AND WHATS UP

We sold Calumet! BIG WAHOO! That was about 4 weeks ago. The first thing people ask is "What's next?  You must have another project lined up.... " If you have been following along that would make sense. We have not been without a project for the last 6 years. Since 2016 alone we have been in full gut back to back remodel mode with Kensington, Romulus, Calumet, 5th and then back to Calumet. 

AND because of that we are TIRED. Worn down. I have been missing long weekends of nothing to do (although I have to admit the change of speed is a little bit of a shock to the system). We have been taking a BREAK. For real. Kind of....

IVE been taking a break. From remodeling yes, but also from blogging, from looking at Redfin (that's when you know I'm serious) and from scheming.  I still scheme on occasion, but generally have been putting my property scheming skills to use helping Craig and his clients. It allows me to go full scheme Realestatedork mode and then step back without the after effect of 6 months of rehab (which I love by the way).

Right after the sale, our break began with a quick full house remodel of Craig's current listing on Beverly Drive (Now in escrow!) for a friend of his. Um... This wasn't planned, it just happened. This was not the break I was imagining, but it what was on the menu. Luckily I personally had fairly limited involvement and consisted mostly of the fun parts of a rehab. Designing, shopping (my favorite part), picking out tiles & light fixtures (my other favorite parts), grand master planning the aesthetic concept and occasionally checking in. Craig handled 90% of it. You can see that project here. I'll do a post soon about the BTS of the remodel.

We also had two large vacancies within our own tenant compound that randomly happened the same month. For years we had said if either of these houses became vacant we would remodel them, and then here we are, both vacant at the same time, but us a little rehab weary. We considered larger scale renovations on those homes. Would we get more rent, probably, would the cost be offset in how many months or years? What is the most rent we can get and how long would that take. We honestly barely had the bandwidth to pull off what we did. But then again... we were supposed to be on a vacation from rehab, a vacation which hadn't started out well. It had started out with 3 unexpected concurrent remodels happening at the same time. 

We opted out of full rental transformations and re-listed our already cute good enough homes for rent almost as is, but with a few updates. Thanks to the super hot crazy and intense rental market in Los Angeles, they were both rented in a day and for above the previous rents. We will kick that can down the road a couple years.

Today the last new tenant moves in, the quick remodel we did for a friend is in escrow (yay!) and it's day two of a weekend that I haven't had to rush off to a jobsite at 9am. June was mostly full of family events including camping, family visits and even a few date nights. I did spend some time doing things like updating the RealestatedorkLA website and building a website for Craig's Beverly Drive property but wierdly I actually really enjoy making websites, It's a funny hobby I've discovered. 

We did an amazing photoshoot in Calumet right before it's sale for my collection ICONS.  It was such a perfect fit. ICONS is vintage inspired iconic women's silhouettes. Set against the backdrop of a vintage historic home with iconic Victorian elements.  (I'll share more on that soon) It was a poignant mix of two things I love, so it felt very right.

My fashion life has been a bit more intense lately, lots of exciting change happening and it's kind of a crunch time for getting collections out to NY in time for Spring 19 market weeks. In the period between June 1 and September 1, I am responsible for executing 5 full collections split into 2 deliveries each, which equals roughly 10 mini collections between the 2 brands.  Summer is often the busiest time of the year for me.

Craig is crazy busy in 3 escrows at the moment, and a few things on the horizon. After July,  I think he is going to be ready to sink into some uninterrupted sand as well. We have a big family beach vacation with our name on it for most of August.

We trust the right next project will present itself in time but until then we are "resting" .