House Flipping Blog - Page 4 of 20 - Green Button Homes

New Clairemont Project and 2019 San Diego Market Update

by Tom | Mar 9, 2019 | San Diego Real Estate Market

The 2019 San Diego Real Estate market is warming up with the weather. After a brutal holiday season and price reductions of up to $50,000 in Clairemont, we are finally seeing an improvement. We officially shifted to a buyers market in San Diego over the holidays. November and December inventory was up to 75 houses for sale in 92117. There was a real lack of buyers and agents were dropping prices everywhere. I seem to think some of this was caused by the interest rate increases last year.

Things are better now, the overpriced listings are gone, sellers are realistic now for the most part and inventory is down to 34 Active homes as of today! Here is an outdated house in Clairemont we just bought directly from the beneficiaries of a Trust. They sold directly to us and did not have to repair anything or pay real estate agents $40,000! If the house needs work and is going to sell at a discount anyway, why pay agents when a cash home buyer who flips houses like me is going to be your buyer anyway?

The 2019 San Diego real estate market can sustain as long as we don’t see any more interest rate hikes. I hope the Fed learned their lesson last year. Prices have reached high unaffordability levels so we cannot raise rates now without impacting the market. I predict a shorter Spring selling season this year and then conditions could move back into a buyers market this summer as sales slow back down. Real Estate investors in San Diego should take caution and realize that we are entering an extended flat period where prices will not continue to keep going up at the previous pace. Many house flippers in San Diego lost money from purchases they made in 2018 when the market slowed down. We are not predicting a big crash but rather a small pull back followed by an extended flat period. Stay tuned for more updates on our new Clairemont project!

Modern Farmhouse Complete!

by Tom | Oct 15, 2018 | Bathrooms, Carlsbad Modern, Carlsbad Modern New Construction, Concrete, Craftsman Bungalow, House Design, House Flipping

Farmhouse Style remodel is complete and on the market for sale $999,000! True and authentic Modern Farm House home design with exquisite attention to detail. Nothing was left to the imagination down to the Shed dormers, Black Grid windows, Board and Batten siding and black accent half-round gutters! We had over 200 people through the open house the first weekend on the market, someone is going to make this their very special home soon! MLS# 180056834

We thoughtfully reimagined and redesigned this property into a fully permitted open concept floor plan, 9′ Island kitchen, Undercabinet lighting, Walk-In food pantry, Open shelving, 36″ Italian commercial range, Board and Batten interior and exterior feature walls, Industrial lighting fixtures, Brushed Gold hardware, High variation French Oak hardwood flooring, and Farmhouse X design custom fabricated handrail. This Farm House style is very specific and we stayed true to the theme with every material choice we made.

The Bathrooms in this South Oceanside farmhouse are incredible and done in a White/Black/Gold theme with Big 8″ Black Matte Hexagon tile on the floor, matching 2″ Black Matte Hexagon tile on the shower pan, White Subway walls, Brushed Gold hardware and mirrors, and a custom black grid shower enclosure that was fabricated by hand right onsite by our master tradesmen.

We reallocated the upstairs loft into a Giant private master suite with tons of light flowing in the numerous windows. The old upstairs bedroom was transformed into a new 10′ x 10′ walk-in closet. There is so much room upstairs its perfect for a office or additional sitting area.

White and Black Farmhouse

by Tom | Sep 12, 2018 | Exterior Paint, House Design, House Flipping

Our Modern Farmhouse is starting to take shape, all exterior paint is done in Behr Nano White #HDC-MD-06. We installed the black grid windows and they really look bold on the white canvas.

Loving this white and black exterior color scheme with the farmhouse design style, the result is an inviting and casual atmosphere, kinda like a little dose of rural farm-living near the beach here in South Oceanside.

These pics do not do it justice, we are causing a traffic jam with all the lookie-loo’s who have been watching the transformation. We are right by South Oceanside Elementary and right off Vista Rd. so everyone cuts through and passes by this house at some point who lives in South Oceanside.

One of the neighbors has been over quite frequently and even brought our workers donuts and thanking us for bringing value to the neighborhood. She is asking “Who is the Oceanside house flipper” doing this incredible project. At this point it is way beyond a “house flip” but more of a permitted reconfigure and remodel. You wouldn’t have believed how this house looked when we bought it directly from an out-of-area seller. We made it easy for him and paid cash and took it as-is. Look back on the website for how it looked when we purchased it.

