Is this investing or wasting money? (Houston, Spring: for sale, credit, loan)

[IkeRay]

Hi, first post here

My family currently lives in "spring", I say that because I don't feel like spring. we are near Champions Forest, near Kuykendahl, sanctioned to Spring ISD but between 2 Klein high schools, and lots of lower Klein schools.

Our family currently consists of 3, the wife, myself, and a 3 year old girl, but we have another on the way. Well, the wife wants to move before that 3 year old starts kindergarten in 1-2 years (don't know if they start at 4 or 5), but our house is in need of some repairs.

firstly, the siding is being eaten/pecked away (by woodpeckers) and so it needs to be replaced. it needed it when we first bought the house but we didn't have the funds and it didn't get any better with one thing after another. we now have the funds to repair the siding as well as few other things now that income has increased and debt is decreased (eliminated almost completely minus the house really). when I replaced the siding I was going to do the windows with double pane energy efficient models, but more later.

next, the fence is falling apart adjoining our house and one of our neighbors (the other is brand new paid for by neighbor to the rear, house is on corner). I was going to upgrade it anyways to add some privacy since the previous neighbor was a perv and caught him twice watching wife and child in pool, but he's moved away so the fence hasn't been touched. well, prior to him moving, his dog broke 3 boards on the fence while we were out of town (or maybe he broke them) and when we got back from vacation they were up and gone. the house is owned by someone I'm sure, but there is no for sale sign out front and randomly people will come by and work on it every 3-4 weeks, house has been vacant for near a year now.

SO, the point of the thread (man I know how to ramble). when I replace the siding, windows, and fence, should I do the "upgraded" improvements including hardiplank, double pane windows, cedar pickets, and rot board; or just replace the broken masonite with more masonite (only replacing what is bad) and throw up a pine picket fence?

another question about the repairs, will I pretty much get my return on money spent on improvements like this or will I lose some money? secondly, is it worth doing this and not having down payment for the next house? this is our first house so we have never sold, how does the money go? what do we get back from the bank after the sale and paying off the house loan and what do we lose, assuming we go with a different lender for the next house. if we stay with the same bank, is it possible to just upgrade houses without closing costs, or is there a way we can include that in the new loan (like we did with the first house)?

[AK123]

Did you say you were zoned to Spring ISD? Does that include Westfield High?

I would think you could make more of your money back spending it on a home in the Klein High zone than in the Spring ISD/Westfield zone. If that's what you're asking. However, some repairs would need to be done either way. You might need to elaborate some or consult a realtor for that area.

[chris_ut]

You wont get your money back. The only thing you might consider is the double pain just because of the lowering of your utility bills so that might be worth it if your planning to live there awhile longer.

[IkeRay]

Originally Posted by AK123

Did you say you were zoned to Spring ISD? Does that include Westfield High?

I would think you could make more of your money back spending it on a home in the Klein High zone than in the Spring ISD/Westfield zone. If that's what you're asking. However, some repairs would need to be done either way. You might need to elaborate some or consult a realtor for that area.

we are zoned to westfield highschool (and Spring ISD elementary) despite living in a community located 1.5 mile from Klein High School, 2.5 miles from Klein Forest, and 3 miles from Klein Collins. Westfield is 3 miles from my house, explain that to me >_<.

Originally Posted by chris_ut

You wont get your money back. The only thing you might consider is the double pain just because of the lowering of your utility bills so that might be worth it if your planning to live there awhile longer.

well, we aren't planning on selling until next spring/summer or the year after (depending on when kids start kindergarten), and the repairs won't be done until spring 2010 or maybe August 2009 if some things go our way financially. So most likely we aren't going to see the energy savings ourselves.

if it matters, I was planning on doing the work myself (well with my brothers' help), so no labor costs.


does anyone know about the money from selling the house? we have been in this house for 3 years and most of what we have paid is interest. if by selling the house we will get a lot of what we put into it, assuming we can sell for the price we bought initially, then the upgrades will be ok since we will have enough money for closing on the next house.

thanks for the quick responses guys.

[chris_ut]

You should talk with an agent. In the current market you may need to pay money to get rid of the house. Don't forget your costs and the 6% to the agents unless you plan to SBO but in that case your looking at typically taking even longer to sell.

[modster]

I vote to do the work to dress it up a bit, within reason, if you want to sell. You may not "get it all back" but if you don't, you will either a). not sell at all, or b). take an even BIGGER bath to get it sold.

