We all remember the uncertainty in the spring of 2020 as Covid spread throughout our country and the world. As a realtor, I didn’t know if I would able to sell homes. Would I be an essential worker? Would there be any demand? With so many unknowns, I needed to find another source of income. We started Airbnbing the guest cottage in our back yard and looked for another property that might work for an additional rental.

As realtors were declared essential workers in Georgia, real estate did slowly start to pick up. I had a great family that I had helped buy their first home reach out to me about a property in Homewood Hills, a West Athens Neighborhood. They were expecting their 4th baby and needed more space. The house was a bargain as it was a complete fixer. Other than “new” carpet being layered on top of old, it hadn’t been updated since it was built in 1959. The husband was enthusiastic about the prospect and the wife declared it would end their marriage if they took on such a huge project so they did not purchase the home. However, I saw the potential and ended up showing it to my husband who has extensive construction experience. Here was our project to get us through the pandemic, so we decided to buy it. I would learn to strip wallpaper and make this home beautiful again.

Working on the house became Jim’s full time job. With over 4000 sq. ft. there was a lot of house to flip. With interest rates low and people needing remote spaces to work, I ended up busier helping people buy and sell homes than I ever had been before. Jim was left to do the bulk of the physical labor while I spent nights making design decisions. I learned a tremendous amount about how to inexpensively make essential changes to an outdated home. Here are a few of the things I learned:

1. It will take you much longer than you anticipated to finish. My husband always says you can have time or money but rarely both. Totally true for a flip. If you are wanting to save money by doing the work yourself, it will inevitably take more time although you will not be at the mercy of a subcontractor’s schedule. It took us 8 months to get the job done and that’s with us paying subcontractors for some plumbing, drywall, and painting. We saved a tremendous amount of money though on Jim learning how to do all the electrical and all the upstairs plumbing.

2. You don’t want it to look like everyone else’s flip. If it is an investment property (whether a flip or rental), you really don’t want it took look like every one else’s flip. Please no more gray LVP and walls! I made design choices that honored the era of the home. I didn’t buy the same fixtures for each bathroom and I varied the electrical fixtures. Nothing looks more like a flip than the exact same vanity in each bathroom and the same vanilla light fixture from Lowes. You can find unique fixtures online for a very reasonable price if you are willing to spend some time scrolling.

3. The time and expense of moving some walls can be worth it. We did not remove the wall between the family room and living room because the family room was already a good size and completely open to the kitchen. However, there wasn’t a true en suite for the primary. The tiny bathroom between the primary and another bedroom was not going to work for modern living. We removed the linen closet at the end of the hall, moved the entrance door to the secondary bedroom and then removed the door from the secondary bedroom into the tiny bathroom. That gave us enough space to have a 6 foot vanity and large tiled walk in shower.

4. Reuse original aspects of the home. Finding ways to reuse original aspects of the home saves you money and makes the house unique. In the hall bath upstairs, we chose to essentially reglaze the tiles and not gut the entire bathroom, click HERE for what we used. We re-tiled the floor and of course changed out the vanity and toilet. We also decided to not paint the wood trim throughout the house but instead find a white paint that complimented the wood.

5. Be ready to pivot. We ended up keeping the majority of the kitchen cabinets. They were solid wood and in good condition. I had held on to the cabinet’s hardware because it was really unique but the finish was completely deteriorating. However, when I went to buy new pulls, I realized that the holes in the cabinets were not standard and by this time we had already repainted the cabinets! I found a great local company, Classic Powder and Ceramic Coating, that did powder coating. Powder coating the cabinet pulls was slightly more expensive than buying new, but they are unique and it kept us from having to repaint the cabinets.

We finished the home in early 2021 and started to use it a short term rental. After a few months, it became clear that it was not a great location or layout for a successful Airbnb - the size lent it to people looking for a party house. In the meantime, the sweet couple who I had originally showed the home to, approached me about buying the home now that it was fully renovated. After listing and selling their home, they closed on Laurel Drive, marriage intact. ☺️

Five Things I Learned From My First Flip