All the tape and float is now complete and the whole house got textured today with a light orange peel. This crew did a great job and the house looks incredible. The texture guy was checking out my cactus in the front yard so I had to keep an eye on him. We ordered 13 pre-hung interior doors at roughly $68.00 ea. this week so they will get delivered Tuesday and I can start hanging them.
I chose a raised 2-panel hollow core with oil rubbed bronze hardware, which we will use throughout the house. A nice young couple has been by several times looking at the house and found me through a friend who lives on the next block. They are extremely interested and love the area however I think we might be priced a bit out of their range. It’s amazing how hot this area is and what little good inventory comes up.
Most of the houses in Mahncke Park are 2/1’s with tiny closets and not fully updated so our 3/2 with luxurious master suite will be a very unique offering and timely to coincide with the surging popularity of the area. Here is a quick walk through video from today.
Last week we passed the mechanical, framing and insulation inspections and finally got the drywall hung Friday. Eating cactus is a big thing here in San Antonio with the Mexicans.
First the sheet rock delivery driver spotted my cactus in the yard and wanted to take some with him to eat, of course I obliged. Then when the hangers showed up Friday and also got excited about it I had to give it a try. Evidently you are supposed to boil it first and then chop it up and use it with eggs in burritos or carne asada on the grill.
Eating it raw off the plant in my backyard was quite an experience; I’d have to say it tastes like room temperature cucumber. The workers I find are quite resourceful. My roofer on another house found a wild berry plant in the alley and harvested them saying he was going to make salsa. I tried those too and they were hot as hell.
I’ve seen these berries for years on plants but always assumed they were poisonous. I want to know who the first guy was to try eating these backyard plants and find out they were ok.
The tape and float crew came in over the weekend and got started as you can see. They didn’t find anything appetizing growing in the yard. By mid week we should have it all the way to texture inside and then I can take over with the paint sprayer.
My stomach was feeling a little off today; don’t think I’ll be eating any plants out of the backyard again anytime soon.
We passed plumbing this week but failed A/C inspection yesterday due to some minor details overlooked by my sub-contractor, which have already been addressed. Second mechanical inspection is set for Monday.
After passing plumbing I went ahead and installed the new plywood sub floor and set the tub in the hall bath and shower pan in the master bath.
As soon as we pass the mechanical inspection I can call for the framing inspection. It seems odd and out of order the way San Antonio does it, they inspect framing after all the tradesmen have finished.
If something were incorrect you would have to rip out all those sub contractors new work, weird. So the schedule is: pass mechanical Monday. Call in framing inspection for Tuesday.
Pass framing Tuesday and schedule the insulation inspection for Wednesday. Once we pass the insulation inspection we can hang all the drywall. My drywall crew is chomping at the bit and ready to get started. I am going to have it delivered Thursday, 225 sheets to do the whole 1930 s.f. house, 5/8” for the ceilings and 1/2” on the walls.
Take one last look inside these walls, next time you see the house it will be all sealed up. This is always a huge milestone for me; to see the house with all new drywall really shows how it will look. It blocks out all the “old house” smell and it’s all downhill from there, baby.
We’ve been monitoring sales activity a little closer lately and I ran some interesting reports out of MLS last night. In our little “area” there were only 9 sales in 2008, (2 of which were ours) and avg. price was 206k. In Q1 08 there were no transactions, so far this year we have 6 pending or sold. Average price on these 6 is 257k.
That’s an increase in sales activity of 600% and an avg. price increase of 19% Y.O.Y. Currently there are only 4 months of inventory making it essentially a sellers market. While the overall market has slowed down in San Antonio our area seems to be a bright spot. The Craftsman Bungalow sold for $174/s.f. last year setting a record for high comp based on $/s.f.
The avg. price per s.f. is closer to $155.00 so with Hat Trick being 1930 s.f. and the level of rehab we plan on listing it for around $289k –$299k. The only thing better than setting a high comp for a neighborhood is getting to come back and use that comp in your next sale!
After 5 days of prep on the Hat Trick House I finally got the outside in primer last weekend. Just in time before this week’s 4-day rainstorm hit. It looks great, can’t wait to see some color on it.