The Industrial Gooseneck 16″ Gardena Barn Light from Steel Lighting Company Fixture seems to be the main thing that stands out, white Board and Batten Hardie siding add to the farmhouse feel.

My Barn Gate design will certainly hold the chickens and cow in the backyard. Even though the whole house is white, it works because of all the different materials and textures used. Mixed material exterior walls make a monotone house interesting to look at. I have brick, horizontal siding, vertical siding, and stucco all contrasting each other but looking uniform at the same time..

We also got started on the landscaping with a retaining wall and new concrete patio. My finishers are the best in the business. Having new concrete flat work really adds value to a project when remodeling a home.

I often think about stuff we do staying on this planet and serving other long after i am gone. Every project has a budget but we try and spend the money where it counts on every house flip we do here in San Diego.

Stay tuned for an interior progress report soon! This house is coming soon to the South Oceanside market, West of the 5 and 2 minutes from downtown Carlsbad Village. Cozy, Comfy and full of Southern Charm, this sophisticated farmhouse is going to make one lucky new homeowner feel warm and fuzzy soon. This South Oceanside Farmhouse is truly a one-of-a-kind!

How To Install Board And Batten Trim

by Tom | Sep 6, 2018 | House Design, Trim Out

It’s clear everyone is falling head over heels for the farmhouse style and for our Modern Farmhouse we wanted to do Board and Batten Trim in various places inside and out. This is about 500 bucks of MDF and a half days work but adds tons of character to your project. This DIY project is very easy to handle with a medium level skill set and basic tools.

Custom Board and Batten inside our Farmhouse already is making a huge impact! In our case we already had smooth textured walls so we only had to do the trim details, if you have heavy orange peel textured walls you can use sheets of Masonite first and then build the trim on top for a smooth look.

I did 3 different versions of designs I thought would go well in this home. Other cool Farmhouse interior trim ideas would include Ship lap MDF siding which we will have to save for another project.

Here is what you will need for this DIY Board and Batten project:

2 1/2″ pre primed MDF strips
3 1/2″ pre primed MDF strips
5 1/2″ pre primed MDF strips
Construction Adhesive
Finish Nail Gun with 2 1/2″ 15 gauge nails
Paintable Caulk
Tape Measure
Level
Chop saw
Wood Filler
Table saw (optional)

First we calculated what looked good with spacing, here I went with 20″ on center. I used blue painters tape to get an idea of what it would look like before committing to the layout. Here is a tip, the battens will not land on studs so we used finish nails and Liquid nails adhesive to hold them to the wall. The nails just keep them in place until the glue dries.

All this pre-primed MDF trim is available at your local home improvement store. It has crisp sharp edges, make sure and don’t buy the soft edge version. With a level first set your top piece in place and adhere it. Next we did the 6″ baseboard.

Cut each batten individually one at a time to get a tight fit. These battens are 3.5″ wide and the baseboard is 5.5″. The top rail we ripped another strip at about 1.25″ for a small shelf detail. We will paint the Board and batten semi gloss with then the walls eggshell. In my case its all going to be white but will be a great detail once we are finished.

When you are done use DAP putty to carefully fill seams and nail holes. Each Batten should be caulked along both vertical sides!

The side of the staircase was a perfect place to do a Board and Batten Feature Wall, here I went with more narrow battens at 2.5″ wide and ran them all the way up to the ceiling. In the dining room picture below I changed up the design a bit also and added the extra rail.

The exterior board and batten was done by first removing existing siding and wrapping the house with house wrap, commonly called Tyvek. We then hung 4×8 sheets of Smooth Hardie Panel. Make sure and use Z Bar flashing where the horizontal seams of the Hardie Panel meet to prevent water from getting in.

It’s best to land the seam on the existing 16″ on center stud spacing and then use the battens to hide the vertical seams. We opted for 1 x 2.5″ Hardie Trim for the Battens and spaced them 16″ on center. Make sure and caulk everything good before you paint.

If you changed the spacing and didn’t land on existing studs you could screw and glue the battens if needed. We are really excited about the transformation, these small details are going to go a long way on the finished project.

The way this Board and Batten exterior siding plays off the new Shed Dormers we built is really making this Farmhouse look comforting and welcoming.

Modern Farmhouse Rough In

by Tom | Aug 23, 2018 | Demolition, Drywall and Texture, Electrical, Floorplans, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market, Videos

This big fully permitted Modern Farmhouse remodel in Oceanside is now well underway. We moved a lot of walls around and are doing major structural changes to convert this dated 5 bedroom, 3 bath into an open concept floor plan 4 bedroom, 2 bath with huge 9′ island kitchen and expansive master suite upstairs.

