Real estate is a hot commodity.
But around every corner, danger lurks...
from zombie houses.
These rotting corpses aren't just ugly...
What happened?
...they're dangerous.
Whoa!
Fire! Get out of there!
And they can drag down an entire neighborhood...
It's the ugliest house on the street.
...but their days are numbered.
Here in Orlando, Florida,
taking on these monstrosities is our specialty.
It's a wreck, but we don't shy away from things like that.
Ew. Our team tracks these filthy zombies down...
This place is a total dump,
but at least this room is huge.
...and pumps new life into them...
Maybe I got heat stroke,
but I'm falling in love with this place.
...flipping them into sweet homes...
- Wow. - This is amazing.
...that we can sell... We are ready to go.
...for an even sweeter payday.
Here's to selling another house.
This...
is "Zombie House Flipping."
Captioning provided by A+E Networks
Ash, where are we going here?
This morning when I checked the MLS,
this house popped up.
It's the first day on the market.
And it's listed at $199,000 and it's in Dover Shores.
We'll take it. Sold.
Dover Shores as an up-and-coming community
just a few miles from downtown Orlando.
It's a mix of professionals and families,
making it prime real estate.
Do you know anything else about it?
It's a bit over 1,100 square feet.
It has a master bedroom with en suite bathroom
on one end of the house,
two other bedrooms with a hall bath
and then a living room, kitchen, and a sun-room that leads out
to a 2-car garage on the other side.
Is it like run-down wood frame or...?
No, it's block, concrete block. Really?
It's a 3-2 concrete block for $200,000?
- Yeah, with a pool. - With a pool?
Mm-hmm.
There's got to be something wrong at that price, right?
Probably priced super competitively,
where highest and best drive the price up 30, 40 grand.
Yeah. It's like a feeding frenzy.
Blood in the water, the sharks will come.
But it's definitely something we need to check out.
Oh, here it is.
That's got pink zombie written all over.
- Let's see what we got. - Yeah.
Ahhh. It's pink.
Uh, that's really pink.
It's got a kind of tropical vibe to it, doesn't it?
I don't know what's coming out of the crawlspace,
but it doesn't look good.
Well, if they have that many vents,
maybe they've got a critter problem, too.
Yeah. And the concrete walkways look really worn.
- Let's walk around that way. - Yeah.
We can come back to that.
Okay, this house
doesn't make a very good first impression,
but ugly paint and rusty vents are surface problems.
You have to look past that to see the bigger potential here.
Okay, so this is a corner lot.
Look how massive it is.
Look, the fence is way over there.
The whole lot goes all the way over there.
Seriously, though, concrete block,
big corner lot for $199,000?
How bad could it be on the inside?
Have you seen the houses we renovate?
Okay. Let's check out the inside. Come on.
Alright.
- Oh! - Oh, my God. So brown.
- Woof. - Okay.
It's like 2006 in here.
Guys, look, look, it's just getting uglier and uglier.
This cheap laminate is on top of dingy tile.
I wonder why it's half torn up.
Maybe they realized their mistakes.
Hey, the kitchen's over here. Let's see what we got.
Okay. Oh, tiny kitchen.
It is really tiny.
Maybe this place was vandalized.
Whoa! Keith! Geez.
Maybe he's the vandal.
He's always the vandal.
So not only is the kitchen tiny, the living room's kind of tiny.
I feel like we'd need to remove this whole wall maybe?
- Oh, blow it out, dude. - Yeah.
This is all wasted space.
- Well, see what else we got. - Yeah.
Oh, geez, look at this.
FP fire hazard.
Federal Pacific electrical panels were installed
in millions of homes from the 1960s to the 1980s
as a cheaper alternative to the other name brands available.
But they had substandard breakers
that sometimes wouldn't trip when they were overloaded,
and that would cause wires to overheat
and houses to catch on fire.
They actually lost a class-action lawsuit
over this in 2005.
So we know if we ever see a Federal panel,
we need to budget for swapping it out.
Alright. So we get floors, kitchen, electrical panel.
- So far. - So far, house.
Everything we've seen needs to go.
Oh, God. This is gross.
Oh, my goodness.
I do actually like this pink tile,
It could have been cool.
We could have kept it, but it's all broken.
Alright. Let's add bathroom to the list.
Mm-hmm.
So far, there's not much here to love,
except for that low asking price.
It's the kind of number that could definitely prompt
one or two sight-unseen offers,
and that could price us out of this mess pretty quickly.
