[Mina] It's a big house.
It's $140,000, though.
[Cory] You have gone off the rails with your price points.
I'm always scared when I'm spending
six figures just to buy a house.
Oh, dear Lord.
[Mina] Ooh.
Oh, it's split, we got a lot of money down here, sweet pea.
[banging]
[Mina shouting] No, no, no!
It looks like crap!
Why?
Why? Why?
This can give way anytime.
This is a joke!
-So, yeah, we're having a fireplace in here. -No.
Perfect!
[Cory] Does Mina know about this?
No, not at all.
Wowzer!
It's so pretty!
Come on in!
Wow!
[Mina] Mom and I take on some of the nastiest houses you've ever seen.
Our team isn't afraid to tackle the worst of the worst.
That is so gross!
[Karen] Holy cow!
[Mina] Then we turn those rundown houses
into some of the nicest homes in the neighborhood.
-[man] Wow! -[woman] I love it!
Oh, my God, it's so...
oh, okay, you're in the shade, we're good.
Why do you have so many drinks?
Well, this one's for you.
Thank you.
-I wanted to be refreshed and overly caffeinated. -'Kay.
What do we need to go over?
Are you aware of how many storage units we have?
Too many.
Like, nine. [laughing]
No!
Two in Bates-Hendricks,
three in Old Southside, one on the Northside,
two that are about to be dropped in the Valley,
and then if you also count our office as a storage unit
because we can't even work there.
We're spending $5,000 a month on storing things,
and not even humans anymore
'cause we can't work out of our current office.
Right now, the plan is to be able to set aside
some profit from each project
to put towards building offices.
We need a home.
We have a decent roll going with the last two houses,
but we need a bigger chunk of funds
to start doing anything as far as, like,
permanent office space.
Yeah.
I'm gonna go look at a house right after this
with Cory, uh, on Michigan.
Ideally, get that done and allocate some of that
towards building, like, an HQ.
'Kay.
-All right, I am gonna go meet Cory. -All right.
-See you after. -Sounds good.
[Cory] Where are we going?
We're heading over to just east of Downtown.
Probably two blocks from the little house
we did on Highland with Josh
-[Cory] I love that house! -[Mina] So cute.
[Cory] It was super cute.
We killed it at the landscaping.
We did, that landscaping...
do a better one.
-Terrible high-five. -There!
[Mina] It's on Michigan Street in Holy Cross,
which is still super new to us.
The Highland house a few years ago
was the only other one we've done there.
But it's definitely an area that's getting hotter by the second
considering this house cost $140,000.
It better be turnkey at $140,000.
-It's definitely not turnkey. -Oh, my God!
You have gone off the rails with your price points!
I haven't gone off the rails, the market has gone off the rails.
And it's a two-story.
On the first floor you walk into a good size living roo
then there's a dining room, which is attached to the kitchen.
There's two bedrooms and on bathroom on the main floor,
but one of the bedrooms is pretty small,
so, it's more like an office, flex-space.
And the second floor has got a staircase to it,
but it, it doesn't feel like it was ever a finished space.
But it's a cute area,
it's really close to other cute areas,
and it's big!
With the attic, the house i about 3,700 square feet,
but it only has two bedroom and one bath right now.
So, using the attic space to get more like five bedroo
in there is the way to go.
Needs work, I just don't know how much yet.
[Cory] This sidewalk is done!
It's like that game at the carnival that, like,
wobbles when you walk on it.
I think all of this is gonna have to go.
But, awesome house, right?
Love the yellow door.
-It's clearly not original... -No.
-...it's not era accurate, right? -Right.
This siding looks fantastic.
New siding on a house this big would cost a small fortune.
-[Cory] Oh, yeah. -[Mina] It's probably about $20,000 or $30,000,
so, if we can save what we have here, we're off to a good start
'cause there are plenty of other places we can spend money on this project.
All right, this whole front porch has to go.
[Mina] I don't want it to go
[Cory] Well, it's pulling away in the worst way possible here.
That's a bad seam.
But if we can figure out a way to make it structurally sound
so it's tied together and not going anywhere...
-[Cory] Sure. -...that would be way more cost effective.
-[Cory] True, all right, so, we'll get this assessed... -[Mina] Yeah.
-...and see what they say. -[Mina] Inside...
It's very cool, huh?
[Cory] This is wild!
So, we're gonna open all this up, right?
[Mina] I don't think so.
I actually think steal some of this
to make, like, a proper closet bench entryway.
Yeah.
Because right now it's just dead space.
And then, when you come in through here,
that's kinda dining room,
and I think off the dining room,
we make this the doorway...
...and this is main bedroom, bathroom.
[Cory] Interesting.
But we can take that closet there,
and a little bit of the entryway,
and we can take this space right here that right now...
-[Cory] Is what? -...is, like, a closet,
and then there's a bathroom on the other side.
[Cory] Look at this tile!
I can't tell what's going on, if this has feet or not.
-I don't think it has feet. -[Cory] No.
It just looks like a bunch of goo.
[Cory] Yeah, true.
[Mina] And this back room ju stay as a little flex space
So, it's a first-floor,
we'll put a closet in so it's bedroom.
