Enough is Enough

I have owned this house for 20+ years.  It was an investment property that I bought when I moved to Mineral Point to be with Bob.
Bob always managed this property, and took care of repairs and the tenants.  After Bob passed away, I managed this myself, but not very well.  I am too much of a marshmallow, and was a sucker for a good sob story.  So, I ended up with tenants that took advantage of me, and with COVID in the picture, things spiraled downward very quickly...

My last tenant turned out to be an illegal immigrant; after renting for almost 2 years, he was caught and deported. His girlfriend (?), her friend and daughter still lived in the house.  I did not know this for at least a month, probably more, and due to Covid-19, I had not been in the house for probably 6 months.  No one notified me of the deportation, and when I collected the rent, I always asked if anything needed to be repaired, and the answer was always "no."  When I finally learned from the police department about my tenant being deported, I gave the remaining occupants a 10-day notice, and they did leave, but the mess they left behind was atrocious.  Let it be known that I had a police escort when I made this final inspection.  I am posting some pictures of what I had to deal with...

  

 

 

 

I thought I had a reasonably good renter, the rent and bills got paid. I called his employer before we signed the lease and had gotten a good report. I still got duped.   Who could I sue or take to court for damages? I don't know where my tenant is, or even if I know his real name.  I can't sue the girlfriend.  I will keep the security deposit of course, but it will not cover the damages.  THIS is why I am no longer going to rent this house. I have decided to sell. It will take a lot of work to bring this house to a livable condition, but if I do, maybe I can make a profit.

The Dining Room

 The dining room is the first room you see as you enter the house.  It used to be the laundry room:  

I have had the washer and dryer hookups removed, and this will now become the dining room.  It has paneling, and I wish I had drywalled this room too.  I'm not sure if I will paint the paneling or not yet, but I did paint the ceiling, which was a big improvement.

The Bedrooms

 There are four bedrooms, and I have not done much on them yet.  I will post pictures as I do.

The Downstairs Bedroom

The downstairs bedroom was walled off when the living room was drywalled.  The first picture shows the bedroom with the doorway to the living room.  The second picture shows the door removed and the space drywalled over.  I will add more pictures as I paint, and have carpeting put in, as I will with the 3 bedrooms upstairs.

 

This is as far as I am as of March 3, 2021

Mar. 8--The "green" room upstairs:

Because the green painted on the wall of this room, I need to prime the walls first so it doesn't bleed through the new paint.  It will still be a green room, but with a softer green color.  I need to finish the priming first though.  It's a big room!

 

The Back Porch/Laundry Room

This area of the renovation has had the most extensive work.  A dilapitated old porch is being transformed into a laundry room, and incorporated the kitchen. This part of the house is an embarrassment to me.  It was left to deteriorate to a shameful condition.  My apologies to the neighbors.  I wasn't going to include these pictures but the transformation is all the more remarkable when you see where it started, and how it's finishing up.  Thumbs up to A&R Construction for a beautiful, detail-intense job.

The "Before" Pictures

The back doors--the tenants left both of these doors broken and unlockable.  The kitchen door was off the hinges, the porch door could not swing open due to a warped plywood floor.

The porch was an add-on.  A mud room perhaps.  Roughly walled in with a few windows, mainly to keep access to the basement open and out of the rain and snow.  It was poorly constructed and didn't stand the test of time for lack of maintenance. (My opinion only--I really don't know how or why this porch came into being...)

Pic 3--shows the small porch, and if you turn around you see  a sheet of plywood covering the basement stairs (pic 4.)

 

Pic 5 --a shelving unit, Pic 6-- this is as far as the porch door could open because the floor was so warped and the door was no longer square.

 

Outside views...

Reconstruction

First things first--make it structurally sound.  Tear off the old siding, doors, build a solid floor and framework, insulate. 

 

 

 

The outside gets some siding, and it looks so good, I decided to go ahead and have the rest of the house sided as well.  This was not in the original plan or budget, but it is still a good decision and will add value to the house.  I am confident I can recoup the cost.

 

Once the repairs/ construction work is done, the details can go in, like doors and drywall. The basement now has a real door, and the outside door can lock.  The drywall is up, and the laundry room is fitted with plumbing and electric wiring.  It is no longer a porch, but an unfinished  LAUNDRY ROOM!!

 

(This part of the project started Jan.12, 2021, and took exactly 1 month to do. ) 

The laundry room gets some ceiling and wall paint, and is looking better and better all the time!

This brings us up to March 3, 2021.

The Living Room

 The Living Room "Before" pictures:

Pics 1and 2--Looking from the bedroom (tan walls) which adjoined the living room into the living room (blue walls).

 

  Pic 3--Looking at the entrance to the living room. You can see an old doorway which was sealed off and painted over.  This will be removed. (Yes, the tenants abandoned that big TV when they moved out. I will have to pay to get rid of it.)

Pic 4--In this picture, you can see an old heating vent and a boxed in chimney. In the "olden days" of this house, a wood furnace (Pot belly stove??) heated the house and the ceiling vent allowed the heat to rise into the bedroom above.  That ceiling vent will be removed.

Positive Progress

Pic 1--The old entryway is removed and insulation is added.

Pic 2 and 3-- the entrance to the living  room is widened and reinforced.

 

Pics 5 and 6--Drywall, lumber, and other supplies were brought inside due to more snow in the forecast. 

  

The old chimney, and doorway to the adjacent bedroom were framed in as preparation for drywalling.

Pic 7--Drywalled living room, walls and ceiling. Doorway into the bedroom is gone too. Good bye, plaster!

  

This has been the progress as far as March 3, 1921.