This week the gate was painted, the driveway was demoed and forms are almost ready to be put in. The glass shower doors were put in, and mulch was laid down.Carpet is also going to be put in soon.
WOW! So much has happened since the last 20 time! More plants have been planted in the flower beds, much is being laid down, the gate is now in, the demo for the whole driveway is going to happen very soon, probably within the week, the cabinets were repainted and fixed, the grass is now growing, the baseboards were put in, lights were put in, the upstairs is being painted, the appliances are going to soon be put in.
I am in love with how this fireplace turned out! When we were first looking at options for this fireplace, we wanted to do something different than our usual design. In the past we have painted brick white and used Eldorado Stone to cover up existing brick. This house was a clean slate as it was a new build with nothing previously installed to coverup and hide. In the picture below, you can see at the bottom of the fireplace what options we were looking at for material.
There was a greyer option on the right, then above that you will see a marble looking porcelain tile. We opted for the option on the left, which in the sample looked really white. However, once that stone was installed more of the grey tones showed up and the final product looks stunning. We avoided any type of trim and grouted right up next to the fireplace, so the entire look is sleek and contemporary, which goes along with the theme of the house.
As you can see, we installed a power outlet above the fireplace so that a television can be installed. We also ran a conduit to the left of the outlet that comes out in the wall for any type of media cables that may be needed for the television. In the past we have always added a mantle to our fireplaces, but to keep with the modern theme of the home we will not be featuring one here.
This home has a total of 3 fireplaces; 2 downstairs in the living areas and one in the master bedroom. All will run on gas and can be controlled by remote control. The final touches will include adding fire glass to the bottom for a look that will be perfect for this home!
As a Realtor I see a lot of images daily. Images of houses. Images of properties. Images of people. I also see many of these images reposted, sometimes with and sometimes without credit. Each time I post something on a social media platform, I have the deepest desire to be original but beyond that I do not want to be a thief. I cringe when I see reposts without credit, and often I wonder “where did they get that content” instead of “wow, what a great shot”. I also want to be sure I am not breaking the law. Yes, if you repost content that you do not have permission to use, you could be breaking the law.
I am sure not everyone thinks the same way as me, as you can see with the common reposting across all platforms. Most of the time when a house goes up for sale it is listed on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and pictures are uploaded with the listing. The National Association of Realtors states “Real estate professionals must be cognizant of copyright issues when it comes to listing content, most notably in connection with listing photographs. As original works of authorship, listing photographs are copyrighted, and the owner may dictate how the photos are used.”[i] When a Realtor is hired to take on a listing, most of the time they spend a lot of time, energy and effort on making the house look great and hire a professional photographer to take photos. These photos are often expensive, but who do they belong to? Again, The National Association of Realtors weighs in on this claiming “Photographs may be owned or licensed to different parties in a variety of ways. A misunderstanding of how you may use the photographs for property listings could make you vulnerable to a copyright lawsuit.”[ii] It is important that the appropriate releases are obtained from photographers, and make sure everyone is on the same page in regards to how the photos are used.
I have always made it a point to publish either my own original images, images taken by hired photographers for my listings, or premade images given to us by our franchise to use. FaceBook has made it easy to share content with a convenient “share” button, but Instagram is very specific and has not allowed that capability. It is clear they do not endorse the common “regram” unless you have permission. In their Copyright at Posting Content on Instagram FAQ page they are very clear that “The best way to help make sure that the content you post to Instagram doesn’t violate copyright law is to only post content that you’ve created yourself.”[iii]
There are times when a “regram” is helpful. “Houses of Instagram”, “Kitchens of Instagram” and similar accounts rely on reposting content, and I turn to these accounts often when looking for remodel idea. It is a “one stop shop” for ideas and every once in a while, I end up following the account where the original content was posted.
There is so much more to social media than just pictures. It takes time to build a following and when using social media as a professional it is important to remember that it is necessary to be human and authentic. Users want to feel a connection, and many times reposting others work just doesn’t do that. Placeseter has a great article on Instagram for Real Estate.[iv] I found their “Dos and Don’t of Instagram for Real Estate” to be very informative and accurate.