-[Cory] That's a cute little corner closet. -Yeah.
And I love the pink, too, I don't know why I say that,
but that Pepto is speaking to me.
[Mina] Maybe just leave the corner closet, that's kinda cute.
So, coming through to the kitchen over here.
[Cory] What is happening in here?
This wall we open up,
so, we could have a big island, like, right here
with bar stools on that side,
-and then enough space for a walkway here... -Yeah.
...and a big run of cabinets,
-and then French door it. -Yeah.
Okay, you wanna go upstairs or downstairs first?
-Let's go up. -This way.
Look at this.
-This is wild! -Yeah.
So, my thought is
that when we come up, we can utilize this space for a bathroom.
[Cory] Mmm-hmm.
And then we could do bedroom, bedroom, bedroom
once we can push this stuff back.
-[Cory] Did I just hear thre -[Mina] Yeah.
Wow, you're getting aggressive with your upstairs.
Well, it's a big house!
-Yeah, so, this is gonna be a four, two-and-a-half? -Five.
-Five? -Five.
But, the fifth one is, like, that flex space downstairs,
so, it's probably gonna be used as an office.
The basement's jacked up, so I do...
that's my biggest concern.
[Cory] Mmm, you're saving the best for last?
[Mina] The best for last!
[Cory] Ooh, this looks like a dungeon.
[Mina] It does!
[Cory] What did you buy?
Oh, my God, Mina, what did you...
oh, dear Lord!
[Cory] Ooh, this looks like a dungeon.
[Mina] It does!
[Cory] What did you buy?
Oh, dear Lord, sweet pea.
[Mina] This is what's interesting.
There's piers that go all the way back.
They've got, like, a big four-by-six over here
[Cory] Oh, my God!
-It's all, oh, it's split! -Ooh!
[Cory] Yeah, you might need to pull out that whole porch.
That's right where that crack translates.
[Mira] The crack in the porch is an issue.
We could see from looking in the basement through the crawl space
that the whole front foundation, it's under the porch area, is smoked.
The basement needs a lot of love and attention,
a lot of consulting with professionals as to how we're gonna proceed,
that's the scary part.
This is though, we've got a lot of money down here, sweet pea.
[Mina] Yeah.
And then, we've got the backyard.
So, I think French doors, and then we'll do a deck off that.
Ideally, just cover this.
This corner's really boogered up, too.
[Mina] This corner's boogered up.
So, the foundation concerns continue.
Time will tell how bad it is but what we do know
is outside, we need to put a fresh coat of paint
on our existing siding.
Inside, we'll create a main suite,
a brand new kitchen space
plus add three bedrooms and a bathroom in that attic space.
But before we do any of that
we gotta figure out what's going on with this foundatio
-You're gonna need a lot of work down that basement. -Yeah.
If that basement wasn't in the state that it currently is...
-It'd be different. -Yeah.
[Mina] But if we can make this a five bedroom,
two-and-a-half bath, it will be one of the bigges in the neighborhood,
and, hopefully, a nice draw for a buyer.
But with the foundation issues in the basement,
and all the reconfiguring we have to do,
I think we're looking at around $220,000 for renovations,
which would give us an all-in at $360,000.
Fingers crossed with the market as hot as it is right now,
our five bedrooms will get us a sale price closer to the $420,000s
yielding a decent profit that'll go straight
into the fund for a our new headquarters.
I don't know, the unknown of that basement scares me.
I'm always scared when I'm spending six figures
just to buy a house.
It's a lot of money to have tied up at one time in one project,
so, I just wanna get through it, get it done,
and turn it before the market changes.
Lovely spring day in Indiana!
-[Austin] Gorgeous! -[Tad] So lovely!
[Mina] So, we're not gonna keep you out here too long
'cause you got them legs out?
I messed up. I made a mistake.
This is what spring looks like in Indiana,
wait for it,
tomorrow, it'll be 70.
[Austin] I'm over it.
[laughing]
-It's so cold. It's so cold. -You're wearing shorts!
-He made a poor wardrobe decision. -I did.
There's a handful of things that we're gonna save.
There's some extra siding that I wanna get pulled out
so it doesn't get thrown away.
Like the original siding, I wanna make sure that gets saved.
Walls are all gonna come down, the kitchen's getting gutted,
the bathroom's getting gutted.
You have to resay those things, I'm too cold to hear right now.
-Okay, I'll say them again inside. -[Tad] Okay, cool.
[Mina] Everything else is getting gutted, do you have anything?
-I've never been in this house. -[Mina] Oh.
The freedom of not knowing what's inside this place is exciting.
Being retired means I just show up and do the fun stuff.
Let's go inside!
[Tad] ...Two, three...
[loud cracking]
[Tad] Fore!
[Karen] Right behind you, Ta
and then I'm out of your way.
[Tad] You're all good.
I managed to scavenge a few windows from the attic
that nobody saw.
So, yay, me.
[Cory] Karen, I have something for you.
[Karen] What do you have?
Something that Mina didn't want?
[Cory] These cute little windows.
[Karen] Those are fantastic!
