Mud Room:

Walk into the house and what's the first thing you see? A naked washer and dryer... uh...

... then turn your head and here's this monstrosity! Nastiness.

So we boxed in the washer and dryer - added two massive storage shelves above them.

Got rid of the manky cabinets and added another storage bench.

Finished: Paint, bi-fold doors on the washer/dryer box, new vinyl flooring, coat hooks. Sad that the ugly brass doorknobs hadn't been switched out yet in this picture.

There's the newly-painted door with the oiled bronze knob and deadbolt - and new LED porch light.

Office:

That's not a drawn shade in the "window" to the right, it's drywall (goes into the walk-in closet area of the master bedroom). 

Finished: framed in the "window" and matched texture of plaster (heavy knock-down), trim work, paint, white outlet/switch covers.

Was kind of in a hurry, so the stain colors don't match perfectly, but pretty close.

Unit B (Downstairs):

Leading off the downstairs unit pictures with this one because it so perfectly captures the condition and character of the unit - mangy, unkept, and generally disgusting (mainly because of the dogs, but I'm not sure the residents were too much better). This was taken on my second visit to the house after we had it under contract (and Becky hadn't seen it yet).

Bathroom:

Finished: Lots of caulk, some drywall repair, paint, combo light fixture/exhaust fan, new mirror and faucet.

Kitchen:

Finished: Just some paint, and shelves above the range - made a world of difference.

 Bedroom 1:

Remember those dogs? Yep... absolutely disgusting creatures. I vow to never allow pets in one of my rentals... NEVER!

My totally awesome sister literally bleaching the dog out of the floor. Thank goodness it was the basement apartment and the whole floor is concrete!

Finished: Cleaned like you wouldn't believe, new carpet, trim, paint, light fixture (used to be just an socket hanging by its wires by the door).

 Living Room:

Finished: Just cleaned like crazy, trim, paint, and TONS of caulk to fill in weird gaps and holes.

Bedroom 2:

Finished: Same as bedroom 1.

Exterior and Landscaping:

Entrance to unit B

Under deck by unit B entrance.

Path to sidewalk from unit B entrance: It's actually about 3' wide, but mostly overgrown... lots of digging.

The listing when we bought it said, "lush corner lot."

More "lushness"...

Hideously "lush". Something had to be done!...

... So we went crazy on it all...

... Cut 'n' pile...

... Chip it!

... Yank it out!

... Fell 'em and dig 'em out. 

Make use of the dead space (This particular project - the "bike barn" - is covered in detail in an earlier post).

We cleaned up and tilled up the entire back yard (remember those disgusting four-legged reprobate creatures?).

Leveled and compacted.

Some more Pinterest-worthy items - garden boxes. 20" deep each! Thanks again to my awesome sister for the help (on a second tour of laborious punishment).

Finished: Cleaned up, new paths, graded perimeter of house to get run-off running in the right direction, basic landscaping, painted decks (pictures below). We had a really wet spring with daily thunderstorms, so we didn't have a sufficient time window to paint the decks until mid June!

Also pressure-washed the house after this photo was taken - make it look white again :) ... and got rid of the black plastic sheet under the large deck (was there while we were scraping and sanding).

Painted the railings white, and used that cool textured deck paint for the horizontal surfaces - awesome stuff!

 This was an amazing experience! Super difficult, but the education we earned will really help us - especially now that we transitioning to a new career of full-time real estate investing! Wish us luck!

And a special hat-tip to my awesome brother-in-law, Jarad, who took a couple of days vacation to come visit and take some pictures for our listing. All of the "finished" photos of the upstairs unit and the three nice whole-house exterior shots above were done by him. Check out his website at AlaskaPropertyPhotography.com - I owe you one, Jarad!