Most of the time when we’re flipping a home for sale, we’re not looking to reinvent the wheel or end up with editorial worthy cutting edge design, we’re updating to get the home ready for a family to move in, and if the new owner wants to splurge on a larger renovation that involves moving plumbing or framing, that’s up to them. In the meantime, they can proudly move into a home that has fresh finishes and working modern fixtures.  

In my personal residence I’m all about going big, going luxe, going BOLD. Not as bold as the bathroom above (ha!) but BOLD, and that’s because I have no plans of selling my house. Ever. I refuse to sell, so I’ll do whatever I want when it comes to renovations and design in my own home, and you can too! 

But what about renovating homes for sale? We’re taking these walls and colour schemes from the 1970s to the 2020s, and we want the home to appeal to as many buyers as possible so we want neutral, bright, fresh, clean, repaired and ready to go. Blank Canvases for the new owner.  

The never ending Honey-Do List

Nicky comes from a long line of NYC Real Estate experts, his family owning and operating multiple multi-family buildings in Brooklyn long before he became the infamous Building Superintendent that he is today.

Having successfully completed decades of renovations and tenant turnovers in the UWS of Manhattan, including large scale commercial, pre-war rental and luxury apartments, buildings in Brooklyn and Long Island.

Through watching his NYC flips and tenant prep-for-sale turnovers, I learned a lot from NYCRE that we apply to our work here in Victoria every day.

Having a Superintendent that is the real Stack of all Trades is truly the StackHaus Ace. I have yet to find something he can’t repair or build.

What we both love to do (Dad Stack was a flipper and taught me well!) is flip homes for sale for our clients. The joy we get from improving homes is like nothing else. And how does one flip a home for sale on a budget? Lots and lots of elbow grease! 

I just love working within the confines of refresh renovation, especially a time capsule like this one. As an abstract sequential learner/thinker I get immense satisfaction in repairing and making homes work for the new occupants, and knowing all the little ways to cosmetically update a room. 

We applied the same winning formula that we flipped the kitchen with to the bathrooms - paint, epoxy, new fixtures, et voila! We removed SO MUCH wallpaper from this house, scrubbed the walls with TSP and perfected smooth walls with multiple layers of spackle & sanding. Painting is 75% prep work. 

Using Cloverdale Paint’s fantastic cabinet paint we sanded and refinished all the bathroom cabinets, moving and replacing the hinges. After that we sprayed the inside of the boxes, applied new modern contact paper and shiny chrome hardware with new plumbing fixtures. 

We recycled the cabinets as well as the tub & tile, Nicky installed a new sink, toilet, faucet, mirror, shower head and towels bar. He does it all :) 

You like that black General Contractor nail? SEXY!

For the blue tub, we were quoted nearly $2,000 to have it reglazed or refitted. No thanks! 

Instead we got our PPE on (Personal Protection Equipment), gas mask and goggles for protection, and carefully painted out 3 coats of enamel. You’ll have to stay tuned to see the finished product, but we are SO PLEASED with the results!

If you’re going to refinish a bathtub or tile with Tub & Tile epoxy, please remember the fumes are NASTY and no one should be in the house for at least 3 days after. Not even for a minute.

Second Coat - Almost Done!

After all of that was done we attacked the bathtub that needed an upgrade.

You’ll have to stay tuned for the listing pics and promo videos to see the end result, but here we have two coats of Tub & Tile epoxy on the tub and surround.

We added some marble tile and added some more 1×1 tile to extend the tiled area to a more modern height.

Looks so awesome! Can’t wait to show you the end result :)

Pending : A-489 Foster St. 

Congratulations to these wonderful buyers! They had a wish list and got exactly what they were looking for, in the BEAUTIFUL Municipality of Esquimalt! This zebra built home is located on a sweet street with an ocean cove at the end of the street and walking distance to shopping, restaurants and parks. Esquimalt is the BEST! Way to go buds, So proud of you, so, so proud. 

Esquimalt is lucky to get two wonderful new neighbours to Saxe Point! This newer home is the Victoria dream, being able to smell the ocean from your house, walk to a pub or farmer’s market, enjoy excellent amenities, mild winters, sunny gorgeous summers. Congratulations :) :) 

Have we been busy? Why YES WE HAVE. 

Congrats to our referral up in Nanaimo this week - what amazing value Nanaimo offers, thank you Feron Walker at 460 Realty Inc. for such great work and congrats to the buyers - welcome to Vancouver Island! So excited for you! Nanaimo offers incredible value, and is just booming right now. Get in, act fast, and hold that property! 