You wanna carry 'em to the car with me?
[Cory] Sure.
So, Cory snuck some windows out,
they're super skinny, skinniest ones I've ever seen.
I'll just add them to my window collection at home,
and they will be a rainy day project.
I could totally do any project in this hat.
-Totally. -The only thing is I would have to tie it behind
'cause you don't want the mittens...
-Oh. -...getting in the paint or the sanding or whatever.
[chuckling]
The hat.
[laughing]
[Mina] Tad, put your hearers in!
[Cory] Keep going, Tad!
I'm really messing things up in here,
I'm really deviling hard.
I took down the whole upstai
in, like, 30 minutes.
So, I was just going to town
I was in my zone doing my thing,
and there was a siding right there.
[banging]
[cracking]
Tad! No, no! No!
Do not hit the siding out!
[Tad shouting] I'm gutting the house!
[Mina shouting] We're keeping the siding!
What are you doing?
-[Mina shouting] Tad! -[Cory] No, that's the sidin
[Mina] No, no! No! Do not hit the siding out!
What are you doing?
[Tad shouting] I'm, I'm demoing!
Why are you demoing the siding?
-[Tad] Did you say, "keep the siding?" -Yes!
We're keeping the siding!
[Tad] Um, I guess the sidin wasn't supposed to come off
I did specifically say, "the cold is in my bones,
I am not listening to anything."
I said those things.
Good thing you've got extra siding.
Tuck it back in!
[Tad] Looks all better!
[Mina] It looks like crap!
Why? Why? Why?
-He needs to just, like, write it on his hands. -Cory's next to me,
...Cory usually never listens, either,
but Cory's like, "yo, bro, no, we were keeping the siding, I heard her."
Tad's, like, "she said that?
"Yeah, she said it."
Ding dongs.
[Tad] Won't look down.
[Austin] I'm looking down.
[Tad] Oh, yeah, there we go!
[Austin] Yeah, there you go.
[banging]
[Tad] Yeah, he's having fun now.
-[Austin] Okay. -[Tad] You just, you let him go.
I think demo was a success today.
With the exception of Tad's selective hearing,
most of the exterior's still intact.
The inside is nice and gutte and now we can start
to develop our plan to make this house the belle of the block.
Good morning!
Morning, munchkin!
Good morning!
Who's that little smile for?
Are you gonna help us work on some plans?
-[Charlotte] Yeah! -Yeah?
We got Michigan!
We've got some major foundation stuff to fix
-before we get, like, really far into framing. -[Cory] Yeah.
You gotta give it some good bones!
Gotta put the bones back in.
-Look at this foyer? -Do you love it?
-It packs a punch. -Yeah!
[Mina] So, now when you wal in, you got your entryway,
and then when you go to righ instead of this hallway
down the middle with rooms splitting off of it,
there's no hallway, you're gonna go into the living room,
and it's wide open to the dining room...
...the kitchen...
...and then we have a first-floor en suite
-then I think we have to add this half-bath. -[Cory] Mmm-hmm.
[Mina] ...and then, the guest bedroom.
[Cory] All right.
I love the second floor
'cause it was just unfinished attic space
and the ceilings are so high.
I was able to figure out three bedrooms and a bath.
We've got our laundry up there,
um, and then there's still tons of, like, attic storage space.
So, we'll end up with, uh, technically, a five-bedroom...
-You know what else is cool? -...two-and-a-half bath.
What's cool?
We're adding a two-car garage to this puppy,
which we need to get matching siding for.
This is a great, this a great house for a family of...
-you're not listening. -No.
What?
Oh, is she not done yet?
-[Mina] Say, "bye-bye, good work." -I gotta go.
-[Mina] Bye-bye. -Give her some, oh...
[Mina] Good job.
She still signs off on drawings, that's so cute!
I'll report back to you.
-[Mina] Bye-bye! -Buh-bye!
[Mina] We're moving full ste ahead on the Michigan house
Cory coordinated with the foundation company
and they're beginning their work pouring the concrete
floor in the basement and new supports.
I've got a lot of money tie up in this expensive house,
so, we wanna turn it out around fast.
We've already got framing speeding along.
[Cory] In our fire place,
one's good enough.
They'll get the point, right?
[Mina] So, today, I'm meetin up with Cory and Tad
to check out the progress.
[Cory] You like our new front entrance?
And then, also, we got a little family room here.
Fireplace is gonna go right here.
-Yeah. -I don't think we have a fireplace.
We're gonna build it to be right here.
We don't need a fireplace in this house,
it's gonna cost thousands of dollars
and the neighborhood's just not there.
We're not gonna see a return on the investment.
Uh, no, can't you just see it,
sitting next to a crackling fire
with a snifter of whiskey on a cold Indiana night?
No, I can't.
Uh, we're gonna find it in the budget somehow.
[Tad] That looks so good.
-Yeah, no, this is bad, it, like, slopes a little bit. -It does slope.
Meanwhile, you bozos are all worried about putting a fireplace in,
and don't even notice that the floor is sloping.
It doesn't slope a little bit, it slopes a lot.
Yeah, this whole side needs to be jacked up.
