Hello all!

In this post I will give you some personal information about purchasing foreclosed houses and the "flipping" business. First of all I will say that this is only an informative post and I am not to be held responsible for any problems you may run into. 

Now that is out of the way, let's get started!

Number one: If you have not purchased a foreclosed home before and want to get into the business, do your research but do it quickly as good deals do not stay on the table long! Once you find a "prospect" check comparable homes around and recent sale prices. For example if the house you are looking at purchasing is for sale at $75,000 and a comparable home (similar size, same amount of bed/bath) sold for $135,000 you have $60,000 to improve the home with.. right? Not really, think of realtor fees, short term capital gains, and so on. I would say you have about $30,000 to play with and should expect a profit of $10,000+. 

Number two: Congratulations you've purchased a house! What to do next? Get multiple bids as soon as you possibly can, time is of the essence - the quicker you fix it up and sell it the more profit you will make. There are multiple contractors who work on foreclosed homes, and we are one of those crews! I have my own crew of remodelers (myself and my father), electrician, plumber, and HVAC. I also have contacts for all problems one could run into (foundation, waterproofing..) It is very hard to give a labor and materials bid on foreclosures due to the large amount of surprises, however we try to come up with a number based on previous experiences.

Number three: Stay on top of your contractors. Make sure who ever you hire is doing proper work and not cutting corners, especially during finishing touches. Talking about finishing touches, do not go "over the border" with your remodel, such as purchasing $30,000 kitchen cabinets in a $135,000 home. 

Number four: Once the home is finished, hire a professional cleaning company to "sparkle" the home up. (We offer professional cleaning services!) Once the cleaning is finished, have your realtor list it on the MLS and wait for a sale! If everything goes right, 30 days is what it should take. 

Number five: Congratulations on your profit, get ready for the next one!

AJ Dedic

AJ's Handyman LLC

515-868-9985

Hello All!

As some of you may have already figured it out we deal a lot with foreclosed properties that need COMPLETE renovations and in doing so we have come up with a list of items buyers look for and I'd love to share the information with potential sellers!

1. Appearance!

     - If you are selling your home, whether it is an empty house or a lived in home, make sure it is clean! I don't just mean looks clean, I really mean CLEAN! AJ's Cleaning & Restoration can help you out with that! We have a special package set up just for folks who are getting ready to sell/in the process of selling that includes: Deep cleaning of entire home - please email for a specific list of items done. Carpet cleaning. Tile & Grout Cleaning & Sealing. Once we are done with your home potential buyers will be amazed at how clean the home actually is and how good it smells! Plus, everyone will look at it as "ready to move in" rather than "dirty and needs cleaned".

2. Updates!

     - If your home is over 10 years old, consider doing some upgrades! Not all upgrades have to cost an arm and a leg.. I will provide a list of simple updates that will keep your budget to a minimum but bring your homes appearance to a maximum!

          1. Painting - a fresh coat of paint means the world to a 10 year old house. It will get rid of a lot of smells your home may have experienced from every day living. Also, when painting choose neutral colors - Light Tan/Heavy Cream with one accent wall in a darker color will mean the world to potential buyers!

          2. Flooring - not all flooring has to cost an arm and a leg! For example, we just installed HIGH GRADE laminate wood flooring in a home. The flooring and padding cost was $1.69/sqft! The laminate floor was of HIGH GRADE, not your typical big box store flooring! Tile is also one of the upgrades we recommend! You can purchase ceramic tile for $0.99 to $1.99 that looks very beautiful once installed!

         3. Caulk does wonders! Prior to selling your home, make sure all windows/doors have caulk applied in appropriate areas to not let cold/hot air in. We see this especially in older homes.

         4. Faucets/light fixtures! Gold is old is my saying! If you have "gold" faucets/light fixtures/door knobs replace them all with brushed nickel! It is fairly inexpensive but looks a lot better!

That is it for this post, next one I will go over the "check list" of buying foreclosed homes! Yikes!

Thank you for reading,

Your Des Moines Area Handyman!

AJ Dedic

AJ's Handyman

515-868-9985

Hello All! 

As the weather has been warming up (a little...) we have been getting a lot of calls for exterior painting! Is 2014 the year you finally get that eye sore color out of your life?! If so, don't hesitate to give me a call and I'll go over you with some design ideas to make your house the nicest on the block! We already have 3 exterior painting jobs set up and are looking at adding more, so hurry and call! 

Thank you for reading this!

AJ Dedic

AJ's Handyman - Des Moines Iowa

515-868-9985

Hello to everyone who gets this far on our website! 

We have been extremely busy lately and have not had a chance to update our website, nor our blog! I wanted to do something different than usual with this blog, rather than updating our new/previous customers of new services or specials I am wanting to get input from you guys as well! What better way to do this than to have a "Ask the handyman" section! With the weather getting colder, not much work is left to be done on the exterior of the home so let's keep the questions for any interior work whether it be plumbing, electrical, framing, drywall, painting... you get the idea! 

Feel free to ask me any questions and I am hoping other handymen who visit our website may chime in as well! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Happy Holidays to our Des Moines Community from AJ's Handyman and AJ's Cleaning & Restoration! 

AJ Dedic

515-868-9985

AJ's Handyman is excited to announce to our previous and future customers that we now offer carpet cleaning and restoration in addition to handyman services. That's right, now one company can take care of all of your needs - anything from a small repair job to a full remodel, a one time deep clean or a regular cleaning schedule, and now all carpet and grout cleaning and water restoration needs! We will keep you updated on all projects we are currently working on, and thank you for your support - we would not be where we are without the great people of Des Moines!