New Vs Old Homes

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by ASJL

The layout is fine, and its a huge house (5 bedrooms) It just needs new bathrooms, kitchen, and carpets. They attempted to upgrade some things before listing the house (downstairs has hardwood floors and marble tile) I'm just concerned that renovating 3 bathrooms and a kitchen is going to cost a fortune. Nothing structural needs changing, and the garden doesn't need any landscaping. The street appeal of this house is amazing...its just a tad dated. I think renovating it would be fun - but on the other hand, i'm listening carefully to my husbands concerns and trying to weigh up the options....

There is a show called property ladders which is about people renovating houses to flip them. It is a great show because they go into the details of the issues that people have - everyone always goes over budget and the quality of your contractor will make or break you. Do not live in the house while it is being renovated.

That being said, you would be surprised at how little renovations cost.

You could get an awesome magazine style kitchen for <40-50K. Each bathroom could cost about 15K. Wood flooring will be under 8-10$ sq ft installed.

Add all of those up and then some buffer (30%?) and make your offer based on that.

Financially you can probably do a lot better on a renovation because no one wants to do the work because it is probably one of the hardest things you will ever do.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by ASJL

Thanks for everyones advice. I've heard kitchen installs range from $20K - $50K and bathrooms similarly...but I am sure if we did some of the tilework ourselves, and installed our own vanities we would save even more. I don't think the baths need replacing, I think just re-tiling would freshen it up enough. Currently the bathrooms are all carpeted !!! But even if we spent $100K on top of the line renovations, it would be like a brand new home, and after spending all that, it would still be $200K cheaper than the other homes we've looked at buying....So I think I'm going to go for it, and hope for the best !!! I priced out the Kraftmaid cabinets and bathroom vanities at homedepot...it you install this stuff yourself, you save thousands. Its all pre-fabricated, and you can order the granite counter-tops and vanity tops also...so I may be able to save a lot of money if I hire a handy-man and do some of it ourselves...Its amazing what little changes make...updating light fixtures, coat of paint and some new cabinetry will make the world of difference....

seriously, watch property ladder..

[vtcowgirl]

i love renovating!!!!!!!!! the house then becomes your home.

there's lots you can do yourself (if you are obsessed with it

i just layed down wide pine floors and sanded and finished them myself. they look great at $1 sq. ft. for the pine. (but then you spend your money on nice rugs... oh well... i like nice rugs!)

ummm. repainted the whole interior of my home, tiled the bath with marble, and am starting on granite tile for the kitchen countertops with a copper backsplash. (found that on-line).

and i'm a girl!!!!! but heck... if a guy can do it

when you live in rural vermont and are single.... sigh... the house looks good.

[Annapolis to Austin]

Originally Posted by ASJL

We've been looking at a LOT of homes in many different parts of Austin...and came accross a beautiful home in Steiner Ranch in a very leafy, well established street that I fell in love with from the curb appeal as soon as we drove down the street.

My husband wants to make an offer on a newer home for twice the price, which needs nothing at all done to it, but I can't help to keep thinking about the charm of this older 1980's house, which really did have a breathtaking garden and street appeal....

ASJL-- Do you know what neighborhood the new home your husband likes in is? The only reason I ask is that I am a lot like him in the mind set of I don't want to put money and energy into a older home if I can get all I want in a new home. BUT loation is very important too. Steiner is wonderful, is this other house in Steiner as well or a different subdivision?

[ASJL]

Originally Posted by Austin97

seriously, watch property ladder..

I watched a few shows like this over the weekend, and "Sweat Equity" had an all day marathon yesterday. I didn't see anyone have a result they weren't happy with -- but everyone went way over budget !!! I guess these things cost more than you originally plan no matter what !!!

[ASJL]

Originally Posted by Annapolis to Austin

ASJL-- Do you know what neighborhood the new home your husband likes in is? The only reason I ask is that I am a lot like him in the mind set of I don't want to put money and energy into a older home if I can get all I want in a new home. BUT loation is very important too. Steiner is wonderful, is this other house in Steiner as well or a different subdivision?