A little room.
Oh. Oh, my goodness. It's the master.
Like, this is a huge problem with the house, right?
Because it's the smallest bedroom in the house
and it's the master?
Oh, my God, guys. We're in luck.
It's got a huge shower. Wait till you see.
Massive show--
Check it out. Where is the shower?
No, this is ti-- Like, serio--
It's small for me.
It's like 2 feet by 2 feet.
This house is death by a thousand bad decisions--
tiny rooms, outdated bathrooms, electrical upgrades,
and all of that equals money out of our pockets.
What other zombie surprises this place got lurking for us?
Like a sun-room with no air ducts,
so it's not heated square footage.
Hey, that's actually a big plus for us, right?
It already has windows, so we just had some drops.
And we got 15 by 15 here, 10 by 15.
- Yeah. - It's 150 feet.
$200 a square foot, maybe. Mm-hmm.
- I mean, that's 30 grand. - Yeah.
Apparently, somebody closed in the area
between the garage and the house,
but they didn't route in the heating
and air-conditioning system.
And that's all it takes to count this as interior square footage
that can boost our selling price.
Outside?
Oh, hot damn.
Oh, look at this pool.
I mean, who knows if the plumbing works
or anything like that, you know?
Guys, look at the cracking here.
The pool deck is all cracked.
This pool is massive,
so it could be 12 grand to fix it.
Algae can turn a neglected pool green
in as little as a day.
So there's a chance the filtration system is still good
and the water just needs a proper chemical treatment.
But the cracked concrete is a bigger deal.
A pool this size would be a perfect centerpiece
for a tropical vibe makeover,
but it could also be the biggest line item in this house.
Look, what happened over there? My God.
It's like a tropical storm blew through it.
Yeah, and I'm having a tropical depression.
This is the neighbor's fence.
Then I see an older wood fence,
and then I see a chain-link fence.
Ours comes just to the end of the white fence, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Well, I guess if we're gonna have to replace the fence,
we have to match it with the white vinyl.
We already have it on both sides.
- I hate vinyl fence. - I mean, it's nice,
but it's like three times the cost of any other fence.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
The costs on this place are definitely adding up.
But if there's any chance at getting it
for that teaser asking price or close to it,
these numbers could still work in our favor.
What do you guys think?
This house blows, so it's perfect for us.
I mean, I love it. I think it's great.
I think we should definitely do it.
I mean, what do you reckon we start at?
It definitely needs a lot of work.
I mean, there's, like, the pool refinishing,
a fence, small master, small kitchen.
The budget is probably...
$65,000? Yeah.
And we know that low asking price
will draw some higher bids.
So maybe we say $220,000?
That puts us plus or minus $285,000.
So what do we sell it for?
Three and a quarter?
That's not enough after commissions.
I think we need to get at least $350,000 out of this
to make that work.
The way the market's accelerating right now,
by the time we finish it, it's gonna be worth
a whole lot more than it would be today.
So who knows what we'll be able to sell for, right?
Alright. Well, let's go to the Blueprint office
- and write up an offer. - Let's do it quick.
- Cool. - Yeah.
To head off any bidding wars,
we offered $19,000 cash over their asking price
and the sellers accepted.
We decided on a renovation budget of 70 grand
and the closing costs and commission
for the buyer's Realtor
will run us about 5% of what we end up selling for,
costing us around $16,000.
We want to finish in about two months,
which will mean a loan interest payment of about $4,000,
which puts our total investment around $308,000.
But if we can get the sale price we want of 350 grand,
that means the team takes home around $42,000 in profit.
Fixing this House of a Thousand Bad Decisions
is gonna start with two major changes.
The first is to turn that dinky master bedroom
into a true master.
We'll open it up by tearing out that closet
and we'll make a new closet
by stealing some space from the neighboring bedroom.
We'll also expand that shower by reclaiming the hall closet.
In the main area,
we'll take down that useless wall
between the living room and the kitchen
and put in an island, creating a beautiful open plan
with an expanded kitchen full of new cabinets,
counters, and appliances.
Demo day. Whoo!
Today is the greatest day in any house flip.
It's demo day!
Let's break stuff, guys.
It's time to shred all those terrible fixtures...
Picked up the whole dishwasher.
...starting with that '90s eyesore
of a kitchen.
1, 2, 3.
Of course, when a house is
like death by a thousand bad decisions,
that means there's a lot more demo.
