San Diego House Flipping Archives - Page 4 of 24

Serra Mesa Remodel Done!

by Tom | Dec 18, 2019 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

Just wrapped up this big Serra Mesa project to finish out the year. Couldn’t really be worse timing to put a house on the market in December but with all the new jobs in University City from the new Amazon Tech Headquarters, all surrounding areas are selling.

The open concept with big island kitchen really makes the house. We did the quartz counter tops again with a waterfall on the island for a dramatic touch. Matte black hardware and plumbing trim throughout looks very sharp and gives a good contrast to the white cabinetry.

Believe it or not beige and neutral paint colors are coming back. Combined with Navy Blue accents this is the new trend for 2020 in home design. I got so sick of seeing grey walls, glad to change it up.

Interior: Walls SW 7568 Neutral Ground, Trim HDC-MD-06 Nano White

Front door: HC-143 Wythe Blue

Exterior: Body SW 7008 Alabaster White, Facia and Shutters SW 7642 Paverstone

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.

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.