Sometimes your dream home doesn’t exist as you picture it within the spaces that are available. Sometimes you have to create the space so it matches the image you have in your mind. That means taking calculated risks, consulting experts, and making smart choices like our clients Frank and Regina.
At 5 Points Realty, our agents help buyers buy and sellers sell, yes… but there is so much more that our agents do wayyy past the sale. In fact, 5 Points agents are known for the ability to guide our clients through home renovation projects.
Meet first time homebuyers, Frank and Regina.
Frank and Regina had very specific wish lists of what they wanted in their home.
They began to look for a house with their realtor Cassee Cunningham, a 5 Points Real Estate Broker, last year. Cassee, like all of the 5 Points Realty crew, knows a good house when she sees it, is no stranger to renovation and design and is really good at sharing those talents with her clients.
So there they were, Frank, Regina and Cassee looking at lovely homes in funky fun neighborhoods. Regina really liked new bright white shiny kitchens. Frank liked newly renovated homes with not a lot of repair surprises. All perfectly good. The only problem is the premium that was being asked for renovated or flipped homes didn’t exactly match their budget. Cassee pointed out that the price they were paying for the white cabinets and the subway tile was less space.
Cassee brought up the idea of doing their own renovation. Now, Regina and Frank are busy people with important and demanding jobs. So, they hadn’t considered a renovation or a remodel of their own. Cassee asked that they humor her and just look at a house she had in mind.
This house was in their target neighborhood. It was in great condition with a good floor plan . It had the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms and square footage that was in excess of what they had been seeing in their budget thus far. But there was a down side. The interior finishes and fixtures were outdated, builder grade, and just not what Regina had in mind for her new home.
Regina and Frank were a bit skeptical about the renovation idea at first.
Regina had to accept dark cherry wood cabinets, and bad bathroom tile, at least in the short term.
But they decided to go for it. Sometimes creating that dream space means trusting your gut and your heart to the right experts. Regina and Frank’s vision payed off immediately. Where other people saw the old cabinets and bad tile, they started to see opportunity. With purchase appraisal 10’s of thousands over the purchase price, they started to feel pretty good about their decision.
Regina and Frank lived in the house for about a year before calling Cassee for the next steps.
Renovating is not as easy as HGTV would have us all believe, and first timers need some guidance. Cassee was excited to get them started. Regina and Frank began by figuring out their budget. First they had some money saved for the project and with equity already available in their smart home purchase they were able to secure a home equity line of credit. This provided Regina and Frank with their budget.
Next steps were to wrap their heads around scope of work, what that would cost, and if their budget matched what they wanted to accomplish. Cassee gathered her favorite trusted trades for Regina and Frank to begin interviewing and getting pricing and ideas.
Regina and Frank are now ready to go. They have landed on their contractor, have made a few decisions on using trades outside their contractor for some custom work and have a great handle on the budget.
- We can’t wait to see what they do with the place.
- We have always dreamed with our clients.
- We know how to help.
- We do it ourselves and want our clients to reap the rewards of our experience. This is one of the many ways in which 5 Points realty agents are the best client ally in the business.
Renovating is a complex process… and we can help, from finding the house, negotiating the best possible sale for the buyer, lending resources for renovations and trade, oh and some design help thrown in.
Stay tuned as we follow Regina and Frank through their process and share other stories with you. If you have a real estate dream you need help with, or want to find an agent that shares your design vision, give us a call.