In this raw walkthrough of a fix‑and‑flip property in Aliso Viejo, CA, Joe Homs explains why the after‑repair value (ARV) has risen from $650,000 to $750,000 and outlines his renovation strategy. He describes the property’s layout—three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a two‑car garage, a loft area, and a den that will be converted into a legal bedroom by adding a wall, closet, and window. The kitchen will undergo a full demolition, with a shift from dark granite to lighter finishes to brighten the space. The master suite’s bathroom will be stripped down, with plans for a wall‑to‑wall shower and possible removal of the toilet. Homs also recounts the seller’s mortgage forbearance during COVID‑19, the seller’s attempt to back out of their contract, and the ensuing legal battle that forced the seller to honor the agreement. Throughout, he notes design quirks (old‑fashioned soffits, “banjo” style elements) that will be removed. The video serves both as a market analysis of ARV potential and a step‑by‑step preview of the upcoming renovation work.
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This is California, and thank God, because the price, the after-repair value went up from $650,000, now it's $750,000. Yes! So I said, okay, you know, sounds good to me. So we got the dining room over here, and then we wander into the kitchen area over here, and I plan on doing a complete demo to everything. And this is kind of dark. This is a good example of why you don't want to use dark granite in a place like this, because it's just, it's just too confined of a space and it just looks really dark. So you got— you have to use lighter colors as well. If you come out here, there's a bathroom here to the left. Let me see if I turn— anyways, so he decided to hire somebody They did this demo. Obviously, you can see that they just put everything here and left it there. And then COVID hit. And so then he just sat back and said, "What would I do now?" So he put his mortgage on forbearance, and it's just been sitting on forbearance this whole this entire time. He called me around September and said, "Hey, I found you online. I know you flip houses." Can you come over, take a look? So I came over, took a look. He said that his mortgage was about $525, $530. I obviously did the comps before I got over here. They were $650. I said, that's enough room. I brought my contract with me, which I always do, and we signed the contract. Okay, 3 or 4 days later, he talks to another real estate agent. They said, oh, we can do better for you. You know, we can get some money for you. Just call this guy back and cancel the contract. And I said, well, see, it doesn't work that way. I'm a buyer. I have lots of contingencies in my contract that I can back out, but sellers don't. And so he didn't listen to me, and the other real estate agent didn't listen to me either. Obviously, there's no ethics in real estate, even though there should be. So anyways, they put it on the market. So to protect myself, I hired an attorney and I sued him. And we won. And just recently, like a few days ago, he basically said, okay, I'll sell it to you now. Okay, this has been about a 3-month process. Okay, so this is California, and thank God, because the price, the after-repair value went up from $650,000, now it's $750,000. Put a light on. Yeah, a bathroom. To the left, this place has 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms. And then a 2-car garage out that way, but you know, a garage is a garage. So to the left, they've got this bedroom configured like a den because they've got this open here. So I plan on closing this wall, okay, and putting a single door over here. Putting a closet right here after I build the wall out, put a closet here, and then that way this will be a legal bedroom. So you have to have a closet and a window to make a legal bed. So this will be the 3rd legal, legal bedroom. Oh nice. Okay, so— Does that make your ARV jump a little bit more? Yeah, that's the ARV at $750,000. Be careful again walking up the stairs here. Nails all over. Okay, so a little loft area up here. I mean, you can put like a computer desk or something out here. Then we have a bedroom over here. Behind here is a walk-in closet and then the other bath for this bedroom. Everything you see there is going to be removed. It's all going to be brand new. So was he living in here while in this condition? No, no, no, he moved out. What kind of design is this soffit thing? I saw it in the bathroom downstairs too. Old-fashioned. Moisture up there. Old-fashioned. This is, again, old-fashioned. This is what I call a banjo. Yeah, because if, you know, if you take it out, you can— We got that at my house. Yeah, play like a band. So this is really old-fashioned. That's all— that's all that stuff's got to go, you know, all that stuff. And then over on the other way, we've got the master. And you can see he just, he just started to take stuff off. That was like— the one out there was like over here, so he took it off just to kind of open up the space, which is fine. I'm just going to leave it like that and just drywall this area here. Yeah. Master bedroom, and then closets on both sides, and then double vanity here. There was a little shower here and a bathtub here. I'm probably going to end up at the end of the day, probably make this shower area from wall to wall. I may, I may put the toilet back, I may not. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do it or not. Oh, that's a good point. So, you know, because this is a master and not many people take baths, and plus there's a bath.
