Zero-Down Remodel Aids Real Estate Sales

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

An updated home sells faster and for more money than a comparably sized fixer-upper. Nathan Pierce and Nick McCully created their No Money Down Remodel Program to help prospective homesellers realize their home’s greatest potential, fronting the cost of construction through their newly founded Strong Tower Homes and Construction, the residential construction division of Strong Tower Real Estate Group.

Benefit goes both ways. With homes that are structurally sound but have a lot of deferred maintenance, “a lot of times, owners are elderly, are on a fixed income or for some other reason do not have extra cash, but they have equity in their home, and they become victim to a tax investor who may fix the home a little or even flip it as is,” Pierce explains, speaking from the experience of his 19 years as a real estate agent. STHC will “do what’s necessary to get the biggest bang for the homeowner” — work that will improve the home’s value but not cost more than what the expected return would be — then sister company Strong Tower Real Estate Group puts the home up for sale. “We’re putting our money where our mouth is,” he says, explaining there is no interest charged and cost of construction gets paid back at closing. “It’s usually a faster sell and a higher price because the home is move-in ready,” he notes.

Having recognized this need in the marketplace, Pierce says he and McCully last year bought an established contracting company with a contractor who has been in the industry 20 years. By combining real estate and general contracting services, Pierce says what STHC offers “is a real estate agent with a ton of experience who’s wearing a construction hat” rather than a contractor who’s trying to sell a remodel. And his real estate company gets a solid pipeline for investor homes, which, Pierce shares, is currently experiencing a low inventory.