Pro Tips from the Property Flippers April 2024 Edition
Rick & Jessica Rettinger started Hazelwood Homes LLC in 2018. Rick, a career electrician and Jessica a design graduate seemed destine for the business. Jessica's passion for design started at a young age influenced by family members and pastimes that included rearranging her room, flipping through design magazines and spending an embarrassing amount of time building houses on Sims (a time sacrifice many of us have made...haha).
The Rettinger's flipping journey started in the first home they shared together, a cape cod in Newport, KY. They began the process of updating and changing everything about the home. Eventually they sold the home and repeated the live in while updating process 2 more times. During these years the business just started falling into place.
Having 4 children in quick succession, along with pregnancies that were physically limiting, Jessica turned to blogging, e-design, digital content creation and sharpening her market analysis skills. Home conversations quickly became family centered with a desire for flexible schedules to meet the needs of their growing brood. Between Rick & Jessica's skill sets, experience and passion they felt ready to answer the call and start their own real estate business, Hazelwood Homes.
Hazelwood Homes earned their stripes in Colerain TWP with a cute little 3 bedroom as their first fulltime flip. Their next flip took them to Norwood and from there they never looked back!
Hazelwood Homes partnered with Spring Valley to complete the renovation at 3709 Franz Rd, Amelia, OH 45102.
Purchased for $147,000, this professional renovation resulted in a February 2024 resale of $270,000.
Tips from the Flipper
Don’t forget to factor in holding costs when running your deals. Many times people forget to add in monthly mortgage payment, reality fees, taxes and utility costs. These will be a large hit out of your proceeds if you are not prepared for them.
Don’t just accept the lowest bidder. Sure, the least amount of money spent sounds great, but many times this comes with losing time as it may be hard to keep contractors on site when they are not making much money. I have found that it is better to go with established contractors that are responsible and on site when scheduled to be.
Get contracts signed. Make sure that you provide contracts detailing the work that you want performed and agreed upon pay scales and timelines. This will help to keep everyone on point with expectations.
There have been many lessons learned over the years, every renovation can teach you something new. We are very grateful to be where we are now, and we are excited about the future.
The Stager
Hazelwood Homes reimagined this old & stodgy home as a modern space full of solutions for today's living. They created spaces perfect for staging and aesthetics.
Jessica chose good and on trend materials in her design scheme. The end result was impeccable quality that was easy to highlight through staging.
We love working with Rick & Jessica on this project because they were concise with their design and the project was so well managed.
-Jo Potvin, Design to Market
The Financer
The professionals interviewed for this blog series come from varying backgrounds, demographics, and experiences but they all have the common denominator- a growth mentality. Albert Einstein famously said, "Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death."
Keep learning and growing despite and in spite of challenges you will face along the way. As our April guest so accurately points out, "every renovation can teach you something."
Spring Valley is your local community bank offering our investors SOLUTIONS:
Quick decisions with in-house underwriting
Certainty to close
Availability of real estate & banking experts to listen & stay connected
Flexible financing options for flips, refis & income producing properties
Dependability of an established banking institution
If you know an investor that may benefit from the flipping advise of seasoned professionals, please share this blog with them.
Special thanks to the dream team from Hazelwood Homes:
Annette Pegis of Comey & Shepard who has been working Hazelwood Homes for over 7 years and has seen the evolution of the business. (513) 477-7712
Justin Sheldon, photographer, is a fantastic photographer and has an eye for capturing the true beauty of the Hazelwood Homes.
I can’t say enough about Jo Potvin's team at Design to Market and what they can do! They truly breathe life into these homes.
A monthly series showcasing tips from professional property flippers partnering with Spring Valley.
