Barnhouse Take 2

[Le Poisson]

This is part 2 of a miniseries featuring a mustachian attempting to convert an old farmhouse into a rental. As this part begins, we see the renos nearing completion, and the mind of the mustachian turning towards finding a tenant and wrapping up work in the next couple of months.

Tonight we see our host wrapping up a rare weekday visit in which he has completed the installation of a kitchen counter top, trimming a window, and installing a new faucet in the bathroom.

 

[Freckles]

Tonight I have installed nothing and trimmed nothing. Unless you count the pizza I installed into my mouth. That was some good pizza.

[dilinger]

I just installed a cookie into my mouth. A+, would highly recommend. Will probably install some more shortly given the excellent results so far.

[Anatidae V]

I stared at some stools that need to be glued back together, but haven't actually applied anything yet. DIY in spirit if not action, yet? Excited for all the amazing handiwork stories :D

[Cannot Wait!]

Non-installer #3 here. 

[economista]

...and #4 as well!

[LifeHappens]

Following because I need to see the end of the movie! Glad you were able to finish the counter installation without dad's "help".

[RetiredAt63]

Let's hope this thread behaves better re posting.  And your helpers are more helpful.

[okits]

Here to follow along!

[G-dog]

Tonight I have installed nothing and trimmed nothing. Unless you count the pizza I installed into my mouth. That was some good pizza.

You did trim that before installation ;)

[Freckles]

Good point! I was so productive!

[Le Poisson]

We begin chapter two with trimming out rooms. Later today Momma will come to hide my mistakes with paint and putty.

[Le Poisson]

I posted before about using caulk and high gloss exterior paint to hide seams and make trim look good.

Here is how a seam looks before and after the caulk/paint.

[Freckles]

You're making the barnhouse fancy!

[Le Poisson]

I got the estimate back from Lowes to put carpet upstairs. $4500 with the cheapest carpet and underpad.

I bought 40 boxes of laminate for $800 and asked them to redo the estimate for just the stairs and hallway.

[RetiredAt63]

Trim - pretty!  Momma does a good job (and you gave her a good starting point).

Laminate - I hope 3, 4, or 5?  5 is toughest.  My new basement laminate is industrial grade (and very nice looking, wide blank), should outlive the house.

[okits]

Geez, Prosp, Barnhouse is looking nicer than anyplace I've lived since leaving my parents' house.

[snacky]

I am currently installing this journal in my 'show new replies' list.

[10dollarsatatime]

Here for the second half.  It's looking fantastic!  I love the wainscot look.  Planning on putting it in my living room when I finally get around to my own remodel.

[Le Poisson]

I spent all of today in lines. Lines at Lowes, lines at Rona. Lines at Home Depot.

I'm frustrated and have nothing to show for the day.

[paddedhat]

I got the estimate back from Lowes to put carpet upstairs. $4500 with the cheapest carpet and underpad.

I bought 40 boxes of laminate for $800 and asked them to redo the estimate for just the stairs and hallway.

Never saw a quote for carpet from a big box store that my local, family owned flooring store couldn't beat by a wide margin. At one point I had an allowance in a bid for a mid-grade Berber, installed with pad, for a basement build out. The customer asked me if he could save money by using his own carpet people. After I give him the $ per sq. yard figure I had used to generate my bid, he tells me that his carpet guy will beat it by about 10%. I told him to have his estimator stop by, measure and produce a written quote.  No surprise, another scammer. This chucklenut adds 20% or so to the "required" yardage, and his written quote is quite a bit higher.  I understand that Canabucks buy less than our green money with dead presidents on it, but Damn, $4500 for builder grade shit, in a fairly small second floor, that's wacked.

[couponvan]

I dont' want to miss part 2!

[Le Poisson]

I got the estimate back from Lowes to put carpet upstairs. $4500 with the cheapest carpet and underpad.

I bought 40 boxes of laminate for $800 and asked them to redo the estimate for just the stairs and hallway.

Never saw a quote for carpet from a big box store that my local, family owned flooring store couldn't beat by a wide margin. At one point I had an allowance in a bid for a mid-grade Berber, installed with pad, for a basement build out. The customer asked me if he could save money by using his own carpet people. After I give him the $ per sq. yard figure I had used to generate my bid, he tells me that his carpet guy will beat it by about 10%. I told him to have his estimator stop by, measure and produce a written quote.  No surprise, another scammer. This chucklenut adds 20% or so to the "required" yardage, and his written quote is quite a bit higher.  I understand that Canabucks buy less than our green money with dead presidents on it, but Damn, $4500 for builder grade shit, in a fairly small second floor, that's wacked.

This is likely all true. I haven't been able to find a local shop that is willing to come out on a weekend to run a quote.

[paddedhat]

This is likely all true. I haven't been able to find a local shop that is willing to come out on a weekend to run a quote.

Interesting. We know the family that owns the store we did business with for decades, all of our kids in school together, playing on the same soccer teams, all that stuff.  The husband and wife both handled sales, and spent a lot of nights and weekends on the road measuring and selling jobs.

