Investment Property Part #4

Hurry!

I decided to put an ad online showcasing our home as a “Short Term Furnished Rental”.  Available December 1st, I wrote.  Although we had not interior photos to post, I thought I’d test the market to see who was out there in need of a monthly furnished rental.  Well, a day later, there it was.  Our first response to the online ad, a young man was being transferred to Kansas City and was in need of temporary housing until he found the right home to purchase for he, his wife and 15 month old, who were still in Chicago at her parent’s house. ‘Can you meet me there tonight?’, the email asked.  Sure, I told him.  So, my husband and I met him there at 5pm and it was almost dark. Not only dark but we had to explain to him what work we intended to do in the house before December 1st.  What a nice young man.  He took pictures and said he would give us an answer in the next 5-7 days after he’d discussed it with his wife.  Jack and I drove home thinking we’d better hurry up so that we can have a tenant by December 1st.  

Getting Started…..

A quick trip to Lowe’s that week and within 15 minutes, we’d picked out the carpet and ordered the installation. At first, the salesman kept showing and suggesting their ‘house flipping/rental property’ carpet.  No way was I putting chintzy grade carpet in my ‘love nest’, I thought.  I was pleased with our final selection, let’s just say.   

Next, ‘the wood floors are too yellow’, my husband said.  The hardwood floors were in great shape and I thought we were trying to conserve money on this project when possible. My husband suggested we take up the vinyl flooring in the kitchen as there were hardwoods underneath.  Then refinish all of the hardwoods and stain them with a darker color.  He said it would give the house a ‘richer’ feel.  He was right.  The floors, a week later, looked great and it did add a warm ambiance (richer) feel to the house.  Things were moving right along.  Plus, we had two more inquiries from our online ad, even without any interior photos.  We felt good.

Investment Property Blog #3

It’s Ours…….

On the first evening of owning our Breezeway Cottage, my husband loaded up the car with a box of Dura-flame logs and I packed the wine and cheese.  Off we went to celebrate.  I was so excited!  Why Dura-flame?  Even though we had it inspected, the masonry fireplace had not been used for years.  I mean like 15 or more years.  So I didn’t want to start a roaring Pennsylvania fall fire in the fireplace only to burn the house down.  I tested the waters with a single log that first night.

We opened the door to find that the previous owner, Georgia, had left us an entire typed memoir of her 17 years in this home.   Georgia had a note on the front that read, “Dear Lettiann…. Recent History of the House, 1996-2014”.   This booklet was about ¾” thick and included pictures.  My husband, a history buff, and I were tickled.  We lit the fire, opened the wine and my husband began to read to me.  In one of the first paragraphs Georgia wrote, “It goes without saying that I felt a kinship with this home the moment I stepped inside.”  She then indicated how she was already missing the home as she had recently moved to a retirement community.  I couldn’t believe it.  What she described feeling was exactly how I felt when I stepped foot in the house.  Georgia, too, loved this house.   

After reading a bit more, we realized that she had a hard time relinquishing this home. She indicated that she could no longer care for it as she once had and knew it was time to start the next chapter of her life in a retirement home.  We read in detail about all the plants she had planted around the house and how she cared for them. I wondered if she was a master gardener. Being as detailed as she was in her writing, I’m sure Georgia would have mentioned it if she were.  

Jack rounded out the evening taking a seat in the breezeway and lighting a cigar.  He told me that he may not have the time to do the remodeling work that we had talked about. Especially since the holidays are just around the corner.  So, we decided to get a bid from a contractor.

A trusted builder friend of ours came down to the house a few days later.  He was taking notes as my husband told him what we’d like done to the home.  Surprisingly, Jack was going all out. Telling the contractor that he’d like the doorways into the kitchen and dining widened, arched with bull nosed corners, complete kitchen and bath remodel, refinish all the hardwoods and new carpet for the bedrooms, and so on.  I again was so excited!  The bid for all of the work came to over $30,000.  Well, that ended that joy ride.  We decided to do the work ourselves.  Maybe in phases, we thought.

Investment Property Part 2

Two weeks until closing…..

In the interim of the last month, my husband has proposed a ‘kitchen remodel’ idea to me and a plan that I really like. I, after a few estate sales and a few Craigslist purchases, have got this house just about furnished.  We actually drove an hour and a half to pick up a beautiful sleigh bed that I found for this ‘not yet ours’ house on Craigslist. While driving home I thought, are we nuts? What are we doing? All of the sudden we realized we were putting the cart before the horse by purchasing furniture for a home that we are likely not going to live in and sketching out remodeling plans for a home we didn’t intend on remodeling. Well, at least we had a lovely lunch together outside at a bistro in a town we didn’t often visit.  Right?

