243 Renner SOLD

Another update is that my second building (243 Renner) has been sold to another urban pioneer, Greg Edwards, who is still actively trying to get it back on its feet like we were.

Yes, I gave it a bit of baby blue on the door and better secured the window well (after the city gave us code violations). I controlled the downspouts better by wrapping them around the back side of the building (and combined with the balcony tarps, seemed to stop the deterioration of the foundation from water infiltration).

But ultimately the city was getting on us too much about fixing the lean and other structural problems, so we made the decision to test the market instead of making the full investment in rehabbing it. Diana Tissue, our realtor, ultimately helped us get over a 200% return on the project, but it was tough to leave behind the beautify details of this building.

Here's to Greg as he works to save this one. Even with where we sold it to him, there's room to make money here still. I can't wait to see it when he's done!

Backyard burn

Yesterday Kevin and I took advantage of the great weather to burn all the brush and sticks in the back yard. After digging a slight depression in the grounds as our fire base, we proceeded to burn so much that by the end of the day we had a 2 foot mound of embers. We cut down and gathered all the weeds in our back yard and then started feeding all the down branches and leaves. Once we burned through that, we attacked the honey suckle, small trees, and other brushes that was coming from the neighboring lot. ultimately we cut back a path to some of the trees that will need to come down in order to give our balcony a better view. That's work for another day, but we're making it easier on ourselves tomorrow by clearing out all this mess now.


Here's the fire at the end:

And some pictures of the yard after the brush was cut back.

Still a lot to go, bu we made a good dent. And I also know which trees stand between me and the view of the city, but the good part is that you can already see it through the trees in the winter:

This one to the west might be harder to trim, since it's in a neighbor's backyard. Still good sunsets with the smokestack.

Renner Updates: Roof

Well this leaking roof has been a huge pain in my ass all fall. I originally put up the tarp as a stopgap way to prevent the rainwater from leaking through the three stories of the building. Overall it worked and the little bit of mold in the basement that was being fed by this moisture has killed itself off as things have dried out. The problem was that the tarp kept leaking as the wind blew the tarp out of position with each large storm. I was running over to the property to constantly readjust the tarp after each storm. As winter approached, I'd had enough of that and needed a better solution that could also survive snow.

So my answer was to build a temporary plywood roof structure to bridge the gap that the balcony created in the roof line. Seems simple right... go to Home Depot, pick up some plywood, 2x4s, and an extra tarp then slap it up there. With the help of my dad we put it up on 10/11/14 during the day. And when we were done it looked pretty good and sturdy:

A single sheet of plywood wasn't quite long enough to span the entire gap and to overhang the edge, but we pulled the tarp tight hoping that it would bridge the gap. Well after the first rain it was obvious that more needed done because large pockets of rainwater filled the gaps.

So in response, I cut some more plywood to fill the gap, but even that didn't prevent the water from making it past the gap entirely. I realized that the problem was that no matter how close I got the plywood to the edge of the shingles, the water would still find it's way into the gap and end up in a pocket of water in the tarp. So I bought a roll of flashing and tucked it under the last row of shingles so that the water could make it to the tarp and off the roof.

*Fun fact about this setup: After you put the flashing on and take these pictures, you might just be trapped on the roof without a way to get down. Luckily I'm resourceful and nimble like a cat, so no need to call the fire department mom.

Renner Updates: GC bids

I've kind of dropped the ball on keeping the blog updated over the past few months, so I'm going to attempt to catch it back up with everything that has happened in a series of new posts. Here's the first one about Renner;

Picking up from where we left off, the general contractor bids came in and out of the 4 we contacted one said they were too busy until the spring, another came and looked at it but never even came back with a number, and then we got two ballpark numbers; one at $108k and another at $225k. Since we didn't have actual plans with a formal scope of the work, both of these estimates were very preliminary and the contractor with the higher of the two estimates made it clear that it was a very rough estimate. I think what we learned was that we should have gotten architectural drawings first to give them all the same basis to start their pricing from. Since we didn't, we didn't get a good apples to apples comparison and we'll need to take it back to them again once we have drawings.

At this point the building has been mothballed until the spring at the earliest with the tarp/temporary roof in place (which I'll post pictures of in another post) to keep it dry and secure. I'm thinking that we'll get the wheels turning on architectural drawings and then go get better estimates before applying to the CDF for a loan to get the work done. As we see it there isn't a huge rush to get the building up and running since our carrying costs are minimal and the demand for living this far north won't really intensify until the streetcar is operational in the summer of 2016. We'd like to have it up and running right around the time of the opening if we can so that we can justify higher rents and find better renters.

Renner happenings

Over the last few months, Corky and I have been working to get our renovation plan finalized/off the ground. We started out working with Andy Ferguson to draft an operating agreement for our LLC that will enable us to resolve any dispute and basically sets our roles, ownership %s, and how we'd add any other partners. Most importantly it protects us from liability and a bank will need it when we get funding.

Speaking of funding, we tried a lot of the bigger banks and found that they don't really lend on investment properties because it's too risky, they got burned on it in the past meltdown, and it doesn't fit into a nice easy bucket to resell for them. We started to go to smaller banks, but many of them were even more risk averse and didn't get OTR and the direction it's headed. We've decided to go with the Cincinnati Development Fund since they seem to be the only real option out there that does things like this. 