So we’re nearly ready to have professional photos taken of our latest flip but I couldn’t help but get some images of the kitchen up on here, I’m beaming with satisfaction after completing this little mini-renovation. 

This 1970’s kitchen was in its original untouched state, and needed to be refreshed. The cabinets next to the windows were taken down to allow more light to come into the space. We then scrubbed and rinsed every surface with TSP, spackled and caulked, sanded and prepped the cabinets. 

We sprayed out the ceilings, rolled out the walls, applied 3 coats of a fantastic product from Cloverdale Paint, their ‘Cabinet and Furniture’ comes in 5gal pails - what an excellent candy coat finish it gives! We replaced the hardware and hinges, sprayed the insides of the cabinets and applied new contact paper. 

Nicky is the StackHaus Realty secret weapon, the sauce, the gravy. He added a marble tile backsplash, hood fan, cleaned up the sink, added a new faucet and worked magic on the countertops, applying a stone finish epoxy then layers of buffed resin for a gorgeous stone look! 

The cherry on top is the new stainless slide in range and larger fridge. We found the perfect off-cut vinyl flooring at End of the Roll. Flipping houses is my favourite thing in the whole world, thank you Nicky none of this would be possible without you and your incredible skills. 

Having been my own landlord for over a decade, I was inspired when I met my husband, Nicky, a Building Superintendent from Manhattan, to get my Property Management licence and start our own Real Estate Brokerage - and guess what? We did just that. 

Nicky was a Building ‘Super’ in the UWS of Manhattan for a large mix-use 1890’s building at 99th & Broadway, and when I would visit him there I learned a lot about Property Management. New York City doesn’t mess around, and being privy to a NYC Building Superintendent’s day to day was anything but boring.

Between tenant turnovers, commercial tenants, leasing, constant repairs, renovations, upgrades! New York Building Superintendent work is not for the faint of heart, there was constant hassling and haggling, a non-stop barrage of defensive negotiations and dodging scams. Every second of the day. So! I trust us at StackHaus Realty Inc. to handle any situation Victoria Real Estate has to hand us. After NYC, Victoria is absolute paradise.

We met our lovely home owners at 1215 Lockley at an open house at one of our listings for sale, we got along great and I was so pleased when they asked me to represent their Rockheights, Esquimalt home as a Property Manager. With patience and diligence we all worked together to achieve short-term rental registration status with the Township of Esquimalt, who allow 30 day minimum rentals. 

There is SUCH a demand for these mid-term rentals, not quite short enough to really be a week long holiday short term rental, and not a long term unfurnished rental, the mid-term furnished rental is key for folks looking for a home away from home in Greater Victoria. 

Who needs mid-term or monthly furnished rentals? Family coming to visit! People visiting for medical reasons, to visit our hospitals and also travelling nurses. Locals need to be housed in mid-term rentals when their home is being remediated or renovated, and every winter our Victoria rentals are filled with renters from the rest of Canada enjoying our mild weather and lack of snow :)

Students, snowbirds, evacuees, locals, travelling nomads. They are all looking at Victoria for their temporary home away from home. The amount of people that want to rent while they purchase a home in Victoria is HUGE, also folks between their sale and next purchase. It can take months to find the perfect home. 

Are you looking for some extra cash from your primary residence while you’re away? Do you have a suite you’d like to turn into a furnished rental? We are your people! 

We love to market and manage rentals, and will take care of your home with the same care that we take of our own properties. Call us at Stackhaus Realty today for any questions about making some rental income with your Real Estate! And while we don’t have property managers that represent residential tenants I’m happy point you in the right direction. 

AirBnb is still the number one place for finding monthly furnished rentals, there’s also Kijiji, Craigslist, UsedVictoria, Rentals.ca, Facebook Marketplace and so many rental groups on Facebook as well that you may want to join. Most of those websites apply to unfurnished websites, but I would also suggest looking at the big rental companies in town, they will have the larger buildings posted online as well. 

The RTB recognizes anything less than 90 days as a ‘short term rental’ and anything more is subject to the RTA (Residential Tenancy Act). Check out the BC Gov website for more info on legislation, registration, provincial requirements (and check with your municipality as well)…

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/housing-tenancy/short-term-rentals

Reach out if you have any questions, and I’ll try my best to help, or will point you in the right direction.