MoSpur
09-28-2007, 03:12 PM
well...he says not flipping, but "renovating."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA092807.01C.NotAFlip_092807.2b524c9.html
Jennifer Hiller
Express-News Business Writer
Former Mayor Ed Garza swears this is not a flip and that he has no plans to star in future home-improvement television shows.
But the urban planner does have a new side business: renovating historic homes in and around his Woodlawn Heights neighborhood.
For four months, Garza and business partner Sam Wayne renovated a two-bedroom home on Furr Drive in the Monticello Park Historic District, the neighborhood adjacent to Garza's Woodlawn Heights.
Their non-flip renovation included replacing foundation piers, redoing the plumbing and wiring, adding central air and heat, and refinishing the wooden floors, along with expanding the kitchen and repairing the garage, which virtually had collapsed. They also added an enormous wooden deck off the kitchen and landscaped the property.
"I cringe when someone says what we're doing is flipping," Garza said. "It's not."
For one thing, they haven't been in the kind of shopping-on-Christmas-Eve hurry that characterizes the mood of real estate investors bent on getting a quick return on investment.
And then there's the matter of the small details Garza and Wayne insisted upon, such as the tiny herb garden planted in a window box, the installation of custom cabinets that match the original kitchen woodwork and the fact that the spot above the mantle was readied for a flat-screen television.
No self-respecting house flipper would take the time to plant an herb garden.
"It's all the little touches," says Garza.
They plan to hold an open house and barbecue Oct. 6 so neighbors can see the transformation. They've completed nearly all but the finishing touches, but haven't set an asking price.
Garza started redoing houses this year as a hobby when a home two doors down from his came on the market in Woodlawn Heights.
"Even when I started that one, I said if I break even it would be a good thing because my wife and I live on that street," Garza said.
Instead, he received multiple offers the day it went on the market and caught the real estate bug.
He met Wayne when they were competing against each other to buy the home on Furr.
"It was a wreck, but it had all of the original amenities," Wayne said. "That's the most important thing."
The two decided to team up for that renovation and others in the Woodlawn Heights and Monticello Park neighborhoods. Their company is call Urban One 30, a nod to the Jan. 30 birthday they share.
Wayne has been renovating homes full-time for a few years, but Garza is keeping his day job as an urban planner. He drops by the house to check on progress workers are making, but says the projects are, by necessity, a nights-and-weekends endeavor for him. He recently spent a weekend planting new landscaping and regularly agonizes over things such as the choice of bathroom tile.
Although the market has slowed a bit, Garza and Wayne hope to have four homes on the market for the spring, and another six by next fall. And they'd like to renovate homes for buyers attracted to the same kind of "wrecks" they like to redo.
Assuming that things go well, the duo hopes to move on to multifamily and possibly small commercial buildings along Fredericksburg Road in the Deco District.
"It's kind of the whole package of community revitalization," Garza says. "Somebody has to do this. The inventory of older homes in San Antonio is huge, but not that many people are doing quality renovations. It's a harder, more expensive endeavor."
For now, Garza and Wayne are immersed in the minutia of this renovation.
On a recent day, they discovered the new French doors they had ordered and already painted were 4 inches too short for the space between the master bedroom and an office nook.
"Every day it's a little emergency," Garza says.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA092807.01C.NotAFlip_092807.2b524c9.html
Jennifer Hiller
Express-News Business Writer
Former Mayor Ed Garza swears this is not a flip and that he has no plans to star in future home-improvement television shows.
But the urban planner does have a new side business: renovating historic homes in and around his Woodlawn Heights neighborhood.
For four months, Garza and business partner Sam Wayne renovated a two-bedroom home on Furr Drive in the Monticello Park Historic District, the neighborhood adjacent to Garza's Woodlawn Heights.
Their non-flip renovation included replacing foundation piers, redoing the plumbing and wiring, adding central air and heat, and refinishing the wooden floors, along with expanding the kitchen and repairing the garage, which virtually had collapsed. They also added an enormous wooden deck off the kitchen and landscaped the property.
"I cringe when someone says what we're doing is flipping," Garza said. "It's not."
For one thing, they haven't been in the kind of shopping-on-Christmas-Eve hurry that characterizes the mood of real estate investors bent on getting a quick return on investment.
And then there's the matter of the small details Garza and Wayne insisted upon, such as the tiny herb garden planted in a window box, the installation of custom cabinets that match the original kitchen woodwork and the fact that the spot above the mantle was readied for a flat-screen television.
No self-respecting house flipper would take the time to plant an herb garden.
"It's all the little touches," says Garza.
They plan to hold an open house and barbecue Oct. 6 so neighbors can see the transformation. They've completed nearly all but the finishing touches, but haven't set an asking price.
Garza started redoing houses this year as a hobby when a home two doors down from his came on the market in Woodlawn Heights.
"Even when I started that one, I said if I break even it would be a good thing because my wife and I live on that street," Garza said.
Instead, he received multiple offers the day it went on the market and caught the real estate bug.
He met Wayne when they were competing against each other to buy the home on Furr.
"It was a wreck, but it had all of the original amenities," Wayne said. "That's the most important thing."
The two decided to team up for that renovation and others in the Woodlawn Heights and Monticello Park neighborhoods. Their company is call Urban One 30, a nod to the Jan. 30 birthday they share.
Wayne has been renovating homes full-time for a few years, but Garza is keeping his day job as an urban planner. He drops by the house to check on progress workers are making, but says the projects are, by necessity, a nights-and-weekends endeavor for him. He recently spent a weekend planting new landscaping and regularly agonizes over things such as the choice of bathroom tile.
Although the market has slowed a bit, Garza and Wayne hope to have four homes on the market for the spring, and another six by next fall. And they'd like to renovate homes for buyers attracted to the same kind of "wrecks" they like to redo.
Assuming that things go well, the duo hopes to move on to multifamily and possibly small commercial buildings along Fredericksburg Road in the Deco District.
"It's kind of the whole package of community revitalization," Garza says. "Somebody has to do this. The inventory of older homes in San Antonio is huge, but not that many people are doing quality renovations. It's a harder, more expensive endeavor."
For now, Garza and Wayne are immersed in the minutia of this renovation.
On a recent day, they discovered the new French doors they had ordered and already painted were 4 inches too short for the space between the master bedroom and an office nook.
"Every day it's a little emergency," Garza says.