My job is tearing out this cheap laminate floor,
and, of course, the ugly tile beneath the ugly laminate.
Is that a hardwood floor?
Keith, come here. Hey.
Look at this.
I'm trying to get up the tile
and look what's underneath.
That is two and a quarter...
Oh, my God, that might be pine, Ashlee.
That can absolutely be refinished
and brought back to life.
That would be amazing if we could do that.
It turns out we may have uncovered
some gold in this house.
Beautiful, original hardwood floors
could be a fantastic selling point.
I think this is a job for power tools.
Considering the whole house is covered in this tile.
But how amazing is that?
- The original hardwood floors. - Original hardwood floors.
Love it. Beautiful.
Yay! Good find. Alright.
I guess we don't really get to go
full smash mode on these floors.
Oh, well, there's still a whole lot more to destroy.
Uh-oh.
Hey, Keith.
Every time I hit the wall, the lights flicker in here.
Yeah. And we have a Federal Pacific panel.
No, I noticed that.
This house is kind of a fire hazard.
Let's just pause
and let the electricians make it safe.
We can't trash the pink bathroom either.
Better get my licks in at this place while I can.
Hey, we got a leak! Uh-oh!
It's stuck!
Where's that water-key thing?
Turn the water off.
- Ahh! - Where's the water key?
Hey, we got a leak!
Uh-oh!
We need to find the damn water meter.
Any idea? Yeah. No, no idea.
- Is that it? - No, Ash, it's a hole.
Can you just turn it off there?
Nope.
Justin, you got it?
Working on it!
We don't know where it is!
Well, come here.
You can put your finger in the dike, and I'll go look.
This is fun.
You ready?
Aah! Don't--
What?
Did we find it yet? No, dude.
The water is leaking out everywhere.
I think I found it, K.O.!
Water's getting everywhere.
Full of dirt. Yeah.
Guys, hurry up!
There it is.
Oh. Yes.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay, so maybe getting my licks in
wasn't such a good idea.
When a pipe breaks, the only way to stop the water flow
is to shut off the supply to the house.
But I honestly didn't think we'd be dealing with the pipes today.
I thought the sink was made out of porcelain.
Turns out it's made out of cast iron,
and it fell off in one piece.
Flooding with it.
At this point, we've hit enough snags in this place.
It's time to turn over the rest of the work
to the full-blown demo crew.
The demo team comes in and rips out all the old cabinets
in the kitchen...
and in the bathroom.
Then they open up the walls,
expanding the bathroom space
and connecting the kitchen to the living room.
Finally, we say so long to those layers of ugly floors.
It's time to restore this zombie to its former beauty.
Is someone here? The door is open.
Hello?
Hello. Hey.
Hi. Hi.
Who-- Who are you?
I'm a neighbor, and I came by.
The door was unlocked, so...
The whole neighborhood is really excited
about you fixing up this house.
It's been an eyesore forever,
So you're... I've got ideas.
Finding a stranger on your job site is never a good thing.
They can get hurt.
They can mess something up or worse.
They can start offering you "ideas."
But I have some ideas
about where the refrigerator should go,
the stove... I believe we have...
- ...all of it. - We have, like, professionals.
But I've done a lot of this.
I've got 30 years' experience.
Normally, we like it when the neighborhood
takes an interest in our flip,
but a self-proclaimed expert trying to take over our job,
it's just too much.
The best thing we can do here is just be nice
until we can get her out of here.
Especially this knockdown. It is pathetic.
The texture on the walls. Yes.
Yeah. It's called knockdown.
Okay? Oh, okay. Alright.
I thought you were a pro at this.
Oh, boy, if this woman keeps acting like this,
we might have to put up a work barrier
around the yard, which is not
the friendly neighborhood vibe we'd like to have here.
We definitely appreciate all of your ideas,
and honestly, another day
would be a great time to get together.
I could be here every day.
- Wow. - Doesn't bother me a bit.
That may not be necessary.
Today, Electrical Surgeon is here
to update the electrical panel
and swap out any wires that show damage from overheating.
That's one bad decision fixed and several hundred more to go.
Plumbers remove the old pink tub,
then yank out the corroded metal pipes
and replace them with fresh PVC
that can last a hundred years or more.
Then our flooring team lays down some fresh new plywood
to give the bathroom some solid new footing.
- What are we doing? - Today, I was thinking
we figure out where the property line is
and push the neighbor's old fence out of the way
so that we can put the new fence in.
