Fix This House! Episode 2: 

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Fix This House! Episode 2_ Checking In With Greg & Kathy's Rehab Project

Alice Lema: [00:00:00] Well, good afternoon. Real estate fans, Alice Lema broker, John L. Scott and Southern Oregon with my very dear friends, Greg and Kathy. And if you remember from back in October, November, something like that, they bought this house and they were rehabbing it themselves because it was quite, it was quite a mess.

[00:00:27] Wasn't it? You guys? Yeah. So here we are four months later. Why don't you bring us up to speed of what it's been like and what you got done? Like what's this big hole. What the heck is that?

[00:00:41]Greg: [00:00:41] I fixed the sewer line that had a couple, a root intrusions in it. And actually the, uh, the pipe, the cement pipe was broke in two different spots. So I found it and fixed it.

[00:00:53]Alice Lema: [00:00:53] So, so, and that's an interesting repair because most homeowners don't even know that its getting all plugged up. Most homeowners don't even know that they're responsible for that. And if you don't take care of your sewer, pipe it backs up and can ruin the whole house.

[00:01:07] It as much money and energy. Have you put into this house that could be a real disaster. So you dug this out yourself and weren't you telling me, you were kind of surprised to find out some of the materials that were used.

[00:01:18] Greg: [00:01:18] Oh, yeah, it was asbestos

[00:01:21] Alice Lema: [00:01:21] asbestos sewer pipe. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. And this was like a 1970 something house, right?

[00:01:28] Greg: [00:01:28] Yep. 1977 or something.

[00:01:32] Alice Lema: [00:01:32] You got all the other brick out. Cause this used to have more red brick over there.

[00:01:36] Greg: [00:01:36] Yeah. I think they ripped that out before I got here,

[00:01:39]Alice Lema: but uh, that's right. I forgot about that. There was kind of a on and off, they were working on the house, the sellers. So, yeah. Okay. Well you want to take us through your new creation.

[00:01:58] Wow. Wow. This is amazing. Oh my gosh. Look at this. You've got a brand new, big picture window here. This floor, if you guys remember was sunk in. So, and then you had vents to, do you have a vent?

[00:02:15] Greg: [00:02:15] Yes. We still had the build up on them and I have put a new heating system in it. I got all gas in the house.

[00:02:22]Alice Lema: Wow. That's amazing. This space is incredible. What happened to the popcorn ceiling?

[00:02:29] Greg: We had that, taken off. It had to be skim coated because it's the popcorn ceiling that, doesn't come off. Right.

[00:02:40] Alice Lema: Well, it's absolutely beautiful.

[00:02:42] Greg: Yeah. It's nice. Yeah. And we knocked out these, open these walls up bigger here and got rid of all the beams and all that. Well,

[00:02:50] Alice Lema: yeah. Well, it's hard to know where to start. I mean, the kitchen. That granite is just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. And then you've got these marks on the floor over here.

[00:03:03] Is this where the wall was?

[00:03:04] Greg: [00:03:04] Yes. Yeah there was a doorway right here and this was a tall wall here. That was just the kitchen in there. A little kitchen. And the wall came around here and had it had to be big beam going across right here.

[00:03:20] Alice Lema:, that's right. Cause it felt like the ceiling was lower. Yeah.

[00:03:24] So, what did you do with that?

[00:03:26]Greg: I, we just put the beam up instead of down and, yeah. And then we had, we put another beam over here, to support the roof.

[00:03:40] Alice Lema: Wow. It's incredible. It really feels like a 2021 house. It doesn't feel like in 1970 and this was a whole different room. And this had a falling down fireplace.

[00:03:52] What's something was falling down. What was falling down, maybe not

[00:03:54] Greg:  the fireplace was falling away from the house. So the chimney on the outside. Yeah. Yeah. And that was one of the first things I did was tear that out.

[00:04:03] Kathy:  And so we do plan to put a, a gas fireplace back

[00:04:12] Greg: That would really heat the whole

[00:04:17] Put spotlights on it.

[00:04:19] Alice Lema: Oh, that'll be beautiful. Yeah.

[00:04:21] Kathy:  We already had the gas plumbed to that spot now.

[00:04:24]Alice Lema: It's all good. We're ready to do that. Good. Good. And then you've got this beautiful patio door. Let's go look at that.

[00:04:32] Greg: Yeah. It had a slider just like this, but I mean real old, but it wouldn't even slide.

[00:04:42] Alice Lema:  Yeah. Wow. Look at your backyard. Look how pretty that is.

[00:04:47]Greg: Yeah. It's a giant backyard. I I'm looking so forward to redoing that fence and, uh, making it higher and,

[00:04:54] Alice Lema: Are the neighbors going to help with that?

