It has been forever since I have posted on my blog. Life has truly been so busy. This... has taken up most of our time.
In September 2022, Aaron and I started looking at different homes in West Virginia. Why? Well, when we went to WV there was 1 place to rent on Furnished Finder for travel nurses. This means, opportunity! After searching a few places on Zillow with the filter of less than 100k we came upon a little house that was going for auction.
We decided to go drive by it and check it out. It was absolutely adorable!
This is the home prior to the previous owner buying it:
We contacted the realty group who was auctioning the home to see if we could go inside and check it out. They were more than happy to do so, and the front door was unlocked so he said we could head in. When you look at the photos, you see the bathroom is huge! Well, it was a spare room so immediately we said well, we would move the bathroom to the original location so it would be a 2 bedroom 1 bath. After looking at the crawl space, we were a little worried due to the previous owner placing what we called the 'Monster Wall'. This was made of plastic fencing and insolation. Us being essentially new home buyers since our other 2 properties are condos, we took the advice that this was there to 'protect the pipes'.
Aaron and I talked about it and we wanted to move the bathroom, put in tile flooring, pave/gravel the driveway, and take care of whatever the 'Monster Wall' was hiding. We decided on a limit for the auction. While we were in Colorado for our friends Maddy and Daniel's wedding, we were walking around Telluride bidding on this house on our phones! How simple? Right on the internet we won the bid and when we arrived back in WV we had to give our deposit.
This is when our learning began. Education costs a lot right?
Once we placed our deposit, the Realty Group sets you up with a lawyer to sign the deed. To sign this, you must have the funds via cashiers check or you can wire the money. Aaron and I have wired money multiple times, so we figured we would go that route since my bank is not located in WV for me to get a cashiers check. You can get a cashiers check at an affiliated branch, but of course my affiliated branch would only do increments of $500. Well, I think we all can guess that the house costs more than $500, so that option was out of the question.
Prior to arriving to the lawyers office, they send you a document so you can prepare for the money you are about to transfer or get a check for. Well, I didn't get one. I called multiple times and finally they got my email right and sent it over. We thought perfect! We will wire the money when we get there! Nope. With my credit union to do a wire transfer not in person, you must have a document signed by a notary turned into the bank and have it approved. This was of course out of the question. My mom was with us and she ran into the same issue.
If you're ever going to buy a home, make sure you know what your bank requires for a wire transfer if you are out of state. Both of our condos we did a wire transfer for while I was home, so I never knew this was a thing. Check your bank if you're ever looking to buy a home just so you never run into this problem!
Once the lawyer found out about this she was not pleased, and neither was the father of the previous owner (he was representing him). After talking, she accepted my personal check... Until she said, "Did you put down your deposit?".
I said, "Yes, within 72 hours of winning the bid online".
Her document turned out to be wrong. The deposit was not applied to the total. She went back upstairs and had to rewrite the documents so I could give her the correct amount. Had I wired the transfer before arriving, that amount would've been more than she actually needed. Maybe it was a good thing my bank requires extra documentation!
After this long and frustrating process we officially bought the home!
One of the first things we did was have an inspector come and look at everything we learned a few things:
There was a large amount of mold in the basement that the Monster Wall was covering.
No HVAC.... at all. No heat. Nothing (we had realized this, but it obviously wasn't clear to us when we first looked a the property).
The electric hot water heater he had installed was made to go under a sink. He installed it for the entire house. We needed a hot water heater.
The drainage from the left side of the house could be a large factor in why there is mold in the basement.
The gutters were not positioned to prevent water from going into the foundation.
The previous owner used an electrical conduit for some of the plumbing work.
A few of the beams under the house had enough water damage that they needed to be replaced.
The bright side was the roof was good! The windows were new too!
We installed new locks because the previous owner lost the keys. While we were waiting to close, someone had placed a heater, dish soap, and mats into the house. We definitely needed to get locks.
HVAC Installation:
These people want your money. All of it and your organs. It was insane the quotes we got. Thankfully, a girl at work was also renovating her house and she recommended her HVAC guy. He usually does commercial properties and he does private properties on the side. To tell you how much an entire HVAC, hot water heater, and duct work is, the other companies quoted us around $20k. This guy charged us half and we couldn't be happier! Resources people!