 Of course this is all ties into an interesting trend. The DW and I, with no real knowledge of what was to come, relocated to a very rural region, 100 miles from NYC. Our carpet store buddies did the same, relocating from the Philadelphia area. This happened at the start of a massive, two decade long, population boom generated by NYC ultra long distance commuters. When we first arrived, the business community was about as difficult, and ass backwards as possible. They were almost all original settlers, multi-generation owners, well off, and a huge PITA to deal with. Businesses that would shutter for lunch, even if you were walking in the door, having driven ten miles, and really needed something. Businesses that would call around behind your back, (once they figured out that you had developed other ties to the community), asking if you are worthy of their services? Seriously, God help you if you were a minority, or had the accent and obnoxious mannerisms of a working class NYC resident, they would either ignore you, or screw you over.
In that kind of good ole' boy environment it's was pretty easy to see why a local flooring store couldn't be bothered to look at a job on a weekend. Hell, when we first migrated, if you were low on gas and it was after five on a Saturday, you were screwed until Monday morning.
Plenty of gas stations around,  all owned by locals who could of cared less if you were impacted by their schedule.  Interesting times, and a lots of life's lessons learned while learning to thrive in a community that considers you an outsider if you weren't born there, to the right family, since being born there after 1970ish, and from a "move-in" family, didn't mean shit.

[Le Poisson]

Many of the local contractors are driving 2 hours into Toronto to get the "real Money" all week long. I understand the shortage of skilled labour in town. If your billing rate is double what it would be locally, the drive makes sense. It also makes sense that these folks want their weekends off. It seems like this would open up opportunity for some entrepreneur to start up a high service level local business - but if someone has, I have yet to find them.

What local guys I have found were so highly priced, and with such long waits, I couldn't hold out for them, (This was for drywall/framing guys) and opted to DIY.

[deborah]

On my Austrian blind, I am replacing plastic rings which deteriorate in the sun with brass rings I found that my father was going to throw out. The rings were green and horrible when I got them, but look nice now. As it is an existing blind, it doesn't need to be trimmed (and Austrian blinds are very forgiving, size wise). Installation will occur when the room has been fixed.

[Le Poisson]

I put an ad on Kijiji today... 6 views in the first hour. Not bad.

[RetiredAt63]

Feedback, not quoting.

You like exclamation points!!!!!
I would get the car out of the exterior pictures.  Unless you had a specific reason for having it in?
You mention the country kitchen, but no photo - you mentioned it, you need to show it.

Hope this helped?  Oh, take one off the new # viewers, that was me just now.

And people do browse, I have been looking at lots of ads on Kijiji and I am months away from moving.

[Le Poisson]

Feedback, not quoting.

You like exclamation points!!!!!
I would get the car out of the exterior pictures.  Unless you had a specific reason for having it in?
You mention the country kitchen, but no photo - you mentioned it, you need to show it.

Hope this helped?  Oh, take one off the new # viewers, that was me just now.

And people do browse, I have been looking at lots of ads on Kijiji and I am months away from moving.

- Car is in because shiny orange things draw attention.
- kitchen is a shambles. No photo is the best option there.

Agree on the browsing. Also I suspect all the hits so far are off the forum. :)

[Le Poisson]

Two replies to the ad so far. both from the same email addy, both with the same text. Sent about 2 seconds apart.

Bot? I think its a bot. Unless someone hit send twice.

[snacky]

Hitting send twice is a thing.

[snacky]

Hitting send twice is a thing

[Le Poisson]

Hello Snacky, are you a bot?

Please answer the following question to prove you are human:

(47^8)-4(the area of Kazakhstan)/(5((32.9/the average number of raccoons per square km in Toronto)^3)^4^5)

Thanks.

[snacky]

42.

[G-dog]

Are the photos with furniture from the previous owner?
Is the tree swing still in the backyard?

Good luck showing and renting!

[Le Poisson]

42.

I actually haven't read that book. I tried Zen (for some reason people who read one seem to also have read the other), but didn't get far. I should give it a go.

[Le Poisson]

Are the photos with furniture from the previous owner?
Is the tree swing still in the backyard?

Good luck showing and renting!

1. yes - from the listing when we bought.
2. Yes. it is J1's favourite hangout when we are there.

[G-dog]

Any chance that the swing is a liability? Rope breaks, etc.....

So close! I bet you have learned a lot from this -
- proper tasks where your dad's help is actually help
- better time estimates for work
- what to contract, what to DIY
- planning, what helps, what you need to delay

[Le Poisson]

I'm not worried about the swing.

I've been reading here a lot lately. The blogger is one of our speakers at CMC, and the laundry list of articles is a great resource to me.

http://landlordrescue.ca/all-posts/

Worth looking at for ideas if nothing else.

[Cannot Wait!]

Getting there!
Your pictures don't do it justice.  I can be more specific if you need me to be.

[Le Poisson]

Snacky - give this article a read. (Same blog, but applies to selecting tenants)

CW - be as specific as you want - I'll snap more pics this weekend to post before we travel.

[Cannot Wait!]

