Alicorn – Noun al·i·corn \ˈa-lə-ˌkȯrn\ A winged horse with a single horn on its head; a winged unicorn.

Welcome to the Alicorn Blog.

We are Real Estate Investors – and this is our way of helping simplify the world of Real Estate for anyone.

If you are a homeowner, we will share with you some of our favorite ideas for how to maintain, upgrade, and beautify your home to add value; as well as ways to avoid foreclosure and homeowner pitfalls.

If you can’t get onto the property ladder just yet, we will be exploring the world of affordable housing solutions and strategies to help get financing, Tiny homes, and much more…

These are some of the things we have in store for you in the coming weeks, so please follow us.

Our newest project part 4

This week has been all about the kitchen. We have been installing our new kitchen cabinets and laying down porcelain tile on the floor. We are getting our granite counter tops measured for installation. It is all finally coming together. 

The flooring that we chose was actually our second revision. Originally, we had planned on a grey porcelain 12×12 tile, but we changed it to Montari black because it tied in with the other colors in the house. The dark floor will also work great with the dark granite counter tops we will be installing. 

The kitchen cabinets are ultra white, shaker style cabinets and the walls are painted Billowy down (to offset the ultra white). We have recessed lighting in the ceiling and we are updating the trims for a more up-to-date look. 

We also updated our appliances to a stainless steel whirlpool set. We got a matching stove, refrigerator, microwave and dishwasher. We got a great deal from Lowes on the appliances, but, we found the same microwave at habitat for humanity for $150 less than in the store. We also had to return the original refrigerator for something a little smaller, as it fit a little too tight. Lowes gave us a good deal on the replacement fridge as well, so if you speak to the right person, you can bargain with the large stores. 

  
Our kitchen is looking great. The cabinets we chose were RTAs from bestonlinecabinets.com and we were generally happy with the quality, although the drawers were not easy to put together. We actually broke two of them before realised that the drawer bases were a little too long which made it impossible to fit together. However, their customer service is excellent and are sending us replacement drawers (ready made) by way of recovery. 

We have run into a couple of issues this week. The house that we are working on is not that old, but doesn’t seem to have any straight lines (By that I mean, none of the walls are quite straight, nor the ceilings or in fact the floors), so our contractor has been having a nightmare correcting for that. 

Other than that the project is coming to an end and more or less going to plan. 

We’ll keep you updated…

Our newest project part 3

This week we have been working in the second bathroom, and finishing up the master bathroom.

We have installed and plumbed in the brand new tub and brushed nickel bath faucet set. We have installed our favorite matte gray tiles all around the tub and up to the ceiling. I think it looks epic (although it has been said to look a little masculine)!

The porcelain tile floor has been installed and looks great. It is the same Appalachian smoke tile that was installed in the shower unit in the master bath, and we felt it would bring a sense of continuity to the two bathrooms.

We have also received our two vanities for both bathrooms and the new cabinets for our kitchen refurb coming up this week. They are RTA (ready to assemble) units and seem to be reasonably easy to put together (although, the first one took longer than it should have). The two vanities are installed in the bathrooms with our new marble and granite counter tops, Speakman faucets and under-mounted sinks. All look great.

This coming week we will be finished with the master bathroom, finishing the second bathroom and cracking on with the kitchen… I will be assembling a bunch of kitchen units (a good excuse for a new impact driver!) and we will be painting the rest of the house in our neutral palette.

Keep you posted!

Our newest project Part 2

Status update – Our first bathroom is nearly finished, our second bathroom is under way. It has been a long week of working on this project and our other jobs and both myself and my wife are tired. 

We have also had to tighten our purse strings this week. Our budget is getting tight, as we find more and more things that need to be done with this house. 

Along with the bathrooms and kitchen, we may need to spend more of our budget on the outside of the house than we originally hoped. We found some brickwork that needs doing and some rotting siding that needs to be taken care of. And it could also with a fresh coat of paint. 

We have already had to do the interior painting ourselves because of the tight budget, so this news is not what we were hoping to hear. 

But, the bathroom is looking great. The tiles that we picked out for the shower look perfect, the color scheme for the bathroom works well, the new efficient toilet and shower work great and the new floor tiles work really well. We are still waiting on the bathroom vanity (which we ordered from California), and the new medicine cabinet. Other than that, we are one bathroom down and one on the way. 

Our newest project – Part 1

This week we have been working on a project for a client who finds herself in a sticky situation.

Our client is an older lady, whose husband has had to leave the country and has been left to sell her house so that she can go and join him. The house is in a good area, but has not been updated for at least 10 years. We offered her our services to help take the renovation over for her, as she was overwhelmed with the ordeal.

As we know, moving is very stressful for most people, but when you compound it with getting rid of years of stuff which has accumulated in your home and having to ship the rest halfway around the world, you can imagine how overwhelming it might be.

So we took over the responsibility for the whole renovation project, so she can concentrate on sorting through her stuff, and tying up her loose ends.

She has given us a tight budget but it is all she has in her savings, so there is no wiggle room. As any Real Estate Investor will tell you, you have to have a contingency buffer. We have a contingency of $5000 set aside just in case something comes up that couldn’t have been foreseen.

As we discussed in previous posts, we are concentrating on the kitchen and the two bathrooms which all need to be started from scratch. We need to help her to get the best return on investment possible.

The kitchen needs new floors, new cabinets, new counter tops, new backsplash, new appliances, new baseboards, a new pantry door, new electrical switches and sockets, new HVAC registers and new paint.

Both bathrooms need new floor tiles, new vanities, new counter tops, a new bath, a new shower, new faucets and shower heads, new toilets, new lights and new towel racks etc.

