New Boxy Babe gets and overhaul! 4132 Oleatha BEFORE.

The latest property to hit the market from Starke, Inc. has gone from drab to fab. This little Mid-Century Modern Bungalow needed a little TLC. Clearly, it was neglected and not loved like it should have been, but things happen and owners get busy. We had been scouting for a new property in Tower Grove South for a while now. The goal? Buy the ugliest house on the cutest and most stable block possible, and then turn it around for an affordable price. Too often people think that a renovater/rehabber buys a property and sticks a little bit of lipstick on the "pig". Often, people are right. That is not the case when Starke and his team (myself included) gets involved. The name of the game for many people in the renovation game is, get in and get out with as little updating as possible. While it is smart on the pocket book, it isn't great for the neighborhood. Starke focuses on one geographic area at a time and then attempts to help the whole hood by raising values. This is easily accomplished when the renovation appeals to a wide audience and has stellar updates. 

Here are the before pics:

Why, do you ask?

I have been working with investors more lately. Which, has been good and at times very challenging. I hadn't been doing much work with rehabbers at all until I started helping my broker, Christopher Thiemet find good deals. I almost looked at rehabbing as the antithesis of what my business model was. I specialize in historic and vintage in Saint Louis City and surrounding areas, not vanilla flips.

A poorly done rehab can ruin a perfectly good home. I can't tell you how many times I would walk into an architecturally awesome house in Tower Grove South (and other neighborhoods) and be saddened by the fact that an investor had laid beige carpet everywhere, painted the walls a slightly different beige and installed a cheap ready made kitchen. I understand that spending the least amount of money to maximize your profit is the name of the rehab game, but did it have to be so poorly done? I had watched my broker do some awesome rehabs. He would modernize the house while keeping original features. Buyers in turn would get the best of both worlds.

So, I dared to pose this question, "Could I find a rehabbing client that would work with me on preservation?" It could prove to be rather difficult to find someone that would see the value in trying to rehab this way. After all, saving historic features while modernizing isn't always the most economical route to go. It would take an investor that was willing to take a smaller profit margin at times in order to do things right. Do things right, and you could create demand for your product. Create a demand for your product and you can sell faster while pricing your properties on the higher end.

My thoughts were...

1. Find a good rehab project in a neighborhood that was anchored by local businesses and other walkable attractions. Sure, you are going to pay a little bit more for this project due to location, but selling the property would be much easier (faster) on the "flip" side.

2. Help out the surrounding neighbors by buying up a potential "problem property" that was affecting the values of the homes around it.

3. Spend a little more money on higher quality finishes and work.

4. Modernize while keeping as much historical finishes as possible.

5. Recycle, reduce and reuse whenever possible.

Well, guess what?  Apparently, the Universe does provide when you are truly ready for something. I stumbled into a client that would work with me on these things (or we stumbled into each other). So, I figured I would share with you all a lot about the process as we go along. I am having a blast working on these projects. It never ceases to amaze me what we uncover good and bad on a daily basis. I thought some of it was worth sharing and that others would find it just as interesting I do. Besides, I am very proud of this investor and want to share his work with people!