It sounds like you are in Olde Oaks? There are always a lot of homes for sale in there and you need to be in "top drawer" shape to sell.

Second issue, timing. Ever since swamplot.com called out HAR on their "massaged" sales figures graphs, HAR has added an additional line to their graphs to show the actual sales figures without annualizing or any other massaging that takes out the true peaks and valleys. What real numbers show you is that selling a house is like surfing, you have to catch the wave. That wave is April to July. This is especially true in the suburbs, if you miss that time frame the house will very likely just sit and sit through the Fall and Winter and then look stale come Spring. Buyers will assume they can low ball you if the house sits too long. Sure, houses sell 12 months out of the year, but when the deck is stacked against you already (for a number of other reasons) then why have timing against you too?

As for what you might net, in all probability you will pay for a title policy for the buyer, you will pay the brokerage fee, probably a home warranty in the amount of about $350 or so, a tax credit from the first of the year until closing, whenever that is, and very roughly I would say about $600 in misc closing fees. You can use a closing costs calculator like this one at one of the title company sites, AmeriPoint Title - The Point Is Consistent Quality (http://www.ameripointtitle.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=424 - broken link) which I have found to be fairly inaccurate on a line by line basis, but always pretty close on the bottom line, which is what counts.

[Jamesww]

Modster's post is pretty good here, but I would like to add that putting in the windows will get you almost nothing when you go to resell. It also will likely not make a difference in making the home sell any faster if you put them in. The siding on the other hand is a must and I would go with a Hardiplank type of product. You will get very little back on the money invested but you would have to put out a substantial amount if you repaired it anyways. In large part because you would have to paint the whole house because of the way paint oxidizes in the Houston area. Even if you had the exact same paint it still wouldn't look like it matched for 18 months or more.

[nessen]

Since you are only doing repairs for the sake of selling, I wouldn't do anything extravagant. For cosemetic purposes, you should replace the rotten siding with whatever material you want (Hardiplank is a good selling point for potential buyers since it will last so long) at the very very least you will have to re paint the entire house like Jamesww said.

I would only replace the windows if you plan on living in the house long enough to benefit from the lowered utility bills. Since you plan on selling I wouldn't replace them.

The fence should be repaired or replaced, since that is going to be very noticeable to potential buyers. At the very least replace the broken/ missing boards.

Basically anything cosmetic should be repaired, painting goes a LONG way. Try to keep things neutral is possible. My in laws tried to sell one time with no luck, the next year they repainted the entire house with neutral colors and it sold no problem.

Good luck!

[Mom2Feebs]

Originally Posted by modster

I vote to do the work to dress it up a bit, within reason, if you want to sell. You may not "get it all back" but if you don't, you will either a). not sell at all, or b). take an even BIGGER bath to get it sold.

It sounds like you are in Olde Oaks? There are always a lot of homes for sale in there and you need to be in "top drawer" shape to sell.

Second issue, timing. Ever since swamplot.com called out HAR on their "massaged" sales figures graphs, HAR has added an additional line to their graphs to show the actual sales figures without annualizing or any other massaging that takes out the true peaks and valleys. What real numbers show you is that selling a house is like surfing, you have to catch the wave. That wave is April to July. This is especially true in the suburbs, if you miss that time frame the house will very likely just sit and sit through the Fall and Winter and then look stale come Spring. Buyers will assume they can low ball you if the house sits too long. Sure, houses sell 12 months out of the year, but when the deck is stacked against you already (for a number of other reasons) then why have timing against you too?

As for what you might net, in all probability you will pay for a title policy for the buyer, you will pay the brokerage fee, probably a home warranty in the amount of about $350 or so, a tax credit from the first of the year until closing, whenever that is, and very roughly I would say about $600 in misc closing fees. You can use a closing costs calculator like this one at one of the title company sites, AmeriPoint Title - The Point Is Consistent Quality (http://www.ameripointtitle.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=424 - broken link) which I have found to be fairly inaccurate on a line by line basis, but always pretty close on the bottom line, which is what counts.

Agreed. Great post modster.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by IkeRay

we are zoned to westfield highschool (and Spring ISD elementary) despite living in a community located 1.5 mile from Klein High School, 2.5 miles from Klein Forest, and 3 miles from Klein Collins. Westfield is 3 miles from my house, explain that to me >_<.

Spring ISD is a stinking hovel. Avoid it at all costs.