Well, not all resources are great... but we will get there.
Once Aaron and I got inside we sat down and talked about the projects. Aaron's big plan was to put tile down so he started by ripping up the flooring. We also bought the tile at Home Depot... enough to cover 670 square feet. Roughly 1500lbs we had to load into the truck and back off when we got home.
Once he started taking up the flooring, he noticed the insulation was brown. Your insulation should never be this color! Not only was the insulation bad, but also Aaron could not get over how bad the drywall seams were. Being 5'3", this is something I didn't notice.
Aaron's oldest brother Chris, his wife Vanessa, and their two kids Roman and Emery offered to help out. Brad, only living 20 minutes away on his travel assignment in Morgantown, WV, he came down too! Next thing you know, we are tearing everything out of this place.
Thankfully, the dump here is WV is much cheaper than where I am from in NY. Where I am from, you need a yearly membership at the dump, that is not free. Then, you have to pay for what you're dumping. In WV I was able to drive right up, say what county I was coming from, how was paying and that was pretty much it! You did have to wear a hard had and vest so Vanessa and I got some new items that day and unloaded both the trucks twice just before closing!
Demoing a property is truly very simple and I'd say don't pay someone to do it for you. If you get a few friends together or family, you can have that done in days! We are so thankful for Chris, Vanessa, Brad, Roman, and Emery for all their help!
When the days were nice, I started working in the backyard on the large and annoying rose bush that was taking over the yard and back deck.
Of course here are more demo pictures! Nothing like an old bees nest in your walls!
After this we started looking at contractors to do our electric work and plumbing. A girl at work had us contact her construction workers. One of the hardest things to do when you're renovating is you have to figure out where you want every light switch, outlet, faucet, shower head, etc. before actually buying it or seeing it in person. Lots of measuring happened here! One of the essential items was a heated fan in the bathroom. Even after all the thinking we did, there is one outlet in the kitchen neither of us like the location of, but it happens!
Once we got back from Christmas break we got back to the property to find that the guys had not started on the plumbing and electric. This was frustrating because we really wanted to get started on everything else. While home, we got to talking about having the guys do all the work. It was becoming a lot for just the 2 of us. We signed a contract for them to do everything in February.
The backyard had 2 giant trees that we needed removed and brush. With the water run off on the left side of the house, we talked about a retaining wall. One of the first things contractors want are property lines. We decided to get our property lines marked so we could see what we could do and how much land we really had. Come to find out, we didn't own our driveway. We were not land locked, but the driveway that has been used for years was actually owned by someone else. We had a right of way to the backyard which would take us talking to the neighbors to get a driveway put in. This would be extremely expensive to have done. We did some research online and found who the owners were. We knocked on their door and thankfully they were open to us buying the land from them. Of course, they first said they wanted to park a trailer on it. Then we couldn't get ahold of them so we had to go back to their front door. Finally, we just gave up, went online to the assessors office, found what they quoted the property to be worth, and we offered them that with the help of the same company who sold us the house. Then we went back to the lawyers office. This time I called the Monday prior to get the amount I needed and my dad is the best and overnighted the cashiers check to our house. Everything went smoothly this time! We later went back to this lawyers office to make the entire property on one parcel rather than having 2. Having 2 means 2 tax bills come in every year, rather than one. It is just more convenient, and don't you think the entire property, house and driveway, should be one anyway?
Once we got all this squared away we started looking at people to remove the trees in the backyard. Our contractor recommended someone and they came out promptly. They called saying they were experienced in retaining walls, but we told them we cannot afford that at the moment. He said he would give us a quote. This quote was in our price range so we said lets do it.
The interior and exterior contractors did not seem to get along well (even though the interior company recommended the exterior). While we were boarding a plane in Arizona, we got a call from the interior guys saying they were blocked in because the exterior guys put the retaining blocks behind their cars so they couldn't move. The exterior guy said he had to prolong his job due to the inability to work during the day when the interior guys were there. It became high school drama that really, was completely unnecessary. Thankfully the yard was getting cleaned up.
