Renovating or selling run down house in Fremont, CA

[justinbro2002]

Did you have the house appraised for taxes? Here is how the tax situation works. Basically the day your father passed away is the base price for tax purposes and your don't have to pay taxes on the amount that your fathers house was worth on that day. But if the house is run down and you are going to fix it and have it worth $350k more than you would owe taxes on that $350k. The $120k you spend to fix it up could be subtracted from that $350k so you would theoretically owe taxes on $230k. An appraiser could do an appraisal retroactive to the day your father passed away. I could see it being advantageous for you to fix the house asap have it appraised retroactive and then sell it. You would realize some gain because of how hot the market is but not near the $230k which is a large tax bill. We just went through this when my mother in law passed away but her house was not in need of work but it still sold for $40k more that it appraised for 3 months prior so that will be taxes.

[ggcd951]

i purchased recently a 850sq ft condo right next to bart fremont thinking it might go up in value, i started renovating on next day I got the key with no prior experience and did pretty much everything except carpet install. After about ~8000$ plus my own hard labor, I am mostly done at this time and it is looking great now. It was in a ****ty looking condition but compared to yours, yours seem to have much more serious damage. I did mostly lighter stuff like painting, removing installing various fixtures etc., Have you considered doing part of it by yourself and let pros do the ones you can not do?

[AngusHsu]

Originally Posted by Oorah

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll list all the issues with the house:
1. Kitchen needs to be gutted out and completely replaced
2. Both bathrooms gutted out and replaced. There is dry rot in walls and damage to subfloor
3. Cracks and holes in dry walls
4. House needs to be repiped
5. Popcorn ceiling replaced
6. All windows have cracks or holes in them
7. Screen doors need to be replaced
8. Hardwood floors have Unremovable stains and need to be replaced
9. Ceiling has water damage which means weak spots in the roof
10. House might need to be re-wired
11. There may be damage to subfloor in other parts of the house
12. Interior doors and front door need to be replaced
13. Interior needs a paint job
14. Garage door needs to be replaced
15. Rotting deck in backyard needs to be ripped out

Having said that, do you all still think the average Asian family is going to buy a rundown house like this and put in the time to renovate it? In its current state, I can't imagine selling the house for anymore than half it's value, which would be $350000 (house is valued at $700,000). I have the money to fix it up and pay for it upfront. I'm just trying to figure out if it will be worth the time and effort.

Here is another factor to consider: I live and work in Southern California. So that throws a wrench in any plans to eiher renovate or sell the house.

I grew up in the MSJ part of Fremont and lived there for 10 years.

Yes, it is worth all the time and effort to gut out the house and redo it. I also recommend adding at least one bedroom and 1/2 bathroom. A house in pristine condition will sell for over $1MM. You might even be able to stretch to $1.3MM in this bubbly market.

Renovation budget might be as high as $200K based on your list.