[Tad] Just this right corner does.
It's already framed,
you shouldn't jack it up after you've framed.
So, when I talked to the foundation guys,
they said our problem was two-fold,
we had sinking in the front,
and sinking in the back.
But what they were gonna try to do is lift up the bac
in the hopes that it was gonna level out the front.
[Mina] But the front left side of the house
is still completely messed up and sloping.
This is the low spot.
[Cory] I feel like I'm in the low spot.
The low spot is where the water is.
Or it's just where it's puddled.
[Tad] Yeah, that's where it's puddled.
-[Cory laughing] -Do you understand why it's puddled there?
[chuckling] Tad.
[Tad] But, I mean, where did it come from?
-This is the low spot! -[Cory] Tad agrees.
-Let's see you water, let's see your water. -[Cory] Tad agrees.
See which way it runs, Tad.
[chuckling]
[Tad] It didn't go anywhere.
[chuckling]
With just patience, and we'll watch it.
-It is actually moving to that spot. -Yeah.
The floor is definitely still crooked,
so, now, we're gonna have to get to the bottom
of what's wrong and see how long it's going to take
because the foundation fix that was supposed to fix the foundation
didn't fix the foundation.
While we wait to get answers on our foundation,
we're moving ahead where we can with some of the electrical.
All right, you got mechanicals going in.
[Mina] Hopefully our contractor, Jordan,
can help us figure out the foundation problems once and for all.
We don't have the fireplace yet.
[Jordan] No fireplace yet, no fireplace yet.
[Mina] You are confusing so many people with that,
and then MJ came at me super-hyped,
and I was, like, "there's not a fireplace, Cory just did that!"
See, people are excited, it creates excitement.
We just need to get a gas line and vent it, and we'll be in good shape.
[chuckling]
No, let's talked about this foundation situation, sir.
[Jordan] Okey dokey.
Obviously, the original plan was to level the floor here the best we could.
[Mina] Didn't make a dent in the uneven floor.
[Jordan] No, it definitely didn't.
We got a second opinion from another foundation company.
[Mina] All right.
[Jordan] So, yeah, we'll go down here and show you everything.
[Mina] Um, what's going on here?
I don't understand why this, like,
it's framed out in front of a window.
I'm super confused what the point of any of this was.
All this framing was to support upstairs.
-Yeah, it's also carrying a load going back, too... -[Jordan] Correct.
...with this LVO.
But it didn't do anything.
-No, it didn't, it didn't... -No, it just added support.
...it just added support, right.
Poor Jordan, this problem was dumped in his lap,
he didn't do the first fix.
-He's picking up the ball from someone else's mess. -Yeah.
[Cory] But, admittedly, I did not know
that they were down there doing all of that framing.
I am not a foundation expert,
I hire and then trust them to do it.
After you hire the foundation experts,
you're supposed to oversee them, Cory,
that is literally the job of project manager.
[Cory] Well, in my defense,
the support that was added to the back of the house was needed.
There's still a ton of work to do in the front.
[Jordan] So, the plan is to lift
the house up both sides, knock this wall down,
new footer,
and new black wall.
and then it'll make the house level across the front.
So how much is this affecting our schedule?
[Jordan] So, he is five weeks out.
[Mina] [bleep], we can't do anything till then.
-[Mina] Ay-ay-ay. -[Cory] That sounds like a fun time.
[Jordan] So the plan is new footer
and new black wall.
So how much is this affecting our schedule?
So, he is five weeks out.
[bleep], we can't do anything till then.
-He's gonna put you down anyway, so. -Okay.
All that said and done, 'cause we're not replacing the siding,
we're taking that and rolling it into here. So that's it.
I know the way you're saying it makes it sound like it's a good deal.
-[Cory laughs] -But it's still not.
They had 30 grand in the bid to replace the siding.
And I said, "Hey, guys, we're not replacing the siding."
And they're like, "Oh, okay, we need 30 grand to fix the basement.
so we'll just put it towards that and you'll be even-steven."
I was like, "No, no, no, I already paid you seven gra to fix this foundation
and now you want 30 more?"
I would've liked to keep the 30 grand we were saving on siding, but nope.
I'm spending it to fix a foundation that I thought was already paid to fix.
-[Cory] Are we over budget right now? -[Mina] Yes.
-This is a joke. -We're gonna make it happen.
-Doing the best we can. -All right.
[Mina] Right now, the marke is crazy strong
and it's gotta be, like, any day the other shoe's gonna drop.
These problems are gonna take some time to figure out,
so time means we're just creeping closer to when that shoe drops,
and I wanna get this listing sold before that happens.
Framing progress on our hous has nearly stopped
while we wait our turn for the foundation guys
to get over there and fix the structure.
So we've been focusing on the back yard, getting the fence up,
the deck built, and started building our new garage.
-All right. -So, not only is it wavy this way,
it's wavy this way.
But we ran into yet another problem,
this time with the siding we were hoping to keep.
[Cory] It is pretty bad. It is a little bit worse than I thought.
This siding is jacked.
This house has really become a problem child.
So I really wanted to keep the wood siding
but after getting an estimate,
it was going to cost just as much to repair it
as it was going to be to replace it.
