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I am getting ready to buy an older 1986 home in North Raleigh, but it will need some fixing up to get it to the next level, and make it worth the while for my wife and I on an investment standpoint. We noticed that the windows (about 20 in all, including two bay windows), are all original to the home. In fact, currently, they are all painted shut, 'cept maybe two or three. Now, we know that these will be working by the time we move in, since it's required of the seller to get them to work... but we still fear that because of age we could still get better insulation if we replace all of them. We are thinking about replacing these on our way in to the house, so that we don't have to do it later on before we sell. We also found out the roof is original to the home as well, and we'd also like to replace that now, before we even move in. And then, finally, the bathrooms (2.5 to be exact) are all "ok" but could use some updating... new fixtures, new showers, new toilets, new countertops and cabinets. We're not sure if we'll have enough money now to do those, but we'd sure like to ghet them refinished and updated prior to selling, say, five years or more down the road.
Does anybody out there have a ballpark idea of what some of these costs would be? and who does good work? It's a 2500 sf home, and has about 23 windows or so. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'll take a shot at estimates, just because I have done all that in the last two years, albeit in Massachusetts.
Windows are not cheap and If you need to replace that many maybe a contractor will give you a deal. I would say $300-500 a window and a roof would be around 7-10k. Bathroom remodels are not cheap, most likely 3-4k each.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beittels
I am getting ready to buy an older 1986 home in North Raleigh, but it will need some fixing up to get it to the next level, and make it worth the while for my wife and I on an investment standpoint. We noticed that the windows (about 20 in all, including two bay windows), are all original to the home. In fact, currently, they are all painted shut, 'cept maybe two or three. Now, we know that these will be working by the time we move in, since it's required of the seller to get them to work... but we still fear that because of age we could still get better insulation if we replace all of them. We are thinking about replacing these on our way in to the house, so that we don't have to do it later on before we sell. We also found out the roof is original to the home as well, and we'd also like to replace that now, before we even move in. And then, finally, the bathrooms (2.5 to be exact) are all "ok" but could use some updating... new fixtures, new showers, new toilets, new countertops and cabinets. We're not sure if we'll have enough money now to do those, but we'd sure like to ghet them refinished and updated prior to selling, say, five years or more down the road.
Does anybody out there have a ballpark idea of what some of these costs would be? and who does good work? It's a 2500 sf home, and has about 23 windows or so. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Wow. I've never thought of a house built in 1986 as being "old". Maybe it's because my current house was built in 1940 and the apartment I lived in before that was circa 1932.
I can't imagine there would be a structural reason to replace toilets (unless the flushing mechanism doesn't work), showers, counters and cabinets in the bathroom of a house only 20 years old. I'm guessing this is mostly for appearance purposes. Replacing the fixtures first will get you the most bang for your buck I'm betting. Cabinets could possibly be painted instead of replaced? That's a possible savings point.
How about the floors in the place? From what I've seen in the 80s many people often covered up perfectly good hardwood floors with carpet. If that's the case here, you could pull that up and polish the wood and raise the value of the place immensely!
The windows do seem like an issue. I think my house still has most of the originals and they are drafty!
Thanks guys. Well, we just got back from Lowe's to get at least some estimate on the windows. Obviously there are so many different types and price ranges on windows, but I think $10K roundabout for all of them is a pretty good ballpark (at least for double hung vinyl type) from what I can tell. Now when you get up to the wood double hungs we're probably talking more. We were told doing "replacment windows" is much less expensive than doing "new construction" type windows. In replacments, you keep you old sills and frames.
In regards to the floors, the lower level is all hardwoods. The second floor and the third floor bonus room all have carpet and pretty heavy padding, but who knows what's underneath???... as we have not had a chance to look yet. We sure hope there are beautiful hardwoods hidden underneath... that would be great!!
Well, we know 20 years might seem not so old to many folks here on the list, but my wife and I are coming from a five year old house, where we were the first and only occupants. So, this is a scary time for us. We don't know what to expect. We've never pruchased a home of this age. We also don't know exactly where to put our money. But from what we hear, kitchen and bath are where you should do the upgrades for resale later.
We think we can get the house for about $280K, and it would be over near Crabtree Mall, so I think its a darned good deal nonetheless. And then we hope to have about 30-40K to spend on upgrades and such.
20 years old is not old for a house. If you both like the house and the price, go for it. Put it in the offer that the seller has to give an X amount for window allowance. You have nothing to lose.
We bought a 2002 home in N. Raleigh up by the 540/just off Falls of Neuse (inside) for 275K about 6 months ago. It was listed at 295K, and was on the market for 68 days when I shot them a lower offer from the airport as I was heading back to SoCal. It's 2500sq. ft. two story, 3 bed/2 1/2 bath, and a very large bonus room finished above the garage, on .34 acers. Don't be afraid to offer lower than the price you stated. I need to replace the cheap cabinets and counter tops, and upgrade the hardwood flooring at some point, but the neighborhood is great. Deals are out there if you have the time to look everyday.
Accessguy... I do actually agree with what you said. But unfortunately my wife and I are urban people at heart. Currently we have gotten ourselves stuck in a bad grind. In 2001 we moved from a tiny one bed apartment in Alexandria, VA (five minutes from the Pentagon) to a three story brand new townhome with three beds and 2 baths that we had built for us in Northern VA area, approx 35 miles or so outside of DC on Route 66. When we purchased our place it seemed like a great deal (at 132K), and financially it was a great deal because our equity went through the roof here. However, we had NO IDEA what it would do to our lives and our stress levels. All of the things we used to go do in the city suddenly became a chore to get to. Sometimes it takes us well over an hour JUST to get down to DC now. That's not the kind of lifestyle we want to get ourselves back into when we move to Raleigh. We want to escape the rush hours... we want to get rid of the commute to get to a city.
So yes, we have looked out at 27617 near the RDU airport. We have looked out in Wake Forest. We have looked at 27615 zip which is in the upper Northern section of Raleigh. We found plenty of listings that would work for us. Big 2500 square foot+ properties with really good sized yards... nice neighbors... a real suburban "dream come true"! BUT the problem again for us is that we've already tried that kind of lifestyle here in Northern VA, and it back fired on us horribly because of traffic and commute times. Now, I know Raleigh traffic and commutes from these outer suburbs don't even compare to how horrible we have it here in MD/DC/NOVA area, but it could still be bad for us. So that's why we are concentrating our search on 27612 (the lower half) and 27609. Those are apparently the best zip's for us since we want to be close to the city without breaking the bank. The problem with these zips is that you get older, smaller homes-- smaller properties in general, some with garages, but a lot without. Also, these areas are all quite desireable for many people. Therefore, the owners of these older properties know the value of their homes and usually stick very close to their original asking prices. They can usually afford to do that becaue if I don't buy their home, there's bound to be someone else lined up right behind me that will. So the negotiation room goes down substantially with some of these properties that are closer in to the city. And the one I've been discussing is literally right up the street from Crabtree Mall, which makes it a pretty smart location. And the owners of the place know this. We're in negotiation now, so we'll see what happens. I hope they at least give us $10K worth of slack since as you say, we do have some repairs that must be done and some upgrades that would be nice if we can afford them.
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