Greenvillian with an eye for home design Kym Petrie says she likes to find the worst house on the best street and give it a new life. She’s been doing it for decades + founded Goin’ South Home Rescue in 2020, taking old Greenville homes and fixing them up with modern finishes. Peep these before + afters of one of Kym’s local projects.
The best in the “Fixer Upper” game took notice. Kym will give new life to a Buist Street home built in 1942 on Magnolia Network’s “In With the Old,” (think: Chip and Joanna Gaines). The show follows designers as they reimagine and transform abandoned structures. You can watch the local transformation tomorrow, Wed., Sept. 7.
“It’s really a love letter to Greenville.”
Kym says the episode showcases a city she loves + the local artisans who help make her designs a reality. Oh, and her immense talent, but she was too humble to mention that.
“We do it to save the neighborhoods.”
Kym’s been renovating homes for three decades, and she’s been doing it in the Upstate since she moved to Greenville 15 years ago. From renovating her first home as a single mom looking for a house in a good school district, it became a hobby while working traditional 9-5 jobs. Today, she does it full-time as her “retirement job.”
“I love the real estate. I love the houses. I love saving them and getting the ones nobody else wants,” she tells us.
“If you’re going to do it, do it properly.”
We’ve all been there. A glass of wine and an HGTV marathon and we’re ready to Flip or Flop. We asked Kym about what advice she’d give a first time flipper:
“Flipping is terrorizing. No one tells you how hard it is. Financially it’s incredibly tough... I think you have to be budget aware. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. That’s the big thing. Costs are incredible right now. I think you need to learn, not to play the market, but understand what’s happening in the market... You always have to work with the market. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t jump into a market to flip if it isn’t a flipper’s market. If you’re going to bother to do it, do it properly. Don’t come in and drop in low grade pieces. Invest in your mechanicals. Invest in your quality. If you’re not going to do it properly, don’t bother.”