So that's an official $30,000 that I hadn't planned on,
on top of the $30,000 that I had to dump into the foundation.
So we are definitely in the red on this one,
and I'm for sure gonna be losing some money.
Maybe Tad and I can offer some labor.
-[Mina] To take all the siding off? -I'm good.
I was just kidding, but...
Done. It's been said.
-This will take-- -[Mina] Labor for the siding.
-Lovely. Okay. -[groans] What did I just do?
[upbeat music playing] ♪ Oh, I'mma win it ♪
♪ Run it, run it ♪
♪ By the time it takes you ♪
♪ Baby, I'm too busy ♪
[Cory] This is impressive.
This is really what needed to happen.
-Dang! -[Cory] That's what I said.
-[Cory] We are just going to town over here. -[Mina] Yeah.
[Mina] After waiting several weeks, we're finally getting starte
on the never-ending foundation repairs,
with new piers and a new footer on the front corner of the house.
And we're biting the bullet and installing our siding,
which is going to make this house look brand new.
♪ I run this town, I'll clear a dollar ♪
♪ I'mma win it ♪
[Mina] Inside insulation is in and drywall is going up.
And now it's time to triage my bleeding bank account.
This house has just been, like, a bottomless pit of problems.
Definitely was a money pit. Um, it's been a lot.
-[Mina] Emmy! -[MJ] Hello.
[Mina] So, I have to meet with MJ and Cory today
to see how we can design this house with a shoestrin budget we have left.
-This could just be an accent, as a feature wall. -[MJ] As a feature? Yeah.
Some kind of textured wallpaper
or patterned wallpaper up here?
[Cory] What's going on top of the bench?
[Cory] Marble?
I was thinking that, I'm not gonna lie.
-Is that too much? -[MJ] No.
We have an amazing opportunity in this entryway
to actually have an entryway, which we don't usually get.
So I think it's a good place for some low-cost accents like a wallpaper.
We could probably find a remnant piece of stone for the bench.
And it'll give a really big wow factor,
but not a huge budget hit.
[MJ] Where's our fireplace?
So yeah, we're having a fireplace in here.
[Cory and MJ laugh]
The fireplace is gonna really be the focal point.
-No. -And you know, they didn't plumb it for the fireplace,
-so we'll have to make sure we get-- -I'll do, I'll do that myself.
[laughs]
Oh, sure, let's just do a fireplace, Cory.
No big deal, it's not that much money.
We're talking about at least $4,000
but we're already way over budget with the foundation,
so it is just not happening.
We can't have that extravagance, no fireplace.
Big island here.
We got the nice long run, sink.
I love this kitchen.
Big stove, so yeah, this is gonna be very pretty.
This seems like it's really far out in the walkway, though.
If your sink is going right here,
the back of the bases are gonna lay in right here-ish, right?
The back of the bases land right here
Then you've got another 12 inches that comes this way.
[Mina] Yeah, maybe instead of base cabinets here,
we put that money into a custom island that's skinnier
but super simple, so it fits in the budget.
-[Cory] Uh, all right. -Okay, yeah, this kitchen's gonna be incredible,
excited about the fireplace.
-No. -Perfect.
[laughs]
-I really did not think through... -[MJ] Whoa, whoa.
-...space when I expanded the store hours. -[laughs]
-Uh-huh? -'Cause now we can't do this out in the bistro.
Yeah, there's definitely customers here.
MJ and I are at my store today,
which is now open seven days a week, all day.
Uh, so we are in the back room doing our design planning
because there are patrons in the store.
-Making plans in the stock room. -We're running out of space.
Yeah, so I've got flooring samples.
It's just a matter of picking the colors,
and I think because we have the black windows,
it would look really clean and classic
-to go with white paint on the exterior. -Love it.
Next, big chunk is our flooring.
-I don't love this one 'cause it's kinda yellow. -No.
[MJ] Too warm. Way too warm.
[Mina] So, these three.
For me, it's between these two, and I really like this big plank.
-[Mina] I really like the size of that one the best. Okay. -[MJ] All right.
We are drowning in overages,
so we really need to make some budget-friendly choices
that are also buyer-friendly, so we can sell it fast.
We want a blank palette that the homeowner can see themselves living in,
but still has some cool features around every corner.
Basic, but not too basic.
Yeah, so like basic, but with some pizzazz.
-Like, our basic bombshell house. -I love that.
The first design element we'll see is our little entryway.
Love this wallpaper.
[Mina] And it's gonna make such a big statement right when you walk in
-for so little money. -It looks so expensive.
[Mina] Okay, let's move into the kitchen and talk backsplash.
I like both of these tiles.
I also like this one and this.
We have enough of this left from another job
if we wanted to just do, like, a backsplash.
Just backsplash, not in the bathrooms, yeah.
[Mina] When there are leftovers from one proje to the next,
heck yeah I'm gonna shop from my own reserve
to save money, especially on this house.
And then we have that huge open space for the big, long island
that I wanna do just, like, something custom.
-[MJ] And super elongated. -[Mina] Super long.
-Kind of thin. -Yeah.
