Mini Floridian Remodel
Discussion
Ok - let's give this a go. I'll write the backstory in chunks as I look after kids, animals, wife etc. I’d have liked to have got around to this thread a little earlier, however time has been pretty lacking for a number of reasons.
My wife and I (and our English cat, Jake), had the opportunity to relocate from Beaconsfield to the USA at the beginning of 2017. I have had a love affair with SW Florida for pretty much as long as I could remember and soon after meeting my (then-to-be) wife, I introduced her and she fell for it too!
I left my wife (and the cat!) in England and made the move on my own with my wife due to follow 6 weeks later. I stayed at a family home here, but had a little less than 4 weeks to find somewhere for us to live. There was no chance of buying a place in that time so I looked for rented. I worked (and still do work) from home so needed a minimum of 3 beds but ideally 4 to give us some flexibility. I found a great little rental 3 bed + den that I signed up for a year and we set about creating a new life for ourselves here.
Side bar - to be a bedroom here, it has to have a closet. A "den" can be a bedroom without a closest.
It was a great little house and we enjoyed living there a lot. Move on a year and the owner of the home we were living in decided he wanted to sell. He listed the property at quite an expensive price so fortunately for us, we had a long time to set about finding somewhere new to live. Our search took us 12 months, almost to the day, however after 2 or 3 failed attempts to buy other properties, in early October 2018 I stumbled across something that looked too good to be true. It was a little over 3,000sqft, 4 beds 4 baths, on the water with 4 car garaging at a sensible price (although still over out budget). Looking at the price, it had been listed for a lot more than we were looking for but in October they dropped the price just within what we were looking at but still over our budget.
My wife and I (and our English cat, Jake), had the opportunity to relocate from Beaconsfield to the USA at the beginning of 2017. I have had a love affair with SW Florida for pretty much as long as I could remember and soon after meeting my (then-to-be) wife, I introduced her and she fell for it too!
I left my wife (and the cat!) in England and made the move on my own with my wife due to follow 6 weeks later. I stayed at a family home here, but had a little less than 4 weeks to find somewhere for us to live. There was no chance of buying a place in that time so I looked for rented. I worked (and still do work) from home so needed a minimum of 3 beds but ideally 4 to give us some flexibility. I found a great little rental 3 bed + den that I signed up for a year and we set about creating a new life for ourselves here.
Side bar - to be a bedroom here, it has to have a closet. A "den" can be a bedroom without a closest.
It was a great little house and we enjoyed living there a lot. Move on a year and the owner of the home we were living in decided he wanted to sell. He listed the property at quite an expensive price so fortunately for us, we had a long time to set about finding somewhere new to live. Our search took us 12 months, almost to the day, however after 2 or 3 failed attempts to buy other properties, in early October 2018 I stumbled across something that looked too good to be true. It was a little over 3,000sqft, 4 beds 4 baths, on the water with 4 car garaging at a sensible price (although still over out budget). Looking at the price, it had been listed for a lot more than we were looking for but in October they dropped the price just within what we were looking at but still over our budget.
Upon further investigation, it turns out the seller was in foreclosure. Very sad story really - our understanding was her husband got diagnosed with cancer and died in a very short period of time. He was the main breadwinner and I guess didn’t have life insurance. She was unable to meet the financial demands of running and maintaining the property. It also appears that she had been taken advantage of by every “professional” she had met. Her daughter and her family moved in to try to save the sinking ship but ultimately they couldn’t make it work and the bank were foreclosing.
Side bar - here in the US, when the banks foreclose on a property, it ends up being sold at the courthouse in the county the property is in at an informal auction. The date was set for December 27th 2018 (from memory).
In early October we put in an offer of our max purchase price (but still 15% under their new asking). It was a long shot as they had come down in price a lot and it wasn’t outrageously priced, however we had a max budget but were cash buyers and could move as fast as the legals could be done (a lot quicker here than in the UK). Anyway, we never heard back.
