After Action Review (AAR)

?September 28, 2021

This is my eleventh and final article on following a financial advisor’s decision to purchase a rundown? house next to his office building and convert it to a rental. Feel free to read my earlier articles.?

This week it is October already. A year ago, I saw the house next door to my office building go for sale.? A lot has happened since then and it is a good opportunity to do an After Action Review or AAR. I? learned this term while I was in the military. It is an opportunity to reflect after the completion of a task? or mission and critique it. This includes mentioning the good aspects, the bad aspects, and the lessons? learned.?

First, the good aspects. I now enjoy looking at my accomplishment across the parking lot. The house? looks very nice, and I know the tenants there will enjoy the home. I learned a lot about remodeling the? bathroom and kitchen. I further strengthened my working relationship with key contractors to include? the roofer, electrician, flooring specialist, general contractor, HVAC technician, and met a new plasterer.? I feel I was able to keep this project under budget as I have tallied up all the costs and spent $44,126.36? on all the remodeling. Not bad for a timeframe where inflation has taken a hold on building materials. I? expanded my tool inventory and was happy to write those off on my taxes. Finally, I was lucky to get the? home for $120K before the real estate prices ballooned. I am surprised to learn how much there is of a? rental shortage at this moment for Green Bay, WI.?

The negatives would be the amount of time I dedicated to this project. I just put away my sailboat for? the summer and realize I used it only 3 times. I never made it to my wooded property I have 45 minutes? from my home. I did not do all the biking I wanted and worked many weekends. I enjoyed doing the? project but sacrificed a lot of personal time doing this. I did not have a great experience with one? plumbing contractor as they backed out of the project at the last minute when I needed them and had? to scramble and find another plumber which increased my lead time for the project.?

The lessons learned include becoming better acquainted with the building permit process. I was lucky I? did not get fined for not properly following the process at first. I learned that maybe I could have? further subcontracted the project in terms of the exterior painting and some of the flooring I put in the? kitchen, family room, and bathroom. I may have used the wrong type of tiles on the bathroom as I did? not use the interlocking luxury vinyl tiles there but instead just glued down tiles (hopefully there won’t? be too much water spilt on the floors there). I had a humorous experience learning how to get a large? refrigerator into a small opening of the house as I finally figured out, I could remove the doors from that? appliance. I learned on how to use some new tools including the saw Zaw and vibrating saw to get the? project done.?

I am asked now what my next project is. Since I made the rental look nice my wife wants me to help her? redo the two bathrooms in our house. I am busy working on that now. I expect there may be some? further future projects at the rental as the basement has exhibited some water seeping from the floor? during heavy rainfalls and long term, I would like to replace the garage and driveway. I need to collect?

some revenue first. At this moment I am in no big rush to add another rental unit to my inventory. Just? like someone who is finished with a long bike race it is time to sit back and recover. I will wait and see? what the future brings me and when it does, I can start a new blog and share with you those new? experiences.