Flippin’ Friday: Introducing the Rough Ranch

Although I’m not completely done in the dining room, I’m going to take my time finishing it with the right furniture pieces and art. I’m keeping my eyes out for potential antique servers that would fit the space.

But I have plenty else on my plate, as we not only just started renovations on a flip house, but we are also undertaking a large renovation in our own home… our primary bath. I wasn’t really planning on having both going at once, and we are hiring out most of the work in the bathroom, but it is still a lot of work in all. Planning a bath renovation is a bit overwhelming in terms of structure, finishes, and pesky things like waterproofing. But I’m hoping it will be all worth it in the end.

Sheriff Sale Fun

In the real estate world, I am very excited and grateful for the relatively quick turnaround between selling the Cliffhanger, which we settled on in early December, and buying my latest project. After all, in this market I thought I could easily be waiting another year before something went my way. I purchased this one at the county sheriff’s sale in early February, and we just took possession of it last week.

The Cliffhanger had been our largest project to date. And yet it was also the house that was the most move-in ready when we took possession. So it’s weird to make the transition to this house, which is one of the smaller ones I’ve done, and probably the one in the worst shape inside. But let me back up.

Buying a house at a sheriff’s sale is always a rush. I mean, it’s exciting buying a small piece of furniture at an auction. When it’s a house, that adrenaline is compounded when the auctioneer declares “Sold!”. I had bid on a few houses that day, but I hadn’t had luck until this ranch came along. It seems that bidding usually starts above our target price range on most houses, and pretty much always finishes well above our target range. So when I was the winning bidder on a house at a price with a decent cushion below our target price, I was, of course, pretty excited.

After the sale, I was the first in line to make my down payment. I was still buzzing on the adrenaline, and I happily accepted the congratulations from the sheriff’s clerk. With a smile still on my face, I went out to my waiting sister and brother-in-law, who declared that multiple people said we were “crazy to buy that house”. Apparently, one of those people was a lady who was the last to drop out of bidding before I won. Hmmm… that didn’t make sense.

Still I decided to keep riding high and remain optimistic. The good news was, unlike most times when we purchase a house at sheriff’s sale, this house had just been listed as a short sale, and the agent allowed us to stop in.

Hole-y Moley

That was the longest 10 minute drive of my life! My stomach flipped, but I also knew that this was part of the flipping gig. It just comes with the territory. As we stepped inside, there was a huge hole in the floor. As in through the floor to the crawl space. There were warnings of soft floors everywhere, so we had to be careful where we went. On the back of the house was an addition of a large family room with a fireplace. It was a nice addition in terms of living space, but it wasn’t exactly executed well. You could see just by looking at it that the floors sunk in.

Oh boy! Still, I remained optimistic. The house wasn’t full of junk,, it had decent square footage, and the siding, windows and shingles were good. Before we left, I was already imagining how welcoming we could make it. For now, though, it’s a rather rough ranch.

Check out the full tour below!

You May Also Like

The Plain Jane Reveal