Another side bar - here, as a seller, if you don’t accept or counter within a set period of time, the offer dies.
It turns out they had 2 further, better offers that they were pursuing but they never came to fruition for whatever reason. By this stage, we also had a 100lb labrador and my wife was pregnant with our first child.
We had a holiday planned to come back to England for Christmas leaving mid-December coming back new year’s day. I remember, to this day, sitting on our couch in the rental, having agreed to be gone by the middle of January. It was a Sunday evening, around 9:30pm and we were watching some garbage on the TV while searching other properties to rent as we had about a month when an e-mail arrived. It turns out that they had countered our offer at only a little more than we had offered 2 months prior. I read through the contract and the only issue was they wanted to close the day we were planning on leaving for the UK.
Later, we were to find out that one of the other offers they had fell apart as he couldn’t get his boat in the slip and the other couldn’t secure financing. Both were supposedly $100k more than we offered.
Right - feeding time at the zoo plus gotta walk the kids. More later.
Side bar - here in the US, when the banks foreclose on a property, it ends up being sold at the courthouse in the county the property is in at an informal auction. The date was set for December 27th 2018 (from memory).
In early October we put in an offer of our max purchase price (but still 15% under their new asking). It was a long shot as they had come down in price a lot and it wasn’t outrageously priced, however we had a max budget but were cash buyers and could move as fast as the legals could be done (a lot quicker here than in the UK). Anyway, we never heard back.
Another side bar - here, as a seller, if you don’t accept or counter within a set period of time, the offer dies.
It turns out they had 2 further, better offers that they were pursuing but they never came to fruition for whatever reason. By this stage, we also had a 100lb labrador and my wife was pregnant with our first child.
We had a holiday planned to come back to England for Christmas leaving mid-December coming back new year’s day. I remember, to this day, sitting on our couch in the rental, having agreed to be gone by the middle of January. It was a Sunday evening, around 9:30pm and we were watching some garbage on the TV while searching other properties to rent as we had about a month when an e-mail arrived. It turns out that they had countered our offer at only a little more than we had offered 2 months prior. I read through the contract and the only issue was they wanted to close the day we were planning on leaving for the UK.
Later, we were to find out that one of the other offers they had fell apart as he couldn’t get his boat in the slip and the other couldn’t secure financing. Both were supposedly $100k more than we offered.
Right - feeding time at the zoo plus gotta walk the kids. More later.
Within about 30 seconds, we decided that this was it! The following morning, we signed the contract and I set my crack legal team onto the case. You’ll remember, we were meant to close on the day we were leaving for the UK. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen in the end. What ended up happening was numerous delays due to her lenders and lawyers (it turns out there were multiple loans secured against the home).
I remember sitting in the rental, maybe an hour before we were due to go to the airport wondering whether we should stay, should I stay but send my heavily pregnant wife or should we both go and just get on with it. It looked more and more like we wouldn’t close on the house due to the legal situation and unravelling what was a heck of a mess!
As I touched on earlier, if the lenders had forced the issue instead of dealing with us, the house was to be sold at a county courthouse auction. I actually attended the 2 prior auctions to see how the game is played. An auction would have been no problem for us…and quite frankly, we would probably have ended up with a better deal. However you have to make payment of 10% of the sale price immediately at close of the auction (cash or cashiers check only) and then 28 days to close. The auction was while we were due to be away and you have to attend in person.
As we were due to leave, I had a brainwave - I dragged my pregnant wife up to the lawyer’s office (she loved that!!) to have prepared and sign about 6 different POAs that would allow him to act on our behalf each tailored to a different situation that could have occurred.
The auction was scheduled for December 27th at 9am.
I pushed and pushed my legal team into getting this closed, while managing the deal from abroad.
I guess the start of this thread gives it away a bit, but we ended up closing at about 4:30pm on the 26th - less than 1 business hour before the auction was scheduled. We were still in the UK.
