Renovating old N.J. homes is daunting but gratifying

Tara Woodend wanted to buy and develop property in a South Jersey town where real estate would hold its value at the very least - or, she hoped, rise.

The Medford native found an investor partner, and together they bought four dilapidated houses built in the 1920s in Haddonfield.

She's living in one completed rehab now and developing the other three houses in similar fashion.

The Wilkins Avenue properties line up along a small side street near the Haddonfield PATCO station. All four were dated and in need of an overhaul inside and out.

Woodend, educated as an interior designer, could see the beauty beneath the old, rugged structures and gave each a two-story addition.

"People from ages 20 to 80 all want to live in downtown Haddonfield, and there's very little in the $500,000 price range," said Woodend's broker, Angela Barnshaw, who with her husband, William, runs Agent06 real estate in Haddonfield. "Plus, her properties are one block from the train station, and that means an easy commute" into Center City.

Woodend had worked for two developers, but this was her first solo development project. A year and a half ago, she and partners Ron Zeitz and Mike Colacci bought the four-home parcel for $180,000 and transformed the first property from commercial office space into her home.

"Before the renovation, the place was wall-to-wall paneling, orange carpet, no kitchen except a small range. I saw the possibilities," Woodend said. She and Oscar, her Himalayan cat, moved in after the renovations began.

Woodend designed each stand-alone home with modern floors, kitchens, and bathrooms. She grew up in the business - her father, Thomas Woodend of Medford, worked as an interior contractor and painter.

She extended the back of each house with much larger kitchen space and a half bathroom downstairs. Now, every house has at least 21/2 baths, with updated tile and statuary-marble counters.

Those design choices added 600 to 800 square feet to the houses' original 1,000 square feet.

"I wanted to expand the kitchen space, and add a master suite upstairs with a walk-in closet and a master bathroom. Everything was intentional," she said. "That's very different from how many homes are designed and built."

Woodend installed KitchenAid appliances, satin-finish marble countertops around the kitchen and on top of the island, and extended glass subway tile for backsplashes. To save money, she did all the tile work and painting herself.

"I acted as general contractor, did all the design work and floor plans, and managed the construction," she added.

Desmond Wholesale Distributors, based in Northeast Philadelphia, supplied the cabinets. Ferguson Bath Kitchen & Lighting in Cherry Hill supplied fixtures for plumbing and lighting in the renovated houses.

Woodend has this advice for developers just starting out: "It's a risk to do something like this on your own. It's really hard. The business is dominated by men; it's hard to be taken seriously. It's one of my biggest challenges, managing subcontractors and establishing authority."

She said that she finds contractors through referrals, and that the ultimate negotiating lever is signing the checks.

Being a woman in the business has presented obstacles; sometimes, she said, her partner had to make some phone calls because a contractor would not return a request for bids.

"They hear a woman's voice on the phone, and they automatically think I have no idea what I'm doing. I grew up in the business."

How does she stick with it?

"Persistence. There have been so many times I thought, 'Why am I doing this?' You have to stay focused on the bigger picture."