Justin: Real estate is a hot commodity.
But around every corner, danger lurks...
from zombie houses.
♪
These rotting corpses aren't just ugly...
Keith: What happened?
...they're dangerous.
Whoa!
Fire! Get out of there!
And they can drag down an entire neighborhood...
Justin: 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...
Ashlee: 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.
Justin: ...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
♪ Step aside ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm in lace ♪
♪ I play to win ♪
♪ I wanna see their poker face ♪
♪ Feeling lucky ♪
♪
♪ Feeling, feeling lucky ♪
♪
So I grabbed you guys today
because this wholesaler reached out
and he has this property.
It's in the Hourglass District.
Hourglass is such a great little neighborhood.
Yeah, without a doubt.
It's the new hip area, so it can't go wrong.
♪ I'm feeling, feeling lucky ♪
The Hourglass District is about three miles southeast
of downtown Orlando,
and it is the happening spot in the city.
It's been redeveloped over recent years
to include a walkable area of dining, entertainment,
and really great local merchants.
The real estate here varies from 1920s Craftsman houses
to modern builds with high-end finishes,
offering a wide array
to buyers who are attracted to this local focus community.
♪
The house is on a flag lot.
So it's like a skinny entrance
and it opens up into like a bigger place?
Like the-- - Yeah, like the shape of a flag.
And, usually, people don't think they're very desirable
because you can't see the house from the road.
And the house is in somebody else's backyard.
Yes. Well, this one is on a lake.
Well, that's pretty cool.
Yeah. Wait 'til you hear this--
it's $230,000.
[ Laughs ] Oh, wait a minute.
Something's horribly wrong.
$230,000, a lakefront, in this market?
So it's a shed on a retention pond.
- [ Laughs ] - Yeah. What's the catch?
I mean, it's 100 years old.
And then he also mentioned
that there's a boundary dispute.
Ah! That's the catch.
Sounds like our kind of mess.
Now, this is a flag-shaped lot. See it?
So, here's a nice house out front.
Guess our zombie must be behind it?
The back house is using this as access,
then it's usually a legal easement.
Easements are always awkward in situations like this,
you know? Ashlee: Yeah.
From the look of this big Dumpster, I mean,
somebody's been working on it.
I guess they're giving up and bailing out.
Well, there's the issue.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
♪
Ashlee: This is the house for sale.
Good thing there's a front house
because it hides this ugly old thing
from the rest of the street.
The roof looks terrible.
Looks like it's about to fall down.
Ah, that's not awesome.
Justin: Yeah. - There's aluminum or vinyl siding,
but it's overtop of the original wood siding,
which means very old construction
with half-assed renovations.
Ash, what can you tell us about this place?
Well, it's a two-story home
that's less than 1,100 square feet,
No.
Not a lot of room
to move around in here.
A lot of materials.
♪
This is a real mishmash of everything, yeah?
- What are we looking at? - I don't even know.
Is that a new window?
But it's framed in really badly.
It's like someone kind of came in
and just started renovating randomly.
There's no telling what any
of the space is supposed to be.
Looks like someone was experimenting.
- Yeah. - Here, they were like,
"Is this the kitchen? Well, let's put up
the backsplash, first,
before any cabinets or anything."
- Oh, get out. - But this tile goes
all the way down to the floor.
Are you sure we're in the kitchen?
This must be a bathroom.
No, because there's like pendant lights up there.
That's what I was thinking. This is like a little island.
So this is the kitchen? - The kitchen.
But there's a shower
in the kitchen. Oh.
So far, we're seeing a floor plan
that can't decide what it wants to be,
inside of a house that isn't sure where it's supposed to be.
That low asking price
is starting to make a lot more sense.
Should we look upstairs?
Yeah, let's go.
♪
These stairs are like something
straight out of summer camp
and a window looking into the neighbor's yard?
That's awkward.
Whoa!
Holy moly! Look at the ceiling.
There's old windows, new windows,
new framing, old framing.
Is that a door going outside there?
Look, there's like a balcony out there.
Well.
Uh, there is a little balcony,
but this is closed off.
So we've got a balcony you can't access,
which I guess is good because, if you did stand on it,
it looks like it'd crumble under your feet.
Ashlee: Check out these floors, too.
They slope to one side.
Keith: Yeah, that's not good.
What's this room?
This is the small, little kitchen.
Ah, yes,
the mysterious second kitchen.