I love it.
-This is gonna be really cute. -Yeah.
And I'm really excited about the fireplace.
[Mina] Our budget bombshell in Michigan is finally movin in the right direction
with our garage complete and our sidewalks being born
Inside, the blond wood plank floor will warm up the white walls.
And we're able to snag some in-stock, budget-friendly white cabinets.
And today, Mom and the boys are checking in
on our long, skinny custom island
that will really make the kitchen shine.
[Karen] You brought me along for some reason,
and it wasn't just to see these handsome, talented men?
-Morning. -Hey.
[Cory] What's happening?
-So, this is my junkyard dog Adele. -[laughs]
[Karen] She had to have her back legs fixed,
so she's wearing the cone of shame and she's not happy about it.
I'm excited to see this island we designed via phone call.
I actually had a phone call with the guys at Iron Timbers,
and told them we needed a custom island for Michigan.
That communication turned into a doodle,
and that's all I know, the guys just ran with it.
So I have no idea what to expect.
So, I feel like, uh...
-I feel like this is it. -...this is it.
-[Karen] Come on, why are we doing this to us? -Do you wanna see it?
-[Karen] Yeah, I wanna see it. -[Cory] Yeah.
I ended up having a nightmare about this island
because I am a control freak.
One, two, three.
-[Cory] Wowzers. That is a... -[MJ] Oh, my God.
-...that's a beast. -[MJ] Yeah.
No, I love it.
I love that.
[Gary] I knew he would love it.
So, your need for control, you can just let it go in this situation.
You gave birth to the reason that I have to...
[laughs]
-...be in control of situations. -True.
-Yes. -100%, I did, that is true.
Lot of the time when we do these drop-in sinks...
...we're cutting this out, well, we don't like to waste this piece.
-So we use it as a seat cover. -This is fantastic.
We're gonna take this cutout where the sink fits,
and we're going to make a design in the top of it.
So he had this CNC machine,
we'll do a computerized cut that's absolutely perfect and just flawless.
-[Karen] Oh, look at that. -[MJ] Whoa.
-Wow, can I touch it? -Yeah.
[MJ] I mean, I think you guys nailed it.
Has this been therapeutic for you?
-Yes, this is incredible. -You let go of control and look what happened.
[MJ] Yeah, this is amazing.
[Mina] Over at the Michigan house,
we were able to find a leftover marble remnant
for just about 400 bucks, to add a wow factor
to the entry on a dime, because this is one house
that we cannot afford luxuries on.
-[Cory] This looks like your store. -[MJ] It is.
-[Cory] You need more than a hat to match. -Yeah.
[Mina] But MJ is making it his personal mission to hav
a fun, affordable design moment in every room.
[Cory] Ooh.
Okay.
-[Cory] This is going in Michigan? -[MJ] Yeah.
And when I saw it said fireplace on the framing, I got so excited.
-[MJ] You started something, -Our building-to-be.
-and we're here to finish it. -[laughs]
How much is it?
It's coming out of my budget, and I want it, so we're getting it.
-[Cory] Does Mina know about this? -No, not at all.
Mina doesn't want anything there at all.
Oh. Um... [exhales]
[MJ] Wow.
-[Cory] Does Mina know about this? -No, not at all.
-Mina doesn't want anything there at all. -Oh.
-Uh... -It's coming out of my budget and I want it,
so we're getting it.
It's totally electric, no gas line needed.
We have to find a way to retrofit it for cheap, cheap, cheap.
We have to make it as amazin and easy,
and inexpensive as possible
so that Mina doesn't kill me
The mid-century vibe of this fireplace
is the perfect accent to our basic bombshell design scheme.
All right. I love it, you love it,
-we have a fireplace. Perfec -[laughs]
Mina doesn't know about it, which is even more amazing.
And what else are we gonna do today that she doesn't know about?
-Cocktails. -Fantastic.
We're actually clocking out early today.
-Bye. -See you.
[Mina] Our classic white pai is up on the exterior of Michigan,
which is gonna hopefully appeal to a broad pool of buyers,
so we can sell this money pit fast.
We're also putting down grass seed and hay instead of sod,
because it's the middle of a cold Indiana spring and sod is not gonna do well
This way, buyers will have some green grass to look forward to,
and I'm not wasting money I don't have to.
So now, we just need to get some landscaping in and thi exterior will be done.
-[Karen] Let's dig some holes. -[Cory] Okay.
What we have out front is the cutest little mops you've ever seen.
These cute little fluffy balls of pine,
and on the corner there's a thunderhead, which is also a pine.
-So, will this be one solid hedge? -[Karen] It should be.
You don't have to shear these, you don't have to prune these, you just let them grow.
-[Cory] Oh, really? -Yes.
So they will be perfect.
Okay.
Let's dig a hole, little dog.
[Cory laughs]
Digging holes is a very repetitious situation to get yourself into.
-Mmm-hmm. -And this little thing just...
She's just the biggest ray of sunshine today.
Aw, and it looks like her little legs are feeling much better.
-She's in her happy place. -Is she awake or asleep?
-'Cause she feels like dead weight. -She's sleeping.
