The Finished Apartments, whew.

It’s been some time, and for that, we are sorry. Things have been crazy, but we are finally coming up for air and ready to share a little of what we’ve been up to. First things first, we’ve been neck deep in renovating our back apartment units. We had a tenant move out, so we jumped in there and started work on that unit. When we finished, our other tenant wanted the newly fixed unit, so we moved them across the hall and jumped into their old place and started to renovate that. All the while, we were working on transforming the studio space into something inhabitable. Before and after pics are below.

The Studio: Before (say “hi” to our realtor Aaron)

As you can see, kind of a dump.

The Studio: After

It turned out alright. Here are the two apartments; the first one we redid is first and then the one we got into when our tenants moved across the hall is last.

Apartment One: Before (I’m peaking out the window)

Apartment One: After

Apartment Two: Before

Apartment Two: After

How We Decided Real Estate Investment Was a Good Idea

7 years ago, after years of searching, we found the beauty below and thought, “This! This is the house that will launch our real estate investment career.”

Obviously, that’s not true. We were just looking for a home, a place to live, a roof over our heads that was ours. Real estate as a form of investment was still just a twinkle in my eye, and something that Kristina was not that into. But things change.

New house(s) in Ventura

Have you ever seen that old Tom Hanks movie where he and his wife buy this beautiful old home for a steal of a price, only to start doing work and find out that everything is wrong with the house and it was basically being held up with the decaying bodies of dead termites and the tears of the rats living in the walls? Three different people mentioned that movie to us when we closed escrow on our new place in Ventura – not a good sign.

Now that we’re in and we’ve started demolition, it’s clear that this will not be a real money pit, but will be a crap-ton of work. We’re starting with the kitchen and bathroom, two relatively inexpensive things to remodel in a new house (sarcasm) and, while the walls are open, we’ll fumigate and redo all of the electrical (because the house is on the verge of burning down – and now the visions of The Money Pit come streaming back into my head. Out evil thoughts! Out!).

On the outside, the house is an old victorian built in 1900. That’s 116 years of goodness building up in those old bones. The siding is falling apart in places. Wood beams are eaten through by termites in places. There is dry rot all over the place. Have I mentioned The Money Pit?

The good news is that it’s listed as a triplex, but has the potential to be a five-unit building, which would add a ton of value and bring in a lot more income. All good things. Also, the price was right (I know, I said that about the movie as well) because the previous owner knew about all this work that needed doing.

And we are the ones to do it!

Check out all that natural light, the original hardwood floors, the…okay, that’s it. But it certainly has potential. And we love potential. We also really love that we are officially residents of Ventura.

Besides, Tom Hanks, when his house is done, loves what he has and they all lived happily ever after. Here’s to happily ever after!