861 Mandy Lane - House Rehab Introduction

One of the projects that the rehabbing team is working on is 861 Mandy Lane. This is yet another amazing property that we have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to bring back to life! Special thanks to the Hawk Rock Construction team. They are the crew that is going to be managing the day to day work and transformation of this home.

We ended up purchasing this property through a wholesaler. This was our first experience with purchasing a wholesale deal and settlement was quick and easy. We have previously purchased our properties as foreclosures listed on the MLS and through online auction websites like Auction.com and Hubzu.com. You can find some pretty good deals on the auction websites, but be cautious. Make sure that you do your due diligence and carefully inspect the property before placing a bid. They also have automated bidding bots that counter your bids to get the highest selling price possible. If the reserve price isn't met and you're the highest bidder, don't be surprised if they don't honor your winning bid and simply re-list the property for a future auction.

Here are some of the images that we took of the inside of the house once we had control of the property.

Kitchen - We plan on installing new cabinets and countertops. We will also be tearing up the laminate flooring and installing ceramic tile. We have not yet evaluated all of the appliances, but we will be purchasing a new stove and microwave.

Dining Room - The mirrors on the wall are going to have to go. They had a similar wall of mirrors in the 2nd bathroom and we took them down as well.

Living Room - We are begrudgingly going to keep the existing hardwood flooring in the living room. At first sight this appears to be an area rug in the middle of the room, but it is actually built into the center of the room and tacked down. Overall it isn't too bad and we can work with some of the color tones in the patter to make it work with the final product.

Bedrooms - The bedrooms are very nice in size. This is a 3 bedroom 2 full bath house with two separate living areas. We decided that all of the trim needs to be replaced along the baseboard and around the doors. Once the window treatments were removed, the room was already showing so much potential.

Upstairs Bathroom - We lucked out with this bathroom. The tub and fixtures are in great condition and there isn't too much work to be done to this room. There is a linen closet off to the left which is not in the photo. We are going to make some improvements to the inside of the closet and fix a broken door.

Deck - This is probably one of the most fascinating features of the property, but we don't have any photos at the moment. We must have been so distracted by the view of the backyard that we didn't capture any photos. The deck cascades down a hill over four different levels before turning into a path that leads to a clearing along the Conodoguinet Creek. Don't worry, we will be posting photos of the backyard in future rehab updates coming out of 861 Mandy Lane.

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2 Mill Road - Complete House Rehab

One of the projects that we didn't highly publicize was our rehab at 2 Mill Road. This house is located on a beautiful country lot with a little bit of history. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (1827-1851), John Bannister Gibson, was born on this property. There is even a historical marker on the edge of the property. Although this is not the original house that John Bannister Gibson grew up in, it is the same property and banks of Sherman's Creek where he spent his childhood playing and exploring. 

This three bedroom one and a half bath home was in dire need of some TLC. The kitchen was very small and outdated, along with every other room in the house for that matter. Instead drywall ceiling, there was a drop ceiling installed throughout the home. This was an immediate decision that the drop ceiling must go. We also decided to update the electrical and install recessed canned lighting, since the ceiling was coming down anyway.

We had experienced some turmoil with a prior general contractor that had caused cost overruns due to repeatedly missing deadlines, so this was our first time using this new contractor. Overall, the experience was definitely much better and there was an overall profit made on the project. We were fortunate to not have to micro-manage this job as much as the 335 Front Street project and we learned how valuable a general contractor can be to scheduling, keeping sub contractors on task, and hitting the deadlines that they commit to. This project came and went very quickly, so there wasn't a lot of time to document the progress. In fact, the house sold within 18 hours of being listed!

Since this rehab is completed and sold, this will be the only post about the progress. I will show the before and after photos where they are available.

Outside

The first place I usually like to start is to show the outside of the home. We did not replace the siding on this house, so there is not a huge transformational change, but a lot of work has been done. There were a couple of windows that were replace, the porches were painted, the whole house was pressure washed and clean, and a landscaper installed new flower beds and plants.