It's like living in an RV-type kitchen. [ Laughs ]
This property had a goofy layout, to begin with,
and the recent work done on it isn't helping things.
I mean, who's buying a one-bedroom,
two-kitchen house?
I want to see what the land looks like.
♪
Ashlee: Wow!
This is amazing!
So fabulous.
♪
Guys, look at this!
Beautiful!
I love the lily pad.
That's like 75 feet of lakefront.
This house is driveway-wide at the front
and 75 feet of lakefront in the back.
- That's crazy. - Hey, I got to say,
from this perspective, the house doesn't look quite as bad.
There's a lot wrong with this house
and it would need to be restructured from the ground up,
but that's work we know how to do.
The question is, is it worth it?
♪
This house is basically land value.
We're on a lake.
The only reason this house is even available to us
and nobody else has snapped it up yet
is because of the boundary dispute.
So, we have to make sure it's something
we believe we can overcome.
If we can legally take title of the property,
we can deal with everything else on the back end.
I'm sure we can reach an agreement
with the neighbor, even if it costs some money.
I think we could list it for $495,000
maybe even more.
So, if we buy it at $230,000,
even if reno's 100 grand, plus hard money cost,
and if we also have to spend some money
to settle the property dispute,
I still think we're talking a six-figure profit.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- I like it. I want to go for it. - Yeah.
We'll definitely take this one.
- Yeah. Why not? - Yeah, I agree.
Let's get started on some research.
Justin: In real estate,
there are some gambles worth taking.
It turns out the property dispute is
over some abstract language in the deed
that makes the property line unclear to us.
But I still feel like this is too good of a deal
for us to pass up.
We told the sellers that we would give them
their asking price of 230 grand
and they gladly accepted.
We'll get a surveyor out here to clarify the property lines
as soon as we can, but in the meantime,
we've decided to set our renovation budget at $85,000,
which should be enough for the small property.
We'll also try to work fast and do this flip in one month,
keeping our loan interest payments
down to around 2,500 bucks.
Closing costs when we sell should come in around $22,500,
giving us an all-in cost of around $340,000.
But if we can hit our target sale price of $495,000,
that'll bring the team home a nice profit of 155 grand.
Assuming we don't have to spend all that money
settling this property dispute.
Since this house is already set up
to have separate living quarters on each floor,
we've decided to stick with that design.
On the first floor, we'll frame in a new bedroom,
but one wall will be closets
that don't quite reach the ceiling,
to keep a good air flow throughout the lower level.
We'll also build out a peninsula in the kitchen,
to provide more room for appliances and counters.
On the second floor,
we'll do a wall of those same closets in the bedroom
and, instead of restoring the bathroom there,
we'll put it next to the kitchenette.
That'll give us a wide open bedroom space.
And we'll take advantage of this room with a view
by replacing the windows with a pair of French doors
and building a proper balcony outside.
Add some furnishings, and you've got
a gorgeous top-floor setup for an owner-operated duplex.
♪
Ash and I are fast-tracking all this debris
down to the ground floor.
♪
Well, we got the door open.
What do you say we go ahead and try
to do this window frame?
Okay.
♪
Uh-oh.
What'd you got?
I think I'm pulling the siding off the house.
Uh-oh.
Check this out.
What do you reckon we do,
should we cut this window out, then?
Let's do it.
♪
Whoo!
Dude, that's a great start.
We really opened this place up.
The demo crew can clean everything else up.
I think this upstairs retreat is going to be
the crown jewel of the home, when we get finished with it.
That's the view that's going to sell this place.
Yeah, without a doubt.
♪
Dude, check it out.
Somebody added to this fence.
I think the neighbor's putting it up.
Hey, how's it going?
Hey, new neighbor!
I've been trying to catch you outside
for the last couple days.
- Oh! - I'm Justin.
This is my partner Keith.
We, uh, we just bought this house.
- Hi. Nice to meet you. - We've been the ones
making all this racket the last couple days. - Yeah.
Right! It-It's looking good.
We've had our concerns about the property lines
on this house since the first time we saw it,
but I haven't had a chance
to connect with the neighbors yet.
Now's our chance to make nice
and, hopefully, work out any issues.
I like the fence you put up yesterday.
Thank you. Looks pretty cool.
Yeah, it does. I--
We got a question, though.
Um, so, when we bought the property,
we were told that there was a boundary line dispute,
but we haven't gotten clarity on what that is.
