What do you look for in a house?

[s_havinga]

I am dancing with the idea of building a house to flip and was interested to see what Beyond's must haves are. The house would likely be inner city (elbow park, south Calgary, altidore) and I would be targeting a sell price around $1MM. Some things I often wonder:

-what would you consider to be a min. for sq footage?
-what are your must haves?
-preferred # of bedrooms?
-exterior finish? Vinyl always seems 'cheap' to me, is this the general consensus?
-2000-2200sqft two story house with large backyard or bigger house with less yard
-anything that you look for the house to be close to? (park, shopping,...)
-are any of the niche rooms worth considering? (Pool table room, exercise room, wine cellar)

I haven't committed to anything or even really started looking at properties but thought it would be interesting to hear other opinions.

EDIT: I shouldn't have used the word infill- the plan would be to build a single house on a full 50'+ wide lot

[never]

Big garage.

[revelations]

I would pay very close attention to the demographics. If you're going to be selling to rich couples with no kids, its going to look very different than a house in Canyon Meadows for eg.

Anything that is minimal will likely appeal more to the 30s crowd vs the older 50s crowd who might prefer ornate.


» Click image for larger version


Garage, yes, but not a "working" garage in that sense. Enough to park 2 SUVS at least. Most million dollar homes wont have people wrenching on used cars.

[jwslam]

I haven't committed to anything or even really started looking at properties but thought it would be interesting to hear other opinions. [/B][/QUOTE]
From this thread: http://forums.beyond.ca/st/393595/ad...-garage-plot-/
Line drain is definitely a desired touch.

In a house, 2 bedrooms is just not practical, even if they both have en-suites. 3 BR minimum.
I would bet people living inner city want more house and less lawn; living inner city is more hustle-and-bustle so less lawn to mow and less garden to tend is ideal?
One of the things about infills that irks me is how long and narrow they are so layouts tend to be an issue; as well as how to get natural lighting through side windows without staring right into a neighbour's window?
I personally wouldn't have use for a niche room but a wet bar in the basement would be nice. Also consider in-floor heating for the basement, or carpet.
If the house is 3 stories, it makes a lot more sense for main floor laundry; that's one less flight of stairs, but still enough sound separation from the upper floors to run machines overnight; oh and maybe a laundry chute

[Strider]

Lot size. I wouldn't buy anything for over $1MM on a 25' lot. Minimum 33', preferably 37.5 or 40'.

-what would you consider to be a min. for sq footage? 2400
-what are your must haves? large kitchen for entertaining, although seeing most of the newer infills out, I may be in the minority here
-preferred # of bedrooms? 3 up, 1 down
-exterior finish? Vinyl always seems 'cheap' to me, is this the general consensus? save the vinyl for $350k starter homes in communities outside of the ring road
-2000-2200sqft two story house with large backyard or bigger house with less yard max out the 45% lot coverage (including triple garage)
-anything that you look for the house to be close to? park, school, corner lot is a bonus
-are any of the niche rooms worth considering? (Pool table room, exercise room, wine cellar) home theatre maybe, otherwise no, house is small enough as it is - multifunctional/versatile spaces win

[jwslam]

Originally posted by Strider
-preferred # of bedrooms? 3 up, 1 down

Separate entrance mortgage helper?!?

[Strider]

Originally posted by jwslam
Separate entrance mortgage helper?!?

Guest room

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by s_havinga
I am dancing with the idea of building a house/ infill to flip and was interested to see what Beyond's must haves are. The house would likely be inner city (elbow park, south Calgary, altidore) and I would be targeting a sell price around $1MM. Some things I often wonder:

-what would you consider to be a min. for sq footage?
-what are your must haves?
-preferred # of bedrooms?
-exterior finish? Vinyl always seems 'cheap' to me, is this the general consensus?
-2000-2200sqft two story house with large backyard or bigger house with less yard
-anything that you look for the house to be close to? (park, shopping,...)
-are any of the niche rooms worth considering? (Pool table room, exercise room, wine cellar)

I haven't committed to anything or even really started looking at properties but thought it would be interesting to hear other opinions.

It's easy.
Buy house for $500-$600k
tear down
build duplex
Sell for 900k each side.
Profit $$$.

It's easy!

[colinxx235]

^

Lol so easy especially with the market right now and permit costs go up and up and up and neighbours get worse and worse and worse about demands

[s_havinga]

Sounds like most of my thoughts are in line with you guys. I also hate the long narrow infills I would likely go with a single house on a 50'+ wide lot. But on the other hand, I personally would have no interest in a house over 2500 sq-ft but there are lots of them out there. Because this would be built with selling in mind, I know that some of the design might not be what I would personally go for if I was moving in.

For the garage, I am thinking 3 car would be ideal but if I happen to buy a property with a decent 2 car, I am not sure I would get my money back if I were to tear it down and build a triple.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by colinxx235
^

Lol so easy especially with the market right now and permit costs go up and up and up and neighbours get worse and worse and worse about demands

We need a "sarcastic" emoji.