Our first step is getting ballpark estimates from contractors and out of 8 we called, only 4 responded. One said upfront they were too busy to even talk about the project until the spring and 3 others have done a walk-through. Only one has returned his numbers yet and it's at $108k with what looks to be a decent amount that we could scale back to save on. That puts us at a $120k cost basis, which we'd be more comfortable at $100k for resale in order to guarantee some profit. The area is so undeveloped right now that we don't want to get into it too deep without a reasonable way out. It does't kill the project if it comes in the lowest, but we're hoping others give us something better. 

We're going to start getting architectural drawings on the structural portion and rooftop balcony as well as a basic idea of what the rest of the building will be. Once we have them, the GCs will have a better idea of what they need to do and can give us more apples to apples comparisons. In hindsight we probably should have done this before calling them all. Live and learn I guess. 

Outside of that I've been keeping an eye on the tarp and installed a temporary downspout to control the water so that it stays away from the foundation. The basement where the mold was has dried out mostly and is killing itself while we get things going. 

Renner Tarp

So it's been like this ever since right after I trimmed the tree tops, but here are the pictures of the tarp that I've had over the rooftop deck to prevent the rain from continue to pour through 3 floors of the building.

I started by putting up eye screws and attaching it to the top of the wall under the overhang.

Then the goal was for the water to just go over the edge of the other side, but I've learned over multiple attempts to keep the tarp in place that simple throwing it over the edge doesn't work (as pictured)

The problem this approach is that the wind will blow the extra tarp that's hanging down from the deck back up onto the rest of the tarp. Once it's sitting on top of the tarp that is over top of the deck it'll add weight, especially once it rains, that will cause it to sag and collect the rain in the middle of the tarp instead of having it run off the side. The key I've learned is to keep the tarp taught and also to have the water run over the edge.

What I found works is to keep the extra tarp inside the balcony and use a board to keep the overhead cover part of the tarp taught. You have to make sure that the edge of the tarp that sits on the ledge is just barely over the edge, and use bricks/weights to make sure the board doesn't slide backwards and loosen. I'll try to post a picture of it, but even this method it's full proof. It can take lighter rains and wind but whenever there is a larger downpour the extra weight of all that water on the tarp at once pulls the board off the ledge. Keeping a constant eye on it is all I've been doing.

Trimming the treetops

I trimmed a few stories off the tops of the trees at Renner. Luckily I had my mom there to supervise (and read books) while I scaled the tree with a handsaw. 

Here is a picture of what the view looked like before I started:

Then up the tree I went...

Taking down one branch at a time and making sure that they were falling the right way

And then another

I climbed down because of the exhaustion of cutting these branches, but went back the next day to take the trunk down to around where I'm at here.

I tied a rope to the trunk (loaned by my neighbor along with her much better saw) and then tied the other end of the ropes around a nearby tree to ensure that the massive trunk wouldn't fall the wrong way as I cut it. 

Just  a few more trees to thin out, so that I can actually see something worthwhile from the rooftop deck. 

Structural questions

After having a structural engineer and a foundation contractor both look at the lean of the building, I don't have all the answers. The structural engineer said that I should underpin the foundation (which would cost around $18,000) to fix the lean. It would entail driving telescoping piers downward in the interior of my basement and then hydraulically lifting the western wall back to level and then pouring concrete in the gap that formed in the stone foundation. The contractor said it would be a waste of money to underpin because the stone foundation that the concrete sits on could continue to move afterwards. He said since the lean isn't that bad that I should build a second interior wall to take the load off the masonry structure by pouring footings on the interior of the basement and using steel beams to raise the floors back to level, extending upwards to other floors as necessary. He said it would be cheaper, but didn't give a price.

After giving this whole construction project some more thought, my partner and I are going to hire a general contractor to run the project and make it a smoother process towards applying for financing. Using this as out first real project of this magnitude would have been a bigger hurdle towards receiving funding.

Building #2: 243 Renner Street

On 6/25/2014, I closed on my second property with my good college/high school friend Will "Corky" Cordes. It's located at 243 Renner Street, which is a quiet secluded street on the hill between OTR north of Findlay Market and CUF. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom single family home that needs some love as it's been abandoned nearly 6 years. It's not in as bad of shape as these pictures might make it seem and compared to many other properties in OTR this was a good deal for the price at $12,125. We hope to get this building back into nice livable condition and rented to a nice couple or group of friends who want to be a part of OTR and the urban core, but value the seclusion that this quiet oasis in the city offers. Eventually we might do seller financing to someone renting it from us if they make it their own.

See the below pictures as we turn the keys for the first time (through the lens of my dad who's looking for all the things we need to repair specifically, and not so much to show the size and good features that are there still):

Front living room with the bathroom boxed into it. (hole is where the toilet and sink fixtures got stolen although the PEX pipes remain)

Kitchen isn't that bad...

Until you see where the rooftop deck has been leaking to the basement...

Upstairs

 2nd floor looks alright too..

 Until the roof with the water damage...

Upstairs again

3rd floor loft bedroom

With the bathroom

and rooftop deck, which is leaking and he didn't take pictures of the outside of

Then there's the spooky damp basement

 with moldy joists where the water has been coming through

and the exterior

where I need to figure out what's structurally going on and stabilize the lean to the left and the gap that's forming by the lentil.

I'm always up for a good challenge, so this should be fun. Got the structural engineers scheduled already, putting a tarp over the rooftop deck tomorrow, and then opening the basement door to air it out and hopefully get the moisture out to prevent more mold growth.