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I am currently looking at houses in Fairfield CT (town not county) and have some specific needs in terms of the house we need.
We have narrowed down to a few specific neighborhoods that give us that 'neighborhood' feel we are moving from Westchester for. However I have a checklist of things I want, the usual suspects of 'open concept', updated kitchen, baths etc. I also need a property with an in law suite which makes this more complicated- I don't have a timeline so we can wait for a property to come on the market- but it seems like a long shot to find a house that fits our needs, has an in law suite, is in the right neighborhood, and in budget.
I would like to look into buying a house with the intention of remodeling and adding the in law suite but I am not sure where to start.
If this was TV world I would call the Property Brothers, or Chip and Joanna Gaines... but in the real world of remodeling I have no idea how to pursue this.
I have an all in budget of $850k, I have about $350k in cash that I can use for the downpayment and remodel.
I need to find a property that can accommodate an in law suite, and have a floor plan with remodel potential for what I want- meaning I could get a $700k house and not update the house interior but put $100k into the in law addition, or I could buy a house that needed work for $550 and put $125 into the house interior and $125 into the in law addition.
The in law addition would need to happen upon buying the house, if my remodel was too expensive I could do it in stages.
I am guessing on remodel/ addition costs from what I can find online- I would want to have a point person to talk through our needs with and then when I have some guidance on cost I would have them tour the house with me to make sure the plans are possible and it will fit within budget. Is this possible? How do people go about these things?
When my mom and dad bought our first house my grandmother came to live with us so we were in the same situation. My mom and dad bought a raised ranch. We lived on the top and my grandmother's "apartment" was on the bottom. It was a large raised ranch that had a large playroom on the bottom floor which my grandmother used as her living and dining room. It also had two smaller rooms. One was my grandmother's bedroom and the other was converted into a kitchen. The down stairs also had a bathroom already. The transition was fairly easy for my grandmother's apartment since only a kitchen need to be put in and nothing needed to be added to the footprint.
Our situation worked out so that my brother also bought a raised ranch just in case he would need to take my mom. I bought a cape (in Trumbull) so I would have to make a major renovations and add to the back of my house if I need to take my mom. Really think about the style of house you are buying. Also you need to check to make sure the house can be made into a house with an in-law apartment by code. It looks like you can have an in-law in Fairfield. I found this on Zillow. Why don't you get a realtor and look at some houses with in-laws to give you ideas. You might like one you see.
Wow those examples are very inexpensive for a lot of house in a top town. I suppose one is very close to the Bridgeport line so perhaps that is part of the explanation but still, I thought Fairfield was much pricier than that.
Wow those examples are very inexpensive for a lot of house in a top town. I suppose one is very close to the Bridgeport line so perhaps that is part of the explanation but still, I thought Fairfield was much pricier than that.
760k for a ranch? Ehh... Not sure I'd say that's inexpensive. The colonial I'll give you though... but that thing needs tens of thousands (maybe 100k+) of work.
The colonial is beautiful but likely needs over $200k in work to be up to modern standards. Renovated, $1MM makes sense.
Please define "modern standards". By my definitions, it's already been ruined by modern standards. (if you are talking about the 1791 house).
Please don't buy an antique house and ruin it with open concept and all that. Just buy a new house and leave the old ones for those of us who enjoy them as-is. It's too hard to put back walls that are removed from the current "must-have" trends. Unfortunately most of the historic fabric of the 1700s and early 1800s homes are on the inside, not the outside, so gutting them to make them trendy completely destroys them. This one still has some original features.
I cannot wrap my head around why people buy a historic property and gut it. It's now new, not old. So why bother?
I am currently looking at houses in Fairfield CT (town not county) and have some specific needs in terms of the house we need.
We have narrowed down to a few specific neighborhoods that give us that 'neighborhood' feel we are moving from Westchester for. However I have a checklist of things I want, the usual suspects of 'open concept', updated kitchen, baths etc. I also need a property with an in law suite which makes this more complicated- I don't have a timeline so we can wait for a property to come on the market- but it seems like a long shot to find a house that fits our needs, has an in law suite, is in the right neighborhood, and in budget.
I would like to look into buying a house with the intention of remodeling and adding the in law suite but I am not sure where to start.
If this was TV world I would call the Property Brothers, or Chip and Joanna Gaines... but in the real world of remodeling I have no idea how to pursue this.
I have an all in budget of $850k, I have about $350k in cash that I can use for the downpayment and remodel.
I need to find a property that can accommodate an in law suite, and have a floor plan with remodel potential for what I want- meaning I could get a $700k house and not update the house interior but put $100k into the in law addition, or I could buy a house that needed work for $550 and put $125 into the house interior and $125 into the in law addition.
The in law addition would need to happen upon buying the house, if my remodel was too expensive I could do it in stages.
I am guessing on remodel/ addition costs from what I can find online- I would want to have a point person to talk through our needs with and then when I have some guidance on cost I would have them tour the house with me to make sure the plans are possible and it will fit within budget. Is this possible? How do people go about these things?
To answer your question, it is possible. You might want to contact a contractor or an architect to discuss this. They could assist you but will charge you for their time.
A couple of things to keep in mind, to make a major addition like you want requires that the lot be of sufficient size to accommodate it. A coworker of DW was interested in a home in the Oldfield section of Fairfield until I pointed out that the 6,000 square foot lot was too small for them to add an inlaw apartment to. You also need to consider if the property is on well and septic fatter than public water and sewer. If not there also may not be enough room for it either. Good luck. Jay
Spencer,
I went through almost this exact scenario a couple of years ago.
If you are talking about a legally permitted In-law suite (separate sleeping/cooking area with kitchen), then the space to be converted needs to have existed in place for at least 5 years. So, if you were to do a new addition to the property, you would need to wait 5 years before you could add a kitchen. There is also square footage requirements, I believe it was minimum 400 sq ft, and take up no more than 20% of the total sq ft of the home, if I recall correctly.
The colonial is beautiful but likely needs over $200k in work to be up to modern standards. Renovated, $1MM makes sense.
That's ridiculous. The colonial might need some cosmetics but nothing near 6 figures. $760K is about right for that size and side of town.
The ranch is beautiful and right on the lake, again priced about right for waterfront on that side of town. Great finds by CT Artist.
Please don't buy an antique house and ruin it with open concept and all that. Just buy a new house and leave the old ones for those of us who enjoy them as-is.
I cannot wrap my head around why people buy a historic property and gut it. It's now new, not old. So why bother?
My .02
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