Demolishing My House

What's up you guys, it's Graham here! So first off, let me just start by saying I was blown away by how many people wanted an update from the aftermath after my tenants moved out. I don't think I have ever received so many comments from everyone, all asking for this project to be turned into its own series. So you guys have asked, I have listened, and I'm going to do it! You could expect to see a new video on this channel every 7 to 10 days. So if you want to be a part of it, make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you don't miss out. And as always, make sure to gently smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm; it really helps out a lot. Plus, this should be a really fun journey to see how it all turns out, and I'm really excited to have you part of it.

But first, let me bring everyone up to speed before I cover some really important topics and go over the current condition of the unit. When I purchased this place, it was already in a pretty disastrous condition. The current tenants lived here almost 10 years by the time that I took over, and the last owner didn't do really any repairs, and the overall unit was a bit of a mess. Now, I did my best to repair as many of the issues as I could while they were still living here; that includes a new roof, fixing some of the plumbing, and fixing a lot of the windows. But to really fix the place up like this, you gotta take it down to these studs.

Now, I knew that when I bought it, I was fully aware that whenever the tenants moved out, it would require me to go in and do something like this and completely redo it. Anyway, that happened two weeks ago when their situation changed; they had to relocate, and now here we are today. Oh, and really quick, for anyone claiming or thinking that I was filming in front of a green screen in my last video, no, I was not! I don't even have a green screen, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to use it. It turned out to be this really weird effect where I have a light shining in front of me while wearing a white shirt with a dark background. See, here's proof. I could just keep walking back to show you that it's not a green screen, and there you go, mystery solved! I can even ask you to destroy the like button from all the way over here since this is not a green screen.

Anyway, but first, let me address everyone who is asking why the tenant left behind so much trash when they moved out and also whether or not they ended up getting their security deposit back. For those that didn't see the previous video, here's the condition of the unit when I got back the keys. And there's been a lot of confusion about that situation, so let me clear a few things up, including the fact that this is also not a green screen either, just in case you thought I lied about that earlier. There you go, here's proof.

When the tenant was moving out, there was a lot of stuff that they wanted to throw away. There was a lot of stuff accumulated over the last decade that they weren't going to be taking with them and they also couldn't afford to pay for such extensive trash removal. So I told them it was not an issue to leave behind whatever they did not want and wanted to throw away and then I would handle all of the removal for them. It would save them money, it would save them time, it would make their lives a little bit easier, and to me, it makes absolutely no difference because I was hiring a crew to come in here and tear everything apart anyway. So that is why in the last video, there was so much trash left behind.

I also gave back their full security deposit because, like, come on! This is what the unit is going to look like a week later anyway. Now, of course, it would be entirely different if they moved into a totally pristine unit and it moved out a year later and it had like five thousand dollars worth of repairs. Obviously, yes, in that case, I would be deducting some of that from a security deposit. But for something like this, no, not gonna happen. I have to go and extensively remodel the entire unit regardless of the condition they leave it in, so they got their full deposit back.

When it comes to things like this, I don't claim to be an expert landlord. I've certainly made my fair share of mistakes, and I think I still have a lot to learn. But my philosophy is that being a landlord is very much a people business, whether you like it or not. To me, it's just as much about customer service as it is about finding a worthwhile investment in the first place that will make you your money back, and it's all about finding the right combination so that you have a happy tenant, you get paid rent every single month, and you still manage to make a profit.

Now, part of that has to do with screening your tenants really, really well before they move in. That way, you could prevent any disastrous situations from happening in the first place. But once they move in, in a way, they become your customer. Tenants don't like moving around, and landlords don't like filling vacancies. So I try to go out of my way to make sure the tenant is as happy as possible and wants to stay as long as they like, even if it means I lose a little money every now and then. I just know that long term, I'm gonna make it all back plus way more.