[00:04:56] Greg: I don't know. I'll have, uh, but yeah, I've already asked him, they said they would have,

[00:05:02]Alice Lema: Oh, that's good.

[00:05:03] Cause sometimes neighbors will and, sometimes they won't. Sometimes they tell you to pound sand. Yeah.

[00:05:10]Kathy: We haven't even put any, um, Time into the backyard yet, because we're so busy with the house. So yeah, we can't wait to get out there this spring.

[00:05:20] Alice Lema: Well, and Kathy, you are such an amazing gardener. I bet you just can't wait to get your hands on it out there, but it looks way better than it did when you bought it.

[00:05:28] I mean, I don't know, is it just cause it got watered or a lot of the stuff that cleared out.

[00:05:33]Kathy: Getting green, a lot of that.

[00:05:36] Greg: Well, you noticed the big trees around the house. They had like 40 feet. Uh, what were they called?

[00:05:45] Alice Lema:  Those Cypress things that were full of spiders,

[00:05:49] Greg: rats. Oh, that's how they get into the house.

[00:05:51] They climb up the tree and jump on that roof. And so, yeah, we got rid of all those. And then, so we have, and I put the, uh, heat pump on that side so I can almost drive a car through.

[00:06:05]Alice Lema: Oh, that's really nice. And you know what, not that you're ever going to move, but that is excellent for resale, you know, those little things.

[00:06:11] Yeah. So you put the heat pump on it. How hard was that to move it?

[00:06:15] Greg: Well, you know, the heating, the heating guy, they just had to run the line set instead of over there. They had to run it over.

[00:06:22] Alice Lema: So that's not that big of a deal. Yeah. Did you have to put a cement pad to put the, pump on?

[00:06:27]Greg: it comes with, it's, it's kind of like, it's a fake cement pad, but yeah, it looks really nice though.

[00:06:36] And, uh, yeah, so they did all that and it's really nice.

[00:06:42]Alice Lema: And I already asked folks Greg's not for hire is too bad cause he does a good job. So let's go through the kitchen, show us what you've got going on in there. Wow. That looks like a magazine put together. So you've got a gas range, gas cooktop.

[00:07:08] Is that a pull-out?

[00:07:12] Everything's right. You can always tell somebody who cooks. They got pull outs oh, that is so killer.

[00:07:23] Kathy: And then I had him put the trash. Right, right.

[00:07:26] Alice Lema: Good. You got recycling and trash. That's awesome. So you won't have anything out. Is that soft close? Did I just see that? Wow, those are so fun. Those are so fun.

[00:07:38] Greg: Show them underneath the sink. Yeah.

[00:07:42] Alice Lema: Hard to know what to look up first. Okay. Oh, look at that. These are great ideas. I guess it's to pull out. I never seen

[00:07:53] Greg: this is the company time for cabinets. Uh, Justin. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:07:58] Alice Lema: [00:07:58] What a great idea. Wow. Excellent job. Well, and you've got a super deep sink, you know,

[00:08:06] Kathy: I, I thought I was going to have a double sink and then kept looking at this and I liked the big sink that didn't have a divider.

[00:08:14] And I'm really happy now that I chose, because I really liked that.

[00:08:18] Alice Lema: Yeah. Yeah. It's easier to keep clean too. Yeah. Wow. So has your family then over, like, is any of your friends or family seen,

[00:08:26] Greg: nobody's seen this. Uh, yeah,

[00:08:28] Alice Lema: Really just, just us and the world wide web. Yeah.

[00:08:34] Kathy: Oh, I just moved in a bunch of stuff today, so,

[00:08:39]Alice Lema: so our timing was good.

[00:08:41] They didn't know we were coming today. So

[00:08:43]Greg: that's all going to be tiled all the way.

[00:08:45] Alice Lema: What color are you going to do?

[00:08:48] Greg: She knows all of that was

[00:08:49] Kathy: this weekend and I'm thinking of trying it.

[00:08:54]Alice Lema:] Really good for you. Good for you. Well, this is, and your dishwasher will go there. When's that going to be here?

[00:09:03] Kathy: No, that might be down the road a little bit.

[00:09:05] Just, yeah, I know you have to get a refrigerator first. Yeah.

[00:09:10] Alice Lema: Yeah. Well, you've got some cool stuff in the garage. Let's go and look at your systems out there. Sure.

[00:09:27] So this looks completely different. Wow

[00:09:32] Greg: Yeah, I got the, uh, the  well have gas brought in and I had everything gas and oil guess stays around now,

[00:09:40] Alice Lema: but yeah, they didn't see that one coming did wait. Yeah.

[00:09:45]Greg: But, uh, anyway, I got gas. Uh, tankless hot water heater. You got a gas furnace. And, uh, and

[00:09:53] Alice Lema: how did you decide on tankless hot water heater instead of traditional?

