The end of July, we bought a house in Provo to be used as a rental for college students. The process has been a roller coaster. We first went to look at houses the 1st weekend in June. There wasn't much to look at in our price range and location. The house we originally intended to make an offer on was already pending by the time we looked at it. It had sloped floors though, so it likely had foundation issues anyway. We did end up making a low offer on a 4 bed 2 bath house that we had looked at and really liked. We offered 40k less than asking so they didn't take our offer. During our trip to Italy and Georgia, we were doing video house tours with our realtor. We then decided to put an offer on a 3 bed 1 bath house within our price range, and our offer was accepted. We were pretty excited about that, although we knew that we wanted to put a 2nd bathroom in to make it a 3-2. So we were a little worried if we would have time to get that finished. However, after the inspection there were some important things we wanted to get fixed before we bought it. The seller wouldn't fix anything, so then we backed out of that one. It was the 1st week of July at that point, so we weren't sure if buying a house was going to happen. As a last resort, we put a low offer ($21k less than the list price) on a 3 bed 2 bath house, not expecting it to be accepted. However, they did take the offer without even a counter offer. By the 2nd weekend of July, we had completed the inspection and everything looked good. We were excited because although it was listed as a 3-2, there was another space that could be used as a 4th bedroom. It doesn't have windows or a closet, so it couldn't technically be a 4th bedroom. Our plan was to put Nathan in that bedroom and rent out the other 3 bedrooms. We could comfortably fit 5 more guys in there with Nathan. The house was just over a mile from campus. Everything was moving forward smoothly.
The last couple weeks of July, I started buying used things and furniture to furnish the house. We got a couple of nice mattresses for free, along with a dresser. I fixed up a couple of nightstands that I found for $2 each. I got quite a few kitchen and house items for really cheap from Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Estate Sales. The first week of August, we drove to Utah with a trailer and truck full of stuff. We basically had one week to clean and get the house ready, furnish the place, build an extra area for parking, and set up a bank account for the place. We had a pretty good start with the small items, but we needed to find 4 more beds (and 2 more frames), kitchen table and chairs, 5 more dressers, nightstands, and at least 2 couches, along with several other items.
The boys got to work on the parking area. We had one narrow driveway with the place, which can fit a couple cars, but you would have to move the last car to get the first car out. So it's not too efficient of a space. The back yard is a decent size, so our plan was to use some of the back yard for 3 more parking spaces. It wasn't too hard to get the chain link fence out, but then it turned into a bigger project than expected due to the sprinkler system. Alex and the boys had to dig up the yard to find the pipes and cap some of them off. Once that was complete, then came leveling it off and bringing gravel in. We thought about doing concrete, but it was too expensive. Our realtor had connections to get us a good deal on gravel, haul it over, and help dump it out, so that was a good option for us. Then they had to distribute the gravel, rent a machine to help pack it in, and re-install the fence (along with a gate). Owen and Weston really worked hard on that project with Alex. There was one trip to Home Depot where the boys fell asleep on the way over (in just 10 minutes). That's how tired they were. Plus it was really hot, so it wasn't a fun week for them. The boys also put together two bathroom storage shelves and a standing closet organizer for the 4th bedroom.
Savannah and I worked on the interior of the house, cleaning and organizing. We shopped for furniture, which Alex and the boys then had to go collect with the trailer. We also patched up the chipped fireplace and painted it, along with re-touching any other spots in the house. The other project that we started was the front porch. There was ivy growing up underneath the old carpet on the front porch. We thought it would be nice to rip that carpet off and paint the porch. Well... the carpet didn't come up easily. The edges came up, but then we were stuck with most of it that wouldn't come off. I spent at least 3-4 hours one morning trying to get that carpet off. Eventually the carpet was off, but the glue underneath was still there. It turned out to be the project that we couldn't get done in that week we were there, so that one we left for Nathan to finish. By the way, Nathan was already working his campus job that week, so he missed out on most of the manual labor. He did install new window blinds, do some small maintenance, and help haul a little bit of the furniture. The hardest thing to move was a 2nd refrigerator, which we put downstairs in the laundry room area. I had planned on a freezer going down there but didn't realize that Alex would come back with another refrigerator. They had to take off a hand rail to maneuver it downstairs. A couple of the dressers and the sofa sectional were pretty tough to get downstairs as well.
I can't believe we actually got everything done in a week. We found our last furniture item the night before we left. We were able to complete the parking area, fence, and furnish the entire house for about $4500. We spent about $3000 for all the house stuff and about $1500 for the parking, fence, and porch items. For my own documentation, here is my list of things purchased / collected (some free):
Kitchen - fruit basket, oven mitts, can opener, plates, bowls, pots, cooking utensils, toaster, trash can, silverware tray, muffin pan, pans / cookie sheets, paper towel holder, mixing bowls, large tupperware bowl, sugar and flour containers, strainer, ice cream scoop, salt shakers, casserole dishes, measuring cups, silverware, cutting board, utensils container, cups, knives and kitchen scissors, pasta containers, kitchen washcloths and towels, microwave cover, apron, egg pan, hot pads, crock pot, bread box, skillet, rice cooker, blender, and microwave
Cleaning / Laundry - supplies bucket, broom, mop, cleaning supplies, vacuum, laundry basket
Preparedness - fire blanket, first aid kit, flashlight, smoke / carbon monoxide detectors, car kit
Bathroom - bath mats, shower caddy, shower curtains, 2 over-the-toilet storage, toilet brush, toilet plunger, trash cans
Yard / Tools - rake, shovel, lawn mower, gas can, tool kit
Furniture / Appliances - kitchen table and chairs, refrigerator, standing closet, 2 desks, coffee table, living room rug, 2 desk chairs, 6 dressers, 6 mattresses and bed frames, 1 sofa, 1 sectional couch, TV stand, 3 nightstands
Misc - lamp, step stool, TV, printer, clocks, wall art, wall hooks, mattress covers, iron, ironing board, router, door mat
By the end of the week, we had the parking finished and the house furnished. We even had 5 renters lined up. It seemed that everything had fallen into place. We had the contracts sent out a couple days later. As they were getting ready to sign the lease, one of the renters asked if we were okay with having more than 3 renters. These 5 friends had just gotten kicked out of a house that had 11 guys living there and wondered if we also had restrictions. We weren't aware of any, but as we looked into it, it turns out we were required to have a rental license. We thought it wouldn't be hard to get the license, so we started the application process (and held off on signing the leases). We found out it would take up to 2 weeks to get the license. We also discovered a city code for our area that restricted our occupancy for unrelated people to THREE. And as part of the rental license, they would come inspect the house to see if it was up to health and safety codes. We have to put a larger window and well in the bedroom in the basement. We can't ever use the 4th room that doesn't have a window for a bedroom (and we can't put one in), and we have to re-do the front porch steps where one of them isn't the correct height. We're looking at a minimum of $9,000 in getting the house up to code. We also lost those 5 renters pretty quickly because of the occupancy restrictions. We're down to signing on 2 paid renters, which will never approach our mortgage payment. Basically everything fell apart when we attempted to rent through the correct process. It's been 3 weeks and they still haven't completed the license or even inspected the house. We'll see if they find anything besides the steps and the basement windows. We just can't believe the situation we're in now. This was one of those situations where we were "almost good at that."
We do have a couple of renters lined up for the year, as of a couple days ago. We don't know what to do or how we'll make it financially yet. We've got ourselves in a tight spot and don't know how to resolve it. But we now own a nice little house in Provo for Nathan to live in. It may be pretty quiet living down in the basement by himself...