[Cory] That is so wild. She's so freaking cute.
[Karen] She had a very exciting morning.
[upbeat music playing] ♪ I'm a force, I do anything I want to ♪
♪ And enchanting, and you like it, don't you?
[Mina] The outside of the house is done,
but on inside, we still have a few finishing touches
and because we're so in the red on this one,
I wanna make sure we're appealing to as many buyers as possible,
so we can get it sold as quickly as possible.
So we're going basic, but not boring.
With the chic light fixture in the living room,
our classic white vein quartzite counters
and the black marble backsplash
we have left over from another house, set everything off.
Now it's time for the highlight of this kitchen.
[Mina screams]
It's so pretty.
There it is.
I've also tapped MJ and Cory in for some finishing touches
like installing our awesome wallpaper in the entry room.
Yeah. Yeah, what did you need my help for? You've got it.
I've got the hardware for the Malm fireplace.
-Let's go rock this out, while we're doing that. -Awesome.
Can't wait to see this.
Okay.
-Okay. -Yep.
It actually doesn't look too bad.
-That's actually dialed in. -Yeah.
-Okay, cool. -It looks great.
So now if you just wanna make something happen,
you just have to put your mind to it and be persistent.
Or just spray paint it right on the wall.
Or that, too.
Let's wait till Mina sees it, and then we can start celebrating.
[Mina] Um, what's going on here?
You know, I know I have a lot going on in my brain,
so it's very possible that I'm not remembering correctly,
but if I am correct, I've said no less than 47 times
that there is no fireplace in this house.
Yeah, but do you love it?
I love this thing.
[MJ] Yes!
Me, too.
I do love it.
I mean, I'm loving it 'cause I'm assuming it came out of the design budget.
Oh, 100%.
I mean, Cory's fireplace was a no go.
So I think... Has he seen this? Does it make him happy?
-Yes, he loves it. -Okay. He's wild.
This is a big five bedroom house
and it caught the eye of a young couple who have
two little kids who really just needs some more space to spread out.
So they're gonna come look at it tomorrow
and we really wanna decorate it with them in mind.
We kept it neutral overall with a lot of natural wood and textures...
Yay.
[Mina] ...because we put design elements
that we really wanted to stand out in each space,
like the wallpaper in the entry and the really cool light in the living room.
[MJ] We didn't want too man competing design elements.
This house has been a doozy.
We are definitely over budget,
um, probably at least $60,000 over budget.
That all being said, I am really happy with the way it turned out.
My bank account probably not so happy,
so we just need to move on and get it sold.
Let's send it on its merry way. Bye, Michigan.
[vocalizing]
-[Mina] Hi, guys. -[Karen] Good morning, good morning.
We picked a lovely day.
-Come on. -It's beautiful.
We'll try to make it inside quickly.
Lauren and John have a two and a half year old and a four week old
and they need a little more space.
-I'm just disappointed that no children came with you. -[Lauren] Oh, no you're not.
[Karen chuckles]
[Mina] And this is it.
[Lauren] It's beautiful.
It's gorgeous. I love the black windows on the white paint,
siding and the wood door.
-Very cool. -[Mina] Yeah, I'm glad you like it.
[John] Love the big front porch.
[Karen] Oh, yeah.
[Mina] The porch is all original.
But because the whole west side of the foundation failed,
we did significant foundation work to that west side.
It's structurally sound now which is lovely.
[John] Very impressive.
-I love it. -And then everything, you know,
fresh coat of paint, new windows,
so it's nice and light and bright and pretty again.
[John] It looks great.
[Karen] Your grass is going to grow in beautifully in the next few weeks.
And I gave you zero maintenance foundation landscaping.
-[Lauren] It's beautiful. -[John] Beautiful.
[Karen] Wanna get out of the rain?
-Let's do it. -Let's do it.
[Mina] Come on in.
-Wow. -[John] Ooh.
[vocalizing]
[Karen] Wanna get out of the rain?
[Lauren] Let's do it.
[Mina] Come on in.
[John] Wow.
-[Lauren] Wow. -[John] Ooh.
I love wallpaper.
[John] It's awesome.
[Karen] This is a really nic use of wallpaper.
It creates a little bit of movement and a little bit of drama.
[Mina] So when we started this house,
this was an entryway, but this wall was actually maybe like 4 or 5 feet back.
So it was kind of a waste of space.
We don't usually have like an entryway and space to play with,
so we made this really cute bench.
-[Lauren] Wow. -[John] Ooh.
-So let's go check out our living room. Yeah. -All right.
Ooh.
-There, that's what I was looking for, the ooh. -[Mina] Ooh.
-I love that. That's pretty cool. -[Karen laughs]
-Does it give off heat? -[Mina] It does.
Does it? That's very cozy.
It's got like a controller in there. You can crank it up or down.
[John] I've never seen a light like that before.
Mina's got a strong light game.
[John] I like how it's a softer light.
It's not blinding or anythin
-[Lauren] What are these floors? -[Mina] Vinyl.
Yeah, and these run through the entire house.
It just helps the rooms kind of feel a little bit more cohesive.
[Lauren] Yeah.