Definitely get rid of the mud shot in the backyard.  Either take it from the mud side or avoid the ground all together.  Or put it in the ad that it will be sodded by June.
Is that plastic on the window in the pink room?  And what's with those wires?
Main pic of house should be closer and not shaded if possible.
The upstairs landing looks confusing and if they figure out that one of the rooms is a bathroom, it looks small.  (Which it is - but that's not a selling feature.)
I'm thinking unfurnished room pics will probably be better unless you feel they make the bdrm look too small?
Those were the things that popped out at me.

[Le Poisson]

Definitely get rid of the mud shot in the backyard.  Either take it from the mud side or avoid the ground all together.  Or put it in the ad that it will be sodded by June.
Is that plastic on the window in the pink room?  And what's with those wires?
Main pic of house should be closer and not shaded if possible.
The upstairs landing looks confusing and if they figure out that one of the rooms is a bathroom, it looks small.  (Which it is - but that's not a selling feature.)
I'm thinking unfurnished room pics will probably be better unless you feel they make the bdrm look too small?
Those were the things that popped out at me.

Thanks! Will make some changes once I have other pics. I'll need to clean out all the tools etc. on Friday when I get up there, then I can take better pics on Saturday morning. I'll keep all of this in mind.

[meerkat]

The picture that is four pictures is odd. One, why are these not individual slides. Two, three of the four are bedrooms but the other one is the landing for the stairs? Why is that with the pictures of bedrooms? It's a four bedroom, where is the picture of the fourth bedroom?

Also this might be a Canada thing but 200 sqft lot makes it sound like the yard is only about 20'x10' but that doesn't seem right so I'm just confused about what 200 sqft lot means.

[Le Poisson]

The picture that is four pictures is odd. One, why are these not individual slides. Two, three of the four are bedrooms but the other one is the landing for the stairs? Why is that with the pictures of bedrooms? It's a four bedroom, where is the picture of the fourth bedroom?

Also this might be a Canada thing but 200 sqft lot makes it sound like the yard is only about 20'x10' but that doesn't seem right so I'm just confused about what 200 sqft lot means.

Good questions! The 4-in-one pic is stolen from the feature sheet when I bought the house. They are too small (low res) if I break them up and blow them up.

The 4th bedroom will get a pic once it has a floor. :)

The ad says 200 foot lot - which around here means "really big!"  Its normal to see a 40 foot lot, so this is a lot of space. Many townhouses are on 20 foot lots. A renter coming out of a complex will feel like they have endless space with a yard that big. Then they get to cut the grass...

[snacky]

I would say 200 foot frontage or 200 foot wide lot, just to be clear. clarity is your friend.

[Koogie]

I wouldn't mention it at all.  Numbers is confusing and peoples is dumb.     Lot sizes usually matter to buyers, not renters.

[deborah]

This all sounds negative. Sorry about that...

I'd remove "parking for RVs" - It's obvious from the lot size and everything else, and might encourage the wrong type of tenant.

I have a lot of problems with the outside pictures. I think it's cultural - I am used to pictures of houses with gardens and lawns. It all looks so desolate to me. The front house picture is all road and dead earth on the other side of the road, and there is junk in the front yard - milk crates and stuff - get it out, and take a picture with a little of the trees showing on each side (not much) - it is the house they are interested in. The picture of the pond adds nothing to me (this one gives me the heeby-jeebies, and I think it's a problem with it being a completely different climate), especially with the milk crates and the car. The back yard is OK, but, is there a carport on the side? If so, I would take it to show the carport better, and have the swing in incidentally rather than being the main focus of the shot. That also gets rid of the fence.

Does your camera have any wide-angle? Most home photos are taken somewhat wide angle - you might need that for the front house shot,to eliminate the road, and it can make the rooms look bigger (real estate agents go too far, but you want something that makes the rooms look like you perceive them, rather than tiny).

One of the inside pictures has a shelf with plants on it inside the window. Do you really want your new tenants adding such a shelf?

I do like the minimalist approach to the words and I agree with others that if you mention a room, it's a good idea to show it. People like to see pictures of bathrooms.

[TrMama]

Joining in!!!

Since there are no pics of the kitchen or bathrooms, I'd assume they look like murder scenes. When you can, take some nice shots of these rooms.

I'd also pull the ad until you get all the photos sorted out. That will make it fresh again. Anyone, who's seen it now and didn't like it won't look again when you update photos. However, they will look again when the ad is new.

Will you allow pets? Regardless of what you decide, put this info in the ad.

[Le Poisson]

Wow! so much constructive feedback! Thanks all.

Deb, you amuse me. This is the land of dead grass right now. I take no offense. You can't get a shot of property/landscaping this time of year without it being dead stuff. And yes, it is somewhat desolate. The "milk crate" you see is a lobster trap. It was part of the landscaping from the previous owner. I agree, it should go.

Bathroom and kitchen pics... nope. What am I going to go with? The upstairs half-bath that we all discussed at length because the roof lines are awful? The main floor bath in peacock blue? The kitchen which is currently gutted while it awaits doors and backsplash?

Today I got 7 replies to the ad, 3 of which are in earnest. We'll see how many show up on Saturday.