Don't we have to talk to the neighbor?
Not really.
I mean, if we just figure out where the property line is.
Let's go look at it.
In this area of Orlando, a homeowner can put up
whatever fence they want on their property as long
as it doesn't interfere with the neighbor's property rights.
That's what they call a spite fence.
And that's not the problem here.
The real issue here is cleaning up the mess of broken fence
the neighbor left on our property.
Hey, are you the new neighbors?
- Uh-huh. - Yeah.
Hey, yeah, we are.
You guys gonna fix this fence?
Yeah, man, we actually are here today talking about it.
It looks like this guy was on the lookout for us.
Maybe this fence was a bigger deal to him than we thought.
We'll cut out this old chain link.
Take down the old wood,
and we'll put up a nice vinyl fence
and it'll look really good for both sides of the house.
What's wrong with a wood fence?
It's all wood here.
I would put a wood fence up if I had a choice,
but we're trying to match the white vinyl fence
that's already here.
Last tenants said they were gonna. They didn't do it.
Yeah, definitely. We need to fix this fence.
I'm sure you're sick of looking at-- at this.
I like my fence.
This guy is not happy to see us.
Whatever happened between him and the previous owner
must have left a bad taste in his mouth.
And now I think he's taking it out on us.
What's wrong with a wood fence? It's all wood here.
We're trying to match the white vinyl fence that's already here.
I-I like my fence.
I don't know what the previous owners did
to set this neighbor off,
but we need to do some real damage control real quick.
A lot of the problem is those are all yours--
- the wooden pieces. - Yeah, the wood's mine.
We'll get rid of anything you want to dump for free.
You got to stay on your property line, though.
All we need is to be able to come onto your property line
to put in the posts and put the fence up.
We'll make sure the fence
is on our side of the property line,
and we'll put it up and we'll clean it up.
We're gonna do it the right way, too,
and that's the most important part.
- You're actually gonna do it? - Yeah.
Are we good to go, though?
Can I get my guys started on this?
- Yeah, man. - Alright.
- Thank you. - It's nice meeting you.
Very nice to meet you.
It looks like we've brokered at least a temporary peace deal.
And now that the line is drawn,
hopefully, we won't have any more fence fights
at the O.K. Corral.
Our landscaping crew quickly clears all the overgrown brush
to make room for our new fence.
The fence is half-inch-thick vinyl plank.
It never needs painting, and it's tough enough
to withstand a Florida hurricane
and maybe even a cantankerous neighborhood.
We're also fixing up the walls inside of the house...
patching up old holes
and hanging new drywall.
We're a bit over two weeks into this flip,
and we got the guts of this house
up and humming and sealed in.
We're also hitting our marks with our budget,
which started out at 70 grand.
So far we've spent about 14,
but this house has a thousand things wrong with it
and we still have a long way to go.
We also know zombies like to bite you
when you least expect it.
The house is coming along.
Now we need a painter out here.
What colors are we thinking?
This is, like, the tropical pad.
Well, you guys are the designers, so just design.
I actually don't have time today. Do you have any time?
I got to go close on a house for us.
You want to take your hand
at picking us some tropical colors?
- Huh? - That's a horrible idea.
Get a box of Froot Loops,
pour it on the counter and pick.
Pick one Froot Loop.
What about our entire history together
makes you think that's a good idea?
You got this, dude. I trust you. No.
- I trust you. - You're good.
I do-- You're so good.
You guys-- See ya.
It's not gonna work.
I don't know what Ashlee and Justin are thinking.
I know we all wear multiple hats in this company,
but I'm telling you, they ought to keep me in a hard hat
as much as possible.
If the Blueprint team won't help me with this,
I might need to get some outside help.
What-- What is that?
That's my new work truck.
Where's the rest of it?
Some guys have nothing to prove.
You know what I'm saying?
You want to make fun of my truck
or you want to get some work done here?
What is it?
I am so glad Duke is here.
He was a member of our zombie team for years.
And while I never trust his taste in trucks,
his taste in paint color is unmatched.
We got this color kind of everywhere... Mm-hmm.
...and we got to figure out, using the tropical nature
of the surroundings, what we can paint it.
So give me some colors here, buddy.
Well, rather than giving a man a color,
let's teach him how to pick colors.
Pick a color. Any color.
Mint.
Oh, it is mint. It says mint.
Now, tell me how this color works on this house.
What does that make you think of?