I currently work with very skilled contractors who've been doing this for 20 years, and have sold probably 20 or more duplex's/infills and one is walking away from it, because it's such a pain, the other lost a bunch of money on his last one, another took over 2 years to sell, with carrying costs being over $5,000 per month.

These are skilled contractors with all their trades lined up, paperwork in order, etc, etc.

[Buster]

Just finishing my reno. I couldn't imagine doing this to actually earn my money.

[Rocket1k78]

Originally posted by C_Dave45

We need a "sarcastic" emoji.

I currently work with very skilled contractors who've been doing this for 20 years, and have sold probably 20 or more duplex's/infills and one is walking away from it, because it's such a pain, the other lost a bunch of money on his last one, another took over 2 years to sell, with carrying costs being over $5,000 per month.

These are skilled contractors with all their trades lined up, paperwork in order, etc, etc.

I'm still using the old XR200 sarcasm detector from 2002 and it even picked that up lol

I couldn't imagine what its like to be a true craftsman in your trade right now. The amount of hack trades whoring themselves out right now has got to mess with pricing. The infill game is beyond scary now and a ton of guys have held back with builds. pre 2015 every other joe blow/dealer was a builder but now theyre gone.

[colinxx235]

Yah I know you were sarcastic, I was just adding onto it Dave. Plus I know you know your shit. If it was easy money you would do it yourself and save shit tons with labor/knowledge.

My family has been in home building for ~20 years or so and they are done with it in general. Infills were the worst ever since Nenshi came in. Permit costs have went up by a few 100%, the blue fences were a headache and very costly, developers have gotten ridiculous on the demand side. The amount of leverage neighbors have to essentially black mail you while doing an infill is retarded. Almost always end up doing landscaping, new fence, or paying out of pocket just to get them to stop barring every little thing (this is mainly kensington, bridgeland, mardaloop, killarney area... fucking lawyers/"environmental friendly housewifes")

Costs just keep getting loaded onto the builders and that snowballs to the buyers/market and everyone else likes to shift blame and claim who is greedy etc.


I'm not sure what the experience level of the OP is but in this market I know if you find the right seller you will get in very low and have a chance to return a good chunk once the market rebounds but when that will be... who knows

I know lots of guys on here are suggesting 3 car garages but damn I haven't found many areas that have the space for that, but then again we mostly did duplexes because generally that is a better ROI. In which case they have a divided 4 car garage at the back, but not always can you get two large suvs and definitely not trucks depending on the alley/which lot.


But as for the original questions sq ft I would always try to maximize. Personally I would suggest duplex vs infill but thats your money/choice.

We almost always 3 up 1 down. Or in some cases we had 4 levels and did 1/2/0/1 setup in a kensington infill.
Fuck vinyl, do stucco or cement harding board. If you're going to pricepoint @ 1MM people do not want cheap finishings around.
In some of the upper 1/lower 2MM houses we often did a wine cellar and exercise room. Did a wet bar in the basement with cork flooring for the intentions of pool table/gaming area. This works up and down, in the current market I'd say its a bit of a backfire but when healthy the hipsters love all of it. The wine cellar if done properly is quite expensive and often not given its deserved value. Exercise rooms are pretty simple, throw in some big mirrors and buy padded flooring that is removable so home owner can easily swap out if they don't like.

[s_havinga]

Originally posted by Buster
Just finishing my reno. I couldn't imagine doing this to actually earn my money.

I loved doing mine, I would look forward to get off work so that I could get to my house and get working.

What I didn't like was the 16 hour days between working and building the house.

If I do another one, it would go one of two ways. either I would do it as my full time job, or, I would contract a lot more out and just GC the build.

[holden]

I know that semi-attached duplex prices in Altadore are really hurting. Perhaps that means its a good time to jump in (doubt it), but I'm betting the people who bought and built over the past few years aren't doing so hot.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by Buster
Just finishing my reno. I couldn't imagine doing this to actually earn my money.

Reno's != new house building.

We quit doing renos over a decade ago. Higher initial capital required, but building new houses is where it is at. Renos usually have less ROI, and you have to do twice the work (teardown/tear out, then replace, all while working around the already built house).

[Swank]

Originally posted by revelations
Garage, yes, but not a "working" garage in that sense. Enough to park 2 SUVS at least. Most million dollar homes wont have people wrenching on used cars.

Agreed, I'd focus on a very comfortable, finished, heated garage for 2 large vehicles with plenty of overhead storage or a man-cave/loft above (Mike Seaver poster optional )
A finished basement with heated flooring or a sub floor + carpet. Skylights would also help with the lack of infill natural light to some extent.

[Buster]

I didn't say I didn't enjoy doing the reno. I said I couldn't imagine doing this type of stuff to make money at it. I actually like doing things around the house, but the second I pick up a tool, I'm BY FAR the highest paid trade here. I couldn't imagine doing all of this stuff with the idea of making a profit on a flip.

[phreezee]

Privacy, aka not backing on to neighbors.