Coming up with the name/concept of "Save The Vicky" was a reaction after trying to sell the property in 2019 when 11 of 13 offers wanted the land & would tear down this Victorian Queen Anne (built-in 1910), FUELED the original desire to restore "The Vicky" as a DIY project. Make sure to Join the "Saving The Vicky" group for greater details and the most current progress of the restoration. The stor
y with this home begins in 2013 when I saw the "Victorian" (9230 W Ustick Rd) was being sold as a Short Sale @ 485k. It brought back memories of my past experience running a Wedding / Reception / Corporate Entertainment Company and seeing the best business opportunity in that industry were site locations. There was a particular site location that I recall performing at multiple times at that was a "Southern Plantation" style home, facing south like the "Victorian", were Wedding/Receptions would be held in the back yard and other Wedding Parties would rent the front of the "Southern Plantation" for photos without disturbing the event in the back yard. When I saw the "Victorian" faced south which is great for photos, with 1st story covered deck + 2nd story balcony + the 3rd story dormer (I saw it converted to a Romeo & Juliet Balcony). I immediately pictured a newly married couple standing in the Romeo & Juliet Balcony, while the parents and wedding party stood on the 2nd story, and the rest of the family and guests were on the 1st floor. This "Victorian" was the perfect wedding cake photoshoot opportunity + the property was sitting on 1.4 acres was the true driving force to why I wanted this house so bad, and think it's the reason I wore rose-colored glasses to the amount of renovation it would take. As a Real Estate Broker with extensive experience with Short Sales @ Realty Defenders, I was confident I could get the property at a better deal. Unfortunately with short sales in the beginning the lenders are not as willing to take a loss at the beginning of the sales process. Let's fast forward to April 2015, the short sale lenders were holding firm to a sales price of 375k for the Victorian. The "Farmhouse" (9350 W Ustick Rd) to next to the Victorian, built-in 1920, came on the market as an REO @ 159k. Due to the land and bldg size, I was 85% confident if we bought this property it could be used as a comparison to get the price reduced on the Victorian. We then went back to the short sale lenders with a counteroffer of 250k showing the surrounding comparable to justify the 250k offer. They countered with 300k and we accepted. The problem now is that we spent 159k of our cash on the "Farmhouse" and I was 40% confident we could get a loan to purchase the "Victorian". Another long story cut short by summarizing that after 2 "commercial" appraisals + significant down payment and massive creative efforts we were able to get a loan and closed the deal at the end of September 2015. I forgot to mention that when we purchased the "Farmhouse" to beat out investors we had to purchase as our primary residence and live in the property for 1 year, which created a problem now that we also own the "Victorian" is in really bad shape, spent much of our cash on both purchases and not sure if we could find renters. Well, to cut another long story short I promised to take on the "Victorian" restoration as a DIY project now that I had 7 property flips under my belt and that I would find renters that would be willing to rent the house as I also started the renovation. I was able to find renters from January 2016 until the end of May 2019 but never started any of the renovations due to life events (a story for another time) :)
By 2019 my rose-colored glasses were pretty faded and had to face a choice between the real estate software company I had started or take-on the restoration of "The Vicky" (the nickname we used over the years) to become a Wedding venue, but not both. To cut yet another long story short on June 1st 2019 I put "The Vicky" for sale "As is" (see how the house was left by the last tenants https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=439443330283742)
To shorten the "for sale" story I can summarize by sharing that when "The Vicky" was listed "for sale" from June 2019 to Sept 2019, there were 13 offers submitted, 11 of those offers were from investors that had the intention to tear down the 1910 Victorian Queen Anne home and build high-density real estate. Those offers only turned my faded rose-colored glasses RED and fueled to my creative thinking on how to preserve one of the area's original homesteads, by convincing my family to participate with me in this once in a lifetime DIY project. Once people saw that we didn't sell and started restoring, some would stop by to get a tour or even see if we needed help. Due to my revitalized desire to restore most of this home with my own hands and to save as much of our retirement nest egg as possible I've been trying different ideas to get a community-driven restoration process calling it “Saving The Vicky”. Here is a video providing that overview https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2461195657502453
As an update to the story, 2020 took it's toll on the restoration, back surgery and personal life putting new meaning to "Saving The Vicky" this time from getting liquidated in divorce proceedings. Without airing the details I'll do everything in my power to make sure I keep the house and finish what I started. I post most of the restoration updates via posts and/or into Video series found here https://www.facebook.com/watch/SavingTheVicky/ in the Series
