Intro:

Caliber Real Estate Founding Partners, Ian Morell, Dave Albers, & Zack Lazo have a long background in buying and flipping homes and continue to do so today, in addition to running Caliber Real Estate. For this project, the guys teamed up to take on a mid-century renovation project in Ballard.

Financials:

Purchase Price: $1.1M

Sold: $2.37M

The Backstory – Who’s project, and how they found it.

Who’s project was this?

Zack have renovated and flipped hundreds of homes together and after having lot’s of success they were approached by a Hedge Fund, which provided the funding necessary for the partners to strike out on their own starting Caliber Real Estate. The Partners are still active in investments and renovation projects apart from Caliber Real Estate. When they find the right project they strike!

*Dave Albers, Ian Morell, Jillian Morell, & Zack Lzao. 

To learn more about the partners and their start, you can watch episode 1 of Caliber Life here:

Caliber Life Episode 1

How did they find this property?

In July of 2018 Dave was asked to drive an “off market” opportunity to see if him and the partners were interested in either flipping the home or selling to a client. The asking price was over a million dollars and they saw that there were many comparable properties in the neighborhood selling for less than that, so the partners were not too enthusiastic about the pitch. On the other hand, they also knew that this neighborhood is full of true mid-century modern homes and figured it would be worth checking out on the off chance that they could make it work. Once the partners pulled up, they realized it was something unique.

The Project

What did they like about the property?

“Looking at the house from the street alone you could see it had quintessential characteristics of a mid-century classic. A daylight rambler with clean lines sitting back off the street, a large carport, long covered walkway to the front door, vertical cedar accents, and more. As I walked inside, I was greeted by many more period-correct details. Flagstone entry, flagstone fireplace, interior planter boxes, custom mid-century lighting, baby blue tile – the list goes on. On top of all that I realized that the house had a stunning view of Puget Sound and that almost all the 12,000 SF lot was flat. With the mid-century details, the large flat lot, the truly breathtaking views of the water, and being so close to downtown Ballard, I knew I wanted to take this on.” – Dave Albers, Founding Partner Caliber Real Estate.

What Were The Biggest Challenges?

“Having over 300 completed projects in my portfolio, I have never come across the opportunity to remodel a mid-century modern classic like this. I realized that it would be quite a challenge to enhance the features of this home, while maintaining the style and essence of what was originally created.” Dave said of their Ballard renovation project.

BEFORE:

           [Front of House]                                    [Patio]                                           [Kitchen]

AFTER:

           [Front of House]                                    [Patio]                                           [Kitchen]