I felt so good after burning that rose bush, but wow, a bushwhacker works a lot better!
During that time, the interior guys started putting up drywall and Aaron and I decided on colors of paint. When they applied the paint at first I was terrified that we picked the wrong color. It quickly started to look better once the cabinets and flooring were put in.
Our cabinets and countertop we ordered at Menards. They designed it and picked out the farmhouse sink we wanted. We brought it home and it did not fit. Back up to Morgantown we went and thankfully they had the one we wanted in stock.
During this time, Aaron and I had to start ordering things like bedframes, mattresses, etc.. The place we were renting filled quickly with all of our furnishings, but thankfully before we knew it, it was time to move in!
The couch we found at Pack 5 fit perfectly and they delivered which was even better. Our bedframe, bedside tables, and dresser, we bought off Amazon. We truly love the way it turned out. Once we moved in we needed grass, a shed to store the lawn mower, barstools, shelves for the bathroom, and to our surprise, a washer and dryer. We decided to keep that appliance because it looked new and the warranty was delivered in the mail and we could extend it. Well, we turned it on and it filled with water! So, we ordered one to be delivered and installed by Home Depot. Oh, and we had a fence put in as well. For the entire time we were there, we had contractors running in and out. Some of the interior plumbing was not done properly so we had them over again as well. Aaron and my dad installed steps off the back deck and a small patio. While doing so, we noticed the foundation cracks. Looks like the trees that were growing in the back yard were actually growing into the foundation and footer. The roots were starting to surround the house as well. We called Baker's Waterproofing and they thankfully fixed the foundation and so much more that needed done. Thankfully they had financing.
Here are pictures from when we moved out!
We are so pleased with how it turned out. A huge thank you to everyone to helped make this house beautiful!
We were able to rent the house to one of our co-workers and she singed a 2 year lease!
One thing we are still dealing with now, is that our retaining wall was not built properly. It looks great, but long story short, it could fall over. We had an expert witness and an engineer come see the wall. We had to consult a lawyer. Due to this, we cannot say much. My best advice to anyone flipping a home or hiring anyone is to vet your contractors and use a construction loan!
Timeline
September 2022 - won auction bid online
October 2022 - Signed deed for house, mold removed and thermal barrier placed
November 2022 - HVAC placed
December 2022 - Finished Demo
January/February 2023 - electric and plumbing finished
February 2023 - Construction on interior started
March 2023 - Exterior construction started
April 2023 - All appliances ordered, cabinets ordered, countertop ordered, picked out paint and vanity.
End of May 2023 - Exterior construction and interior construction ended.
August 22, 2023 -- We left for our new travel assignment.
Our takeaways when buying a home:
Check all the specs of your HVAC and hot water heater.
How do you wire money? Does your bank do loans outside of your state? Can you wire money without being at your bank in person?
How can you get cashier's checks from your bank without being in person?
Look at the seams of drywall & the paint on the walls. Is it smooth? Is it not? Are the walls and ceiling textured to cover something up?
Is there an odd scent? Could there be mold or bad insulation?
If you're looking to demo, what are the regulations at the dump near you?
Are you in city limits? If so, what permits do you need? When can you burn? What can you burn?
Where are your property lines?
Your inspector only looks at so much... is your electric good inside the walls? GFI's, are those installed correctly?
When contacting construction workers - did you vet them? See their previous work in person. See if they have an LLC (google search LLC in 'state'). See if they have a contractors license too.
If you're going to do renovations, can you apply for a construction loan? Construction workers will be frustrated with this process because they can't get away from the bank. They don't get paid until the work is done!
BUY YOUR FLOORING LAST. We moved tile 6 times.
Get a security system quote/location of where the plugs need to go, prior to putting in your electric. The security system took 3 plugs away from us.
What you need may not be available any longer when you need it. If you have the space, order it ahead of time! Appliances can be difficult to store so make sure to look at their delivery policy.
Well, that's been our project over the last year. Everyone said if we can make it through this, our marriage will last. I'd say we are good to go!
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