We're still waiting on our survey.
Correct. And I do have a copy
of the survey that I've already done
and, actually, I was being pretty generous.
I gave you 5 feet of extra walkway
so you can get out here.
Wait, you're saying the fence line is
5 feet that way?
Correct.
Like--
But, I mean,
we wouldn't even be able to open up the door
on the side of the house. - Exactly. You're welcome.
- [ Laughs ] - And then it comes down this way
and goes all the way down here to there.
So I was going to continue this beautiful fence,
so I would have more of a view of the lake.
- Yeah, no doubt. - Wait. You mean like
does it comes that way, or does it go like that way?
- Triangle. - Oh, it goes out that way?
Yes.
Okay. So it's like a reverse pie shape.
- Correct. - Okay. - Well--
- Hang on. Let me get-- - And I get a bigger piece
of the pie. [ Laughs ] - I s-- I see that.
Keith: Well, so much for being neighborly.
Her new fence proposal
is going to take half our waterfront.
The lake is the reason to buy this place!
I mean, chop it down to nothing,
put in an obtrusive fence, that blocks the view even more,
this whole flip could go belly-up.
- Perfect. - Whoo! [ Laughs ]
It feels less than perfect.
Mm.
Well.
♪
I gave you 5 feet.
So it's like a reverse pie shape.
- Correct. - Hang on.
Let me get-- - And I get a bigger piece
of the pie. [ Laughs ] - I s-- I see that.
Where the tube is
is where the survey was done, so,
where you've laid this is exactly
where the property line will go
and where the fence will continue.
Are you thinking about doing
a 6-foot fence, down to the water,
or a 4-foot? - Yes, I like a little privacy.
Yeah, I mean, I feel you.
Sure does change the view, though,
because the lake goes mostly that way.
This is definitely a problem.
We can't sell a lakefront house with a minimal lakefront view
and this view of the fence for top dollar.
We got to see if we can put a hold on the neighbor's plans.
So I ordered a survey, but, since it's
a topographic survey, it's just taking longer,
you know, it's just not a normal lot.
If you could hold off on finishing
the last bit of the fence, just give us like a week.
Mm...
I guess I can do that,
but I know this is where the line is
and I was being generous, donating 5 feet to you.
Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to argue with you there.
Let's-- Let's just get the surveyor out here.
I just want it to work for my view as well, so.
I totally get it.
Honestly, I'm not very optimistic about this situation.
Even if the surveyor decides in our favor,
I mean, this neighbor could get upset with us
and maybe start finding other ways to cause us problems.
Now I'm terrified.
This could totally shred our waterfront backyard.
♪
Keith: Well, to get to the bottom of our property dispute,
we got a flurry of work going on
to keep this one-month flip on schedule.
♪
First up, our plumbers replace the old pipes with modern PVC,
bringing this 1920s house into the 2020s.
♪
They also connect the pipes to a modern shower pan
which came with the house,
which is the perfect size to be the cornerstone
of the revamped upstairs bathroom.
We're also drywalling any areas that are ready,
sealing in the downstairs kitchen area,
and adding texture to the surface.
♪
At the same time,
our carpenters are getting to work
on some new door treatments,
...tearing out the trim of the downstairs entrance...
♪
...and preparing to put the French doors
in the upstairs bedroom
by busting out that old window...
♪
...and clearing a way for the new balcony
by shredding the old one.
♪
It's a lot of work at once,
but we got to multitask to flip this house fast.
♪
There's so much going on here simultaneously.
Justin: Well, that's what happens when you try
to renovate a building in a month.
Until our survey gets here,
we're going to keep cranking on the inside of this house,
but our framers have told us there's a problem here
we need to address before we get too deep into this.
They said something about the f--
the floor tilt.
Hey, look here.
To make the new floor level, we only had to raise up
the sister here by about 1/2 inch.
But then, as we as we go down,
like even over here, I mean, my God,
that's like 1.5 inches.
That corner, when we were here before,
that's the part that felt like
it was going to give you vertigo,
like it was falling away. - Yeah.
Here like.
Yeah, look.
[ Laughter ]
Yeah, bruh.
The level just makes it comical, dude.
The end of it's got like a solid 3.5 inch, yeah.
Okay. - I mean, so we got to, what,
scab in new wood all the way around?
Well, we do, but my concern is--
and, actually, their concern--
is that the-- that the actual outside wall,
the support? - Mm-hmm.