Does copyright law ever cross your mind? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Wow, how things come together so quickly! This week the big cement trucks came in and poured concrete where the walkways are in the backyard and on the side of the house. A cement curb was also created and put down to mark the edge of the grass and the flower bed. And a few king palm trees were put in. The chandelier in the dining room is picked out, the bathroom vanity lights, lights for kitchen, the tile floor is going downstairs, and the hardware is picked out!
This weekend my Dad has started to put the sprinkler system in the yards! Now he is just wrapping up the sprinkler making sure he tests for no leaks before they get covered up. Also currently the frames for the concrete driveway and walkways are being made so the concrete can be poured. Meanwhile, the sound equipment is set up and functioning properly throughout the entire house including the bathrooms and garage. The doors are also supposed to come this week, how exciting! It is all coming together super fast!
In the backyard, as I have mentioned in the October 9th update, the wall has been put up between the houses and we have been picking up big rocks and other unwanted stuff from the dirt to grow grass. We are now getting ready to put sprinklers in this weekend to we can start growing grass. The backyard is a good-sized backyard, I would think there is room for some pets. We are also going to be redoing the driveway and pouring the concrete past the gate so it can be an extra space to park RV's, boats, and trailers! Currently, the driveway in front of the garage is concrete but when you look to the left the concrete stops and there is a dirt/grassy driveway area that goes through to the back yard. New wall also means a new gate, so that is also on the to-do list of things to finish.
Meanwhile, the painters are finishing the outside, and the inside is painted! Also, the electrical is mostly done so they are just waiting for the Edison company to turn on the power because most of the workers can not work without power. The bathroom vanities were also put in and my parents have picked out the floor tile for the downstairs.
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| The black area is going to be the extension of concrete to the yard. |
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| Google Earth View |
Today my parents picked out the appliances today, it is going to cost over $40,000! Now that the drywallers have finished the painters have started painting the inside and a different painter is painting the outside of the house. Now my parents need to find a plumber to finish the bathrooms in the upstairs and downstairs bathroom.
Currently, my parents have narrowed the tile choices downstairs to 3, so they are trying to decide between the 3 options. In the upstairs, my parents have decided to do a high-end laminate for the flooring. Also, the rotten fascia on the house is getting replaced so as soon as that gets done the painter can finish painting the exterior. In the meantime, the drywall in the downstairs and the skylight has been textured and completed and now the upstares is getting drywalled and it is going very quickly. As a teenager I had no clue how many little things you have to go in order to renovate and update a house, it takes a lot of deciding. I don’t think I can do what my parents do because I am a very indecisive person and flipping a house takes a lot of decision making such as what tile you are going to use, what appliances, doors, stone, paint, paint color, cabinets, etc.
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| Tile Choices |
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| Skylight |
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| Exterior of House |
Currently, my parents have been trying to decide what flooring to put in and if they should match the flooring with what was already put in. Should they do porcelain tile or ceramic tile, wood floor or concrete floors? What countertops are they going to put in the bathrooms? Other things they need to keep up with is to order rain gutters, to order the high-end TruStile doors, which take about 4-5 weeks to come in because they are made in Denver, Colorado. In the meantime, they have to schedule the San Dimas inspectors to check every inch of the house to make sure the code requirements are met. Currently, the drywall people are putting in drywall, and the electrician is finishing up the electrical stuff. In the backyard they put up a wall about a couple weeks ago, separating the backyards of the neighboring house. In the backyard, my dad has been getting the yard ready to grow grass. Usually, we have done sod for quick and easy grass, but we are going to grow grass because the house will probably take much longer to finish because of the holidays and because the house had to have a lot done to it. The previous owner completed a lot when redoing the house originally, so there were some things already finished like some of the cabinets and the tile in the bathrooms, but that was it.
I love the final look of each and every home we remodel. I don't love the decision making process it takes to get there. I scroll through Instagram or pin on Pinterest and find all sorts of looks I love, but bringing that image to life would most likely leave me with a "Pinterest Fail" post. For me, this is where it helps to get an expert opinion from others.