That's, like, Thin Mints or something.
It makes me hungry for Girl Scout cookies.
No! Make me want this color.
This thing could be
the passionate purple of a royal cloak.
This color-- the sunny beaches of a Pacific isle
where you first fell in love.
This color is fresh and resplendent
with the cool, minty essence of an evergreen morning,
something like that.
I don't want to be cool and resplendent.
I just want - to paint the house. - Yes, yes, yes.
But what I'm saying is the color you choose
is gonna work because you make it work.
It's easy to pick a tropical color.
There's only a few colors to choose from
and any of them are gonna work fine on this house.
My goal today is to give Keith some confidence in himself,
so he's not always calling me to bail him out.
You'll do well with it. Alright, buddy?
Yeah. You got that.
Today we have our sights set
on remodeling both bathrooms.
In the guest bathroom, we're adding a new cast-iron bathtub.
Cast iron is scratch-resistant
and it's also less prone to staining than acrylic
and it retains the heat.
You got it.
Then we're lining the wall
with a beautiful ceramic subway tile
using a herringbone pattern on the back wall,
which creates a really nice contrast and visual.
The master shower is also getting some tile treatment.
Our installer lays down a sand-mix compound
called a mud layer
that gradually slopes towards the center drain,
and then he covers it with a layer of mortar.
The floor is a multigrade checkerboard pattern
and the walls are gray ceramic.
It's a very sophisticated and neutral look
that many buyers will love.
Guys, I got a little surprise in store for you today.
Yeah. What is it? - You'll see.
Justin and Ashlee
made it my job to paint the house.
So I gave it a lot of thought,
and I think I did a great job picking out the perfect color.
Guys, check it out. I painted the house.
Oh, my God, Keith. What did you do?
Come on. I did it.
Keith, this is horrendous. How is this tropical?
I looked at tropical colors, and it looked, um...
- Tropical? - Tropical? Yeah. Beachy?
And you're like, "No.
I'll go with the polar opposite of tropical.
I'll take prison look instead of tropical look."
I looked at tropical, it just di--
It looked unserious.
So I was like, "Let's make it a little darker."
So it's like a dark tropical.
- Pfff. - Okay.
Dark tropical?
Let's not even a thing. Dark tropical.
That would be like a hurricane.
You just killed the whole tropical vibe, for God's sake.
You killed it, Keith.
I can't imagine what Keith was thinking,
but at this point, the last thing we want to do
is spend even more money to paint the house again.
We'll need some more time to figure out how to fit this color
into a tropical framework.
Oh, my goodness.
Today we're tearing out
the old louver and metal-frame windows
and installing some new vinyl single-hung windows
in the bedrooms and living rooms
and large single-panel windows in the sun-room.
They're cost efficient,
and they'll keep this house the perfect temperature,
no matter the weather.
With the new windows in, we can now begin the interior painting.
We decided on a Sherwin-Williams Drift of Mist color
in a flat sheen.
It's a neutral, warm gray
that will make the inside feel light and airy,
complemented with Dove White satin on the trim,
we've turned this house into a calm, welcoming space.
We've now hit the one-month mark on this flip,
and some of the bigger-ticket items
are starting to add up.
Out of the $70,000 we set aside for renovations,
we've now spent over 31 grand.
We're still on track overall.
But reaching one month means we also have reached
one full interest payment on our loan,
and we'd like to limit that to two,
so no rest for the weary.
This House of a Thousand Fixes still has a lot for us to do.
Now it's time to refurbish these amazing original pine floors
by sanding them down
and staining them a dark espresso color.
This is the kind of flooring that buyers dream about.
We're also turning that swamp outside
into the tropical oasis it should be.
We chip away all that ugly, outdated tile lining the edge.
We're also able to clear out that algae
with a good power wash.
Then we resurface the pool's interior
with Marbletite pool quartz for a bright and durable finish.
Fortunately, the filtration system was still in good shape.
However, when it came to the pool deck,
our concrete guy said we really needed
to discuss how to proceed.
- Hey. Hello. - Hello. Come in.
- Hello. - Oh, hi. How are you?
Hey, how are you all doing?
How's it going? Good.
I'm Chase with Alpha Foundations.
- Keith. - Good to meet you, Keith.
Thanks for coming by. Sorry we couldn't meet you over there.
Of course. Thanks for having me.
Yeah. So how did it go?
So I just took a look at the property.
So what we're looking at is
we do have some uneven concrete on the walkway.