Is failing. This corner's sinking.
It could potentially bring the rest of the house down with it.
There are two big concerns for this place.
One is that the foundation might be sinking,
which, for a lakeside property's, not that unusual.
The second is that the vertical support is somehow compromised.
Either way, it's the kind of problem
that can absolutely torch a renovation budget.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
♪
Justin: We called in our contractors to dig into the sinking floor
and see what they could find.
It turns out some leaky pipes from that old bathroom
caused a bunch of wood rot in that corner.
♪
Fortunately, the damage was
to the horizontal anchor beams,
which had started to buckle and collapse.
This is great news because it's much easier
to replace horizontal beams than it is
to fix a faulty foundation or to replace the vertical beams
that the horizontal ones rest on.
♪
After tearing out the bad wood,
we removed the faulty pipes, which are no longer needed here.
♪
Then we install fresh anchor beams along the walls.
♪
Finally, we attach
the rest of the new crossbeams
across the floor, making them level,
and extending out the ones
that will form the base of our new balcony.
♪
The sticks cost us some time,
but we got it done right.
♪
We're two weeks into this flip
and the surveyor still hasn't made it out here,
but we can't afford to wait.
We're cranking ahead with the roofwork that we need done.
♪
Our roofers strip off all the old ratty shingles,
install a new underlayment.
♪
Then they put on new asphalt shingles,
which are algae-resistant, and in a light gray color,
so it reflects the sunlight and keeps the interior cool.
♪
Hello.
Hey. - Lynn?
- Oh, hi! - Hey. Hey.
- How are you? - Good.
Keith: We're meeting with our
architect friend Lynn today.
She's serving as a consultant on this quirky property.
I want to get her advice on the work we're doing upstairs.
We got a little bit of a problem.
- For real?! - What is it?
Somebody put a hole in the shower pan.
- Yeah, the roofers. - Oh, my God.
They had some debris coming off.
This is really bad because that--
that was there when we bought the house.
It's part of a kit.
We're going to have to get an identical shower pan.
Well, I have an idea that I think will work--
just a little bit more material overtop of it
- Oh. - and waterproofing it
and building it like you would do
a regular shower pan. Put your tile in and--
It's-- It's a small area. - But then the curb?
- I don't think this will cost very much. - But then you make a curb,
or what? - No, no, the curb--
the curb stays the same. - She's saying just--
The tile will actually come
up in here and just up a little bit.
It'll be like a regular shower pan.
You know what? That's a great idea.
It's going to look way better.
It'll have tile at the bottom. It'll be super cute.
This is exactly why we like working with Lynn.
She's great at coming up with simple,
even affordable, solutions that work well and look great.
Which is exactly why I want her to weigh in
on the flooring dilemma we have up here.
Hey, guys, let's talk about the floors. I--
- Mm-hmm. - Because I love saving hardwood floors,
- I know. - but we got two different species
and widths of wood because there was a wall here,
so there's a lot of patching that has to be done.
Yeah, I don't even know how you'd patch that
because they're different sizes. - We could do a band,
but this isn't the only problem.
Like over here, there's no floor,
- Yeah. - so, we'd have to totally
put a new floor down.
I suggest just using the same flooring.
It's such a small space.
Use the engineered wood flooring.
You'll get the same feel, the same look as the wood.
So you're talking about using
the existing floor now as a subfloor
- Yeah. - because we don't have a subfloor.
Yeah. It's going to go overtop of this
- Right. - and then that one will build
the whole new subfloor.
As much as I love-- love--
restoring original hardwood, Lynn makes a good point here.
Engineered wood would be uniform,
it's affordable, and it's better at withstanding moisture,
which is important for a house on a lake.
Plus the time and the money
that it takes to refinish wood floors.
- Yeah. - Perfect! Let's order it.
I'm ready. - Yeah. - There we go.
Once again, Lynn nails it.
Leave it to the architect to construct a perfect solution.
♪
So far, this one-month flip
isn't going as quickly as we planned.
We're about two-thirds of the way through our timeline
and, of the 85 grand that we budgeted for this renovation,
we've now spent about $39,000 of it.
That means we have more than half
of our expenses still coming up,
but only about ten days to hit our original timeline,
thanks to those sloping floors setting us back some time.
Our hopes of finishing this house in 30 days
and avoiding another hard money payment are not looking good.
We also don't have our survey done yet,
which could cost us even more time and money.
