What do Mr. Bunches and I have in common with HGTV’s Tarek and Christina?  

1. We both have an adorable little girl and a baby boy;
2. We both have hit TV shows (ours stars Mr. Bunches and airs nightly on Idiot Nation TV–check with your local cable provider to subscribe); and
3. We both have a Real Estate Empire!!

Okay, so two out of three of those might be slight exaggerations.  But only slight.  The big news is that we just bought a house and we’ve begun the flip process!! So fun, right? 

It’s a 2-bedroom, 1-bath brick ranch built in the 1950s and located in our neighborhood. We bought the house at the Erie County Property Tax Auction, so we bought it without having any idea what the inside of it looked like. But we knew the value of homes in the neighborhood and we did lots of drive-bys before the auction, and we felt like it was a great buy. Risky of course, but without risk, there’s no reward, right?!

We’re planning to share lots of renovation details here and hopefully get some of your opinions along the way. But for now, how about some before shots . . . 

The entryway/living/dining room:
     
   
  
The kitchen, with just some slight ceiling issues:

   
   
The sunroom off the kitchen:

  
Bedroom #1:

   
   
Hallway:

  
Bedroom #2:

   
   
Bathroom:

   
   
Basement:

   
    
 
Back patio:

  
So just a bit of work to do ;). The real shame is that the Internet doesn’t have the ability to transmit smells, because that’s where you’d really get the feel of this house. So since there’s no smell-a-net yet, I’ll give you a recipe so that you can create the smell at home:

Ingredients 

• 1 chihuahua
• 2 doves
• Carpet from the 1950s
• Closed-off rooms 

Combine all ingredients. Let simmer for ~5 years. Make sure animals only go to the bathroom indoors. Enjoy. 

Stay tuned . . . We’ve already accomplished a lot in only a week so far. Updates soon!