Shadow Valley Condo Conversion

BeFore aNd AfTer!!!

2007-10-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some before and after photos/video from the project.

Living Area(Larger Unit)

BEFORE

AFTER

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AFTER

Dining Area (Larger Unit)

Kitchen (Larger Unit)

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AFTER

Stairs (Larger Unit)

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AFTER

Master Bathroom (Larger Unit)

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AFTER

Media Room (Larger Unit)

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AFTER

Front Door Shot Of Smaller Unit

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AFTER

Stairs (Smaller Unit)

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AFTER

Living Area (Smaller Unit)

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AFTER

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Kitchen (Smaller Unit)

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AFTER

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Master Bedroom (Smaller Unit)

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Master Bath (Smaller Unit)

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Downstairs Bath (Smaller Unit)

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AFTER

2007-10-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

The renovations for the entire project have been completed!! The smaller unit was just recently finished so we're now ready to put the units on the market. The appraiser came out a few days ago and he happened to be the same appraiser that appraised the duplex when we purchased it. It was great to hear how impressed he was with the work we'd done to the properties.

Melissa and I have never really done landscaping before but to save money, we did the landscaping ourselves. It was a lot of hard work but I think we did a good job adding value with the work we did. Check out the photo to see our work!

The area we landscaped was littered with small rocks and it made it VERY difficult to dig holes for the planst. Man it was a work out!

And finally, we're done shopping at Lowe's! Yeaaaaaaah! At least for this project...

It's nice to see how it has all come together and I'm very interested to know how homebuyers will respond. I guess we shall soon see!

view of the living area in the smaller unit

master bath area (smaller unit)

master bedroom (smaller unit)

living area (smaller unit)

exterior view of property at night

Melissa installing the bamboo flooring!

signin out, JayB

Amazing Results

2007-09-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that the larger side is finally done! We still have about a week left on the smaller side. I can't believe how many trips we made to Lowe's and Home Depot towards the end. There are just so many little things that you don't think about buying until you do a final walk through such as door stops, new light switch plates, towel holders, etc. Jay and I became a pro at painting doors and installing hardware. The house was just cleaned from top to bottom and is ready for show. I can't believe how much dust and dirt accumulated in the house because of everyone working, cutting wood and material, and painting. We are thankful to have such honest and hardworking people on our team. They have worked with us very well and have made this project easy on us. I always hear horror stories about contractors who never show up, take the money and run, or just do a crappy job. I am so happy to have found people who do just the opposite. For example, we have Jose who comes in on Saturdays, works 10-12 hour days, does quality work, and has a passion for what he does. I just want to say thanks to all of you! Our pool is also ready to swim in. Finally, after all this time of testing the alkalinity, acidity, chlorine, and everything else to go with a pool, it is done! Who would have thought that a pool would bring back memories of chemistry class! I still can't believe what the house looks like now compared to what it looked like in the beginning. I keep thinking this can't be the same house! Here are some pics showing the final product of the larger unit. (Pictures of the kitchen will be posted tomorrow, the battery on my camera died before I could make it to the kitchen :)

Melissa

LIVING AREA

DINING ROOM

MASTER BEDROOM AND BATH

MEDIA ROOM

UPSTAIRS BATH

DOWNSTAIRS HALLWAY

CLEAN POOL!

DEER IN THE FRONT YARD

09.07.2007

2007-09-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

After a week in San Diego, we are back in Austin finishing the project. The house is on its way to being done. The granite was just installed a couple of days ago. We chose to go with 'Uba Tuba' which is a black granite with specs of browns and tans that really bring in the cabinets and flooring. We couldn't stop looking at the kitchen cause it's amazing how far it we've come from where we first started. Both kitchen units have been opened up tremendously!

3 1/4 " baseboards are in the process of being installed and I can't believe what a big difference they make in a room! The wood floors are completely done in the 1st unit and will be installed in the 2nd unit within the next few days. We recently purchased backsplash for the kitchen and I can't wait to see how it finishes the look.

We only have a few more items to purchase such as carpet, closet doors, shower doors, paint, fencing for the front of the house and door hardware. The painting of the exterior of the house will probably be done last but we are still debating what color to paint it. We also have to start on the landscaping as well. Here are a few more updated pictures and videos showing our progress.

Melissa

KITCHEN AND LIVING AREA UNIT 1

NEW WOOD SIDING ON EXTERIOR OF HOUSE

NEW BATHROOMS

CROWN MOLDING (looking up at ceiling)

MoRE uPDatES!