I started out this morning at the showroom of our favorite flooring contractor. He had several choices for us and I specifically asked about "Luxury Vinyl Tile" which is becoming more and more popular and was first mentioned by our interior designer. While this is vinyl, it carries a similar price tag as tile. Rigid Core Vinyl Flooring is an engineered vinyl floor that has an
enhanced rigid core construction for dimensional stability. A rigid core
vinyl will be a solid plank that has less pliability, giving it a
sturdy feel to install and under foot. This floor is an improved version
of traditional vinyl floors that adds more of a wood floor feel to a
vinyl.* There were a lot of options, and it really does look like and feel like wood.
Benefits of Luxury Vinyl Tile:
I definitely recommend taking the samples home. Many times something looks fabulous in a showroom, yet when taken to the location of installation it doesn't look as well. This is exactly what happened today. I brought a sample I loved back to the project, but I can see it just doesn't give it the look I am going for. Also, don't be afraid to change your mind in the planning stages. After I brought the luxury vinyl back to the project and asked the opinion of a trusted real estate professional, we decided porcelain tile would be the best fit for the project. It is much easier to change your mind before material is purchased than after. Back to the drawing board for me in regards to the interior flooring.
*Information on Rigid Core Vinyl Flooring provided by:
https://www.bestlaminate.com/help/what-is-rigid-core-vinyl-flooring/
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| Remodel completed in July 2019. |
Benefits of Luxury Vinyl Tile:
- Waterproof
- Appearance
- Quieter Sound
- Easy Maintenance and Cleaning
- Easy to Install
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| Luxury Vinyl Tile is becoming more common. |
I definitely recommend taking the samples home. Many times something looks fabulous in a showroom, yet when taken to the location of installation it doesn't look as well. This is exactly what happened today. I brought a sample I loved back to the project, but I can see it just doesn't give it the look I am going for. Also, don't be afraid to change your mind in the planning stages. After I brought the luxury vinyl back to the project and asked the opinion of a trusted real estate professional, we decided porcelain tile would be the best fit for the project. It is much easier to change your mind before material is purchased than after. Back to the drawing board for me in regards to the interior flooring.
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| What I loved in the showroom doesn't fit with the look I am going for. |
Finally, give yourself enough time to decide. I brought back this tile sample for the exterior patio. Not sure I will use this particular one, but since I now have a picture I can think about it and decide what we want to do. They have about 10 days left on exterior paint, so if I think about it over the weekend we will still be OK on our timeline. However, don't wait too long. Some materials take longer to get and you never know when the prices will change.
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| I really like this look, but I am going to think about it for a few days before committing. |
*Information on Rigid Core Vinyl Flooring provided by:
https://www.bestlaminate.com/help/what-is-rigid-core-vinyl-flooring/
The History of the House
Hello! My name is Allie Hipwell. This year in English we were told that 20% of the week, one day of the week, we can write about whatever we want. I really wanted to do a blog, but I did not know what I wanted to blog about. I realized that my mom blogged about real estate so I thought I might give it a try! With ideas from my teacher, I was able to come to the conclusion that I wanted to write about my perspective when flipping a house.
The first house I am going to write about a house on Klamath Court in San Dimas or as we call it, “The Lightning House”. We sometimes call it the lightning house because it was once struck by lightning in 2005. After it was struck by lightning the owner stated to repair the damage, but in May of 2007 she decided to restart the whole house from scratch, so she tore it down completely to build a brand new one. The new layout of the house she created was a similar layout, but it was just bigger than the old one. The lady's husband passed away in 2009 so they had to stop construction on the house, so no one has lived on that site for 14 years, and no one has ever lived in this home!
While making our journey from La Verne to San Dimas, my parents saw this house and my parents really liked its safe location and neighborhood, view, and layout of the house, but the lady who owned it did not want to sell it. My parents watched the house go on and off the foreclosure calendar, but it never went to auction. They tried buying the house from the owner but they could not work out the details before the house would be sold at auction in May 2019. The house had a lot of tax liens but an investor purchased it at the auction, and my parents were able to buy the house from the investor a little later, free of liens and with title insurance.
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