That can ultimately lead to a trip hazard.
Also, that pool deck, it's uneven,
and we can definitely enhance the aesthetics of that as well.
"Enhance the aesthetics of the pool deck."
Does that mean paint it a cool color
or what do you mean?
- Absolutely. - Well, it has the cracking.
- So we wanted to fix that. - How do you feel with that?
Right. So the first thing we do
is we always level out that concrete
and we stabilize it using our product called PolyLevel.
And that's a polyurethane foam.
So we inject it through the top of the concrete.
As it expands, it's compressing that soil,
that loose soil that's been failing
and it's lifting and leveling that concrete
to eliminate any sort of trip hazards.
And it's permanent? Like, it doesn't, like, settle over time?
That's right. It's a permanent solution.
Also, what we would do is we would apply a full resurfacing,
a fresh coating on top of that pool deck,
as well as to seal that-- that concrete
and tint it as well,
which will give it a refreshed look.
- Okay. - That would look amazing.
You have a quote, uh, for the work?
I do. So the quotes can really range
depending on how much of the materials
we're gonna be using,
how much concrete we're working with,
the extent of the repair. In this particular case,
we're gonna be looking at somewhere
between $18,500 and about $22,000
to complete the entire project.
I mean, I knew it was gonna be pricey,
but I thought it'd be more like 7 grand.
Talk about sticker shock.
I thought we were going to fill in the cracks,
paint the deck and just move on.
Instead, he's telling us the cracks are there
because the concrete is off level
and everything needs to be straightened,
including the sidewalks around the house.
This is way more work than I thought.
Could you send us an e-mail that details everything?
Absolutely. Yep.
So I'll send you guys over a full proposal
that's gonna have the breakdown of everything,
and you can even pick and choose if you wanted
to hold off on the resurfacing.
We can even seal up those cracks
without having to do a full resurface on that.
The problem is, making it look good is just as important
as getting it fixed.
If we pay all that money to level the concrete
and it still looks old and worn,
that could really knock down our selling price.
It looks like this is a bill we just have to bite the bullet on.
When you have a pool deck that's as off levels as that is,
well, you have to do something for it, right?
Let's check the budget. Yeah.
Now that they have the green light,
the team from Alpha Foundations
can get to work on all of our ragged concrete.
The first step is to level up the concrete on all the walkways
by prying up any sagging sections...
...then injecting the expanding foam
underneath to lock it in place.
After filling in the cracks,
they put down a concrete topcoat
and some sealer paint to complete the job.
The massive deck surrounding the pool gets a similar treatment.
The finished product looks great,
but it cost us a load of money.
Hey, Keith. That looks great.
Hey, you like it?
Yeah, it's way more tropical.
I think when we get all the landscaping in,
it'll really come together.
I figured I needed to make amends
for that prison-gray paint choice.
So I went to the store,
and I asked them to please steer me
towards a nice tropical color for the brick shutters.
This is, like, mint chocolate chip or something.
- Actually, I love it. - Apparently, it doesn't take
that much to be tropical.
What are you here for anyway?
I just came to check on everything.
I haven't been in yet.
I understand they finished the floors, though.
Oh, perfect. I'll go have a look.
Okay.
What the hell happened in here?
What's go--Look at the floors!
The brand-new floors.
Someone put Ram Board tape
all over the brand-new floors.
This tape is gonna pull the varnish
right off the floors.
These are gonna be completely ruined.
There goes 5 grand worth of floor refinishing.
The housing market is so crazy right now
that contractors are hiring new workers
who sometimes make rookie mistakes.
I'm sure someone was trying to protect the floors
before the kitchen renovation started,
but using tape like this, that's not the way to do it.
There's no floor guy in the world that would do that. No.
All we can do is let it dry for as long as possible
and hope for the best.
Our custom kitchen cabinets
from Direct Cabinets have arrived.
We decided on classic white Shaker cabinets,
which never go out of style.
And I'm so excited to see how they look.
To complement the cabinets,
we're going with all white appliances
and a solid quartz countertop.
Quartz resists stains better than granite,
and the seams are less noticeable,
giving the kitchen a dazzling shine.
We also got some great news after the kitchen install.
When our team pulled up the Ram Board,
the tape did not peel up the floor varnish.
The workers had avoided stepping on the tape
and pressing it down.
And the floor cured just enough to avoid being damaged.
With a quick buffing, the floors look as good as new.