The neighbourhood both houses are in is Steiner Ranch. But the house I fell in love with is in Phase 1 of Steiner Ranch - he's looking at the new construction. The house I like has an established garden, huge oak trees, wonderful street appeal and is not 'cookie cutter' like the houses he's looking at. And the houses he's looking at are $200 - $300K more. My argument to him is that the house I like is still a big house (3600 sq) has 5 bedrooms, it just needs updating. I am sure that renovating the bathroom and kitchen is not going to cost that much....if we do some of it ourselves we'll save even more. On sweat equity people were installing their own kitchen cabinets with 'stock cabinets' which are pre-made standard sized units, and they just had someone install the granite/marble countertops. The cabinets only cost around $3K. Ebay even has KraftMaid kitchen cabinets for sale !! In any case, our offer we made on this house was turned down. Its still the most expensive house in the street, even though it needs work done to it. I'm just going to sit tight for a while, if its meant to be, it will be. In the meantime, I'm still daydreaming up my ideas

[ASJL]

Originally Posted by vtcowgirl

i love renovating!!!!!!!!! the house then becomes your home.

there's lots you can do yourself (if you are obsessed with it

i just layed down wide pine floors and sanded and finished them myself. they look great at $1 sq. ft. for the pine. (but then you spend your money on nice rugs... oh well... i like nice rugs!)

ummm. repainted the whole interior of my home, tiled the bath with marble, and am starting on granite tile for the kitchen countertops with a copper backsplash. (found that on-line).

and i'm a girl!!!!! but heck... if a guy can do it

when you live in rural vermont and are single.... sigh... the house looks good.

VTCOWGIRL, You are my personal hero. I am IMPRESSED that you undertook a job like laying down pine floors!!! I bet it looks amazing. I researched the copper backsplash - is it the copper tin tiles you are using (like you can use for tin ceilings etc) or is it the pre-moulded to size backsplash ? I saw a couple of options on the internet. It looks amazing, and for a country or colonial kitchen would be wonderful !!! What about cleaning though ?? From my experience, copper tends to need a lot of maintenance if you want that shiny look. Are you going to let yours get the aged patina look ? I'm sure it will look fantastic with an apron front sink and wooden cabinets. Van Dyke Restoration has hammered copper sinks and basins if you wanted to get the whole package co-ordinated!!! Good luck !! It sounds like its going to be fantastic once you finish !!!

[ASJL]

Originally Posted by austifornian

To start with the financials. When making your offer, be sure to take into account the cost of the capital you are using for the remodel. If possible get an interim loan that can be refinanced into a standard mortgage (and that the house will appraise) at the end of construction.

When crafting your offer, take into account the hidden costs. You will most likely being making two payments during construction (or one payment and renting). If you try to live onsite during construction, take that into consideration also. Living three months in a construction site has its costs.



Being apprehensive is good but doesn't mean that the project is not worth the effort. You will pay the largest markup on new home amenities but it also comes with the least amount of effort. You also don't have to carry a full note on a house that is being built. You will save money on the cost of your remodel but this will be offset by the amount of work and inconvenience of the project.



The remodel you describe is not that major. You could easily get estimates for the project within an option period and figure out your total cost. You could also work with a mortgage broker on loan options to roll the after project totals into a standard mortgage.

Thanks for your advice. We took into account a budget of $50 - $60K for the renovations we'd like to do when we made the offer. They refused our offer. And our realtor didn't have much luck convincing them otherwise. The house is at the top end of the price range (actually, the highest priced) when you look at the comps in the neighbourhood. So the seller is being unrealistic in my opinion. If we don't get this house for a good price, we'll over capitalize once we put some equity into it for remodelling...and that wont' be a good thing. Anyway, I'm hanging in there, we're still looking around, and hopefully we will come back to this house with another offer and get lucky next time...its still the house that I really do want....