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I'm thinking about putting in an offer for an older house, built 1936. I haven't seen any inspection reports yet, but from looking at it this is what I can see that it needs:
Kitchen needs new flooring.
Great room: hardwood floor needs sanding / polishing, hole in it fixed.
HVAC: former owner had some weird hose from the heating system pumping heat into an addition that was not set up for heat. So, the HVAC system is going to need a complete overhaul just from my perception seeing that.
Garage: It has an amazing oversized garage. Former owner had the garage converted into a shop & office. I would want to knock out the office wall in there and covert the office area back into garage space. Clean out the rest of the garage space except for a small area where I would keep shop space.
Upstairs the former owner started to install a bathroom, then stopped. I'd want to complete that bathroom.
Does anybody have a ballpark idea of how much that would cost? I'm not much of a handyman myself, so I'd be looking to contract out these jobs.
It has a lot of potential. Nice lot, nice part of town. The biggest problem seems to be that the previous owners tried to do a lot of work themselves, and on the cheap.
It is VERY hard to even ball park the sort of remodeling/repairs which you are considering.
Messing with electricity in a house of that age is going to mean that you might discover it is a 100 AMP service, which needs to get upgraded to 200 amps, and circuit breakers, and new wiring....and who knows what.
A bathroom.....started...not completed.....and what does the infrastructure look like behind the walls...pipes? Electricity? Waste?
And those rube Goldberg homes repairs....how much of that needs to be redone?
it is all so very difficult to predict without a detailed inspection, plans, budget, etc.. How difficult is it to do demolition? And how about getting rid of the waste?
Ball park? Figure at least $100 a square foot, even though you won't be doing the whole house...maybe.....
That is very ballpark....alternatively, get an architect and a contractor in and do a bottom up proposal....foundation, structure, roof, plumbing, wiring, carpentry, HVAC, finishes.....
Does anybody have a ballpark idea of how much that would cost?
Not until the old has been demo-ed and the prior framing damage repaired.
Then you add in the unrelated "updating" work that permits/inspections will call for.
(new wiring, add'l circuits, framing, etc)
THEN you can start to estimate the new work you actually want to see when all is done.
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I'm not much of a handyman myself, so I'd be looking to contract out these jobs.
At this point you do not know yet if you will get the permits and under what conditions. You do not know if the modifications were done according to code. You cannot know what you will find one tear out starts.
I disagree. Since I just did this two years ago, I may know more about it than those who have not.
I purchased a 1930's home with land and a great view for $55,000. I got a rehab loan with the purchase for $35,000 and another $10,000 out of pocket and self labor. The out of Pocket included all new furnishings as we had been giving our 400sqft 5th Wheel a try at full-timing it and we had none.
The home was 2,400 sqft and ready to be torn down because of mold and water damage. With new walls, floors, ceilings, all windows and doors including the interior doors and closets, new roof and redo the electrical and plumbing, with a general contractor and $5,000 worth of excavation and French drains and some concrete work, finished and move in. We have a $100,000 investment with payments including insurance, under $500 a month and 4.3% interest. The current market value is $160,000.
$20,000 IF you don't end up doing more stuff 'while you're at it' or run into trouble. (Like, really, an older house with no dryrot? Add 10k for that.)
Get inspections, then get bids, then make your offer on the house.
The sellers may prefer to include the cost of some or all of the repairs in the selling price. If so, write in the offer that they will use the contractor you select, and/or that you will have the place reinspected after the work is done and you get to approve of the results.
Your realtor should have told you -- this is how it works.
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The biggest problem seems to be that the previous owners tried to do a lot of work themselves, and on the cheap.
This is a red flag for potentially expensive issues that won't be visible until you start pulling things apart.
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