Here's hoping that works out in our favor.
♪
Ashlee: Survey time.
Yeah.
You worried?
Yeah, I'm worried!
Ashlee and I showed up at Hourglass today
to meet the surveyor.
He's been going over the property
to confirm the boundary line.
- Hey, there. - Hello.
- How are you? - Good.
What is that? That's the...?
- That's your property line. - Oh, my God!
That's even closer to the house than we thought.
Starts up there, comes here.
- Oh, my God. - Then it comes down
and then it does a jog out towards the lake.
"Then it does a jog out towards lake."
Comes even farther over it.
So that comes from here and it comes over here
and I found this old marker from the old survey.
Okay, so it comes down here and then goes here
and then goes where?
It goes over here.
Wow!
That cuts off almost the whole shoreline.
This neighbor owns this part, you're saying?
That's what she told Justin and I
and we were like, "That can't possibly be right."
Yeah. Wow.
Basically, the surveyor confirmed
what the neighbor had already told us,
that the property line runs right beside our house
and then swings across the front of the lake.
That's crazy.
So there'll be no access to the lake or anything?
Over here, farther, but not on this side.
- Oh, there is access over there? - Yeah.
- Can you show us exactly where? - Yeah.
Okay, so right now, I'm on the neighbor's land
and then, if I was in there-- Keith, you're on the--
on our land? - Yeah.
Yes. Correct.
You have a little bit of access
from where that last corner was up until here.
So you have a little bit on this side,
but then you do have your drainage there,
so I don't know how far you'd be able to go.
That's going to leave us with like
15, 20 feet of shoreline.
Oh, my goodness. This is crazy.
Keith: I was worried that this property dispute
may cause us some trouble,
but I never imagined it could rob us of 90% of our shoreline.
What's good about being on a lake,
if you can't see the lake?
This property's pretty much worthless.
Our neighbor's holding all the cards here.
We got to talk to her and see if there's
something we can negotiate.
Otherwise, we got a house we can't sell.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
Hello! Hi!
Hey! Hi.
- Excuse me. - Come in.
♪
We're the new neighbors
and we talked about the--
the fence before. - Sure.
- Okay. - Yes.
It-- It turns out you're right,
that-- Yeah.
- I told you! - Yes, you did.
Yes, you did. - [ Laughs ] - Oh.
Could we potentially work something out
where we could purchase the--
The tiny little strip in front of our property?
- Yeah. - Just that little,
tiny strip. - That tiny strip?
- Yeah. - Hm...
Could-- Could we show you?
I'll grab my jacket
- Right. - ...basically
prevents lake access.
Would you be open to-- to selling this, plus the side?
I mean, it's--
The reason I-I-I obviously bought this was
for all the lakefront and for me to have access.
I don't know if I'm ready to give it up.
I have a sprinkler system going in, new grass.
I was going to do a paved way down here.
I mean, I'm not sure.
Maybe...
we could give you 10 grand?
[ Laughs ]
Yeah, no.
No.
What-- - Is there a number
that would work? - Yeah.
What kind of number? - Hm.
♪
Your second-born child and $30,000.
No.
[ Laughter ]
What if we pay for your sod,
we'll pay for your sprinkler system,
we'll put up a cool fence between us,
and we'll give you 20 grand.
Hm.
$25,000 and you have a deal.
♪
If we don't do something, we won't be able
to sell this house, yeah. - Sell the house.
Okay. Alright. Alright. You got a deal.
- Deal! - Okay. - Alright.
- Okay. - Excellent.
So we agreed to pay 25 grand,
plus some landscaping and irrigation, what have you.
Not super happy with that, but, spending this 25 grand means
we can keep our target sale price
and, while it does cut into our profit,
it was room we had to spare.
We'll get this boundary clarification put into title,
so that both sides can sign off,
and we'll get to keep this wide open waterfront
for whoever buys the house.
Yeah, that's a lot of money, but, I mean,
what else are we going to do? - We didn't have any choice.
We had no negotiating power - Yeah, I mean,
now, it's lakefront.
♪
[ Tweeting ]
♪
With that survey out of the way,
now, we can focus our efforts
on making this house look amazing.
We've got one crew rebuilding the soffit,
which is the area beneath the eaves.
They're covering the boards with dark, vented slats,
creating a sharp, stylish outline
that allows air to circulate through the attic,
preventing mold growth.
