Bethany Woods Renovation Begins….
I was able to close on the sale of the Bethany Woods property on August 4th with great assistance from Kevin Miller of Home Services Lending and Tracy Queen of Harry Norman Realtors. I have hired www.blackdawgconstruction.com (Jeff Raw) and his team of project managers to perform the work.
The first few days will be the demo of walls in the Kitchen, formal living room/Den and in the master bath. So plenty of debris will be removed from the home. Just today; Raul and I were able to rip out all of the carpet from the finished basement, wall paper from the main level half bath and wall-paper trim in the formal living room.
In the 3 days since we closed on the property we have cut down some tree branches and cleared all the vines and intruding trees and plants from the back of the property. With the summer heat baking us in Georgia - we’d take brief dips in the pool and get back to work. So far we are quite pleased with the purchase and ready to see the property transformed.
Stay tuned if this type of thing interests you!
Matthew
Renovation: Bethany Woods Begins
After 5 years of living in Brandon Mississippi; my partner Raul and I decided to relocate to Atlanta Georgia. Mississippi did not have enough to offer in the way of events and entertainment a modern gay man might be interested in. My home search started in the towns of Kennesaw, Marietta, and Ackworth where large homes could be found at all price points. Ultimately we settled on a 3000 square foot property in the town of Snellville Ga. The house had everything we were looking for which included 3 nice sized bedrooms, 3 plus baths, and a large fenced backyard with a swimming pool. I had never considered foreclosures as part of my home search, but upon finding this house I became Renovation minded as I would have to make some improvements before moving in; which was required by FHA. The Bethany Woods property had some gutter and plumbing leaks as well as electrical and structural issues. On top of this many of the fixtures and appliances needed updating if I was to ever consider selling again in the future. Upon making the offer and working with HomeSeevices Lending I was informed of the 203 K renovation loan product which allow me to purchase the house and to include funds for the renovation. The process required that I work with an HUD Consultant to itemize the repairs and to subsequently get bids from contractors to finalize the project budget for underwriting. After calling around 10 HUD Consultants, I was referred to Mr. Jesse Morado or www.renovationcoach.com. Jesse met with me at the property and inspected all primary systems including plumbing, HVAC, structural, siding, insulation as well as safety areas. Once all primary issues were noted we turned towards the updating part of the conversation where I noted all of the items we wanted to update. This included knocking down a wall between the kitchen and breakfast area and updating countertops, appliances and lightening int the kitchen areas. New wood and carpet flooring throughout the proprty, demeaning and updating the upstairs bathrooms, replacing a worn exterior deck and demoing a second wall between the formal living and family rooms.b Jesse completed his specifications and presented bid forms for contractors. I was being easily guided through the 203k loan process. After getting bids from two separate general contractors a final meeting was held to review the final numbers and to wittle the budget down to a nice tight figure that would allow me to get the most bang for my financing buck. We have just completed the bid process and I’m currently working with my lender to order an appraisal to ensure the renovated property does not exceed the comparable homes selling in the area. During my next post I’ll include before pic ties with a listing of all items to be modified. We are excited about the process and look forward to having work begin on out new home.
In Shopping for a new homeowner’s policy - I contacted 2 separate allstate agents whom are less than 1 mile from one another. Both asked the same questions; however the quote’s received were entirely different…. $300.00 annually different.
The higher quote had items included that were never mentioned as well as an Identify Theft product that was not discussed. When asked if this could be removed - I was told No - it’s required. Since when is an Identify Theft Policy required to purchase homeowners insurance? This is a snarky car sales tactic like seeing the extended warranty but saying it’s included.
To confirm this I called both my current agent and the agent with the lower quote who both confirmed additional products are not required to have a homeowners policy.
Lesson to learn here - shop around and ask questions… you’ll be surprised at the scammers who are happy to separate you from your money!
Your Social Web Filtered
Check out this amazing TED Talk: Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles” http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html





