House flipping has become a bit of a dirty word in the development community. Cash grabbers with little experience have produced short-lasting results which have left a bad taste in the mouths of buyers and investors alike. However, one San Antonio developer has both cut out the investors and reframed the concept of upgrading outdated homes, placing more money in the pockets of individual sellers and upping nearby property values.
For more than a decade, Karla Alvarado has been transforming outdated, often 90s or early aughts built, homes into modern dream properties. For many of those years, she was at the behest of investors, working to put money into their portfolios. But now, she’s changing up gears and putting that cash directly into the pockets of families through her company, HomeNovate .
“I’ve been doing this for investor so they can make money, and I was like it’s time for me to do this on my own,” Alvarado told MySA. “…I stared thinking, ‘Let me run the numbers.” So, these homes that I worked on, I ran the numbers, and I realized, ‘Well, what if I would have done this for the homeowner versus purchasing the property, renovating and selling it?’ I ran the numbers, and I realized, ‘Wait a minute, the homeowner would have made so much more money if I would have fixed it for them.”
Now, she’s running a real life Love it or List it operation, acting as San Antonio’s very own Joanna Gaines. A tour through one of her latest properties, an early aughts home built on Pelican Creek on the Northside, proved she’s doing much more than just tearing up dingy carpet or painting the walls.
Anticipating not only a buyer’s needs but also their wants, she tore down walls and created vast open spaces, including an open concept living, dining and kitchen space downstairs and massive master bedroom on the second floor. Really thinking of what could up the sale value for the homeowner, she even installed a wine storage area where there was originally wasted space under the home’s staircase.
Walking through the home, on a street lined with individual but dated homes, you would never know the home was built in 1999. Modern wood flooring, millwork accent walls, and marble and stone tiling and countertops all lend to the sleek yet welcoming and warm sense of home – features you’d never expect to find in a home of its era…