[Mina] This front room was a labor of love.
This side of the house had sunk.
The house was lifted, whole foundation was rebuil to level the floors.
-It feels very solid, so. -Yeah.
-[Lauren] All right. -All right, let's go check out the dining room.
-Wow. -Ooh.
I love how the kitchen and the dining room all flows
into the living room.
-[Mina] So we opened this whole wall up. -[Lauren] Very pretty.
-[Mina] So now you can see everything. -[Lauren] Yes.
That's important. Maybe I'll see the kids from the kitchen.
I like it. It's clean, it's fresh. I like the white.
-Do you wanna get a little closer to the kitchen? -Yes.
-Okay, let's go. -Spend lots of time there.
-This custom island... -[Lauren] Yeah.
I mean, just touch it.
-How impressive is that? -Wow.
I mean, what? What?
-Very cool. -[John] Love that.
Is this like butcher block? Can you cut stuff on it?
-I would not because it's beautiful. -[Lauren] Too pretty.
-[John laughs] -[Karen] What do you have?
A chopping block that covers your sink.
-Very cool. -Pretty cool.
How nice is that?
-It maximizes the island space. -Yes.
[Lauren] I wanted a gas rang
So we have amazing gas range.
I switched out, um, and put the bronze knobs on everything.
Vein quartzite counters, marble backsplash.
-And then, like, cabinet space. -[Lauren] Yeah.
I mean, I want this in my house.
Lovely French doors
with all the glass, so you get so much light from the back of the house.
There also is a brand new construction two car garage back there.
-And there's a huge yard. -Okay.
[John] Dang, look at this.
This is where the magic happens.
[Lauren] Let's go and see your main bedroom.
All right, come on in.
Wow.
-Very pretty. -You get your morning light.
-Uh-huh. -So the sun comes up,
and comes through this window and wakes you up very gently.
-[Lauren] There we go. -[John] That's nice.
This wall originally was probably about here.
So being able to push that back,
you've got your closet spac over there.
-[Lauren] Okay. -And being able to shrink the entryway a little bit
really made this room a lot bigger.
[Lauren] Yeah, it's very, very pretty.
-[Mina] Peek in the en suite? -Yeah.
[Karen] Pop your heads in there.
[John] The lights look very cool.
Very pretty.
[Mina] So you have, like, the nice, separate throne room.
[Lauren] Perfect.
[Mina] So this was a bathroom originally,
but we reoriented it to fit a double vanity
and make it much more functional en suite bathroom
[John] Very cool.
-[Mina] You wanna go see, ah, the kids' place upstairs -[Lauren] Absolutely.
-Let's go. -[Mina] All right.
-Even more natural light. -[Lauren] Yes.
Love the staircase. Very cool.
You got like a little loft space up here.
-Very quaint. -Nice.
When I originally did the walkthrough,
this wasn't really, like, functional the way it was laid out at all.
And knew we were gonna need to get three bedrooms and a bathroom.
And I think it turned out. It's cute. It's quaint.
-Yeah, okay. -[Mina] All right, let's go check out one of the bedrooms.
This is one of the three bedrooms up here.
-[Lauren] Oh, perfect. -[John] Nice.
[Mina] And because there are, you know, the unique roof angles,
put the closet space kind of tucked under here
because when you get much lower, it's not very functional walking room.
-But it's perfectly fine closet space. -[Lauren] Yeah.
[John] It's the perfect siz for a little minion.
-[Mina] Yeah, exactly. -[Karen laughs]
All right, ah, now that we've checked out
most of the space, let's go back down to the kitchen
-and we can talk numbers. -Talk turkey.
-Let's do it. -Sounds great.
This house has been a long project, um, but,
I think it turned out really well.
I hope you guys love it. It's, um, five bedroom.
We've got two and a half bath.
We added the two car garage and it's right around 2,300 square feet.
[John] I love the floor, the lighting, the space. Love the fireplace.
-[Lauren] Yeah. -[John] It's great. It's awesome.
This is definitely one of the most expensive homes,
purchase price wise, to date. It was $140,000.
Our original plan was to spend $220,000 on the reno,
but the endless foundation problems and the unforeseen siding replacement
pushed that up to $280,000.
All the extra bedrooms we added to this house
helped me be able to push the listing price up as hig as we can go at $429,000.
But after closing, that basically just gets us to the break-even line.
-I think you guys did an amazing job. -[Lauren] Yeah.
You're gonna have to find something better than this.
-It's gonna be tough. -[Karen] Yeah.
-[Karen laughs] -It's gonna be tough.
-They're gonna be back. [laughs] -Yep.
[vocalizing]
[Mina] John and Lauren didn't actually end up buying this house,
as someone else jumped on it really quickly actually.
And we need to offload this one quickly, recoup our costs.
So I accepted $422,000 which was a bit below list.
And, unfortunately, after closing costs and fees,
we're gonna take a little bit of a loss on this.
It's a tough blow, um,
but it's definitely something I'm weary of when we're doing really risky houses like this.
Definitely not a sustainable way to run the business.
So I just need to make sure the next couple of homes we do are slam dunks
and we can make up for this loss.