New Financial Route

Hello everyone,

Now that I’m a little over the three-month mark since buying my first investment property, I wanted to finally give you all an update on the progress I’ve made so far.

Or rather…the lack thereof. I suppose I’m not being fair to myself when I say that, but I just wish that I could have gotten more done by now. I’m still in the earlier stages in this project, and my goal was to be done by the end of the year. Fortunately, I’ve found help for all the structural and mechanical work so there is hope! It may be better if I break down the events based on the month (future updates will be more frequent)

July: Dumpsters, Decks, and Dread

Naturally the first step in this project was to do the cleanout of everything the previous owners left behind. The process was…definitely a workout.

That’s especially the case when you have to order two 30-yard dumpsters just to get some of the junk out of your house. Not too bad you say? Well, imagine that all the junk happens to be in the attic and second floor and has to be carried down to the first floor in 90+ degree weather.

That was my life in July. After work in the evenings and on the weekends, I’d rush to the property and throw away as much as I could. With the help of friends and family, we were able to remove the majority of the trash to at least get started with the demolition and renovation. The plan here is to rent another dumpster after the renovation for the construction debris and the remainder of the junk.

The real issue was the state of the deck. I was hopeful that the deck wouldn’t have needed to be replaced, but a discussion with a structural engineer showed that it would be better to get rid of it completely.

Based on our meeting, the deck wasn’t built correctly in the first place. We discussed some possible fixes, but even after structural repairs, the entire deck would have needed to been sanded and stained. Add in the fact that a new deck could last for over 30 years, I (begrudgingly) came to the concluding that replacement was the best option.

Still, that caused an increase to my budget. An increase that wasn’t welcome, especially with the amount of work that I needed to get done on the property. Little did I know that that wouldn’t be my only concern…

August: Is It a Ghost? No, It’s a Contractor

August was similar to July. I continued cleanout of the property. I was able to remove the majority of the carpet as well. At this point, I was more focused on getting quotes for all the structural and mechanical work I wanted to get done (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, deck).

But as anyone who’s gotten renovation work done recently knows, finding help is easier said than done. In terms of the HVAC work, I had a promising lead with someone who could replace the furnaces and add AC. He told me to give him a week for him to prepare a quote. What happened after a week, after texting and calling several times? Crickets.

I had an even worse time finding an electrician. The first one I contacted came to the property and said he would get back to be with a quote within a week…does this story sound familiar? They say that history repeats itself, so when he also didn’t respond, let’s just say I was disappointed but not surprised!

Another electrician came to the house only to tell me that the job was too big for him to do and that I’d have to wait until next year for him to start. Given that I have a hard money loan, that certainly wasn’t an option.

I decided to try and contact a larger electrical company thinking the results would be different…which they weren’t. They gave me one call back, but when I tried responding to their missed call, they wouldn’t pick up the phone.

Fortunately, luck was on my side for September.

September: Gaining Momentum

This month, I was finally able to start getting some mechanical work done on the triplex.

I got a new HVAC system installed, which was a win! I ended up getting three new furnaces and HVAC units. I still need to figure out what I’m going to do with the third floor which is not centrally heated, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there I suppose :).

I was able to get a reference to an electrician from the HVAC contractor (who would be able to help me with the plumbing work) to help with some electrical upgrades. He said he could help me within the next couple weeks.

I’m meeting with another contractor as well to build a new deck/fire escape in the back.

And I’m starting the demolition work as well.

October

The plan this month is to get all non-cosmetic work done, and hopefully some cosmetic work too. Fingers crossed! Overall, I’ve gotten a fair amount done but I’m trying to speed up the process over the next few month. Stay tuned!