The style is “Modern Farmhouse” where we will run an all White and Black color theme with some industrial fixtures and gold hardware. Inside paint colors will also be all white with warm wood floors to anchor the space. Extensive use of subway tile and white shaker will complete the look, wait until you see the unique industrial pendant lights we are dropping over the island.

This is Part 1 which got us through the demo, permitting, rough framing, mechanical upgrades, central air, roof, insulation and drywall. Notice the awesome Shed Dormers I designed on the roof which gives it the Agrarian look we are going for.

This style is hot right now in LA and North County San Diego so it will be exciting to leave this mark on the hip South Oceanside neighborhood for years to come. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss the final video to see how it comes out!

Spanish Duplex Finished

by Tom | Jul 25, 2018 | San Diego Real Estate Market

Sell your house in San Diego? That is what the old owner of this run down duplex did. She is a CPA and held this as a long term rental, it just didn’t get the maintenance it needed over the years. We made it very easy and fair with a quick cash sale. The team just wrapped up this Super Cute Spanish Style Duplex remodel yesterday near SDSU. This was a total renovation from top to bottom with all new windows, stucco, roof, electrical, plumbing, paint, flooring, kitchens, baths, fencing and concrete.

I really love the big unit with the fireplace and coved ceilings. I stayed true to the Spanish Style architecture with the white interior paint and distressed darker hardwoods and then popped the cabinets grey to contrast the walls. White stucco outside was also a classic choice. Subway tile in the kitchens completed the look, very pleased with the end result. The obvious choice would have been white shaker cabinets but my supplier was out of stock so we went with grey but it looked great and enabled us to do all white walls so its easy to touch up being a rental property.

We buy a lot of houses in San Diego and remodel them. If you want to sell your house as-is for cash please contact us. We are the most experienced cash home buyer in town and have been purchasing fixer-uppers for 15 years. We can usually pay more than other “We Buy Houses” guys because we are licensed general contractors and do the work ourselves. Thanks for all my sub contractors and team members who worked hard to bring this to the finish line!

Spanish Duplex Walk Through

by Tom | Jul 2, 2018 | House Flipping, Videos

Walk though with me to see this Green Button Homes project that got started in the College area near SDSU. This great Spanish style duplex is getting rehabilitated from top to bottom. Everything will be new; plumbing, electrical, roof, windows, kitchens, baths, paint and landscaping. Of course we are keeping the architectural details and gently remodeling to match the time period. We are 4 weeks in and have another 2 weeks to get it rent ready.

San Marcos Remodel

by Tom | May 10, 2018 | House Design, House Flipping

We buy houses and bought this San Marcos property direct from an out-of-area landlord who wanted a hassle-free, as-is sale. We closed in less than a week with the long-term tenant in place and worked with them while they found other arrangements. It’s never pleasant to have to tell a tenant we are the new owners and give them Notice but at least they didn’t have to suffer through a long Realtor listing with a bunch of strangers through their home, open houses, showings, and inspections.

This is a great 4 bedroom, 2 bath single level home on a cul-de-sac and we expect it to sell fast after the fantastic job we did. I Love the industrial fixtures and kitchen design on this project! We buy houses in San Marcos and all San Diego County, If you have a fixer upper to sell please contact us for a cash offer.

South Oceanside Modern Farmhouse Project

by Tom | Mar 2, 2018 | House Design

Modern Farmhouse project coming to South Oceanside this Spring! This design style embraces an eclectic mix of periods and aesthetics, combining traditional farmhouse from decades ago with modern trends of today and its very hot in North County. We hope to get started soon on this fun project. This is a big house at over 2200 s.f. and in an extremely hot area of Oceanside which is West of I-5, less than a mile from the beach, and otherwise known by the locals as “South O”.

I plan to incorporate some modern features, industrial inspired lighting, Gold plumbing fixtures, board and batten areas or possibly a ship lap accent wall inside with white cabinets and some warm rustic wood flooring. The exterior will be clean white with the exposed brick accent wall and black grid windows as you can see below on my rendering. Black and white patterned bathroom floor tile would be nice and a real butcher block island if we can fit it. Look at this before and after house flipping conceptual rendering. Never been such a dramatic transformation.

Stay tuned for all the fun!

