Kings Park · Inherited & Distressed Property
30 Columbine Lane — from a $400,000 as-is estimate to $795,000.
The family who owned this house lived in Wisconsin, and when I first walked through it, the house was still full of decades of belongings. Before I could recommend anything, I needed to see what we were actually dealing with.
The goal was not to renovate the house just because it needed work. The goal was to figure out what it was worth in the condition it was in, what it would cost to make certain repairs, and whether spending that money would actually put the family in a better financial position when we sold it.
- 01Estimated as-is value
- $380,000–400,000
- 02Investment
- ≈ $50,000
- 03Final sale price
- $795,000
- 04Trips back to Long Island
- 0
The first walkthrough
Nothing had been decided yet
When I first walked through the house, nothing had been decided yet. The family hadn't decided whether they should sell it as-is, clean it out, fix it, or do some combination of those things. The problem was that the house was so full of belongings that I couldn't properly evaluate it. I needed to see the house itself before I could tell them what I thought made sense.
That is why the first step was not renovation. The first step was getting the contents out of the house so I could see what condition the property was actually in.
Home still completely furnished
Family living in Wisconsin
Property could not yet be evaluated
Entire project managed locally
The cleanout
What we found
The first step was the cleanout. It took about four 30-yard dumpsters to get everything out of the property. Only after the rooms were empty could I finally see the house itself and start evaluating what we actually had.
That changed the conversation, because now we were no longer guessing about the condition of the property. We could see the problems and start deciding which ones were worth spending money to correct.
Once the house was empty, we found mold, damaged flooring, roof and water-related problems, damage to the basement ceiling, and other issues that had been difficult to evaluate while the house was full.
That was the point where I could finally start putting together a real strategy. The question wasn't, "How do we completely renovate this house?" The question was, "Which problems are worth fixing, what is that work going to cost, and does spending that money leave the family in a better position when we sell?"
The decision
Renovating was never the point.
My estimate was that the property might sell for roughly $380,000 to $400,000 in its existing condition. Selling it that way was an option. The family could have sold the house as-is and been finished with it.
But once I could see the actual condition of the property, I also looked at what certain repairs would cost and what I believed those repairs could do for the value and marketability of the house. Based on those numbers, I believed it made sense to spend money on specific improvements before we sold.
We were not trying to make the house perfect. We were trying to spend money where I believed the return justified the expense.
I think this is an important distinction. I did not recommend doing work simply because the house was in bad condition. If I believed the family was going to spend money and not get enough of that money back through the sale, I would not have recommended doing it.
The reason the work made sense here was because of the numbers. Some things were worth fixing and some things weren't. Every property is different, and the decision has to come from the condition of the house, what the work is going to cost, what the market will support, and what puts the seller in the strongest financial position.
About $50,000 went into the project. That included the cleanout, bed-bug remediation, flooring, ceilings, paint and the other work needed to prepare the property.
I coordinated the project locally because the family was in Wisconsin. The important part was not simply getting contractors into the house. I had to keep looking at the work through the same question we started with: does this make financial sense for the family when we eventually sell the property?
How the project ran
The project, start to finish
01
Initial walkthrough
The house, still full, documented as it stood.
02
Estate cleanout
Four 30-yard dumpsters, coordinated locally.
03
Property evaluation
Condition assessed once the rooms were empty.
04
Repairs and project management
Bedbug remediation, flooring, ceilings, paint.
05
Photography and preparation
The house presented the way buyers see it.
Outcome
Sold for $795,000
Against an as-is estimate of roughly $400,000.
Before and after
Room by room
Living room
Before
After
Primary bedroom
Before
After
Secondary bedroom
Before
After
Kitchen
Before
After
The result
Sold for $795,000
After the cleanout, remediation and the repairs we decided were worth making, we prepared the property for the market and sold it for $795,000.
The family had originally been looking at an as-is value in the neighborhood of $380,000 to $400,000. About $50,000 went into the project. The reason those numbers matter is because they show why we made the decision we made. We did not need to fix everything. We needed to identify the work that I believed would put the family in a better financial position, get that work done, and then bring the property to market properly.
From Wisconsin
What the family didn't have to do
The family stayed in Wisconsin throughout the entire project. They did not have to fly back to Long Island to deal with the cleanout, meet contractors, coordinate remediation, supervise repairs, meet photographers or keep checking whether the work was actually getting done. I handled that locally.
- Fly back to Long Island
- Coordinate contractors
- Schedule junk removal
- Manage repairs
- Meet vendors
- Supervise the project
- Wonder whether work was progressing
That did not mean they were kept in the dark. I sent them photos, videos and updates as the project moved along so they could see what was happening, understand the decisions being made and stay involved without having to physically be here.
Related reading
If your property is in a similar position
This project is one version of a much larger category of work. If you are dealing with an inherited, vacant or estate property, the fuller explanation of how I evaluate those situations lives on Complicated Real Estate Situations.
If the pressure you are facing is a lender rather than a house, my guide to foreclosure, property auctions and short sales and the Central Islip foreclosure case study are the better place to start.
Let’s just talk first.
No obligation and no pressure. Tell me a little about your situation and I’ll get back to you myself.