How it all started…

Restoring homes is not an easy feat, yet alone restoring old, abandoned, most often neglected mansions and when I say mansions I mean jaw dropping structures with a minimum of 5 bedrooms. Now, how does one get into this?

Ever since I was a child I always had a fascination with the abandoned and abandoned usually = unkept luxury estates. These priorities were most often built by the wealthy / once wealthy and either their families, generations after the fact, that could no longer afford their upkeep or simply did not want to invest in their upkeep. We’re talking about gardeners, landscapers, caretakers, butlers, cooks, a cleaning crew, propery manager, and that is just bare necessities most often needed at these estates. There is also architects, engineers, and more involved in the process. It’s no wonder they are abandoned.

Nevertheless, they are always undeniably beautiful. Something about an abandoned structure screams, fix me, and most of the time these structures are salvageable. However, more often it requires a significant amount of funding! We will go over that in detail in future blog posts, so stay tuned. There are so many houses around the Unites States, as well as Internationally that are in dire need of restoring. They are more or less marketed at a price far, far, bellow market values due to the fact that they will require a large amount of out of pocket costs to make inhabitable. Don‘t let this deter you! Get motivated! If this is something you really want to do, let’s make that happen:

1. You will need funding, save up as much as you can in order to make an offer on your property of interest, cash offers leave room for negotiation but if you are a first time homebuyer, a FHA rehab loan may be the best way to go.

2. Plan, plan, plan! Get out your vision boards and budget pads, get a feel of what you will need for your project and how long you need to achieve the goal.

3. Get estimates. Call contractors and get estimates on jobs you need based on square footage if you do not have access to the site.

4. Ensure the foundation is sound, since for the most part a sound foundation will get you a long way and buy you lots of time im such a project. A bad foundation costs lots of money to repair so beware!

5. Ensure the roof is in good condition and if it’s not, get an estimate based on square footage of what it will take to repair, het ready to have a mini heart attack, the numbers will be steep.

6. Based on budgeting, if you are ready to take on this project, make an offer! If taking out a loan get pre-approval first.

7. Set aside a minimum of 2-5 years for a large scale project.

8. Get excited, you’re about to be a homeowner!

Now we got the basics out of the way, take a deep breath and dream away! anything is possible with a motivated mindset! Follow along for more tips and advice, as well as to get a first hand view of what it’s like to restore properties as a beginner. There will be hiccups And standstills but it’s all part of the process.