Down the Road We Go - Wilmington DE

First reality lesson... If you're gonna rip it up, it doesn't need to be nice to start with.

We're in the middle of a flip in the city of Wilmington, actually N. Wilmington if there's actually such a place. It was a really nice twin then owned by the estate of an older woman who had recently died. We got a pretty good deal paying $87,500 for it after it had twice been under contract for $120,000 only to have both deals fall through because of financing issues. The house comp'd to around $120,000 in the condition we bought it in and to around $175,000 in rehabbed condition. Well, not really rehabbed as the house really didn't need rehabbing. Let's say in renovated condition.

The big anticipated problem with the house wasn't it's condition but the layout of the kitchen. Actually, of the kitchens! See, the original kitchen was about 8x12 and at this point contained a huge side-by-side refrigerator and the very original cabinets which were mounted AT the ceiling, which is 9'. Mind you these cabinets were probably 24" tall so you can only imagine how anyone actually used them! There was an addition onto the back of the house that was the "new" kitchen. This new kitchen was also about 8x15 and was layed out in a galley configuration. Between these two kitchens was a 16" thick wall, the original rear of the house.

What were our options? Tear out this structural wall and make one big kitchen? Work with what we had? We decided to remove a wall that separated the original kitchen and the dining area and extend the kitchen a couple of feet out also closing off another entry to the kitchen from the foyer allowing for a full complement of base and wall cabinets and a decent expanse of countertop. The "new" kitchen would be reconfigured as a powder room and laundry.

We decided we would gut the main bathroom, correct some minor ductwork shortcomings, replace all lighting fixtures and windows and replace the siding on the rear addition. The initial budget was around $35,000.

Soon we discovered that the ductwork needed to be almost completely replaced, the furnace had a hole in the heat exchanger and so needed to be replaced, the water heater was much older than it had appeared and, because we had decided that extending the kitchen and tiling the floor wouldn't look quite right, we decided to replace the hardwood on the first floor to unify the look and not accentuate the differences in the work spaces. Soon the budget had ballooned to over $50,000 with the assistance of the local L&I boys who seemed to make sport of throwing red flags in our contractor's faces.

Our GC has been fantastic. We can't say enough about the quality of their work, about their attention to detail and about how they have been stand up. Fact is that the electrician's invoice came in DOUBLE the combined estimate of the plumbing and electric! And yet there have been no requests for additional money from the GC, as there shouldn't. But I can tell you in many cases they'd have bitched and moaned or walked away. Not these guys. And this was the least of their problems.

Two days ago we completed the 9th rough inspection, many of them for bogus items, and finally got approval to close the walls. We're now more than six weeks over schedule almost entirely due to delays and flags from our pals at Wilmington's trusty L&I group. But hey, that's what they get paid to do right?

The house is gonna look fantastic and I'll be sure to post some pictures on the blog when it is completed hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks. Now, I'm hoping to sell it for $189,000- $195,000 because it's really gonna be nice when it's done!

But back to the lesson learned. The big lesson learned from this flip is that we should have bought a total shell. I started out by saying this twin was in great condition. Fact is our GC basically gutted almost the entire house in order to get everything right. And a lot, most of it is at his expense! But all the plumbing, electric, much of the walls and ceilings, the floors, pretty much the entire interior has been replaced! Had we bought a more rundown house, we could have spent almost the same amount but gotten the property for considerably less and ended up with the same product. The key here is the conscientiousness and quality workmanship of the GC, and there aren't a hole lot like these guys.But now we know, and the next projects we give them are likely to be better value deals on properties in worse condition but in good neighborhoods. Let'em tear it apart, they will anyway!