Unfortunately, the surprise bills of the last week
have put us over budget.
We planned to spend 70 grand on this renovation,
but our expenses have now jumped to 73 grand.
Thanks to that concrete repair,
being a solid 10 grand over what we anticipated.
The good news is we only need about one more week
and 5,000 bucks to add some finishing touches
and then we'll be done.
So with some luck,
the few extra bucks we had to spend
to do this house up right will be totally worth it.
That'll work. Okay.
It's time to start dressing up
the front of this tropical retreat.
Oh.
Okay. Alright.
When we first bought this house,
the front door was framed
by two large palms that touched the roof,
which could get us dinged during a home inspection.
So we're downsizing the plants
while keeping up the fun, tropical look.
Good job, dude.
Hey, can you go get a tape measure out of the truck
so we can measure the center line?
Instead of popping these plants anywhere,
we're gonna balance them perfectly with that front door.
Hey, tell me when it's the middle of the plant.
There you go.
Measuring for the center point of the plants
to the center point of the front porch
will ensure these palms are lined up in perfect symmetry.
Alright, we've got to dig a hole.
You know what they say.
Measure twice... plant once.
Perfect.
You haven't seen a house in a little bit, have you?
Yeah, I haven't been over here
since they finished the floors.
We're in the homestretch on this flip.
And I'm excited to show Ashlee
how we recaptured the tropical feel for the front of the house.
Check it out.
You put the exact same palm trees
in the same spot?
The house just looks the exact same as it did
when we first bought it.
I don't-- They might not be exact.
They're the exact ones.
But these ones, we had to spend money on.
Well, they were interfering with the roof.
And these are blocking the door.
This one's crowding the sidewalk.
You have to walk into the grass
to get around the house.
What were you guys thinking?
Apparently, Ashlee is not a big fan of the palms we put in.
Something about them blocking the door
and the sidewalk
and being the worst idea any human ever had.
Remove these. Put them somewhere else.
- Oh, my God. - You know I'm right.
Just, let's go get the shovel.
Dig these up. We'll find a better place for them.
- Alright. - Just do it.
Having to dig up plants that we already planted kind of sucks,
but the good news is the roots haven't set yet.
Oh, my God, you did it.
So they're easy to dig up and move to a new spot.
And you know what?
They look pretty darn dapper in their new home,
but don't tell Ash I said that.
With the open house set for two days from now,
it's clear that I have to take over the landscaping.
I've chosen a variety of tropical plants like Blue Daze,
Red Sister and Hawaiian Ti.
We're also picking up where Keith left off,
completing the tropical trim colors
on the outside of the house.
The door gets a light orange
that's appropriately named Sockeye,
and the brick shutters are finished off
with a retro mint green,
creating a perfect combo of relaxing island vibes.
That leads us to staging.
Joseph from Systematic Home Staging is dressing the house
with a colorful palette
to help create a first impression
that's bound to win over a buyer.
- Do you like it? - Oh, my God, I love it.
Alright, we're here. Open house.
Someone put up my sign already? Yay.
Sweet!
- Open house day. - Wow.
- Come on, madam. - Come on, Marley.
I'm just wondering where her tropical vibe is.
She needs, like, pineapples on her bandana, right?
Speaking of that, where's your tropical vibe?
Wait, is this not tropical?
Bro, you look like you're about to go
to Easter service.
Anyway, I'll tell you what is tropical.
What? The house.
Do you remember what this house looked like
when we first saw it?
A pink nightmare.
It just looked so run down and neglected.
But now look at it.
Yes! Incredible.
Now it just looks fresh and new.
It's amazing how much the tropical colors
liven up that gray.
I was skeptical about it, but it looks really great.
Let's go inside.
- Yeah. Absolutely. - Let's go.
Come on, Marley.
I remember all the beige and brown
and how claustrophobic it felt.
Well, you're gonna love it now,
so check it out.
Nice. Wow.
Doesn't it look great?
Yeah, it looks good, Ash.
This is really warm and inviting.
Yeah. You guys remember what these floors looked like?
Which ones?
There was, like, three or four of them, wasn't there?
So refinishing the original hardwood was the best call ever.
Look at this kitchen.
With that useless wall cutting off the space,
this kitchen was so closed in and awkward,
but now...
it feels really spacious.
Normally when you retrofit a kitchen,
it's still a smaller space,
and it's really hard to fit an island in it.
But we pulled it off. Like, that works,
and there's plenty of space to move around the kitchen.
