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Raves to you on the Dave Ramsey approach!!!!!!!!!!! Excellent!!!!!!!!
It would be great to get the floors done before occupying, trust me, after you settle in and furnish you will never get it done.
Let us know about the wiring. Have the plumbing checked, too; Mom is ditching her house because the main to the city water is messed up and she's done with living in the remodel.
Maybe it's a money pit for YOU guys. But for us it is perfect. I don't need all that fancy stuff to be happy. We're planning on living there for several years at least and then possibly renting it out later, not selling it. I just want to know what I need to do to make this place livable. We are doing the "live like no one else so later you can live like no one else" type thing. Our mortgage will be $500. So we can save a lot of money. We also will have cash to fix it up, so no loans there. We qualified to buy a $335k house but we backed out because of the notion of being "House poor". I'd rather live in a less nice house, fix what NEEDS to be fixed and save for later, kids' college, etc.
Anyway, thanks for those who actually answered the question. I didn't think about the notion of doing the "envelope" of the house first, but that sounds smart. Siding and roof, it is, and then to the inside. The inside is actually not in bad shape. The floors don't need to be done NOW, but can wait a few years. The kitchen is completely workable and has new vinyl flooring which is liveable. The wiring does need updating but I am going to wait for the inspection to find out to what extent. I did notice the 2-prong plugs all over though, albeit intermixed with 3 prong ones here and there.
I'm one of those who actually answered the question - AND called your new house a money pit. Not sure if you've ever tackled a project of this magnitude, and I'm not saying it was a foolish move financially, but what I am saying is that whatever you think you will spend - add at least 25 percent more to that figure - probably even more. Now - you practically stole the house, so like I said, it may not have been a foolish investment, in fact it may be a GREAT investment, but it sounds like TONS of work and TONS of money to me. That's why I asked if other comparable homes were only bringing in $100,000 renovated. (That seems really low for ANYWHERE.) Because I have a feeling you will be spending more than $50,000 on it.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're going to live there a long time. But that doesn't mean it's not going to be a money pit and an ongoing project. Been there, done that...and will probably do it again, but I took the rose colored glasses off after the first major renovation I undertook.
We just bought a house that was $50,000 below market value. It is in great shape structurally, and needed no major structural work done, but it was a custom, and I do mean CUSTOM, home built in the 1990s. There was hardly a surface that wasn't navy blue, emerald green, or burgundy. We haven't even tackled the kitchen yet, and we've spent $18,000 in two months.
So yeah...it's amazing how fast the money can disappear into that pit!
But good luck - it sounds like a home that you can truly make your own. I don't mean to discourage you - I am just being realistic.
I'm one of those who actually answered the question - AND called your new house a money pit. Not sure if you've ever tackled a project of this magnitude, and I'm not saying it was a foolish move financially, but what I am saying is that whatever you think you will spend - add at least 25 percent more to that figure - probably even more. Now - you practically stole the house, so like I said, it may not have been a foolish investment, in fact it may be a GREAT investment, but it sounds like TONS of work and TONS of money to me. That's why I asked if other comparable homes were only bringing in $100,000 renovated. (That seems really low for ANYWHERE.) Because I have a feeling you will be spending more than $50,000 on it.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're going to live there a long time. But that doesn't mean it's not going to be a money pit and an ongoing project. Been there, done that...and will probably do it again, but I took the rose colored glasses off after the first major renovation I undertook.
We just bought a house that was $50,000 below market value. It is in great shape structurally, and needed no major structural work done, but it was a custom, and I do mean CUSTOM, home built in the 1990s. There was hardly a surface that wasn't navy blue, emerald green, or burgundy. We haven't even tackled the kitchen yet, and we've spent $18,000 in two months.
So yeah...it's amazing how fast the money can disappear into that pit!
But good luck - it sounds like a home that you can truly make your own. I don't mean to discourage you - I am just being realistic.
I see what you are saying, and I appreciate the advice. I was more talking about the people who were saying to just run from it. It's 50k. For a house. Even if we ended up spending 100k on it, I don't think we could get a better deal - most of the houses listed for 150k are the same size or smaller and are farther from town in those newer cookie cutter neighborhoods which I don't like.
I do realize it will be an ongoing project. But hopefully one that will be slowly over time. I don't want to rip out most of the house and not have much in the way of a place to live.
I probably do have rose colored glasses. But if it does help I lived through several renovations that my parents did when I was a kid and then a teen, and I do remember the inconvenience of it. The noise, the lack of kitchen for several months, the cold drafts from parts of the house being open at times...it was no fun but we all lived through it. I'd rather not do a project that big, though.
I see what you are saying, and I appreciate the advice. I was more talking about the people who were saying to just run from it. It's 50k. For a house. Even if we ended up spending 100k on it, I don't think we could get a better deal - most of the houses listed for 150k are the same size or smaller and are farther from town in those newer cookie cutter neighborhoods which I don't like.
I do realize it will be an ongoing project. But hopefully one that will be slowly over time. I don't want to rip out most of the house and not have much in the way of a place to live.
I probably do have rose colored glasses. But if it does help I lived through several renovations that my parents did when I was a kid and then a teen, and I do remember the inconvenience of it. The noise, the lack of kitchen for several months, the cold drafts from parts of the house being open at times...it was no fun but we all lived through it. I'd rather not do a project that big, though.
We bought our house for under $50K which we thought was a steal. THOUGHT we would put $100K into it but we have put twice that amount and there STILL is more work to do. So, what we thought was a steal is now a money pit. But, to me it is worth it. I am going to have the most beautiful house in town when I am done. And the nice thing about having a fixer upper, is all the details are YOURS! You get to pick the cabinets, you get to pick the sink, you get to pick the hardware, etc. etc. It is ALL YOURS!!!! Enjoy it!
Everything else is probably more important but not having a washer and dryer would drive me insane. I can't spend any more days at a laundromat. Not happening.
No central AC would kill me also. Once you've had it, it's hard to go back to not having it.
I already don't have a washer and dryer. I really don't mind going to the laundromat cause it's a break from the kids and it ALL gets done at once. Whereas before when I had W&D, it would take me an ENTIRE day to do all the laundry, now it takes about 2-3 hours and it's completely done. Love it!
The foundation is in great shape. I just went back for another walk through today. No cracks or anything. Completely brick foundation, and there is not even one crack in the mortar or anything. I was shocked. I really looked closely. Also under the house the dirt is packed down very very tightly. It honestly feels like the house was built on a huge bedrock. I am still going to get a professional inspector as I am not one, but I believe this house is very well built and I have seen quite a few.
It turns out there is insulation in the crawl space. The pink stuff that comes with the cartoon character on it (used to work at home depot).
I also noticed the plugs are a mix of 2 and 3 prong plugs. I am going to have to figure out if they are actually grounded or not.
After going back, I am just solidifying my desire to buy the house. It has a very great energy about it. I would rather have this house than another one that is 150k but all done up.
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