January – April 2020: A Roller Coaster Ride
Back in January 2020, we did a crazy thing. We saw three duplexes come on the market in our neighborhood that were a part of a portfolio that was being liquidated. We ran the numbers. We liked them. We made an offer, sight unseen. Amongst 17 other offers, ours made the cut. And just like that, we suddenly had 6 new units to add to our small 4 unit portfolio. We were thrilled!
Fast forward to the end of March 2020. People are getting sick, the nation shuts down and people start losing their jobs and incomes. Evictions are suspended and tenants can’t pay their rent. Our excitement fades as we decide whether or not to move forward with such a big, BIG investment.
After many long talks and “what-if’s”, we decided to move forward with the purchase. We tried our best to plan for the worst-case scenario in our “new normal”. We knew it wouldn’t be easy with both of us now working at home with a toddler screaming “MOMMY, DADDY” and “EAT, EAT” constantly in the background.
Our first to-do list was a mighty one…
- Introduce ourselves to 6 new tenants and reconcile rent payments
- 6 leases to understand and uphold
- Interest payments to make to our private lender
- Maintenance fixes that had been ignored and needed to be addressed
- Determine which tenants were willing to leave so we could renovate some of the most poorly-kept units
- Renovations on renovations on renovations (when units became available)
- Marketing for new tenants
- And the list goes on…
We were intimidated (and still are), but we’ve done renovations and handled tenants before, how hard could it be, right?
April – July 2020: Demo and Exterior Renovations
We learned a lot about these properties in just a few months! Come July 1, we were able to start exterior renovations on all three buildings and demolition on the upper unit of the first building. This time around, we really wanted to update the unit to its fullest. Meaning, we wanted to make it so nice that we would want to move-in ourselves. This meant new siding, roofs, porches, windows, add laundry, add air conditioning, new kitchens, new bathrooms, paint and refinished hardwood floors…just to name a few. We wanted tenants to truly enjoy the space and for us to have a nearly maintenance-free property for years to come. Below are a few images of the progress, so far.
It turns out that Logan is into demolition, too.
August 2020 and Beyond: More Renos, More Tenants
As we speed through the second half of the year, we are hoping to keep demoing and renovating these units, as they become available. We’re becoming increasingly more proud of this project as it continues to advance despite all of the roadblocks of 2020!
Stay tuned to Facebook and Instagram to see the latest news on our duplex project!
