SSS #304: Project Silver Spring SOLD!

I had a few tweets go semi-viral this week, which brought in a handful of new subscribers. A warm welcome to all the fresh faces. Hope you enjoy 🥂

Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca

We wore matching outfits to A Day Out With Thomas in Phillipsburg, NJ.

Project Silver Spring SOLD!

We sold Project Silver Spring for $3,250,000.00. It's my largest project to date by size and price.

I'd like to share some pictures and relevant costs.

But first, some specs:

5,800 livable square feet
6 beds, 6 full baths, 1 half bath
.5 acre lot

1/ The Property Itself - $1.375M

The seller's agent reached out a few days before the Broker's Open to tell us they were bringing an Estate Sale to market in ~10 days at $1.250M.

We offered $1.3M after the broker's open + an add'l $75K if they cancelled the Open House. They accepted our offer within a few hours and we were off to the races.

Total Acquisition Costs: $1.4M

2/ Soft Costs & Professionals - $50K

We paid our architect, engineer, and designer ~$50K total.

We used Gregory Ralph Architect, Morgan Engineering, & NoaBlake, respectively.

The designer is popular in town for custom builds. We *maybe* traded at a premium because her name was attached.

3/ Demo & Dumpsters - $30K

Demolishing an Addition Renovation is much more expensive & labor-intensive than new construction.

We had to be careful not to touch the structure above the garage bc of side-yard setbacks.

If that came down, it would trigger a variance🙅‍♂️

We often convince ourselves it's cost-effective to save a foundation, but I honestly think the new construction premium more than makes up for it. To make matters worse, some towns are treating addition renovations as if they were new construction anyway, so you're not getting the full benefit anymore.

4/ Mason - $65K

The prior owners did 3 separate additions to the original foundation, but they weren't connected. We filled the gaps and added ~300sf to the foundation.

We also ripped off the first-floor joists and added 2 blocks to the perimeter to raise the ceiling height to 8'. This transformed the basement, which was super important because that's how this family will most likely enter their home.

We also had our mason install 3 drywells in the front yard for storm water management, which came out to another $15K.

5/ Framing, Roofing, Siding, & Windows - $250K

Lots of Engineered Lumber (BLIs)
ZipSystem Sheathing
Anderson 400 Casements (Black on Black)
James Hardie Siding (Shingles & Planks)
GAF Timberline Roof + Metal Accents
AZEK trim

If I could go back and change some things, I wouldn't have done the Zip or Anderson 400s. We could have saved a lot of money and not impacted our sales price at all.

6/ HVAC, Electrician, Plumbing - $100K

No pictures because we didn't do anything fancy here.

HVAC: Rheem 2 systems, 3 zones
Electrical: Standard, didn't even do dimmers
Plumbing: Navien Tankless + Recirculating Hot Water

7/ Cabinets, Countertops, & Closets - $85K

We used Cubitac Cabinets, Quartz Tops, & Modular Closets throughout.

This was my first time using Cubitac, and it'll likely be my last. They were fine, but I think we could have achieved the look for much less by using Fabuwood.

I'm pretty happy with the countertop selection, and the modular closets were awesome. They came and measured every closet in the house in an afternoon as soon as we were done drywalling, and then installed them in a morning about three weeks later.

8/ Floors, Doors, & Trim - $85K

Mahogany Double Front Door
Black Insulated Clopay Garage Doors
Single Panel Solid Int. Doors
7" Engineered White Oak
7" Shoe Molding on 1st, 5" on 2nd

These floors are the best. Compared to natural hardwood, they're easier to install, more durable, look better, and less expensive. Win-win-win-win.

9/ Appliances - $40K

Viking:

48" Fridge
48" Cooktop
Double Wall Oven
Dishwasher
Nugget Ice Machine

XS:

2 Beverage Fridges

Bosch:

Dishwasher #2 in Scullery

10/ Tile & Fixtures - $75K

Our designer did not let us skimp on anything bathroom-related. Each mirror was like $500+. We even swapped out the flush fixture on the toilets to match the sinks. We did custom marble countertops in two bathrooms. One of the guest bathrooms has Brizo fixtures throughout. Wild.

11/ Sales Costs - $180K

Agents made 4% (Happy to pay it)
The State of New Jersey made 3.5% (New Mansion Tax🤮)

That's a Wrap!

Obviously, this list wasn't exhaustive. I left many smaller line items out. I also left out my largest line item: Interest Expense.

I didn't include interest because that's subject to change based on how one finances their development. As you may already know, I use 100% financing to fund all of my projects, so my interest expense is quite high. The reason I do this is so I can do more projects at the same time.

I'm playing a volume game.

Shout-out to all of my hard and private money lenders.