The next decision we made was to make this home available as a furnished short term rental property.  Perfect. We’ll give it a try. Now I felt good about my plans to furnish it and Jack can continue his remodel ideas.  You know, we can justify just about anything and I think we just did.  After all, the house isn’t even ours yet.  Jack is pretty practical and level headed yet he is onboard with this fun endeavor, I told myself.  I just double justified.

Investment Property

Be careful.  You just might fall in love…… My husband and I decided to look for an investment property earlier this year.  We found a darling older neighborhood in Kansas City that rarely has a home on the market for more than a few days. Being a REAL-tor, I kept my eye on this neighborhood on the chance something might come on the market that would fit what we were looking for in a rental property.  Well it happened.  We purchased our first rental. It is all of 1400 sq. ft. and in good shape with good bones.  90 days of sweat equity and $25,000 remodeling dollars later, we have our first tenants.

The fever got to us, the investment fever.  In September of this year I took a moment to see if there were any new houses on the market in that same darling neighborhood.  There was.  By chance my step-daughter had a doctor appointment that same day just down the street from this newly listed house so my husband agreed to go take a look at it with me.

At first glance, as I walked into this 1940’s, well-maintained, 1030 sq. ft. home, all I could see is how lovely my antique dining table would look sitting there in the vacant, well kept, hard wood floored dining room.  This two bedroom one bath ‘cottage’ gave me a good feeling.

The house where my husband and I live presently is over 5000 sq. ft. and it has three lovely gas fireplaces. Flip the switch, boom, you’re done. But no wood, no smell, no sound. This house had a wood burning fireplace.  As I took another step I thought, masonry fireplace BIG plus! There is nothing sexier than my husband chopping wood. The house I lived in before we got married had a wood burning fireplace. Jack and I so enjoy our time sitting by a crackling fire sharing a glass or two of vino. Growing up in western Pennsylvania, wood burning fireplaces were practically a way of life, a place where the fire burned from fall through late spring.  I anxiously anticipated what I might find around the next corner.

Needless to say, I wrote a contract on the house that night.  My husband wanted to talk about what we might do to the house before we rented it.  I said, ‘rent it? No, I intend on playing house here’.

Smoke House

As a former smoker some many years ago, I understand ‘the want’.  No matter how much my mother berated me about my habit, I didn’t want to quit until “I” wanted to quit. In fact, her nagging probably added another year of me smoking. “I’ll show her...”, I thought. Yes, I know, I was only hurting myself.  But, you don’t know my mother.  :)

Ok, bottom line, potential buyers who visit your home and smell smoke will be immediately turned off.  Right up there with cat urine (ok, dogs pee too, I get it), smoke is a huge turn off to buyers.  What’s a smoking seller to do?  

First of all, try and smoke outside or on screened porch. Keep the ashtray outside, too.  Even though you may only smoke in one room inside your house, smoke travels through the ventilation system and permeates every room.  Rid the home of odor.  How?  PLEASE don’t think that perfumey plug ins, candles and room deodorizer alone will do the trick. Smoke smell alone is bad to a potential buyer but smoke smell and perfuney spray cover up combo is worse.

If you are a smoker who just purchased a home that was formerly non-smoking, be intentional about having a smoking area outside (garage doesn’t count, unless garage door is open).  Start using the outside area or ‘designated smoking area’, right off the bat. If you are a smoker in a smoker’s house and really want to try and get rid of most (notice I said most, as it’s next to impossible to get all the smoke odor out) of the smoke odor, the first thing you must do is STOP all smoking in the house.  Have all carpeting cleaned or if the odor is so imbedded that cleaning won’t rid the odor, then rip out and throw away all carpeting, wall to wall and rugs.  Replace with new carpeting or install another type of flooring such as hardwood.  

Window treatments – take them down, you can try to wash them and put back up but…?  Even wood blinds have fabric cords on them.  The smoke smell is in the fabric there and everywhere.  Ventilate the house.  Open windows (unless is a wicked hot humid day, that only enhances odors), turn on ceiling fans (wipe them all down first with a deodorizing solution of some kind). Wash all bedding and sheets, including the clean ones in the linen closet.  Prior to your decision to smoke outside, these linens have be sopping up the smoke smell all along the way.  Repaint surfaces, if possible. A matte finish polyurethane sealant will provide good odor protection without altering the sheen of the newly repainted wall.  If you’re not going to paint, at least wash down the walls with a mild soap solution and be sure to rinse thoroughly.  

