The Bride of Building Moxie Does w/ Flipping Houses aka …

Built By jb bartkowiak for Building Moxie & Published July 9, 2012.
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*ahem* A Big Step in My Personal Growth

One thing that’s been happening around my house hasn’t even been happening, well, around my house.

Diehard readers know that my wife, Jen, has been working on her first ever flip project.  She purchased a house and began working on it towards the end of last August.  Even more dieharderer readers also know that Jen is something of, well, a Real Estate Superstar.  (I guess you could know that too if you were ever to read the blurb that appears at the bottom of my posts. Ha!)

And while I guess every house we’ve ever been in could technically be considered a kinda “flip,” it has absolutely always been a dream (of both of ours) to renovate a home other than one we actually live in.

This particular house, a Colonial (I guess), sits less than a mile from ours.  After a short shopping period, she purchased it for a near rock bottom price . . . after a foreclosure.  And really . . . it was all kinda a perfect awesome flipping houses storm … or something.  Jen found herself not only with access to funds BUT ALSO with access to a working licensed contractor willing to “go in” on a house. Put another way – she had renovation costs covered and a contractor that was actually offering his labor for free (read: up front).

OK and that then begs the question . . .”Were you involved, jb?”  Truthfully . . . really, not that much.  And surely I asked.  The misses frequent responses usually ended about this way, “This can be my thing. … After all, you have, you know, your . . . thing.” HaWell! And . . . I know, it probably ends up being a pretty good thing.

I mean – something about the Other Man’s  no-nonsense style seemed to gel very well with Mrs. jb’s sometimes uber-practical, all-about-the-numbers way.  Yes, of course!  I do like to think that I could have pulled off a project of this scale.  BUT where their project was projected for 6-9 months (actual 9-10 months), for me . . . in my current “situation,” it would have come in at idk. . . ha! . . . and let’s leave it at that.

Oh and by the way his name is Mr. Paul (as my girls call him) and for some reason that “Other Man” joke really hasn’t produced as much play as I would have thought.

But anyways, I’m here to give the old lady (and her friend) some props where the props are due.  You can see some of the work here . . .

exterior before

exterior after

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kitchen before

kitchen after

kitchen after (opposite)

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master bedroom before

master bedroom after (fireplace)

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hall bathroom before

hall bath after (shower)

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2nd floor hallway before

2nd floor hallway after

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… other than offering a simple “yeah” for a color, or a “Sounds good” to a layout plan … I was able to offer up a few recommendations on subs for some specific needs.  I did spend an afternoon helping with the buy for the home’s staging (*huffing on nails just before rubbing them on upper shirt* …kidding) and yeah, really, the wife did do much much much of that work.  Oh and there was lending a part or a tool here and there.

I was responsible, too, and you may remember me mentioning it, for seeding the 30’ by 22’ plot of dirt that was the home’s front yard.  There it is below, and I’ll tell you a little bit about that next time.

The house now on the market for two weeks, it has received about six showings and has received generally positive feedback but no offers yet.  At least three of those showings occurred after a wave of severe thunderstorms ripped the power line from the house.  (A large fallen tree still sitting in the back yard.)  And anyway, if I know one thing – my wife has this home priced right. A more likely reason that it’s still on the market is . . . well, folks are just waiting for my grass to grow. ;~)

In my area, in the market and to make an offer on this gorgeous remodel … here >> http://mrislistings.mris.com/DE.asp?ID=47632208579.

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Thanks for reading and stay cool. Oh and Jen, I’m proud of you. ~jb