We arrived back on Jan 1st 2019 to find out what we’d really bought and to devise a plan to add value (I can’t help myself).
I remember sitting in the rental, maybe an hour before we were due to go to the airport wondering whether we should stay, should I stay but send my heavily pregnant wife or should we both go and just get on with it. It looked more and more like we wouldn’t close on the house due to the legal situation and unravelling what was a heck of a mess!
As I touched on earlier, if the lenders had forced the issue instead of dealing with us, the house was to be sold at a county courthouse auction. I actually attended the 2 prior auctions to see how the game is played. An auction would have been no problem for us…and quite frankly, we would probably have ended up with a better deal. However you have to make payment of 10% of the sale price immediately at close of the auction (cash or cashiers check only) and then 28 days to close. The auction was while we were due to be away and you have to attend in person.
As we were due to leave, I had a brainwave - I dragged my pregnant wife up to the lawyer’s office (she loved that!!) to have prepared and sign about 6 different POAs that would allow him to act on our behalf each tailored to a different situation that could have occurred.
The auction was scheduled for December 27th at 9am.
I pushed and pushed my legal team into getting this closed, while managing the deal from abroad.
I guess the start of this thread gives it away a bit, but we ended up closing at about 4:30pm on the 26th - less than 1 business hour before the auction was scheduled. We were still in the UK.
We arrived back on Jan 1st 2019 to find out what we’d really bought and to devise a plan to add value (I can’t help myself).
Ace-T said:
The Moose said:
It was all the rage in 1998! Super high end. That fridge and panels would have been somewhere around $15k back in 1998.
Is that kitchen solid wood? Eminently paintable surely? Or have you done that already?Looking forward to seeing more!
We went back and forth on the kitchen about a hundred times. We felt that if we painted the kitchen it would be a shame to lose the grain and we'd end up going a color which then wouldn't match with the floor. I really didn't want to re-tile 2,000sqft of floor...especially as I know what we would have picked and it would have been a natural stone which is thicker causing all manor of issues all around. The color has also grown on us and ties in with the floor and the granite super well. Oh, and it photographs better if you're actually competent (which I don't think the person who took those other photos was!). In the end decided we would keep it as is and just do appliances instead. The budget thanks us for this decision
The kitchen is nearly done - new fridge and dishwasher in. Stainless oven is in my garage ready to be installed too. New downdraft extractor is on backorder so will go in some time next month.
We were both really quite excited and as we drove back from the airport, we couldn’t help but taking a small detour and checking out the new place. I was surprised to find the previous owner still emptying the house of crap (I’ve never seen so much stuff come out of a 3,000sqft space…even a warehouse!). While I was a bit annoyed (at closing, everything left conveyed to us), at least they were moving crap that we were going to have to probably pay to get rid of. It turns out they still had the code to open the garage door and had gone in that way.
Anyway, I made it clear that this was to be their last visit and booked my guy to change all the locks and codes the next morning. Good thing I did as I know they came back at least 1 more time.
The first thing we did was to drag everything out of the house and into the garage. Clearly my wife at 7 months pregnant did the most work bringing my tea and beer! We then decided to have a garage sale. 2 day bonanza over a weekend - everything must go.
Was actually a really fun weekend. The locals all coming out to meet the new foreign weirdos - Harley, my lab, running around so excited and loving all the attention. As it was all tat we didn’t want, we had loads of fun with it - teasing the buyers “I can’t believe you’re taking food off my unborn daughter’s plate…well her bottle” etc etc. Ended up making $800 - probably the most entertaining and satisfying $800 I’ve ever made!! Everything else got donated to various charities.
After the house was empty, we then set about looking at what we had actually bought!
The good:
Anyway, I made it clear that this was to be their last visit and booked my guy to change all the locks and codes the next morning. Good thing I did as I know they came back at least 1 more time.
The first thing we did was to drag everything out of the house and into the garage. Clearly my wife at 7 months pregnant did the most work bringing my tea and beer! We then decided to have a garage sale. 2 day bonanza over a weekend - everything must go.