♪
Meanwhile, other workers are fixing up
the cracked and compromised vinyl siding on the facade.
They fill in all the holes with fresh pieces,
ensuring the exterior is fully weather-resistant,
but still eye-catching.
♪
And, finally, a plywood floor is laid down
on the balcony beams, followed by a new railing.
♪
When it's done, it'll be a balcony
that's actually accessible as well as beautiful.
♪
With this month flying by, we got to start tackling
the biggest projects still left in this place.
♪
Cabinets are always an important feature
that we usually install later in the game.
But since our custom order's ready now,
our crew's already putting them in.
♪
They're Shaker cabinets in a color called Arcadia White.
They look fantastic.
♪
And, to illuminate this kitchen, we're installing pendant lights,
including a grid of energy-efficient LEDs
that'll keep this room looking sharp.
♪
And that's just some of what's going on here
in this whirlwind of renovation.
♪
Crews are working on everything, from windows...
♪
...to doors,
to decorative soffits to cover some of the ductwork,
trying to get back on pace with this mega fast makeover.
♪
We have just a few days left
in our original one-month timeline
and, with the work we have left, we're going to run long.
We started out with a renovation budget of $85,000
and, now, we've spent over $73,000.
It'll be tight getting everything done
with the money we have left,
but we got to give it a try because we will be spending
more money on interest payments than we wanted
and our agreement with the neighbor
is going to cost us more than 30 grand.
The question is how much?
♪
Ashlee: I'm excited to see all the progress.
Yeah, there's quite a bit, actually.
- Oh, my goodness! - Yeah, look at this.
- This is looking good. - They already textured the walls here.
It finally feels like we're
making some good progress on this flip.
This just needs to be painted
and get the glass enclosure going
and we're off to the races.
Yeah. And just a bit of grout.
It's been a challenge to manage everything,
but I think we're handling it pretty well.
Uh... why are the appliances here?
There's backsplash here, but there's no backsplash here.
There's no countertop, and the appliances are in
and they're covered in dirt already?
Who put this here?
Problem with working this fast on a flip
is that things don't always get done in the right order.
We got a smoking deal on the appliances,
but we had to get them out of the warehouse.
They didn't have any room. - But you couldn't keep them
in storage somewhere?
No, I didn't have anyplace.
And it's going out of order
because we're getting people out of order.
Installing appliances this early,
when there's just so much more work to do in the kitchen,
it's just asking for them to get banged up.
What's going to happen if we move these out,
they get all damaged and scratched,
and then we've to replace them, anyway?
They can put boards over the top,
so the glass doesn't get broken or scratched,
and we can kind of put a board in front of this,
so it doesn't get dented.
I don't think that'll be effective. And look!
This sink is already bent on the edge.
These need to be removed ASAP,
or they're all going to end up dented like this.
Ashlee's right to be concerned,
but we don't have a garage here to put these appliances in.
If we can't keep them safe where they belong,
I don't see how we're going to keep them safe
somewhere else in the house.
But I guess we'll try.
Well look, I'll call the guys and see what we can do.
Hopefully, no more damage will be done.
♪
Justin: We've now hit the one-month mark on this flip
and we are doubling down and tripling up
on our contractors to get this place finished.
♪
We've got teams putting in floors...
♪
...installing fixtures and tile in the bathrooms,
and doing some much needed landscaping,
from adding new sod
to putting in pavers.
♪
Whichever contractors are available,
we're putting them to work...
♪
...so we can close this place out as soon as possible.
♪
I've bought lots of stained glass from here
but I think she'd like to have input on design ideas as well.
I'm curious about her taste
because, as busy as we are, these days,
having more help would be great.
This is it? - This is it.
That's all I have. Lynn: This is it?! Ashlee: Oh, wow.
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
I thought you had so much more.
I did. I used to.
- Yeah. - We sold it all,
down to these few pieces.
- Wow! - This one is broken here.
- Yeah. These are too big. - That one's broken
and this one has a crack.
Okay, this would fit. - Ah.
It's got a heart and a woman and a man.
Yeah, I don't think that fits the vibe.
- That's not the vibe? Yeah. - Yeah.
These ones are too big.
This one looks like it's falling apart.
- Look at that one. - I mean, but it's see-through.
Yeah, I know, but I'll-- I'll frost it
and make it so you can still see the light and--
Oh, you're going to paint on it yourself?
Yeah, yeah. Not really paint.
