Buccis’ Dutchie on Garfield: 1 for 11 at the plate, a 1920 Grand Slam
CONGRATS TO THE 2017 ROOKIES OF THE YEAR- this is a story of triumph, and embodies the ethos at RFP, ignorance is bliss on your first restoration, and securing a classic home with terrific stock isn’t for the timid, these two outplayed double digit offers and looking back it was savvy-savant-period-classic-Kingfield-Bliss!
We met Lauren & Reid in the spring of 2017, after a tumultuous level of market failure in the Spring and Summer of 2017. “We contacted Rare Form after losing 10 homes, our broker was risk averse, & we are naturally so, so the combination of risk aversion was stacked against us. We were following his lead, and we were not desperate to get a house in the beginning, but as the losses mounted it became frustrating, as we both are not the types to settle on that repetitive amount of failure.”
It was a hurricane like season in the buyer marketplace: a flood of first time buyer interest, rising rents, low interest rates, and at the epicenter of this was a demand for walkability in South Minneapolis, a renewed urban enthusiasm was near boiling hot in 2017.
The Bucci’s have an amazing backstory, via Detroit and Indiana, they met at Oxford Ohio Miami U, and didnt reconnect until years later in corporate America, where Lauren ran HR and met Reid at company outings. Regarding their home search; they had enough personal ties, and the journey they had began so roughly, that it was personal for us to land them a truly remarkable classic home. Before we get to baby-Garfield, lets first snap their journey as tenants.
Tell us about your renting career, and how it correlated to your arrival on investing in real estate? Career renting in posh apartments from Chicago to Minneapolis, we were used to the communal bustling of post workday cocktailing from chicago, but in Minneapolis this gauge hit another level. We left an apartment building where residents literally partied daily, ‘Elan’, everyone is super young, post college. The biggest factor was our selection of an apartment overlooking the westerly views, and pool facing the sunsets- this heightened the exposure to the care-free consumption of luxury apartment dwellers.
In your renting career, did the rents progress with your income? If you looked at on a graph there was a consistent increase annually in rents, especially in Chicago, were we landed a wonderful apartment and after year one, the landlord notified of a 400 dollar single year increase. Renting wasn’t all bad for us, part of the long duration was due to life in Chicago, the climate there was more leasing based than ownership.
“Now we are super happy- we have space, we have a backyard, I got to drop my jewel toned wonder all over this 20s classic.”
Enter 4040- she went live mid-week as an estate level listing in west Kingfield, an extremely desired pocket due to architectural diversion, community cohesion, and spacious lots, the Dutchie was nestled on 1 of the 3 consistent block award winners. It was under listed, the sellers were religious and initially just wanted to sell the home to someone from Church.
As the dust settled, we knew the score on the playing field, 7 offers in total on 4040 at her 325k list price. We had taken a long enough look on several tours to write the offer as-is, in Rare Form investor ink, with poise and certainty, free of fearing the unknown. Paris Alves delivered clear understanding of the financials allowing us to trust fall with an offer of 56k over list. After a sweaty-palm review period we landed it, our real estate purchase chapters of demise were over!
There was some uncertainty as this was the first offer we had written with RFP, always the wonder if we overpaid enters these style of highly competitive auction style offer deadlines, fast-forward to weeks later, when the appraisal dropped in at 425k, “this guy is a wild card, but the appraised value made us feel ok”
It was a strategic bidding war, and inspection was completed after closing, Gary arrived after closing to provide his thorough 4 hour assessment: the lapses were all palatable: electrical was redone, new service was installed, drainage needed correction- several of the outstanding maintenance issues we planned to correct with the trades post closing, as we also entrusted the craft workmanship of Rare Form’s trade referrals.
Q: After you won this, were your nerves totally rattled? “When we won it I was okay. When we signed at the closing I was okay, and we came back to the house with all the trades, to measure the space for restoration and tape measures came out, and then I began to panic, what had we done?”
The house had a patina of decades of encapsulated aging without any modern cosmetic influence, as Steve described it: “a sprawling footprint with cherry originality”- translation here is untouched antique store level originality. The kitchen was covered in sand pebble tile all over, wallpaper was everywhere under the paint in most rooms, creating heavy removal and skim-coating restoration for Perez & his crew. This restoration was straight cannonball, as every surface was dealt with at the onset, 1000’ square of craftsman era footprint on two levels. The key was hiring passionate trades and trust falling the timeline and budget.
“This was our first ever jump into homeownership, and the same could be said times ten when it came to the remodel side. We hadn’t done much beyond painting walls and changing light bulbs in previous apartments, so we weren’t quite sure what we were getting ourselves into”
The scope of work was blueprinted Rare Form revival phase 1: restoring hardwoods throughout, plaster prep and paint every room above ground- including trim enamel upstairs, fireplace, and millwork lacquer on the main floor to revive her heritage grain.
“As we saw the canvas before us, we knew we had a gem to start with, but we had no idea where to start. Steve’s team carried the labor, but not without our need to get our hands dirty, too . . .
Sourcing countertops, shelving, and hardware
A blend of high and low finds to give us the look we wanted at a price we could manage post closing
Bucking the trend of open floor plans and airy colors to give us: moody vibes that felt right for 1920 Garfield
Israel took heart to their spirited humility for his labor, often working hand in hand to complete Lauren’s moody jewel toned interior. They became so close that he shared Thanksgiving table at 4040 upon completion.
The kitchen was added, as it was so disco that the Bucci’s decided they had to tackle it, and they did it with the (duplex-manifesto) recipe- dark enamel on existing cabinetry, demo uppers for floating butcher top shelving, modern ikea added to range surround, new lighting fixtures and hardware, and a fresh take on a tired space was accomplished on a post first time buyers budget.
Stories like this are more satisfying for us than big dollar renovations, as its the improvisation and corner cutting in costs that makes true DIY spirit, the Bucci’s embodied this to their core, even adding ceiling AV to allow their love of music to dance nightly with the love of cooking together.
“At the end of the day, we did one thing: we trusted Steve & RFP. And more so than that, we trusted Israel. They both kept our visions true to Garfield’s 1920 heritage, while still helping us make it our own. Just don’t ask Israel about the fireplace, Lol”
While we would consider this phase one, we focused on the areas that mattered to us most- a great kitchen and living space to entertain, and backyard reset that we could put our own sweat equity into over the years.
Buccis’ Life since completing the 1920 revival:
We love that we’ve been able to make this place our own. We’ve put a pause on some next steps (bathroom reno, three season update), but we love it. We traveled often before the pandemic, but we couldn’t be happier to have made this place our own and have the opportunity to truly enjoy the hard work we put in.
The kitchen is hands down my favorite place in the house: We cook often, and it feels great that we are really getting to cherish this great little space we created for ourselves.
And we finally started to make use of one of the ‘spare’ rooms upstairs . . .Baby Bucci set to arrive any day now!