We also have new tile needed in the foyer, carpets on two sets of stairs, three bedrooms and a hallway, painting throughout and maintenance on the exterior of the house.

As you can see, this is quite a large project, and we are expecting to be able to have everything done within a six week timeframe.

We will keep you up to date on our progress

10 Floors To Try Now For Your Home

Does Landscaping Increase the Value of Your Home?

What's Moving Durham?

Spring is in the air and soon there will be a mad rush of people heading to the local nursery spending a lot of money for plants, flowers, top soil, and many other gardening items.  But does landscaping increase the value of your home?  According to a Publication from Virginia Tech, it does!

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How you can afford a home, no matter what you do for work.

Although I live in the United States now, I worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry in the United Kingdom for nearly 20 years. As you can imagine, the prospect of buying a house was a pipe dream for me at the time. I mean, in a city like London, if you are earning $20,000, you won’t find many properties for sale for $80,000!!!  So I used to rent. And I always dreamed about buying my own house, eventually.

Well, the good news is, I have learned that if you change your mindset to the mindset of the wealthy, you can use your home as an asset, not a liability. Most people believe that their home is an asset, but it is not. It is something that they pay for every month which doesn’t make them any money in return, it is an expense. So, they have to go to work to pay for their bills and pay their mortgage and all the other expenses.

The wealthy have always known that your home should be an asset which makes you money (or at the very least, breaks even). Let’s take a look at that for a moment. If a person has a big house, with pillars and a swimming pool, a movie theatre and a bowling alley in the basement, does that sound like an asset or a liability? Now, for the same money, if a person has a large house in the country with 200 acres, tenants on their land, horse stables for rent and a vineyard, does that sound like an asset or a liability? Does that sound familiar?

My point is, if you change the way that you think about your home, you can apply the same rules in your own life.

You have to start with finding what is important for you. This way of thinking may mean giving up some privacy, or having to think outside of your comfort zone. So knowing what you really need and what you don’t mind sacrificing will help you find a solution.

One way that people don’t usually think about is buying a multi unit property. Now, I know that you are thinking, if I can’t afford a small single family home, how can I afford a multi unit? But, let’s say that you want to buy a duplex (2 units), and you want to live in one yourself. Your mortgage lender will be able to lend you more than you would be able to afford on your wages alone, because the rent from the 2nd unit can be factored in to the calculation.

So, if you earn enough to be able to get pre approved for a $100,000 single family residence, you may be able to buy a duplex for as much as $150,000 based upon the rental income. You can actually do this with up to 4 units and still keep it as your personal residence.

The great thing about this is, you can talk to your mortgage lender about getting an FHA loan with as little as 3% down-payment or a USDA loan with nothing down (if you don’t mind living outside of town) on an investment property.

You can also think about buying a single family home which is slightly larger and renting out an income suite in the basement or in the attic. This may need a construction loan, which you can get from your lender, which will be based off the added value in your home by doing the renovation.

Yet another option may be, to buy a house with more bedrooms than you need and rent them out. This will mean having housemates and I understand that this option is not for everyone.

As I mentioned before, all of these options would involve sacrificing some privacy, but will give you valuable landlord experience and an asset which will be paying you every month.

Disclaimer – It is important to remember that my advice is based on my experience and that many states have different rules and legislation regarding real estate, so please do your due diligence and check your local laws and regulations.

These are just a few ideas that might get you thinking. We will cover more in the coming weeks, so follow us.

Investment in your home 101

If you own your own home and are thinking about selling it (soon or in the future), it is important to add the right kind of value to it in order to maximize your return on investment. Luckily, there are several ways to improve your home with little money up front.

There are a few “big ticket items” which the average Real Estate Buyer is looking for… that in reality, don’t need be big budget items.

Curb appeal – The first impression of a property is as important in real estate as it is in relationships. It is the moment when most people decide whether or not to give the property a chance or not. Curb appeal can mean anything from the color of your front door, the front garden, the state of your roof shingles, the condition of your neighbor’s yard, or even as trivial as your squeaky gate. Basically, anything that the potential buyer sees in the first few seconds when they arrive at the address.

Kitchens – This is arguably the most important room in the house. If you only have a few thousand dollars to spend on a renovation, spend it on your kitchen! A desirable kitchen will have plenty of storage for pots and pans, clean and well maintained appliances, and functional counter space. One trend at the moment is the open concept kitchen/dining room. The idea being that if you are cooking in the kitchen, you can still talk to people the dining table. Though if your house is small on space this doesn’t preclude you from creating a dazzling space that has buyers wowed. Counter tops come in a range of styles and materials, such as: granite, composite, glass, or wooden chopping block. All of which are appropriate in different areas of the country. REMEMBER – Don’t overspend on high end appliances and Granite counter tops if your local area doesn’t warrant it. (Think Manhattan loft kitchen in a tiny mountain cabin, for example).  **We suggest to test the durability of your choice before it is installed – imagine trying to sell your home and your new product already has new damage.

Bathrooms – Should be clean, well maintained, and aesthetically pleasing to a wide audience. If your bathroom is out of date, cramped, or has leaks, rust, dirt or mold, it needs to be worked on. Sometimes, old baths and sinks can be painted, especially if they are colored in pink or yellow. Other times it may be necessary to just change out all the fixtures (color is a personal preference, and frankly not everyone wants a white tub). En suite bathrooms in a master bedroom can give a massive lift to a house if done properly.

What it really comes down to is — Does it make sense to invest a few thousand into your home, if you can make an extra $30000 when you come to sell?

Do you have something to add?

Please feel free to comment.