New Website!

Woodbridge Company would like to announce the launching of our redesigned website. Check it out at LiveInWoodbridge.com! I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in getting the site up and especially Melissa at Sherwood and Black who designed the site. Let us know what you think!

Rain But Still Working

We were rained out yesterday. I went shopping for porch columns and decking materials. I also got hold of kitchen plans from Home Depot. I want apartment size appliances and home depot doesn't have them. I am waiting on Lowes and then i'll check in with my buddy Tony at ABC Warehouse. Even though it rained yesterday Fransisco put up the porch columns. They looked all out of whack. Fransisco said he couldn't see in the rain. He took them down today and rebuildt them. You can see they looked pretty good. We put the level to them and the bubble was in the middle. This is Fransisco's first job for me and looks like the real deal. Next week we should have the porch up, start the roof and start working on the floors inside.

Getting the porch going

Working on The Porch

Getting ready for Fransisco Ramos to put up our new porch on Friday. I had to get rid of the yellow brick porch which stood out like a sore thumb against the common brick. More money but you need curb appeal. I want people that see this house say, "I would like to live there." Zach Platt brought a chain saw to take down the bushes in front of the porch. He will also do the plumbing so Fransisco will have the water he needs tomorrow. Dane,Donald and Brian did most of the tear-out. Dane has the contract to tear down the garage and ugly add-on at the back of the house. I want to secure the back before we tear down the garage. Waiting to put up steel replacement doors. Donald stays with his Aunt Irma just north of 5053 and Donald lives with his grandma across the street on Putnam. Brian's truck was invaluable. Fransisco showed up early to make sure the porch didn't collapse before he started work tomorrow.

Porch Down

Mason Fransisco Ramos and helper bracing front porch.

Tools of the tear-out.

Brian arrives with needed truck. Neighbor Donald helping out.

Dane hard at work.

Finished house to the south of 5053.

Zach Platt brought the chain saw.

Dane on the job.

Clearing out the porch.

Tear Out Photos

These floors need work.

Not much happening today

It was a rainy day and Peanut didn't show up to continue the tear-out. Brian did a little work by himself. The floors as you can see by the pics are a little rough. You never know what you are going to get when you lift up carpet. it could have been worse it could have been better about sums it up. My floor maven Eugene Fascata from Romania shows up tomorrow and will give me his assessment. Tomorrow we take out the front porch and Friday the new porch goes in. Stay tuned.

Tear Out,porch plans and shopping

Brian Pearson and his partner Verda "Peanut" Wilson started the arduous  process of tearing out floors,cabinets and one tub in 1S. They had to first get up the carpeting and then there were two layers of tile underneath. It peeled pretty easy. The hardwood is in good shape on the second floor. Not the greatest on the first. We will have to do some repairs and add some hardwood on the first floor. Brian took a load to the city dump. He will have some more loads tomorrow. We are going to salvage the 1940 era cast iron sink basins. We will put them in storage for the time being.

Met up with my mason Fransico Ramos. My first thought was to have him repair the porch columns that were sagging and leaning. I decided to go for the gusto and take out this mis-matched porch with its yellow brick and put in a new porch with brick that matches the house brick. This will greatly enhance the curb appeal and make me feel better too. The price wasn't bad considering what it would cost to repair. We will save on the job by framing and laticing below the porch. Brian and crew will get the porch down Thursday and Fransico can start Friday morning.

I sat down with Rhonda Berry at the Dearborn home depot to get plans and pricing on cabinets and appliances. I did decide to go for black countertops,oak cabinets and chrome appliances. How cool will that be with beautiful hardwood floors underneath! Rhonda also made a good suggestion to move our door going from the living/kitchen space to the bedroom in 1s 5-6 inches so that we can make our kitchen work. We can do it. I will do some comparison pricing on this but generally you can't beat Home depot for cabinets. I'll check with Tony at ABC appliance in Dearborn to see what he can do about appliances.

I had the camera today but forgot to use it. Tomorrow we will get some photos up.

New Look for One South and Third Floor

Check out the new floor plan for 5053 One South. Notice we moved the kitchen to where the bedroom used to be and also moved the bathtub to create more room in the bathroom.
Just a slight change on the third floor apartment. We moved the kitchen entry to the South side of the wall so that we would have more room for appliances and cabinets. More images to come!

Interior Photos

Here's a few interior photos to check out... Looks like a lot of work!

Getting Started

The deal to purchase 5053 Commonwealth was brought to me by Jennifer Reynolds, an associate broker at O'Connor Realty in Corktown. Jennifer was a long term tenant of mine at 5030 Commonwealth and she knew I would be interested in re-habbing a property that is across the street from 4 of my properties. 5053 had been neglected for some time as can be seen from the attached photos. Every dollar spent at 5053 will add value not only to my properties but to all the properties in Woodbridge. The selling price was $30,000.00. The closing was August 21,2009. I thought seriously of walking away from the deal as I was becoming more and more aware of the deteriorating value of Detroit property. Every morning I received e-mails from brokers trying to entice me to purchase income property in Detroit. Two families in better shape than 5053 were being offered for 1K to 15K. I decided that the difference was the old adage location,location,location. Woodbridge has unique value because of its proximity to WSU,Detroit Cultural center and downtown Detroit.What good is a great buy in the east side of Detroit if you can't find trustworthy renters. I have a 25 yr. history of finding quality renters in the Woodbridge area. My goal is to create a beautiful property inside and out that will attract quality renters for the long term. I am going to keep it 4 units because I have noticed an increased demand for affordable one person units. Students start out wanting roomates to share expenses and that runs its course when the mess is greater than the savings on expenses.Everyone gets tired of the mess of others. I am going to start out paying all the utilities with the goal of netting after utilities $1,600.00 to $1,800.00 per month. I project my re-hab costs to be between $40,000.00 to $60,000.00. We will see.

1st fl. 1S
Two room apt. We are going to flip it so the kitchen and living area is in the front.The back will be the bedroom with a closet and attached bath. We will tear out the kitchen sink,cabinets and pantry. We will take out the tub on the east wall and replace it with a 5 foot tub and shower surround on the north wall. The toilet will go where the tub is.

1st fl. 1N
Two room apt. No changes. Take out kitchen sink. Put in new cabinets. Bathroom stay the same.

2nd fl.

3 bedroom apt with kitchen and bath. The downfall is no common living space except for small kitchen. Of course the front porch and backyard is usable space and we will make them very livable.

3rd fl.

1 bed. apt. We will move the kitchen door to the South to make room for our kitchen counter. We will build a wall behind the tub to put a shower on.

I will find out tomorrow if we can run ducts up to the third fl. kitchen and bath so we can get rid of the radiators. Will have to get a more powerful furnace.

Trevor and Zach have provided floor plans.Eric Moore of Grosse Pointe Glass Block has started to put the glass block in the basement windows. 4 more windows to go.

Waiting for prices on steel doors for the back of the house.

Brian has started to tear out the carpet and tiles.

Tomorrow meet with mason-Francisco Ramos for front porch and sidewalk. Will ask for price to re-do porch. I am falling in love with the bldg. Always do. I like to break the rules.

Tommorrow take kitchen and bath plans to home depot.

The deal is consumated the birthing has begun. Painful and exciting.

The Before Pictures!

Check out the pictures of 5053.

Floor Plans

Check out the new floor plans of 5053!

Below is the third floor apartment.
Check out the 2nd floor two three bedroom apartment.

Here is the 1st floor South apartment.And finally....
1st floor North apartment.