fliprent

The Hopkins area project saga continues as the appraisal was done today.  They city assigned two “independent” appraisers to come out and appraise the property.  The letter says that they will base their offer off of the highest of the two appraisals.  I find it interesting that they send them both out on the same day at the same time.   This is supposed to be more “convenient” for the homeowner.  So now they are interested in convenience?  So let me translate this…We don’t really care that you are already rehabbing the property and bringing value to the community. We don’t care that it is on a preservation block which means that we are not taking the whole block for roads, utilities or any other public use.  We want your property so that we can rehab it and sell it for our own profit.  We are interested in acquiring your interest in your property and we can use eminent domain if we have to.  All at your convenience.  Gee thanks!

I hope that in the end I will be writing about how well thay handled this transaction.  Maybe they will do whats ethical and pay me for my INconvenience.  That’s what I call convenient!

I’m sure this is only the beginning of a painful process but I finally received a letter from the city that they would like to acquire my interest in the Hopkins area project.  I have no idea why it took so long but at least I now know for sure that they intend to acquire it.  During my research, I read that I was supposed to receive a certified letter from the city prior to an appraiser contacting me.   I assume an appraisal will be the next item on the agenda.  Just to add to the confusion it appears that the post office either lost the letter, delivered it to the wrong address or something else happened.  The letter was dated back in May but the first delivery notice that I received was today.  The funny thing is that someone was here but the doorbell never rang.  I don’t think that the mailman even bothered getting out of his truck.  Can anyone just do their job? 

I am not sure what’s going to happen from here but I’m hoping that they will compensate me fairly for all the money and effort that I have put into this property not to mention how poorly this situation was handled from the beginning.  In one hand I have a bank that gave me a time limit to complete the rehab.  In another hand the city telling me that I must complete the rehab according to the vacant property violation.  A third hand the corporation representing the city trying to keep me from rehabbing the property.  Meanwhile Im paying monthly a monthly mortgage,  contractors to pay, insurance to pay, etc, etc etc.  What a mess!!  This all could have been avoided before I acquired it but that’s a story for another post.  Is there a such thing as ethics in politics and government?  Maybe in the end they will fix this mess and I can move on. 

The HVAC rough in inspection went well.  The inspector seemed to like everything he saw; from what my contractor told me anyway.  Plumbing should get started today which will require more of my involvement.  I will need to pick up the fixtures for the tubs and shower.  Lets hope things continue along smoothly.  The electrician will be starting next week as well.  I will post some pictures once all three trades are roughed in and inspected. 

I’m still waiting for the city to ratify my East Baltimore project so I can get started in that one.  It seems like its taking forever and I’m really anxious to get going.  This hurry up and wait business is never fun.   You rush to get all your stuff ready to go just to wait for the powers that be to do their part.  That’s the government for you.  

I’ve waited as long as possible and the Hopkins Biotech area project is back in rehab mode.  The HVAC work has begun and should be ready for rough in soon.  I still have not received anything from the city.  As far as I’m concerned there is no reason to assume I ever will.   I realized a long time ago that I cannot trust anything that I am told or even given in writing from the development corporation that is responsible for the area project. 

I feel a lot better moving forward again anyway.   Each day that my property sits, I loose money and it’s sat for most of the last 10 months.  I can no longer afford to keep paying out and not getting anything back so I am forced to move forward.  If they decide that they are going to acquire it, they should pay fair market value based on the renovations and COMPS for rehabbed properties in the area.  I am prepared to fight tooth and nail for anything less.

I will be showing fewer pictures but I promise to show some shots after major phases of the project are completed.  I should be starting the Old East Baltimore Project soon.  Once that happens, I plan to focus my blog on that project from start to finish.      

This thing with the house in the Hopkins area is driving me crazy.  I’ve had this project on hold for two weeks now and I’m loosing my mind.  Actually this property has been on and off for the entire time that I’ve owned it due to the organization/city attempts to derail it.  I’m not sure if I should proceed to finish it or if I should wait until I hear from the city.  The letter that was recently sent from “the organization” stated that I should receive something from the city within 2 months from the date of the letter.  There is a lot going on with this area and I am hearing rumors from different people about what they want to do with this block.  The latest rumor is that they want to rezone it to commercial, and sell the properties to doctors so that they can run their practices from them.  The property is directly across the street from the main hospital campus, so it is in a prime location.  A couple years from now, this block will be worth a mint. 

