Fox Lake house flip wins Ugliest House of the Year award from national company

Bob Albrecht hates the DIY Network.

“I don’t have a commercial break and 40 carpenters waiting in the wings” while he and his partner, Tara Farnsworth, undo the projects done by landlords or misguided residents – projects that may have been inspired by the TV network’s home-flipping shows, he said.

Albrecht and Farnsworth, of Antioch, are house flippers, too, franchisees with HomeVestors of America. The company may best be known for its “We Buy Ugly Houses” signs and mailers. As franchisees, the pair have access to short-term loans and building supply discounts while they prepare a house for resale, Albrecht said.

The company also recognizes franchisees’s hard work. One of Albrecht and Farnsworth‘s most recent home flips, of a circa 1923 Fox Lake house, has won the title of The Ugliest House Of The Year for 2024.

Instead of a cash prize to the Albrecht and Farnsworth for the win, Habitat for Humanity Lake County will receive a $20,000 grant from HomeVestors, according to a company news release.

Albrecht has been a home remodeling contractor for 25 years, and Farnsworth has a background in marketing. Former high school sweethearts, the couple reconnected via Facebook and are now engaged.

They’ve also flipped 12 houses with HomeVestors since 2022, and recently bought their 13th home – an 1892 house in McHenry - Albrecht said.

Some people are turned off by company’s “We Buy Ugly Houses” branding, he added.

“It is a play on words. Your house does not have to be ugly” for the company to buy it, he said. But what might be ugly are the circumstances: the death of the owner, tax problems or mortgage problems.

“A lot of times, the owners don’t feel they can list it and they don’t want people to walk through their home” to see its issues, like duct tape in the shower or a worn spot in the kitchen floor, Albrecht said.

He has seen homes in way worse condition than sellers imagine theirs to be.

“It is not that bad,” Albrecht said.

The Fox Lake home was the first the two bought from the multiple listing service, rather than through homeowners calling after seeing their signs or direct mailings. It had been listed for about 500 days. For many years, the property was a two-unit rental.

“It’s deeply satisfying to turn the worst house on the block into the best.”

—  Bob Albrecht, co-winner of the Ugliest House of the Year award

“There was no separation of the units - they shared a kitchen,” Albrecht explained. In the back half of the house, residents had to walk through one bedroom to get to the next one.

As it sat empty, the lot became overgrown, the roof and windows were leaking and gas and electricity had been turned off. The home’s pipes had not been drained before the power was turned off and pipes burst while the house sat empty.

“We removed all of the plumbing from the water meter back,” and replaced all of the electric during the flipping process, Albrecht said. There is new flooring throughout.

The house had many additions over the years, and every time another addition was put on the original house, it got another layer of siding, too.

“There were five layers of siding. Now there are six,” Albrecht said, because taking off some of the old siding was too problematic.

Once the house on Lippincott Road was back on the market, the new buyers closed within a month.

“It’s deeply satisfying to turn the worst house on the block into the best,” Albrecht said.