June 12, 2008

The little white house


Back in September 2006, Manuel got this bright idea that it would be fun to "flip" a house. We had looked at a few houses "for fun" but just never jumped on any of them. Really, we weren't even sure if we could qualify for another house because we were self-employed and still had some debt from starting our business. But, Manuel loves to look at houses and "dream" about all the things he could change and fix to make them beautiful. So after months of casually throwing the idea around we actually decided to get pre-qualified, but for me it was more to tell Manuel that we couldn't buy another house and he could stop looking anytime. So when the loan officer at the bank gave us the green light, I was shocked and actually scared that this may all actually happen! It really was a dream of Manuel's so I started going with him to look at properties, we came accross this little white house and we both liked it(as much as one can like a house that is in serious disrepair and seriously dirty/ gross inside), it was on a corner lot and really needed a lot of help and it was really close to our house. Just what Manuel was looking for- a house he could rescue!!!! So we found out it was going into foreclosure only 10 days after we looked at it, which meant we had to make some decisions super fast! So after some intense praying and a miracle worker loan officer we were buying another house. YIKES!!!!!!!

This is a semi-before picture of the front room, there was nasty carpet in here that they tore up before I was even allowed in the house.
This is the after picture of the family room.
This is the before picture of the kitchen
This is the picture after Manuel worked his magic. He truly is amazing!!!!!!! At the beginning of this process we thought it was only going to take a couple of months. About a month after we bought it, I got really sick with that Staph infection which slowed Manuel's progress down, we decided to take it slowly and just figure things out as we went along. It was a rough year and a half of paying an extra mortgage and utitlities and renovating costs, but we just made it work. Now, a year and a half after our purchase we have finally SOLD it. We feel so blessed to have been able to pay off ALL our debt and even were able to squeeze enough out to buy our airplane tickets to take our family to Panama to see the temple be dedicated. We truly feel blessed and grateful that things worked out the way they did!!!!

8 comments:

Breeann said...

He really did a good job on this house, it turned out amazing! I am so glad for you that it is all over. I am also glad to see you blogging again!

Kristy said...

Wow! That is so amazing! Manuel is a genius!

The Drawes said...

you're awesome!! I'm glad to see you're bloggers!!!

Caren said...

The kitchen doesn't even look like it is in the same house! We need Manuel to come stay with us for a few weeks to get our house done! He is very talented. Really, it looks terrific!

The Drawes said...

this is pretty awesome!! I don't think i knew Manuel was THIS good!! I mean, i knew he didn't mess around, but seeing these before and after pictures... He's incredible!!

Go you guys!!

Dianna said...

It takes an amazing vision and a lot of patience to be able to do what you did with that home. It looks great!

Katie said...

Wow guys, it looks great! Kudos to Manuel for such a great job and a wonderful talent, but kudos to Chelsea too for having the patience to let him spend so much time and money working on it. It is so important to support the dream. So, a thought for the next project, if you used some before and after pics of the projets he´s done to make a flyer, he could offer his services to renovate other people´s homes. He could make a lot more money in a lot less time without you guys having to absorb the cost of the mortgage, utilities, etc. But you may not get the same ownership feeling, and it may be harder to be on a schedule to work for someone else. But it´s a thought. Looks great!

amanda said...

HOLY COW! That is some transformation! He is AMAZING! WOW! I almost didn't know that they were the same house. WOW!