House flipping is a business but I would actually consider moving into this house if I can keep it.  The problem is that the city wants it.  They don’t care that I am rehabbing it or that I would make it my primary residence.   What they are doing seems unconstitutional, since I am not sitting on it like a lot of investors.  The ordinance clearly states that homeowners on ”preservation blocks” will remain and only properties that are not up to code or in vacant status will be acquired. This property was vacant when I bought it and needed a full rehab.  This is what I do, buy vacant properties and rehab them.  They can clearly see that I am raising the property and they are using every tactic to get me to stop.  Does this sound like a government that is interested in improving the quality of life in the city or one that is interested in making money?

 You can follow along with this project by clicking on the Hopkins Project category or clicking here.

The framing was completed about a week ago and the brick work is done on the rear.  For some reason I forgot to take pictures of the staircases inside.  Actually, I was meeting with other investors at the time and then followed them to see another property.  They are new to the house flipping business and wanted to see one in action.  I will snap some more shots this weekend and post them next week.  If you look up at the top, you can see where we added brick.  I plan to stucco the rear to give it a more modern look.  If my budget runs too tight I may decide to paint or install siding.

As some of you may have noticed on the first picture, we cut out and framed two windows on the rear addition.  They look very nice from the inside and bring in a lot of natural light.  They will show well come open house.  The natural light compliments the open floor plan and the windows as soon as you walk in the front door.  The area where the windows are located will be a sitting area behind the kitchen.  There is enough room inside for a table and chairs.  The block of abandoned shells behind the house may eventually be torn down to build Strip Mall.  At least that’s what I think I saw on the plans.  It seems that things are changing everyday here.

On a somber note, I stopped work this week while I sort through this mess that I am in the middle of with the city.  I received a letter from them pertaining to his property and the phrase “eminent domain” was contained in it.  Actually the letter did not come directly from the city, but instead from the organization overseeing this project area.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed on this situation because it has been a mess from the beginning.  We will see how this thing plays out soon… I hope.

 Although this is techinically day 14 , these pictures are from day 10.  The first floor tray ceilings are in and they look really good.  We dropped the ceiling by 6 inches and created a 10 by 10 box in the middle.  The then cut a 2×6 and nailed it in each corner to create an octagon look in the ceiling.  I like to use this design in all of the houses that I rehab.  Flipping houses can be fun when rehabbing the property.  You can use all kinds of creativity that adds your own touch.  Most house flippers in the area seem to have their own trademark that they use in all of the properties.  This tray ceiling is one of mine.  

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I’m a little behind on the pictures but I will attempt to show them in chronological order.   This first shot is of the first floor stairwell (empty), going up to the second floor.   The stairs have been ordered and should take one week to be delivered.

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I said before that I was not going to go into detail about the hassles that I have been receiving from certain individuals responsible for overseeing the large development project going on around this property.  At this point, I am not going to use the names of the organizations or persons.  I’m simply going to vent a little (really just a little, I promise) about the continued harassment of myself and my contractors, especially when this organization is at fault for the current situation to begin with.  But that’s a story for later. 

What kinds of things are they doing you ask?  Things such as telling my guys that they don’t have permits when they do.   Attempting to find fault in processes in order to make it appear to be something that it is not.  Taking pictures of an item in an attempt to make the situation appear to be something that it is not.  It’s ridiculous how callous these people can be about other people’s lives, when there is something to be gained.  I’m sure the games will continue so be sure to stay posted as this could get interesting.

On a lighter side, things are moving along with the construction.  We should have the roof framed by Monday and some of the interior framing is in progress as well.  I forgot my camera today so I used my phone camera, and the shots don’t look so good.   I will upload some good pics tomorrow.  

 The lesson for today is to be persistent and move in a straight line until you reach your goal.   Don’t allow setbacks to halt your progress! 

Well the guys only worked about half of a day today on the Hopkins house because Home Depot decided not to leave the delivery like they normally do.  Actually my contractor should have been there but that’s another story.  He says they delivered at 6:30AM…   Flipping houses is fun when everything goes well but when it doesn’t …. well you get the picture.    They say they made some good progress today anyway (I don’t know because I didn’t make it to that site today).     The days are a little longer now, so that’s a plus.    I’ll surely be checking up on them in the AM.

I consider myself to be a nice guy in this game of house flipping.    Almost every other investor/flipper I know is aggressive and, well… not so nice.    I guess it’s something that comes with too many years in the game.     Just dealing with tenants and contractors alone can drive a sane man crazy.    I ran into an investor friend today that is one of the worst.  This guy is a cross between Vince Vaughn and your cranky old granddad .    I can’t take too much of him in such a short period of time, so I made up an excuse and kept it moving.    I had too much on my plate today anyway and now I need to get back to work.    It’s 5:47pm and the second half is just getting started.