Finding the Flow

Now that you have successfully purchased a property to you need to decide what renovations need to be done. Wayne has the ability to walk into a distressed house and see its potential; he instantly knows what needs to be done to make the house the best that it can be. Most people, myself included, have a harder time seeing the potential in a property. The good news is that can train yourself to see the hidden potential in a house. The more you do it the better you will become.

The first thing you should do is walk through the property and decide what the best flow of the house is. Finding the flow of the house means thinking of the house as if you were planning the layout from scratch. Where would you put the bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. to get the most out of the space that you have. This may mean that walls should be added or removed, bathrooms should be reformatted, the kitchen redesigned so that the house works together…so that it flows. If you find you are lost as to what needs to be done or what items are more important than others, a skilled Realtor will be able to help you.

The initial walk through of Zuni shows that there are a few poor flowing areas. The kitchen and back stairs to the basement and the enclosed patio are the worst flowing areas. They do not seam to work together and there is unusable space where the back staircase is.

Above is the layout of the main floor at Zuni. One of the first things we noticed is the excessive number of doors. An easy way to fix this is to remove the door along with the framing and leave it as an open doorway. We removed the door to the front staircase and the door from the family room into the hall way.

Next, we removed the top half of the built-in to open the family room into the kitchen. This will help when re-selling the house because an open floor plan is very desirable in today’s market. We also added an opening in the kitchen to the new eating area where the stair case used to be. This will help bring more light into the kitchen and incorporate the new eating area with a bar that will extend from the kitchen.

The master bedroom was enlarged by removing the wall to the covered patio. This will help with selling the house because now the master bedroom has almost doubled in size. The rear stair case has been removed and leveled to create an eating area off of the kitchen. The doorway connecting these two rooms was closed off eliminating another needless door.

The door to the backyard has been replaced with a glass door that will add more light and the door was moved to ensure the best flow in this space.

If this is your first renovation it is a good idea to consult a professional before you start any demolition to make sure that no walls are load bearing and there are no other issues. Also, a Realtor with renovation experience will be able to guide you as to what renovations will help with selling the house and what the neighborhood can sustain. For example, a Realtor can tell you if you should enlarge rooms, add closets or take away walls etc.

My next post will have more information about the demolition and finding the flow of the basement. Until next time, happy renovating!

Getting Started - 3324 Zuni

There are many different techniques for finding a house that would be good to renovate. If this is your first project it would be advised to find a Realtor that specializes in investment properties.

We look for houses that are in hot areas, your real estate agent can help you find areas that are up and coming or already hot. We focus on Highlands, Sunny Side and Curtis park in Denver.

“You want a house that everyone else wants. I look for something that is about to go on the market or just got on the market not something that has been sitting for weeks or even longer, no one wants these houses for a reason…” Wayne Leland.

The house we just purchased is 3324 Zuni which is in the Highlands area of Denver. This house was bank owned and a really good deal which means a lot of people wanted it. While Wayne and I were looking at the property three other real estate agents came by with clients to walk through it.

Once the property hit MLS, there were 22 offers in 72 hours. This is when having a good Realtor is key. They will advise you on what the house is worth and you should have decided the most you are willing to pay for the property. Since this property had so much interest the bank asked for everyone to submit their best and final offer.

So why did we buy this house? The main draw to this house is location. It is in a neighborhood that is really hot right now and its only a block from restaurants, shops, ect. When looking at a house its really important to look just at the ‘bones’ of the house. Everything else can be changed but you want to start with a good base.








Living/Dinning Room__Basement








Kitchen









Backyard_______Master Bathroom








Built-in (entrance to kitchen)

Many houses that we redo need a lot of cleaning, which can be really disgusting. There was one house that had no water so there were buckets of feces, try to look past anything like that. Zuni needed little cleaning but has a few odd flowing rooms which I will go over in another blog entry.










Dirty windows____Painted/dirty hard ware








Outdated & Water damage

In summary there are two main things that we look for, location and ‘bones’ of the house. Its takes some practice to look at a trashed house and see the potential of what it can become.

My next blog will go over all the things that we do within the first week of owning a house. So until next time, happy renovating!

Who is Writing this Blog and What is it About?

My name is Morgan Leland; I am a real estate agent in Denver for Your Castle Real Estate. My family and I have been renovating houses in the Denver Metro area for the past decade. After getting many questions on how to be successful at flipping houses we have decided to start a blog about everything that goes into renovating a property.

Over the next few weeks I will be giving a detailed account of everything that goes into renovating a property using an example of a house the we recently purchased. Everything from what we look for, the first things that we do to a property, what to demolish and what to leave, how to sell the property once its ready to go back on the market and all the steps along the way. I will give a weekly up date on the progress of the house along with pictures.

First, let me give you some more information about my family and myself. My parents Wayne and Pam began renovating houses by starting with their own houses. One of the best ways to start out is to buy a house that needs minor repairs that you can fix while you live there, increasing the equity in the property. This way once you sell the house you will have more money for the next house you buy. Keep doing this and eventually you will have enough money to buy a secondary house to flip. My parents now have two to three properties in various stages of the renovation process at one time.

As you have already read, my name is Morgan Leland. I have a bachelor’s degree from CU Boulder in Business Marketing and I have my real estate license with Your Castle Real Estate. I am also a member of the Denver board of Realtors. I grew up in Colorado so I have extensive knowledge of the Denver metro area and its surrounding areas. Since I grew up here I also enjoy most of the outdoor activities CO has to offer. I snowboard, mountain bike, rock climb, and compete in triathlons or any extreme sport!

My next post will go over what to look for when buying a property to flip with an example of the most recent house we purchased. So, until next time….happy renovating!