I'm Flipping Out!!!

I think I signed up for a trip to the nearest psychiatric hospital. What was I thinking?

My dearest husband, James, regularly buys and sells houses. Some turn into rentals, others he sells after extensive remodeling and pockets a sweet chunk of change (which we then use to go on cool vacations - see May/June postings below). Well after a few months of watching "Flip This House" and "Flip That House" and "Property Ladder" and other various cable shows on real estate I thought "Hey I can do that!" So after saving up a bunch of money, I joined forces with my brother-in-law Rod and we bought a house to fix up.

The house came to us by way of a friend of the guy who cuts the hair of the cousin who knows our pastor...anyway they heard that we (my husband) buys houses. So James goes out and checks the property out, estimates the cost to fix up, crunches the numbers, and realizes it would be a good one for Rod and I to sink our teeth into. Less than a week later, we have a house deal signed. We were so excited!

I naturally took the role of the project coordinator/manager and began plotting schedules, booking construction talent; Rod and I chatted on the phone daily making plans on what we would fix, how, and how much we'd spend. We even spent a day at the home cutting down trees and clearing branches before the house deal even closed (the house was vacant).

Here's what needed to be done:
1. Entire yard renovation
2. 2 entirely new bathrooms
3. New flooring throughout
4. New paint throughout
5. Heating
6. New lighting in many rooms
7. General repair of deck
8. Roof and house pressure washing
9. And about 1000 other miscellaneous details

The house is in Port Orchard, Washington. It is 1660 Sq Ft, 3 bedroom 1 & 3/4 bath with a family room and nice sized yard. The house and yard are a garbage pit and need a lot of clean up and care.

We are currently exactly 1 month into this project. I initially plotted our schedule such that we'd hold an open house on the weekend of October 9th. I'm am hoping we'll be done sooner. Why, you ask? Well, my dearest little sister is pregnant with daughter #2 and the week we closed on the house deal she went into premature labor at only 7 months along!!! She's been on bed rest and IV medication to keep that little sweetie in there a little longer. So, knowing that she'll most likely give birth early, I'm driving to get this thing done before Sierra is born.

Will we make it? Come back and read on and see!!