An 11,000 square-foot Hawaiian property used as a vacation home by singer Justin Bieber and as a location for television shows is now an emerging franchise’s largest undertaking.
ReUp Living, a pre-listing real estate concept that works with homeowners to increase the value of a house with remodels before a sale, is handling the renovation at Waterfalling Estate. The house, which has been used as a filming location for television shows such as CBS’s “Love Island,” was purchased by an investor group two years ago.
Ryan Sawchuk, ReUp co-founder and CEO, said the home has been used as a short-term rental in recent years, but with a changing market, the group is now ready to prep it for a sale. ReUp Living was brought in to provide the capital for remodel and coordinate the project.
ReUp Living Co-founder and CEO Ryan Sawchuk
“On top of that, we’ve digitized the house in our base platform program,” Sawchuk said. “That allows the new buyer to come through and put their own customizations on it before they actually move into it. So, there are a lot of different things that we’re actually going to be able to add on for the new buyer.”
To assist with the remodeling, Sawchuk said ReUp is working with the original architect, helpful to uncover the home’s many hidden gems.
“When the current group purchased it, there were a bunch of rare materials in the house that they found had actually been painted over,” Sawchuk said. “Having that assistance has been really cool to witness and watch, because he really knows a lot of the ‘gotchas’ that you don’t’ really know until you tear out stuff from behind a wall.”
In addition to its classic architecture, the structure has a nearly 300-foot private waterfall, an Olympic-size swimming pool and a golf course that ReUp Living is expanding with its project. Sawchuk said the remodel to prepare the home, worth more than $6 million, will cost about $1 million, and additional upgrades the buyer chooses will likely add on another $1 million.
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“This is the largest project that we’ve ever undertaken,” Sawchuk said. “We really wanted to, one, bring this home back to its original glory. But additionally, we want to show that we can provide this luxury experience on this top-tier house, and show our buyers and sellers of houses in the $200,000 to $600,000 range that you’re getting the exact same experience as someone who’s purchasing a multi-million-dollar property.”
Based in Austin, Texas, ReUp Living was founded in 2021 and began franchising a year later. The brand has 12 units open in the Southwest, and in August signed a multi-unit agreement to continue building its presence in western states. Sawchuk said each franchisee is responsible for managing the renovation costs, project status and communication for housing remodels.
The funding for the projects, both for remodels ahead of putting a home on the market and after a buyer has selected changes they’d like to include, comes from partnering with brokers. Sawchuk said the brand works with its brokers on what the projects will look like and to secure the capital for the remodels. The franchisor then puts the funds in an escrow account which the franchisee manages as it coordinates with contractors.
“With sellers, for example, we’ll generate a proposal,” Sawchuk said. “We’ll say, ‘your house is probably going to sell for $400,000, but we’re willing to put $100,000 worth of renovations in so you can sell it for more.’
“Now if that house sells for $650,000, we split that $150,000 we’ve created 50/50,” Sawchuk said. “So, the home seller, instead of walking away with $400,000, now has $475,000, while the franchisee makes $75,000 on the $100,000 we, the franchisor, invested in the property.”
At Waterfalling Estate, Sawchuk said the brand is ahead of schedule by about one week, but there’s still plenty of work to be done. The remodeling project to prepare it for sale is slated for completion in April.
“We’re also going to list it in April,” Sawchuk said. “After that, there will be the additional upsells or add-ons that the buyer chooses. It’s going to be dependent on what they choose, but it will probably be another six-to-eight weeks of work after they submit their bids.”
Real estate franchise ReUp Living is putting in nearly $1 million into renovating a large home on Hawai’i Island, aka The Big Island.