[00:09:57] Greg: Well, actually by the guy that put in all the that's what he does, he sells gas stuff and he just kind of talked me into it and it didn't cost that much more than the hot water heater. So I said, what the heck?

[00:10:08] Alice Lema: And it is so handy. Isn't it great. Anytime you need hot, it's just boom, right?

[00:10:12]Greg: Yeah. And you don't have to pay for storing the water or keeping the water hot water hot in the tank.

[00:10:17] Kathy: Yeah. And it frees up some space, right? Or it's up on the walls. Yeah.

[00:10:22] Alice Lema: Yeah. And I, yeah, they're just easier to deal with for sure. Then you've got a new furnace, a new furnace. Uh, cause I think last time we were here, I don't know that you had heat. No, it was, Kathy was pretty unhappy about,

[00:10:37]Kathy: Oh, I can't take the cold..

[00:10:39] Alice Lema: Well, plus it was winter

[00:10:43] Kathy: and we have a new garage door.

[00:10:45] Alice Lema: Oh, look at that oh you got a quiet motor too. Yeah. Oh, that's awesome.

[00:10:52] Greg: And he, you know, the, the floor is kind of sloped there. He like, uh, watch, you'll see - so the rats can't get in.

[00:11:01] Alice Lema: at that. Yep. But not to scare anybody. Rodents are super common in Southern Oregon. It's not, it's nothing to get freaked out about.

[00:11:10] We all have them, especially in Ashland, so yeah. They're everywhere. Well, that's beautiful. Yeah. What was it was an overhead door or no, no, I'm not bear Creek. He did a really,

[00:11:24] so did they like scrape the, how did they get that to be level. Cause it was actually quite a gap.

[00:11:33]Greg: It's a rubber stuff on there. Made the rubber stuff pooch out over there further than, uh, here.

[00:11:41] Okay. So I don't know how I did it really well.

[00:11:43]Alice Lema: That's easier than, you know, filing down the concrete. So yeah, so the trees are, are gone. They're just look at this. And there was something else really big over here too. Oh, that's right.

[00:11:59] Greg: Lady had a big tree here and it was terrible. It was Bush. And I asked her if I could have it cut down.

[00:12:06] Alice Lema: And she said, yeah, yeah.

[00:12:08] Greg: She said, yeah, it was kind of, yeah, it was right. There was, it was on her property really, but she didn't want it. So I just had to cut down on the stump grinder. That was nice of you without costing a fortune too. Yeah.

[00:12:22] Alice Lema: Trees are expensive,

[00:12:23] Greg: but anyway, Like they were all lined up down there and there was like four or five of them

[00:12:28]Alice Lema: and they were really tall. Oh my gosh.

[00:12:31] Greg: Climbed up and saw the limbs off and, wow. Wow.

[00:12:36]Kathy: Well, on the other side too. We hadn't removed.

[00:12:40] Alice Lema: Wow. I can't believe you did all this in four months. It's amazing. I can't believe it either. Yeah. So can we come back again and get the final, the final, final?

[00:12:50] Greg: Yeah. Sure. Okay.

[00:12:53] Alice Lema: So people, you know, we always talk about doing rehab.

[00:12:56] We all watched those shows. Um, but it takes some fortitude to get through one of these rehabs. And this one in particular, I think was hard because,

[00:13:05] Greg: Oh yeah. I want to say something. I mean, I wouldn't have got this one if it wasn't for Alice oh, so persistent and okay. We can't get it today the next day. Oh, we might be able to get it..

[00:13:16]Alice Lema: Oh, it was such a roller coaster.

[00:13:18] Greg: Yeah. I got it because of Alice.

[00:13:20] Alice Lema: Oh, well, if that's nice for you, well, I appreciate all the work you did. Cause we talk about doing stuff like this all the time. Um, and I even do these myself and people just don't understand you're in the middle of it. And you think, what am I doing? Was I crazy? Should I have done this, and bleeding money?

[00:13:39] And then you get to a point and you look around and you go. I so glad we stuck with it, but this was particularly hard because the estate we were buying it from was very often on and off and on and off and on. Remember that. And so, like you just said, one day we had a deal and one day we didn't. And you know, your house was for sale and Oh yeah.

[00:13:59] It was such a rollercoaster.

[00:14:01] Greg: Yeah. I remember yet only. Yeah, the house is yours. And then, then pretty soon it wasn't. And then again the house is yours. Yeah. That's was crazy.

[00:14:12] Alice Lema: Real estate during a pandemic. Well, it's so great to see you guys comfortable and almost done. We can't wait to come back again.

[00:14:21] Yeah. Yeah. We're all so excited for you. Couldn't happen to nicer people. All right. Well, this is Alice Lema saying, see you, the next rehab.