Have all of your upholstery cleaned by a professional. See, it’s a big job ridding a house of smoke.  Perhaps a fireman would have good ideas on removing smoke odor. The list can go on and on… oh yeah, replace your furnace filter, as well.  See what I mean? I think the list could be never ending.  Take it outside people. It could mean more money in your pocket when you go to sell your house.

It's that time of year - Fruit Flies!

Fruit flies swarming your kitchen and annoying you? Do this: take a small ramekin or bowl and fill with about 1/4" of apple cider vinegar. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Take a tooth pick and gently poke holes in the plastic wrap all over the top of the bowl. Careful not to make any one hole too big, keep them small. You're all set. Fruit flies will find their way to the vinegar through the holes in the plastic wrap. However, they are unable to get out through those same holes. Try it. I keep mine on the counter tops for weeks at a time.

Flooring Wars

First of all, please remove all wall to wall carpet in the bathroom. Carpet in the bathroom is a big NO-NO.  If you are soon to be putting your home on the market, get that out of there before your home hits the market!  What to replace it with?  Tile.

Hardwood Floors: Beautiful & easy to clean. Downfall: can show scratches

Slate Floors: Downfall: hard to clean due to uneven surface; Slate is porous so perhaps not such a good idea for shower or bathroom areas unless a waterproof membrane should be used if installing slate in wet areas.  

Laminate:  Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between a real wood floor and a laminate looking wood floor these days.  Laminate flooring is very durable and usually water resistant. Downfall: buyers generally prefer real hardwood over a fake look alike.

Carpet:  Yes, in the appropriate places like the bedroom, the recreation room or lower level family room.  Downfall: hard to clean carpet stains like wine; and carpet can retains pet and other odors.

Linoleum: Made mostly of linseed oil and other natural materials. Often considered the ‘Old School’ style flooring as it has been around for 150 years or so.  Downfall:  linoleum is susceptible to moisture damage, and has to be treated with a surface sealer after installation and need to be protected against water penetration.  Linoleum is often looked down upon as a ‘less expensive/cheaper’ choice of flooring, especially to upper bracket home buyers.

Vinyl Flooring: Unlike linoleum flooring, Vinyl is a man-made manufactured product. Vinyl is durable and waterproof, and as such doesn’t require periodic sealing or waxing. Downfall: just like linoleum, vinyl can be stereotyped at the ‘less expensive/cheap’ choice to a buyer.

Stamped Concrete: Very hip.  Great for a lanai or perhaps a funky lower level finished area. The concrete can be stained to almost any color.

Tile:  There is tile out there that looks like wood floors.  Really. You (I had to) kneel down and tap on the material and I still couldn’t believe that it was tile that looked like hardwood floors.  This flooring is becoming quite popular.

Award Winning Chili Recipe

Here is my Award Winning Chili Recipe, Lettiann's Chili, from Tastebud Magazine, March 2008.  Best Overall Chili winner.  Enjoy!

Lettiann's Award-winning Chili

Make a batch and invite some friends over.

1 pound ground turkey breast

1 pound Italian sausage, loose

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 - 28ox. can crushed Italian tomatoes

1 - 15oz. can tomato sauce

1 - 6oz. can tomato paste

3 - 15oz. cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup water

1 jar Heinz chili sauce

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. sugar

Brown turkey and sausage. Add chopped onion, green pepper and garlic. Saute over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 3-5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and water. Stir to incorporate. Add spices and add chili sauce. Cook over low heat, covered, about 2 hours. Stir occasionally. Drain and rinse kidney beans. Add beans and sugar to chili. Enjoy.

Makes a big batch. Leftovers? Freeze 'em.

Serves 8-10.

Introduction To our Homes That Cook Blog

My first book under my belt, Homes That Cook. Not only does it give me the warm fuzzes to share with readers about my love for food and family, it also enables me to talk about tips for buying, selling and creating a Home That Cooks.  I have included many of my recipes, my family recipes and recipes from others that have been shared with me along the way.  

We all have had favorite foods and dishes prepared by members of our family that we have enjoyed for many years.  I encourage you to collect those family recipes and continue those family traditions so that they can be enjoyed and passed on from generation to generation.
 
Our Homes That Cook blog will encompass home buying and selling advice, cooking tips, recipes, remodeling stories, decorating ideas, investment property dialogue and anything else that is fun to do with and your home. New posts every Monday.

Will it be humorous?  I hope so.  Will it be edgy?  Likely so.  Will it be entertaining? You tell me.  Will you learn something?  Yes.  Will I learn something? You bet.  Will we have fun?  YES!  Would I like your feedback, input and questions?  Yes, please.