Buying a fixed upper (RE agent, contingency, agents, condo)
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I like the idea of buying an outdated home and customizing it to my liking. The problem is, I have no idea what I'm doing or where to start. Here are some questions I hope someone can help with:
1. When browsing for a home how do I know which ones I can truly customize or maybe even take a wall down to create a more open concept? I understand an inspection can help but I'd need more help narrowing down homes before that point.
2. Is there some kind of realtor (or other professional) that specializes in home flips and kind of guide me in the right direction of purchasing a home/go with me to the homes and discuss before an offer is made?
3. What should I look out for when buying a fixer?
Ideally in will find a home that has the layout I want but I can just add new cabinets etc
However, I'm terrified of buying a home and being told I can't make any changes. I'm considering buying something move in ready because at least I know what I'm getting into but I hate the idea of paying more for what someone else thought was nice.
It is expensive to remodel a home, especially when removing walls, adding porches etc. like on all the HGTV shows. It also takes months, not hours
+1 on this. We did both: removed a wall and added a 40x8 front porch--plus gutted the kitchen, refinished the hardwood/added more hardwood, new roof on the house and garage, and on and on. We are going on year three and still chugging along on our "fixer." We bought it because of the land and the location, and while I love the home now, I wouldn't do it again. Not for anything in this world.
OP, a good contractor can help you customize pretty much any home. Even load bearing walls can be removed; it just costs more and requires more engineering. Kitchen layouts can be changed, plumbing can be moved. It's all possible, but not without $$$. A fixer can be a bargain or it can be a giant hole in which to throw money. Sometimes the two things are indistinguishable.
Not only use a licensed, bonded contractor but if you find a home that you're looking to take down walls you will most likely also need to have a structural engineer look at it. Not all walls can come down as some support the structure of the home.
However, I'm terrified of buying a home and being told I can't make any changes. I'm considering buying something move in ready because at least I know what I'm getting into but I hate the idea of paying more for what someone else thought was nice.
Thanks
There is no home where you can't make any changes. Even in a condo you are allowed to remodel the inside, you may not be able to close off a section to create a new room with walls, but in a house you can.
The VERY FIRST thing you should do is bingewatch some shows on HGTV.
ANYTHING can be done if you have the money.
Flip or Flop
Fixer Upper
Property Brothers
and a few others.
The first two are actual realtors who are also contractors in one form or another. Not sure about P.B. actual real life business.
The story of the buyers on Fixer Upper and P.B. is a little bit made for reality TV but the renovations are real.
Flip or Flop has no buyer in advance; they sell it after the reno. Keep in mind these people use their OWN labor/contractors and have a fixed formula and labor understanding. ALSO keep in mind a real life flipper statistically can be a "bad" contractor.
Like, each bathroom they know right away the cost of reno with or without surprises and quote those prices on the show. Materials like marble versus quartz or tile, or hardwood versus engineered or custom cabinets versus not custom. OR refacing them, even,
There's no substitute for experience and at least this way you'll get second hand experience from everything from the actual WAY to look at a property, to the bid and calculating actual costs, to the SURPRISES that crop up once you start, foundation problems, neighborhood or inside plumbing problems, to having contingency plans and even failures.
ONLY an engineer can tell you if you can remove a wall for a certain price (meaning knocking it out without having to insert a different structural beam/support).
You also get to see alternatives - for example if they can't budget knocking out a wall, they do a partial knockout and leave a giant opening that almost is as good.
Some houses on these shows are almost 100% gut jobs and others, not.
THIS way, you can see if you're only interested in cosmetic changes and not dramatic huge changes because even the fixers which seem only cosmetic will surprise you. Like, you'll find out your wiring in the wall is jacked up or you have a plumbing fail that you can't detect in an inspection.
Foundation, pluming and electrical are the three most serious surprises that you can stumble into IMO, IME, and the three things that make people mad because you "can't see where your money went". LOL
I remember on one episode of Flip or Flop they made their bid based on THINKING the electrical was new "enough" because the circuit breaker was all nice and shiny new.
Then they found out the entire wiring was illegal and the box was more or less a FAKE.
Same with Property Bros, one time, everything in the walls was completely illegal.
Hilarious, actually, you see alot of that it's pretty common.
Lastly, the most important thing is to be in a good location - not the best house in a location which may be on the way down instead of up.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 12-08-2016 at 07:25 AM..
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