Mid Century / Modern Remodel Imperial Beach

by Tom | Feb 16, 2018 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

Another Green Button Homes redesigned and updated house hitting the market today. I couldn’t be more pleased with our design and how true we stayed to the original concept. This great house in the popular Seaside Point neighborhood in Imperial beach is now For Sale at $659,000-$679,000. The clean white stucco, looming dark grey overhangs, and low pitch roof are classic MCM.

Warm horizontal wood accents on the exterior adds texture and with the awning style bathroom windows and accent color frosted glass front door it really completes such a crispy yet dramatic look. Inside we reversed the normal color palette and went white on the walls and grey on trims.

Exterior colors: Body is Behr Nano White HDC-MD-06. Trim is Behr Cordite Grey HDC-MD-28. Front door is Behr Mermaid Net 480F-4. Horizontal wood is clear Redwood with Cabot Gold Moonlit Mahogany satin stain.

Interior colors: Walls are Behr Nano White HDC-MD-06, Trims are Behr Euro Grey PPU25-17.

Imperial Beach Progress

by Tom | Feb 8, 2018 | Bathrooms, Exterior Paint, House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

The Imperial Beach remodel is almost done as we near the 4-week mark, we are shooting for staging and pictures next Friday so we can get it on the market for sale. Spring selling season has officially begun in San Diego, once we get past the Super Bowl there are usually buyers out in full force so our timing is great with this one.

I am playing off the Mid Century Modern theme here a little while still keeping the inside somewhat safe. You can see the awning style windows for the bathrooms and all my horizontal redwood fence and accents which have yet to be stained darker Mahogany. I went with White on the exterior paint color with dark grey for the big overhangs. We still will bring in an accent color for the frosted glass front door and new sod in a few days to complete the curb appeal. Everyone has been stopping and giving us compliments on the horizontal wood.

I flipped my normal inside colors this time. All the walls are White and trims (doors, casings, baseboards) are Grey including cabinetry. Black hardware completes the slick look. The appliances are even Black Stainless Steel. It’s going to look very cool and different. I went with the off white quartz countertops leaving a 12″ overhang and a zero radius under mount single bowl stainless sink. Yet to be installed is the big 4X16 White Ceramic Subway Backsplash with grey grout and the 2 Modern Pendants lights.

The bathroom tile jobs are underway. All New Hall bath features reclaimed porcelain wood-look back wall and crispy 4″ X 10″ White Ceramic Subway sides. In the master bathroom we changed the tub to a shower and keeping it clean with 12 X 24 Carrera look tiles on the back wall and floors, with huge 6″ X 18″ White Ceramic Subway sides. I didn’t spring for real Carrera Marble because its expensive and requires a lot of upkeep, plus its very slippery for the floor. Like most new style of tile now this is also porcelain. Stay tuned to see this completed project next weekend and let me know if there is a house in your neighborhood we can flip!

A Journey’s End – Chula Vista

by Tom | Jan 16, 2018 | San Diego Real Estate Market

We Buy Houses in Chula Vista and this gorgeous new Green Button Homes remodel is now For Sale waiting for that new family to make it their home. We buy houses to remodel and fix and flip all over San Diego, but Chula Vista has always been good to us in the past with a lot of great remodels under our belt so I felt that if I gave this house a little more special attention it would turn into something really cool and we would find a buyer that appreciates it. The original owner of this home showed it to very many investors and picked us over everyone for our professionalism and experience. They knew their lifelong home was in good hands when they chose Green Button Homes as the buyer. It was in very good original condition but we gave it a complete makeover so it will be a home for a new family for years to come. The addition of a few small architectural details on the outside like the board and batten shutters, knee braces and pergola over the garage dramatically transformed this from a plain stucco box into a real Coastal Craftsman feel. I had originally designed this with a darker grey in mind but to play it safe ended up with exterior colors of Body: Sherwin Williams Earl Grey SW 7660 and Trim: Sherwin Williams Snowbound SW 7004.

Removing the kitchen wall we created a open concept space measuring a whopping 23 x 21 with a 10′ slider out to the backyard. The 9′ entertaining Island and abundance of West facing windows lets the light cascade in. White Shaker style cabinets and Quartz countertops with a white ceramic backsplash in Arabesque pattern are clean yet on trend and appealing for any buyer in todays market. Note the reclaimed wood look on the front of the island to eliminate kid foot marks!