Totally. It feels perfect.
Let's go check out the rest of the house.
The extra bedrooms were kind of depressing,
but both got an amazing upgrade.
This looks great.
Alright, we have the third bedroom.
- Love it. Looks fab. - Yeah.
The bathroom.
Do you remember?
It was pink tile and then an orange tub.
It's modern, it looks good, it flows.
This room is like a showcase of great finishes.
Okay, let's check out the master.
Do you remember that microscopic master?
Check out this space now.
Hey.
Hey, guys, believe it or not,
this is a king-size bed.
- That is. - Isn't that crazy?
Remember the closet was over there?
You couldn't even call it a closet.
It was so tiny.
And now we have this gorgeous,
large closet.
Let's check out the master bath. Yeah.
The master bath
was smaller than the guest bath.
Whoa! This is a lot different, huh?
- A lot different. - Oh, my goodness.
I mean, do you remember the original shower?
Like, it was a doorway.
It's small for me.
But look at the shower now.
Literally, it's double the size.
Alright. Let's see the rest.
Yeah, and our little sun-room turned out so good.
Oh, this is cool. Yeah.
The sun-room used to be a dark room,
but now it's full of light.
And the windows are what sells this for me.
Yeah.
Let's take a look at the backyard.
Let's check it out.
When we first came out here, this was tropical depression.
And now...
it's a tropical inspiration.
- Tropical paradise. - Yeah.
This pool's gonna sell the house.
Yeah. For sure.
We're gonna take off, and we'll come back
and catch you later on.
Okay. I'll be back with piña coladas.
Perfect. That sounds incredible.
I'm really proud of the work we did on this house,
and I'm even more proud of the way we kept the peace
with the interesting neighbors here.
Instead of $350,000,
we've decided to nudge our asking price up
to $355,000,
which we think will be attractive to buyers.
I really like the popping colors.
- Hi. - Hi, how are you?
Welcome to my open house.
Hi, how are you? - Come on in. - Nice to meet you.
Oh, hey, I recognize you.
- How's it going, neighbor? - Hey, you brought a friend.
Yeah. I appreciate all the work you did,
and I thought she might be interested.
- Oh, wow. - Holy cow.
This looks really good.
It's three bedrooms, two bathrooms.
1,300 square feet.
These are the original floors.
Man #2: Look very nice. I like the dark stain.
- So here's the kitchen. - It's really pretty.
I love the white cabinets.
And the countertops... This is engineered quartz.
- Oh, wow. - And the backsplash?
Okay. - It looks really, really good.
Okay, so I'll show you the rest.
So this is the hallway bath.
Oh, I love the tile. I love the design of that.
And here we have the master bedroom.
- Wow. - This is perfect.
- Holy cow. - Oh, the shower!
Nice.
I like the dark floor with the light cabinets.
I'm sold.
On the bathroom itself, I'm sold.
We also have this bonus room.
Big windows.
What?
Here we have the pool.
Man #1: Nice to see this pool blue again.
Used to be a mess back here. Now it looks great.
You could actually do laps in that.
Dang! I could have really good parties out here.
Look at your brand-new fence.
Very nice. I think I'll tell my friends and family,
maybe they'll live next to me.
Awesome.
Our open house was fantastic,
and it wasn't just the guy next door
who was spreading the word.
How did you find out about the open house?
The lady down the street.
One of the neighbors. She has blond hair.
A friend of yours? Yes.
Oh, nice.
It turns out our nosy neighbor
was also telling friends and family about this house.
And in just a few days,
we got an offer for $350,500.
We initially bought this house for $218,000,
and our reno costs ended up a bit over 78,000.
Closing costs, Realtor fees, and loan interest
came in just about as expected,
putting our total investment at just over $316,000.
That means the sale price earned us
a profit of just over 34 grand,
and that's worth a little celebration.
We're getting tropical, dude, so...
Wait. It's a party.
Let's get you in this bad boy
to celebrate real quick, right?
I can't get the shirt on...
There we go....over your hat.
You said you needed a pineapple shirt.
This one's got flamingos,
like the old color of the house,
pineapples, ice cream, - you name it. - Okay.
Oh. Oops. Sorry, Marley.
Now it's a party.
Whoo-hoo! Party!
Hey, hey. Hey.
Why didn't somebody tell me?
- Just waiting on you. - Uh...
Have a lei.
We'll get you a margarita.
Triple tequila.