More Hidden Treasures

Found this assortment of toys on Meramec! The bear/monkey has become the mascot for Starke. Dan Carter has been taking his picture at different places throughout the site.
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Counting Down to the End of the Week

Ginger is almost there. Of course, the last 10 percent of a project take longer than anything else. When they finish on Ginger they will move straight on to Terracotta and finish her up.

This week at Ginger they laid a new tile floor, covered some of the old tile, picked out a new toilet and sink and had the bathtub re glazed. When the bath is finished it is going to look sharp. Since baths and kitchens sell properties more than anything else it is VERY important they be stellar. It is the small touches that set one property apart from another.

I am so excited to take pics of the finished product and show it off! Be looking for more blogs as we scramble to finish Ginger by the end of the weekend.
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Monday Morning Meetings

Most of you who know me know that I am up really, REALLY late. I love the evening, it is when I am finally alone to jam on my work. However, construction and everything else happens in the morning sometimes before the sun comes all the way out. Monday is my Friday, but for the rehabbers and contractors it is the beginning of their work week. Rehabbing is a circus for sure. In this case, it is a three ring circus. Everyone has a role to play but we all have to be in communication. There is the Developer (Starke Group), the Contractor (Dan Carter) and Me (Real Estate Agent). What we realized after working together for quite a while now was that someone was mentioning something to someone else that was supposed to pass it on to the intended recipient and it wasn't happing. What a shocker, right? Another thing that was happening was we were discussing things WAY TOO much causing for annoyance and not enough time for action to be taken. What we came up with as a solution was Monday Morning Meetings. They start at 7:30 am and items of mention are discussed over hot coffee, that flows way faster than the stuff at Starbucks. Uncle Bills is the perfect location, it is close to the rehabs, close to my office, fast on service and accomodating. This is all very important since time is money in this game. Topics up for discussion today were coordinating installation of cabinets around the floor refinisher's schedule, organization, carpet, marketing, deadlines and many other topics (like they need to be taking more pictures for the blogs). Today there wasn't much to talk about because so much got done from last week's meeting. Very exciting, I think the meetings are working!

PS Due to having to rise so early and being close to work. Mondays have become my most efficient days in terms of getting work done. Just in time for wrapping up for my day off TUESDAY!

ERRRRRRR....Back up and REWIND! You never want to admit that you have to...

OK, so I told you guys that the floors on Ginger had been redone, and they had. In fact, they had taken days and days of hard work and some good money. Not to mention, they had eaten up several days of time on the schedule (time is money in the flip biz). So, imagine the pain of having to admit they look like crap. That's right....I SAID IT, they LOOKED LIKE CRAP. When the dust settled and the floors dried they were not looking so sharp. Here is some friendly advice DO NOT TRY TO REDO FLOORS YOURSELF!

 I am never quite prepared for the conversations that as an agent you have to have with your clients that aren't so nice. Let's be honest though, real estate isn't always wrapped in a nice neat package. I wish it was, but if it was anybody could sucessfully help you buy and sell real estate. Right? So, armed with my best ally on how finishes are supposed to look, Dan Carter I waded into the muck and told the investor that the best possible thing to do was to have the floors redone. This wasn't easy for me to say. I mean, basically I was saying, "You need to spend a couple grand and stall a week to have this crap fixed. Oh and by the way, that puts you further behind schedule and you may miss your window to draw the largest number of buyers." Yay! Go Leigh, way to make them love you. To my surprise, I didn't get much fight. His statement was, "Will it affect the sale? If the answer is "yes" then let's have them redone."

Needless to say, I am now waiting on floors so they can go in and get the rest of it done before it can go on the market. Anyone who knows me knows that patience isn't my virtue, but it is going to look hot!

Problem on Terracotta

You can't paint the wall with 4 layers of wallpaper on it. Sometimes, it is hard to tell that the wall actually has paper on it instead of paint! The old wallpaper was more like cloth and could be very thick and durable. It isn't until a seam starts to pop that it becomes visible. Often, I have seen rehabs and homes for sale with the wallpaper painted. Sometimes, it works...Most of the time, it doesn't.

Wallpaper can be a huge pain to remove. I have seen many buyers in search of a home that have passed on houses plastered with wallpaper even if it was deeply discounted. Furthermore, I have seen buyers in search of a deal buy a house with wallpaper stating that they were going to remove it, and years later it is still there. Even this real estate agent is guilty of that one. ;)

The investor on Ginger bought a steamer to remove the paper on that rehab. To much chagrin the steamer didn't work near as well as a spray bottle and water.

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Floors from Start to Finish!

Finding hardwood floors is like hitting pay dirt. If you know they are there, it's a bonus. Just like paydirt though, you are going to have to work for them. Ginger is a perfect example...Yucky beige carpet in the living and dining rooms, more carpet in the bedrooms, hall and kitchen covered in layers and layers of vinyl and plywood tile. What has tp happen is all of that crap has to be removed and then, and only then do you know what you are working with.

Here are the "Before" pics of Ginger's floors:

The kictchen has LAYERS of pressed board laminate. Gross.












The living room and dining have YUCKY BEIGE carpet.











The Bedroom has blue indoor out-door carpet.

I can't say that I am a huge fan of any of these looks! Below are some of the during shots.

As you can see, the carpet glue didn't come up very easily or well on the bedroom floors.  That just means more work when they sand. :(

In the living room we found that they have removed a large section of the decorative inlay. We aren't sure why. One side of the fireplace was OK, this side was not. This fix was not easy but we got creative. We found a decorative medallion corner piece in the closet under carpet. Needless to say, the closet is now missing a medallion and the living room has a new one. The floor was then patched in the closet with scrap hardwood and refinished. :)

The kitchen had so much glue on the floor that the original floors could not be saved. No worries, we will be matching the hardwood from the house and installing it here. The tools are not included in the sale of this house.














Now, on to the finished product:

The hallway no longer has pressboard tile!

Bedroom floors refinished!

Dining redone!

Kitchen floors redone!

There you have it! Floors from start to finish!

There is Treasure in Them There Walls! ARGH....

I know that my first couple blogs were super long and maybe even a bit boring. However, I do promise-swear with all my heart that the rehab business is really fun. Somedays, I do feel like I should take a long walk off of a short plank but, who doesn't? So, today I thought we could take a look at the "real" hidden treasures found in the walls, attics and basements to date. I have left out the 5 BAZILLION beer cans and the countless baggies and rolling papers found hidden in rafters in favor of other truly "cool" items.

And a REALLY COOL OLD MAP THAT I CAN'T FIND THE PIC OF! :(