There's a frosting technique that you can do.
And then, I'm going to build a frame around it, too.
It's got the green in it that's in the countertops.
It's got the blue that matches the wallpaper.
- Mm-hmm. - I mean, I love it.
I mean, it looks tiny. It's not a bit small?
- No, it'll fit. - Okay.
Yeah, smaller's better.
- Bigger's harder to work with. - Okay.
- Yeah. - So, yeah, we'll take that.
We'll take it down and write it up.
Ashlee: I think Lynn showed a really great eye today.
She picked a window, not just for its color and style,
but how easy it is to work with.
Maybe she can start to take on
more work like this in the future.
I think it's going to be perfect.
♪
Today, we're putting in some important design features
that'll really make this house shine.
♪
We start with our countertops,
a material called Marino quartzite
that features gorgeous ribbons of gray.
♪
We install them in the downstairs kitchen...
♪
...the upstairs kitchen...
♪
...and we even use a slab as a partial backsplash.
♪
Meanwhile, we've come up with a plan
for a cool feature wall in the bedroom.
♪
We start by painting the background black.
Then we install a set of wooden curtains
made from strips of pine.
♪
Finally, we add a patch of wallpaper to the center
that'll feature a zebra pattern of charcoal gray sparkle.
♪
This is an accent that'll truly be one-of-a-kind.
♪
We also have the team from Dock Life here
to install one of their signature floating docks.
It's incredibly strong and also looks amazing,
making it the perfect centerpiece
for this awesome waterfront.
♪
Ashlee: Today is the day we've been looking forward to
for more than a month--
[ Horn honks ] Staging Day.
♪
Our friends from The Staging Company
give each floor its own unique character...
♪
...maximizing the small spaces
with the right blend of furniture and accents
to make it feel homey, with just a touch of luxury.
♪
We got everything done on this house that we wanted to do,
but it meant going over our one-month timeline
and over our budget.
We set our renovation budget at $85,000
and ended up going over it by a few grand,
hitting around $88,500.
And that overage doesn't even include
the money we'll be paying the neighbor
for the property line settlement.
But, hopefully, the extra time and money
we put into this gorgeous lakefront property
will all be worth it
when we start showing it to potential buyers.
♪
[ Thunder rumbles ]
Hey.
Ashlee: Look at this place.
Got through this flip so fast-- just over a month?
I cannot believe it's finished.
It doesn't even look like the same place.
It looks so fresh! I mean, it's crazy.
There was so much junk everywhere
when we first rolled up. - Yeah.
This whole driveway was a dumping ground.
Yeah, no doubt.
You remember the roof?
It was so wavy, it looked like
it might cave in. - Oh, yeah.
It was saggy. - And the siding
was yellow and it was like really insubstantial.
Like you could just push on it, it would bow out.
Absolutely.
It was a complete, absolute disaster.
But look at it now.
It doesn't even look like the same place.
Remember when we first rolled up, we couldn't even see the house.
Luckily, it was hidden because it was so ugly, right?
Yeah. It was a complete disaster.
But look at it now.
Wow!
It looks incredible.
Justin: Not too shabby. - And look at the paint.
It looks like it's still wet, doesn't it?
It matches the neighbor's.
You know, now that we're friends.
- [ Laughs ] - And the windows look so good now.
They really changed it all.
- Like a whole new house. - For sure.
I think sometimes, with a flag-shaped lot,
it just gets like buried in the back somewhere.
- Yeah. - But with this being on a lake,
it's kind of a hidden gem. - Yeah.
This is a huge improvement over what it used to be.
Really, really cool outcome.
You guys want to see the inside?
- Absolutely. - Yeah. Let's go.
♪
When we first walked in here,
it was a messed-up space,
stuck halfway between demo and reno.
Remember? I don't think I could even
stand here before. It was so full of junk.
But now...
Alright! Look at this.
Oh!
- Whoa! - This place looks so different.
Oh, my God. Look at the space.
It's a cozy place to entertain,
while also being really stylish.
The wallpaper is really awesome.
Yeah, it's subtle, but sparkly. I love it.
And this decorative wooden accent,
it's actually functional.
It hides the dryer vent ducting that runs outside.
Such a clever design.
All you need is some cute little origami birds. Boom.
I think it's very modern. It feels very spacious.
Yeah. I haven't been in a space this small
that's felt this big in a long time.
[ Laughs ] What about the bathroom?