Of course, there are situations where you will need to be firm and put your foot down because at the end of the day, you are running a business. But oftentimes, good customer service goes a long way. From what I've seen, those are the businesses that end up doing the best long-term.

So anyway, let me show you the current condition of the unit and I mean what's happened over this last week. Because as you could see here, a lot of work has gotten done in the living room. We begun by knocking out both of these walls that you see on either end. And then remember how in the last video I was questioning the condition of the hardwood floors underneath the carpet? Well, Meet Kevin came over a few days ago and peeled back some of the carpet, and it looks as though these floors are in perfect condition! It's still a bit too early to tell whether or not I can find matching hardwood to fill in these spots where the walls are throughout the hallway, but so far so good.

Then we got the dining room, and as you can see, we got rid of all of the walls that open up to the kitchen, and all of a sudden, this place seems so much larger. This is where the center island will now be. They've also opened up this space over here where the guest bathroom is going to be built, and it started to open up the closets where the washer/dryer will now be. We also got rid of all of those disgusting acoustic ceiling tiles and we'll be replacing that with smooth drywall and recessed lighting. It's also really cool to see what's behind these walls because you start to see all the things you couldn't see otherwise, like you had these original clay vent tubes from the 1920s that are still intact.

Then we have the kitchen, and it's really not too much to see right now besides the fact that we don't have any walls anymore. But it's really interesting to see that once you start taking apart the walls and seeing what's behind the drywall, do you really get to see how much work the unit really needs and how much it's going to cost. Because as you can see over here, this window is in pretty bad condition. Originally, I was planning to keep as many of these windows as possible to save on the cost, but some of these, like this one, absolutely need to be replaced.

This is also why I always tell people to assume the renovation is going to be costing them more money than they think it will, every single time! You just can't properly determine how much something is going to cost until you begin tearing away at the walls and seeing what's behind them. And that brings up a big question I would love to get your thoughts on. There's a few windows in here that will have to be replaced because they're beyond repairing, like that one. However, once I replace a few, I start thinking to myself, well, now I may as well just go and replace all the windows so that at least they match.

But see, here's the thing. On the one hand, I'm not gonna be receiving any more in rent for having all brand-new windows. And replacing all of them is going to cost me about $9,000 with labor, material, and installation. Like, even this big window in front would easily cost me a few thousand dollars alone. It means from a numbers and a business perspective, I'm spending $9,000 on something that is not going to give me much ROI, which makes it very difficult to justify doing, especially because at one point in the future, maybe like 15 or 20 years from now, I would like to tear this place down and then build a four-plex. So whatever money I spend on this right now is not going to make much of a difference.

Then not to mention, some of these windows have been grandfathered in, which means if I were to go and replace them, I would have to bring them up to 2019 code, and they might not be as cool as this. I mean, we have some pretty cool swiveling windows here. However, if I did change them out, then having new windows would be one less thing I would have to replace in the future. And if I'm going to replace them, then now is the time to do it! Not to mention the next tenant might appreciate having all brand-new windows.

But is it worth the cost of going and replacing perfectly good, fully functional windows, albeit that sure they're just a little bit old? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Like I said, I do my best to read as many of your comments as possible, so if you feel one way or another, just let me know and I will take that into consideration.

Anyway, now we have what's left of the hallway, and that leads us to what goes in to see you again. Proof it's not a green screen! Into the first bedroom that is over here. Anyway, a lot of it has been completely opened up, including these two windows over here that I was thinking of also replacing. They're both fully functional, they do a great job; they're old though, and not everyone likes the swivel style. But if I do replace them, these would both be gone.

Now, this wall is soon to be walled off over here that now leads to the second bedroom, and this former closet where I'm filming right here is going to be walled off to make some space for the bathroom behind it, and then finally the new closet too. This bedroom is going to be installed along this wall right over here.

