“Turn something ugly into something beautiful.”
That’s the motto that realtors and remodelers Craig and Samantha Buehler live by. The husband and wife team are full-time realtors at The Powell Buehler Group in Westerville, but also started dipping their toes into the art of flipping houses a few years ago. Now, they have four official projects under their belt with many more on the way. One of their recent flips was a three-bedroom condo in Little Turtle, Westerville – but it wasn’t such a little task.
“We went through (the house) and right when you opened the door it smelled like smoke,” says Craig. “There were paintings on the wall and where they took them off, you could see the stained wall because of all the nicotine. There were drips down the wall from all the nicotine. The ceiling had different black spots and brown spots from it.”
All in all, the condo, which had been a rental for years, had to be gutted. Craig and Samantha, along with their contractors, deep-cleaned, replaced floors, ripped out the kitchen, replaced drywall, gave the walls fresh paint, installed new lights and appliances, and so much more. Additionally, the former owners had also built a DIY loft in the master bedroom that wasn’t structurally sound, so that had to be removed. While the couple was prepared for most of these updates, there was one problem that caught them completely off guard.
“The whole place smelled, so we figured it was just the smoke and pets. Eventually, we got to work on the bathroom in the master,” says Samantha. “The tub was so damaged we had to rip it out. That’s when we got up in there and found a family of dead raccoons.”
Despite the long list of challenges, Buehlers reinvented the condo with hardwood floors, granite countertops and stylish decor. They originally bought the home for $100,000, put $60,000 worth of work into it and ended up selling it for $193,000 to a former client. Not only did the project give the buyer a beautiful place to call home, but it also had a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
“We helped the guy selling it because he had a nightmare on his hands, so he got some money for it,” says Craig, “And the neighbors like it a lot better because now there’s someone actually living there that owns it.”
“Since it’s sold, that area has popped off,” adds Samantha. “The whole neighborhood has gotten instant equity just from those bad ones getting off the books and selling for higher, so that’s huge.”
House flipping is not an easy job, but the Buehlers love it. And the Little Turtle condo was especially memorable for them.
“We loved it because I actually used to live in those condos,” says Craig. “That’s actually the condo she sold me as a realtor when we met. We really wanted to do a flip in that area because it reminded us of when we met, and we know the potential of the area.”
Grace Lenehan Vaughn is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