Yeah, let's check that out.
The first time we saw this, it was just
a dirty shower pan and exposed pipes.
But now, it's a great-looking bathroom.
I would not have ever thought
you'd fit a full-size bathroom
in that little room.
I love the fan/light.
Justin: Yeah, it's pretty cool.
- Yeah, very modern. - Well, guys, let's go check out
the upstairs because that's--
that's the part that came together last.
I really want to see that.
♪
Do you remember that old window in the staircase?
You could look right into the neighbor's backyard.
Now, at least, it's letting it light.
It looks so beautiful.
Yeah, it's nice privacy.
And this corner space wasn't a bathroom before.
It was nothing.
And now, it's totally transformed.
Hey, remember the shower pan was broken here?
Both: Yeah. - We fixed it
and then cut these wood tiles
to go in here on the top of it.
It's a perfect solution. - I love that.
And I love the tile that we got from the old tile.
It looks great.
Anyone remember that puny kitchen space up here?
It was so small and, yet,
look what we've turned it into.
It's not just functional. It also looks fantastic.
We maximized our space
and we used really good finishes.
It's a very eclectic house. I mean, look at the wallpaper.
I know. That was Lynn's idea.
I think it's pretty cool. - Very stylish.
- Let's see the rest of it. - Yeah.
Remember all the construction debris everywhere?
Yeah, we were literally throwing it out the window.
But now this is a perfect spot to relax and unwind after work.
I love this. It's so cool.
It was a larger piece of wallpaper
and we just cut it.
Wow. That's really creative, though.
Let's check out the new bedroom.
Remember we had to take the floor apart,
try to find out why it was dipping and stuff?
Yeah.
This bedroom looks fantastic.
I'm glad we moved the toilet from that area
and maximized this as a bedroom because it was so beautiful.
- The vibe in here is so cool. - Yeah, it looks great.
I would definitely love to stay here.
Tell you what I love-- this balcony.
You remember how bad that balcony was?
It was a death trap.
But now, we got it replaced
with an awesome and sturdy new balcony.
Amazing. Look at this view.
Yeah. I mean, look how much lakefront we have now.
So Florida's got the trees. It's got the lily pads.
- Yeah. - Should we go check out this backyard?
Let's go. - Yeah. Now that we own
the whole property. - Yeah.
♪
When we first got here, the backyard is
what sold us on this house.
- Yeah. - The house was a total dump.
If it weren't for this lake,
I don't think we would've done this deal.
Yeah. We almost lost most of it to the neighbor.
She was not eager to give up
any more of her property.
But we worked it out and it really paid off.
Wow! Look at this.
Yeah!
This backyard just looks so amazing, so peaceful,
with all the trees and the wildlife.
For one easy payment, of 25 grand
- [ Laughs ] - and two pallets of sod.
But look what it bought us!
I know. Yes.
Adding that dock really enhances this backyard.
The buyers are going to love using it.
♪
We couldn't have a nicer backyard.
Let's go to the blueprint office,
chuck this bad boy on the market by tonight.
Keith: Yeah. Let's do it. Ashlee: Yeah. Amazing. Justin: Cool.
♪
This flag-shaped lot flip was a gamble from the start,
considering we didn't even know what land we owned
when we bought this place.
♪
But our risk paid off because,
shortly after listing this property for sale,
we got an offer for 500 grand.
We bought the property for 230 grand.
And when you factor in another 35
to settle the boundary dispute,
our reno ran more than $123,000.
We kept our interest low, though, with 2,800 bucks
for a bit more than a month.
And the closing costs came in right at 23K.
That's an all-in price of almost $380,000,
which means that this sale price will bring us
a handsome profit of $120,000.
And that's the kind of payoff that'll keep us
rolling the dice in this market.
- Hey. - Hey!
Thank you so much.
If you hadn't sold us the lakefront,
we'd be in a world of trouble.
So thank you for that. It made everything possible.
Oh, well, I'm glad it worked out.
It looks great.
How did you end up getting a permit for the dock?
Well, funny you should ask.
It's not a dock. It's a vessel. It's a boat.
And there's Lynn with our registration.
- How's it going? - Good.
Dock Life docks are all registered vehicles.
You can put a trolling motor on this thing.
- [ Laughing ] - Okay.
- Ohh! - Cheers!
- Thank you, neighbor. - Well, thank you.
I just bought a new car.
[ Laughter ]