Now we get into the current condition of the bathroom right now, and like I said, this will be turned into a hallway that leads to the master bedroom, which looks like quite a mess right now if I turn the camera around. So this was also a really difficult design to coordinate, and that would be what will be pretty soon the master bathroom. Now typically, it doesn't take too long to figure out a conducive floor plan design, but this one for me has been nothing but a struggle and nothing but a headache because I just can't figure it out.

So since I'm going and redoing the floor plan, I originally had it where you would walk in from this hallway into the master bedroom, the walk-in closet on the right, and a standard bathroom design behind it. But a subscriber of mine saw this in the last video, and shout out to you Daniel for noticing this! He brought it to my attention that walking into a bedroom with a half-open closet on the one side would create a little bit of congestion if more than one person walked into the bedroom at the same time. So we came up with another design that would turn the entire hallway, as you walk in, into one large closet, and that would free up more space for the master bathroom to have two vanities.

However, it also felt weird to have a bathroom with two opposing vanities and then an oddly shaped shower in the corner. So then we came up with a third design to keep the closet along the side of the wall, but then rearranged the bathroom to allow for two sinks right when you walk in and then keep the shower in the corner. And even though I wasn't 100% happy with the design, it worked!

That was until Meet Kevin came over and gave me his thoughts on the floor plan. He came up with the idea of having the walk-in closet entrance off of the bathroom, which is now pretty common floor plan among new constructions. Now that floor plan might actually work perfectly, and we're going to have to finish the demo first before committing to any ideas. Although I have to say that is my current favorite floor plan, and a huge thank you to Kevin for the idea!

Let me know your thoughts on this down below in the comments, because I know some people aren't a huge fan of having the clothes right off the bathroom, but to me it seems like a pretty decent use of space. But I gotta say overall this process has been going very smoothly. The demo of this unit should be done by the time this video posts, and then after that we could begin to rebuild it and make it look brand new again, because it, well I guess it will be brand new!

It's always a little difficult for me on these types of projects because I want everything to be perfect. I notice every little thing with this unit and every little thing that gets done. So for me, sometimes I have to realize that maybe the floor plan of the master bedroom won't ever be 100% perfect. Maybe it might be 95% of the way there. But I need to not get caught up in trying to make everything flawless because otherwise, you spend way too much time and way too much money on things that don't really make that big of a difference.

And also, I want to take this time to answer two questions I got a lot of in my last video. Number one: "Graham, why is your head so big?" And the reason why is because I am using a wide-angle lens, so whatever gets close to the lens—as soon as I lean in—looks really big compared to everything else! And usually as I'm talking forward with my head here, my head just ends up looking a lot bigger.

Second, a lot of people ask how I find contractors to work with, and a lot of that for me has just been word of mouth. I go and speak with other people who are happy with their home remodeling services and then I go and meet with them, get a bid, and if it all goes well, then I hire them for the job. So far, I've got a really good team of people I really enjoy working with, and I will continue using them on other projects as well. I've also used Yelp a lot to find a lot of smaller service providers. I will just go and Yelp, sort by top-rated, read the comments, and if they look good, I will go give them a call and try them out.

I've also gotten really bad referrals and contractors as well, and it's important to realize that not everyone will be perfect, and every contractor and every person out there will have some flaws. People are always going to have faults and issues, so it's really just about dealing with it as best as you can and then figuring out which battles to pick and which like buttons will be smashed.

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching! I really appreciate it. As always, if you guys enjoyed videos like this, make sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you don't miss out on any future remodeling videos, which, like I said, will happen every 7 to 10 days. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram! I posted pretty much daily, including smaller updates on this, so if you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me on that.

And don't feel free to add me on my second channel, The Graham Stephan Show. I post there every single day I'm not posting here. So if you want to watch a brand new video from me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that. Lastly, if you guys want a free stock, Webull is holding a promotion: deposit $100 on their platform, get two free stocks. One of those stocks is going to be valued up to $1400! So if you want a chance to have a stock valued up to a lot of money, go and use the link down below in the description. Enjoy your two free stocks! Thank you so much for watching, and until next time!