Upstairs over the garage was originally 2 smaller bedrooms and a hallway which we reconfigured into an impressive private master suite with walk out view deck. This is a great space and catches the predominantly Westerly breeze . The ensuite master bathroom received porcelain wood-look tile shower accent wall with a frameless glass enclosure and continued the light grey Coastal Beachy theme.

Final Stretch in Chula Vista

by Tom | Jan 8, 2018 | Exterior Paint, San Diego Real Estate Market

Are you trying to Sell your House fast in Chula Vista? We will purchase it as-is, just like this home we bought directly from the owners with no realtors involved. We paid cash and purchased it exactly as it was, they didn’t have to make any repairs. You can see we are almost done with the complete remodel and trying to wrap this house up by Friday this week. The Chula Vista real estate market is strong and there are not many homes on the market, low inventory in Chula Vista is affecting the supply of preowned homes. We lost a little time over the holidays but everyone is doing a good job. The outside is painted, I went a little lighter than the original concept just to be safer for all buyers. The extra details I added really make the difference.

I went with white Shaker cabinets again with Quartz counter tops and an under mount sink. The back splash is really unique, its called Arabesque. House flippers in San Diego rarely go as far as we do with our rehab projects, this is an example of using your budget in ways that will really provide value for the new home buyer who makes this their dream home in Chula Vista. Stay tuned for all the pics as this great project gets wrapped up at the end of this week. If you are saying to yourself who will “Buy My House” or who is a “Cash Home Buyer” please contact us for an easy sale.

Chula Vista Week 2 Update

by Tom | Dec 18, 2017 | San Diego Real Estate Market

Buy My House in Chula Vista! Walk through with me and see our progress. This house will be for sale after we are done. We got a lot done in the first 2 weeks including creating a great open concept floorplan downstairs and new private master suite space up top. These small details outside with the knee braces and pergola over the garage will dramatically change it from a standard stucco box to something more leaning Coastal California Craftsman. The exterior paint is coming next, I’m really torn with this body color choice you can see the samples up on the wall.

South Bay Double Whammy

by Tom | Nov 20, 2017 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

We have 2 great projects this Winter in the South Bay area of San Diego. These 2 projects in Chula Vista and Imperial Beach are within 7 miles of each other, so we should be able to stagger the subcontractors and do them both back-to-back. While the architecture is completely different on each, I’ve come up with some designs that I think will be a hit.

House #1 will start within a few weeks in Chula Vista which is currently a 5 bedroom, 2 bath 1,600 s.f. We’ll combine the smaller existing 2 bedrooms over the garage to create a large private master suite upstairs. Downstairs are the other 3 bedrooms, hall bath and a giant open concept living/dining room and kitchen area with a set of 10 foot sliders out to the back yard. This house sits on a bluff and catches the westerly ocean breezes and has peek ocean and bay views. The street is great with all nice pride of ownership homes around.

We bought this property directly from the original owners and its probably the last house on this block that hasn’t received a big remodel so I’m really looking forward to the transformation. Here is a before and after of my Coastal Craftsman Design. Its amazing that with just a few very small changes like the shutters, pergola above the garage door, 4 knee braces at the eaves, and the new colors we see such a dramatic change. The grey body and bright white trim I think look good and do not conflict with any of the neighboring houses. The white garage door will complete the new-house look.

House #2 is a great Mid Century 3/2 1,265 s.f. with a 2 Car Garage in the very popular “Seaside Point” Neighborhood of Imperial Beach. It is only 1 block to the Estuary and Imperial Beach is seeing a tremendous amount of redevelopment lately. It’s come a long way from the funky beach town we knew in the 80’s.

There are mega shopping centers, a coastal rezoning plan, and tons of infill new construction going on along with the new Bikeway Village Project. This property has a great floor plan already with vaulted ceilings, low sloping roof line, and an open concept kitchen. The master bathroom is already ensuite so this project will just get a heavy cosmetic/redesign makeover. It was an obvious decision to take this project into more of a modern direction. Check out this before and after of the house flip below.

The house next door to this property already has a grey color scheme, so as not to compete with it I am going all white and clean with some warm horizontal wood accents on the fence and garage face. The bathroom windows will get changed to Awning style windows and I am using my favorite Teal color for an accent pop on the front door.

There is already a lot of modern stuff in Imperial Beach so this will work well. This project is very similar in design to the Clairemont Flip we did this summer. I am very excited at both of these upcoming projects and to be able to roll into 2018 with some momentum. Stay tuned for some updates as we get started in a few weeks on the first house!