My wife and I are considering an olive drab body color with cream trims and plum accents. The A/C is all roughed in now so we will be calling for inspection shortly. The plumbers are finally now working on roughing in the complete new system including water supply, waste and gas lines.
There will be no trace of any old mechanical system in this house when we are done. Although the market has slowed way down this year we are happy to see 2 more houses go under contract this week within blocks of our house.
Despite the troubling economy and all the bad press in the media, people still need houses to live in and this area we have been investing in is hot. Additionally, we are getting random potential buyers from the neighborhood stopping by asking when the house is going to be ready.
The word is out that I am doing this rehab as we have developed quite a following in Mahncke Park, everyone loved our last remodel one block over, the Craftsman Bungalow.
This week we had our electrical inspection for rough-in and passed. The inspector that came out was the same guy who did our last rehab house one block over and complimented us on the good work being done.
I really felt guilty for taking out the original sashed, leaded glass windows after seeing all that white vinyl earlier this week. It had to be done though as they were in such bad shape and with tons of cracked panes.
Additionally, with the room addition having new dual panes it just made sense on this house. To redeem myself with the historical gods I spent 2 days remaking wooden original replica hanging window screens.
I designed them in such a way to minimize the appearance of the white vinyl. They came out sweet and will be an important accent feature of the exterior paint job coming up soon.
I used 1×2 and 1×3 Poplar hardwood and pre-drilled, screwed and glued them. I also used the historically correct screen hangers still available from Stanley. After the screens are painted I’ll stretch the mesh behind the frames.
I also installed the pre-hung back door to the kitchen and went ahead and replaced the siding around it since I had extra left over. These pre-hung units are really easy to install, any DIY’er can tackle this project. Finally, I installed the French doors to the master bedroom so now the house locks up good at night.
Many of our regular visitors remember the wholesale deal we offered last summer called Bungalow 2. We sold it to another investor and he quickly rehabbed it with a full crew. He did a nice Ikea kitchen with granite and stainless and added a master bathroom on it as well. After being on the market only 44 days we saw that it just went under contract. Here’s how the house looks now after his rehab.
As you can see I have the whole house sanded down and the new windows are in. I did all 30 windows in 1 day by myself. It’s looking really good now and it’s easy to imagine how it looked in bare wood form circa 1925 with a possible Model-T parked out front.
Looking in the near distance you can see the new 20-story luxury upscale condo building called The Broadway that’s being built just 2 blocks away. It’s the largest scale condo high-rise in San Antonio and the most expensive coming in at $500 per square foot.
The San Antonio Riverwalk Extension will reach 2 blocks away from this high-rise and our property as well. This area of Broadway will become quite swanky in the next 3-5 years with the addition of this high-rise and more on the table.
We are in good company with the builder, Mr. Red McCombs who is also betting on this area as being a good investment. Mr. McCombs is supposedly keeping the top floor for his private use while the 19th floor is comprised of two penthouses at 4 million each, one of which is already sold.
The complete electrical is also now roughed in. All we have to do is set the meter loop next week and then we can call in for rough inspection. I hired and fired a plumber this week as well, after talking him down to the price we needed he dropped off his materials and disappeared for 4 days.
He begged me to give him another chance and explained how badly he needed the work, I could only keep asking myself why wouldn’t he show up and do it then? If it’s this hard to get him over to do the rough-in then we could really be in a jamb when inspections started…better to clip this guy now.
Of course we didn’t give him any money up front so we haven’t lost anything but time. The HVAC guys have started running all the ductwork for the new central A/C I’m adding. I’ve located the furnace and coil in the attic to save space.
I am using a 4-ton, 14 seer Goodman system for this house. They recommend roughly 1 ton for every 500 s.f. of living space. Prices in San Antonio for a system like this with all new equipment, ducts, grilles, boxes and permits run about $5,000.
Keep in mind this is a builder price; retail companies from the phone book would be quoting $8-10k easy.
I got the siding on this week as well. I used the “historical replica” #117 siding for the whole master suite addition so it matches the existing house. I did the whole rear addition with 1 helper in a day, a big day though. It’s been pretty fun building this “new” addition in the “old” style.
It reminds me of the restoration/modified builds they do on old muscle cars these days. All old and original looking but with today’s advanced technology.