Before painting, power washing, landscaping, and new concrete

After fresh paint, new sidewalk, and cleaning

The most expensive change that was made outside was excavating the driveway so that there was a more clearly defined parking area. We had a retaining wall built and widened the driveway to make it easier to pull out onto the road. The sidewalk was also ripped up and freshly poured.

Before excavating 

After excavating and building a retaining wall

Kitchen

The kitchen started out dark and felt small. Prior to the renovation, there was a countertop attached to the wall opposite the sink and stove. The extra countertop provided more surface space, but it really limited the floor space in the kitchen to adequately move around. We like the finished product much better. Also, take note of the hideous drop ceiling prior to the rehab. It was replaced with brand new drywall and clean recessed lighting.

Half Bathroom

There is a half bathroom just off of the kitchen. It's wonderful having an extra bathroom on the first floor for when you are entertaining so that guests do not have to walk up and down stairs into your more personal living space (ie. bedrooms...)

Regretfully, we do not have a photo of this bathroom before the rehab due to poor lighting in the room, but trust us when we say that it was a disaster!

Laundry / Mudroom

We love that this house has a mudroom! It's perfect for storing all of your shoes and outdoor clothing so that dirt does not get tracked throughout the entire house. If time and budget would have permitted, it would have been nice to build custom storage and cubbies for shoes and coats. We used the same tile that we used in the kitchen in the mudroom for extra durability.

Dining Room

This room also featured the drop ceiling and even included some dark wallpaper. It is located between the kitchen and the living room and has a coat closet. It is also where the mechanicals are located for the newly installed HVAC system. This house did not previously have central air, and the primary heat source was electric baseboard. We did not capture many quality photos of this room before the rehab due to lighting, so here are the after shots.

Living Room 

The living room is a large open space with four windows throughout the room. This allows an abundance of natural lighting. Look at these before and after photos! Huge improvement from the dark and dull to the bright and cheery

This photo taken during construction. Supports were hung waiting for drywall and recessed lights installed

Stairs and Landing

We took out the carpeting and installed wood floors. We painted all of the trim and railing in the house white to brighten up the space and make the home feel more welcoming.

Full Bathroom

There is only one full bathroom in this home, so it was important to make sure that it had storage and was functional for a family. We eliminated the electric baseboard heater in the bathroom and painted over the busy stenciled walls. All of the plumbing fixtures were replaced in the entire house. The bathroom also includes a linen closet for additional storage of all of the bathroom necessities.

Bedroom One

The ceiling was replaced and recessed lighting was installed in all three of the bedrooms. Bedroom and closet doors were replaced and all of the trim was painted white. 

Bedroom Two

Bedroom Three

Project Conclusion

Overall, we are extremely satisfied with the results of this rehab. We strive to make ensure that all of our rehabs are up to the standards that we would expect if we were to purchase the property. We take extreme pride in our quality of work an attention to detail. This house sold the same day that it hit the market. We had a full price offer within 18 hours!

Special thanks to our partners at Five Star Contracting for their management, design, and construction expertise!

We hope that you enjoyed these photos and that you will subscribe this blog for additional updates on our current and future projects.

335 Front Street Before and After

We have received numerous requests to share some of the before and after photos of our projects. Below is a comparison of the before and after from our whole house rehab at 335 Front Street. This project was completed during the summer of 2017 after a very long renovation. The new homeowners were excited about their purchase and entry into home ownership

BEFORE & AFTER EXTERIOR

BEFORE AND AFTER KITCHEN

BEFORE AND AFTER STUDY

DINING ROOM BEFORE AND AFTER

STAIRS AND UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

UPSTAIRS FULL BATH 

BEDROOM NUMBER 1

BEDROOM NUMBER 2

MASTER BEDROOM

MASTER BATHROOM