Was actually a really fun weekend. The locals all coming out to meet the new foreign weirdos - Harley, my lab, running around so excited and loving all the attention. As it was all tat we didn’t want, we had loads of fun with it - teasing the buyers “I can’t believe you’re taking food off my unborn daughter’s plate…well her bottle” etc etc. Ended up making $800 - probably the most entertaining and satisfying $800 I’ve ever made!!
Everything else got donated to various charities.After the house was empty, we then set about looking at what we had actually bought!
The good:
- 4 car garage
- after Irma in 2017 it had a new roof in 2018
- large rooms and open spaces without being completely open plan
- layout worked well for us - 2 bedroom suites downstairs, master and 4th smaller bedroom (now nursery) upstairs
- long water view - the house is at the end of a canal which for some people is a negative, however we love the view we get from our main living areas and master bedroom
- the ‘bones’ of the house were good and built sound
- 1998 build - modern enough to be concrete block built and not have some plumbing issues that the older homes have
- we really like the neighborhood and we are not the cheapest home but far from the most expensive in the neighborhood
- due to her financial difficulties, over the last few years, nothing had been kept on top of - there was a lot of little stuff that needed attention
- that big-ass fridge didn’t work properly…and we didn’t find out until we lost a load of food from the freezer
- none of the windows or doors were impact resistant. What this means is you need shutters or some form of protection for big storms. It didn’t have shutters for some reason either which meant the place was pretty exposed in the event of a big storm.
- the lawn was not grass - all weeds. It’s expensive to water the lawn and she’d turned it off to avoid paying for the water
- the master bathroom while huge (bigger than any of my entire flats at uni) was really quite dated. It was reasonably functional but had some issues
- We liked the overall look of the house…other than those horrendous bands that were around all the windows. They are polystyrene coated with a very thin layer of (essentially) concrete and then glued to the walls. I don’t know when exactly they were added, I don’t think they were original, but they looked terrible. We had to come up with a plan to get rid of them
Edited by The Moose on Monday 24th August 14:41
While moving house with a rather pregnant wife, plus being too tight to employ a company to do it for us, clearly I moved everything! Over the first couple of months we came up with a plan for the house as well as my wife ‘nesting’, then having the baby etc.
The plan broadly consisted of:
1. Set budget
2. New windows and doors
3. Paint outside
4. Spend whatever budget was left on the inside
The high level list we had was as follows:
Outside
1. Windows and doors ($50k
)
2. Fix the bands problem and paint whole house
3. New lawn
4. New gutters - when they did the roof they didn’t change. Also the gutters were smaller than they should be for the size of roof that was feeding into them
Inside
5. Touch up paint throughout - we liked most of the colors however one room was bright pink!
6. New master bathroom
7. Modernize kitchen
8. Modernize rest of bathrooms with non-brass fittings
9. Lots of sundry other items like changing fans etc etc etc
The plan broadly consisted of:
1. Set budget
2. New windows and doors
3. Paint outside
4. Spend whatever budget was left on the inside
The high level list we had was as follows:
Outside
1. Windows and doors ($50k
)2. Fix the bands problem and paint whole house
3. New lawn
4. New gutters - when they did the roof they didn’t change. Also the gutters were smaller than they should be for the size of roof that was feeding into them
Inside
5. Touch up paint throughout - we liked most of the colors however one room was bright pink!
6. New master bathroom
7. Modernize kitchen
8. Modernize rest of bathrooms with non-brass fittings
9. Lots of sundry other items like changing fans etc etc etc
geeks said:
Superb thread Moose! Always day dream while looking at Zillow about moving to the US, which is weird considering I have never set foot in the place!
Yeah, I’m another who also loves looking at enormous American properties that cost the same as a 3 bed, new-build box in the U.K. Spent two years living in Florida and absolutely loved it, so watching this with interest.
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