Welcome to the latest LeadPropeller Flight Debrief! In this month’s debrief, we’ll be highlighting the success of Upward Home Solutions, and it’s founder Tim Dye. With his background in construction and project management, Tim often focuses on historic houses in Columbus, OH that other investors neglect. Talk about making your business unique!
How He Started with Historic Houses in Columbus
In the beginning, Tim had a passion for being an entrepreneur. Having started in real estate on the construction front, Tim was already familiar with houses and property codes, but he didn’t feel creative enough to really jump into real estate investing.
As his interest grew, so did his business. He started with rentals but moved into full rehabs a couple years ago. Eventually, he found the Flipping Junkie Podcast, and House Flipping HQ. From there, he was hooked.
“The biggest thing that stood out to me,” Tim tells, “was when they were saying ‘Don’t recreate the wheel.’ That was what got me thinking I could do this.”
It didn’t take long to make the shift to full time real estate investing after he started listening to inspiring podcasts. Now the topic wasn’t “how can I do this”, but rather, “how will I grow.” Tim went to one of Justin Williams’ Real Estate Mastermind courses and implemented what he learned. From there, he was off.
Smooth Sailing
For the most part, Tim hasn’t had a difficult time getting his real estate investing business leads and closing deals. This is mostly because he has found the perfect niche market in his area.
In Columbus, OH, there are a lot of beautiful historic homes, many over 100 years in age. Although these houses are beautiful, they do require much more work than the average real estate investor is willing to up in. Because of this, Tim has found lots of properties that no one else wanted, and was able to get a hold of them for his business.
Primarily, Tim works on single family homes. His sellers range from motivated sellers, to other investors, all with varying situations. Because of the age of these houses, Tim has seen his fair share of inherited houses; most in good areas, but all needing work. The average age of these historic houses is 100+ years old, meaning there are definitely things that need to be repaired before they can go on the market. For starters, generally all of the properties need roof work.
“Most of the investors in the area are intimidated by these properties because of the scope of work involved,” Tim explains about the historic houses, “It’s more than the repairs needed. The repairs have to go through the city before anything can start because they’re historic buildings.”
Since most other investors in Columbus don’t want to have to jump through the hoops needed to repair historic houses, there is little competition that Tim has to deal with. With his construction background, Tim has the knowledge and confidence to take the challenge that these historic homes pose and turn them around for a great profit.
Obstacles with Historic Houses in Columbus
Historic houses have their share of obstacles to overcome. The main issue is that, because they’re historic houses, there is a lot of bureaucracy that goes into renovating them. Before construction and rehabbing can start, you have to get approval for everything that happens because they need to be restored a certain way, with specifications in accordance with Columbus’s historic district.
Because of this, these rehabs can take upwards of 6 months just to be renovated. Often times, Tim gets stuck in the middle of historic agencies, passing papers between them. At least there isn’t much competition when it comes to historic houses!
There is a house that is nearly ready to go on the market. This particular property came from another investor who didn’t want to put in the time and energy it takes to restore a historic house for market value.This property had eyes on it. About 5 other investors were considering buying it, but were intimidated by the idea of dealing with a historic property.
Where one investor saw it as a problem, Tim saw it as a great opportunity and snatched it up! His reputation as ‘the historic house guy‘ has really paid off. When it comes to taking those properties off the hands of burdened investors, Tim is right there to help.
Repairing Historic Houses
For the most part, this house had basic repairs expected with a historic property. The foundation was in good shape, which was great! However, there was water damage, ceiling repairs that needed to be done, and re-plastering. Overall, nothing too out of the ordinary for a real estate investor. With city approval, Tim and his team started on turning this old house into a home.
This property was originally a duplex building. First thing was first, one of the two doors needed to be closed to turn this property into a single family home. The framing of the house was still in good shape, but the layout needed to be more updated. In addition to that, the house needed wiring and plumbing, new drywall, and new floors.
Running a Historic House Rehabbing Business
Because of Columbus’ beautiful historic district downtown, this property is in high demand after it’s been rehabbed. Tim bought this house for $60k, put in $100k for repair costs, and will be selling it in the upper 200s after it’s all said and done. That’s an amazing return on investment! Once it’s sold, Tim will be walking away with well over $50k in profit after all expenses are paid. Talk about smart investing.
As far as his leads, Tim does a great job at networking in his local area. He works with lots of real estate wholesalers in Columbus, so he’s got a steady flow of properties. Networking, direct mail, and his new PPC management from our LeadPropeller team, have all been keeping Upward Home Solutions busy, busy, busy.
“I just started PPC with Josh, but I’m excited to see how many leads I get from that,” Tim says.
We’re excited to see how your business grows with our service!
What’s In Store for Upward Home Solutions
This historic house is nearly ready for the market, but Tim has lots of other projects in various parts of the rehab process. Because he works primarily with historic properties, each rehab takes 6 – 9 months to complete; a little bit longer than normal rehabs. That’s just part of dealing with bureaucracy.
It’s amazing to see the wonderful work that Tim and his team do in Columbus. When we asked about his success, and what tips he can give other investors, he said:
Just believe it’s possible, take action, and stay the course. Don’t waste time recreating the wheel. What people like Danny and Justin are teaching works. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s not always easy, it costs money, but it works. Just stick to it.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Tim. Thank you for your valued partnership with LeadPropeller, and good luck in your future investments. We’re excited to help your business grow with our PPC service! Until then, Upward Home Solutions – over and out.