2007-08-23T02:35:00.001-07:00

Things are still going smoothly. All 27 windows and 3 pairs of french doors were installed. The electrical and plumbing has been rewired to fit our new vanities and lighting. The pool water was tested and it's finally ok to swim in! Melissa spent 2 hours cleaning the pool trying to get the chlorine and alkalinity levels up to par. The pool also had to be strained of all the leaves. Who knew that having a pool would be such hard work! On top of that, it has been so hot and humid out here!

Melissa

Unit 2 - Kitchen

Unit 2 - Dining Room

New Windows

Unit 1 - Downstairs bath

Unit 1 - Crown Molding

MoRE uPDatES!

2007-08-23T02:35:00.000-07:00

Things are still going smoothly. All 27 windows and 3 pairs of french doors were installed. The electrical and plumbing has been rewired to fit our new vanities and lighting. The pool water was tested and it's finally ok to swim in! Melissa spent 2 hours cleaning the pool trying to get the chlorine and alkalinity levels up to par. The pool also had to strained of all the leaves. Who knew that having a pool would be such hard work! On top of that, it has been so hot and humid out here!

Melissa

Unit 1 - Crown molding

GrEat PrOgREss!

2007-08-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

Things are coming along smoothly. The entire interior of the house has just been painted which allows us to start on the flooring and the installing of appliances and vanities. The windows are in the process of being installed but it will take a few days to complete because there are 27 windows! We plan to start pre-marketing and will post the larger unit on the MLS this Wednesday. Since we are not finished, we will list the house as under construction. Here are a few pictures and videos showing the progress:

Jay

New Kitchen Cabinets

Master Bath Tile

Preparing to install french doors

New Paint Color for interior walls

New Windows

Downstairs shower

Unit 1 Kitchen

Tiled Master Tub

AheAd of SCheDule!

2007-08-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

It's been one week since we've started this project and all is wonderful!! I'm very impressed by how hard our team has been working on the property and I must give all the credit to our contractor Gary. There's been a lot of progress with the renovations and I couldn't be any happier! Here's just a few things that we've done:

Jay

We're building a pantry underneath the stairs

Here's a side view of the pantry buildout

The pool is getting cleaned!

EnD oF ThE FiRst WeEk

2007-07-29T01:24:00.000-07:00

So we've just ended the first week of renovations. I can't believe how much shopping we've done to obtain the materials we need to fix up the property! We've probably spent about 4 hours a day shopping between Lowe's, Home Depot, and other specialty stores in town. Our greatest challenge is locating a damn shower pan (that's the bottom part of a shower that catches all the water for those that didn't know)! Who would have thought right? Our showers aren't the standard size so over the last few days, we've been calling various stores around town to find a shower pan that's 36" x 32." No one carries the item because it isn't a standard size. We can have one made, but it will cost us an arm and a leg. Nonetheless...we're still on the hunt.

We've gutted out Unit 1 in two days and we've already started to bring it back to life. It's rained EVERY DAY since we've been here and it's ruined the water in the pool. No one has cleaned it since it's been on the market so now it's filthy. Actually, the first day we arrived to the house, we found about 6 or 7 dead frogs in the pool. They had jumped in the pool for a nice swim but couldn't get out!

Here's a few videos of the unit gutted out:

Here's the upstairs bathroom gutted out

Here's the dirty pool!

Video of the converted garaged which will be the media room

Check out the master walk-in closet!

View of the master bedroom

Here's the master bathroom gutted out

Check out the living/dining area

Here's the downstairs bath

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

AuStiN FLiP

2007-07-29T00:09:00.000-07:00

Only July 21st at 1AM, Melissa and I began our drive out to Austin, Texas. We're managing the first flip that we've ever done by ourselves. It's been an awesome experience and we're excited to see our vision become a reality. Since this is our first flip, we wanted to document the experience so that we'd have something to look back on in the future.

Here's a brief overview of what we plan to do. We've purchased a duplex in an area called Highland Hills which is just outside downtown Austin. We closed on the property July 20 and we project to finish the renovations by Aug 25. Here's a few photos of the property before we began the renovations.

Here is the pool in the backyard of the first unit which is approx 2400 sq ft.

Here are the stairs that lead to 3 bedrooms upstairs in unit 1 which is approx 2400 sq ft.

Here's a shot of the surrounding neighborhood. It's surrounded with trees and it's very common to see deer roaming the area. I'll try to get a shot of some deer while we're out here.

Here's the view from upstairs. The units have 25 foot ceilings!

Here's the kitchen in Unit 1.

Here's the dining/living room area.

Here's a curb view of the property.