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My wife and I have wanted to buy a home for years but never did because we kept relocating for work and what not. Now we are more settled, but unfortunately the cost of homes in this area are higher than expected. However, rent prices in the area are also atrociously high, so after countless financial analysis, its cheaper every time to try to buy something in our budget than keep renting.
In short, We have a 135k budget in an area where the decent starter home goes for 200k. We've been looking at listings for over a year so we have a pretty good idea of the market, and have been actively looking with a realtor over the past month. There are not many homes in our price range, and I'm being pretty flexible looking within up to an hour drive from my workplace. One of our target towns I think only has 15 listings in the price range, and they are either way too small (under 1000 sqft), or pretty much a huge rehab project. I've been looking obsessively at new listings daily, but it's usually only a trickle on 1 or 2 per day (in that huge hour radius mind you) and they follow the same pattern of being too small or a complete wreck.
I've never been much of a handyman, and I was more keen on finding a turn key home, but it's simply not happening at our price range and I'm afraid if we wait till the summer, we may still not find anything turn key that works for us. That being said, I'm been coming around to the idea of buying one of these fixer uppers, but I'm afraid I may be getting into a situation that's going to be one I'm struggling to keep my head above water in.
I guess my main questions... Would it be silly to buy a fixer upper without really any handyman/contractor background? There is one home in particular that is a great size and location, but in need of serious cosmetic work, moderate landscaping, and minor updating. We are considering buying the home because we feel we can make it really great and we love the space, but I'm afraid of getting into a situation I'm not ready for. I would want to try to learn how to do some of the work myself to save money, but of course we would hire contractors as well. What are some good resources to learn about fixing up homes and making basic repairs and updates around the house?
EDIT: We were planning on financing by utilizing a new line of credit, and estimate we would want to put at least 10k or repairs/updates into the home over the year. However, it only needs the floors replaced, rooms painted, and a thorough deep clean initially to be livable, and we can do the other repairs over time.
I've never been much of a handyman, and I was more keen on finding a turn key home, but it's simply not happening at our price range and I'm afraid if we wait till the summer, we may still not find anything turn key that works for us. That being said, I'm been coming around to the idea of buying one of these fixer uppers, but I'm afraid I may be getting into a situation that's going to be one I'm struggling to keep my head above water in.
I guess my main questions... Would it be silly to buy a fixer upper without really any handyman/contractor background? There is one home in particular that is a great size and location, but in need of serious cosmetic work, moderate landscaping, and minor updating. We are considering buying the home because we feel we can make it really great and we love the space, but I'm afraid of getting into a situation I'm not ready for. I would want to try to learn how to do some of the work myself to save money, but of course we would hire contractors as well. What are some good resources to learn about fixing up homes and making basic repairs and updates around the house?
EDIT: We were planning on financing by utilizing a new line of credit, and estimate we would want to put at least 10k or repairs/updates into the home over the year. However, it only needs the floors replaced, rooms painted, and a thorough deep clean initially to be livable, and we can do the other repairs over time.
Is your wife not handy?
The reason why fixer-upper projects fail? You need to rely on contractors and their opinions because you don't have the knowledge to do so.
This is not to say they're bad or crooked, but you may not be explaining the project scope clearly and you may not be hearing and understanding the project scope clearly in return.
That's where experience comes in.
Something is going to go wrong on this project. Any new purchase of an older home always has something unplanned go wrong. Plan for an emergency $5k slush fund.
Then, you need to decide if you can accept cost increases and project failures.
Some can, some can't. Moving, buying a new house and having construction going on are all stress factors. Many times the benefits will outweigh the negatives. You just need to keep that in your mind when the project is delayed two more weeks and goes up another $3k.
Last edited by flowbe202; 12-25-2015 at 08:56 PM..
Reason: Typos from voice recog app
The reason why fixer-upper projects fail? You need to rely on contractors and their opinions because you don't have the knowledge to do so.
This is not to say they're bad or crooked, but you may not be explaining the project scope clearly and you may not be hearing and understanding the project scope clearly in return.
That's where experience comes in.
Something is going to go wrong on this project. Any new purchase of an older home always has something unplanned go wrong. Plan for an emergency $5k slush fund.
Then, you need to decide if you can accept cost increases and project failures.
Some can, some can't. Moving, buying a new house and having construction going on are all stress factors. Many times the benefits will outweigh the negatives. You just need to keep that in your mind when the project is delayed two more weeks and goes up another $3k.
She's definitely more of a DIY type than me, but she really doesn't have much previous background with home repairing. She's not afraid to learn though and get down and dirty with whatever needs to be done.
Me, I have decent expertise in landscaping, and I could handle most of the outside projects (the landscaping ones I mean) on my own with ease, just need the time. Inside stuff though I've never really tried, and like on of the other posters said, that means relying on contractors who in my experience generally are not very trustworthy. It seems it takes 2 bad contractors to find 1 good one...
At this point it seems to be a matter of do we just keep biding our time and waiting, or accept that we either need to settle for a fixer upper with potential or substantially increase our budget. It's not so simple to wait either since I currently live far from my job and commute an hour and fifteen minutes EACH way, and our current rental landlord is trying to raise the rent several hundred dollars to market value because let's just say we had a really good price because of a deal established in the past that has since expired.
I recommend you watch some of those fixer upper shows to get some idea of the type of problems that could surface once you start working on a house. Wiring could be bad, hvac may need to be replaced, water problems, etc...
I'm assuming your household income must be under $45,000 a year for $135,000 to be all you can afford? Is only one of you working? Is there any way you can raise your household income so you can raise your budget?
Being able to fix your own house is very empowering. Although rehab is a lot more work than new construction, but it doesn't have to be done immediately, either, since you'll already have a house to live in. If it were me, I'd say go for it if the house is in a location you like and has everything else you want other than the condition of the house.
When you mention floors replaced, you are talking about the floor covering and not the floor itself, right?
This is the second 'tear down' we're rehabbing and it's great for creating equity. In a year's time and without that much outlay other than to buy the house, we will almost triple the value of the house. Lots of patching, painting and little repairs all over the place, it couldn't have been done cost effectively by contractors, but as owner fixer-uppers, it works well.
I did. I never regretted it. I learned a lot of skills because the house was 94 years old when I bought it and I lived in it for 13 years, making improvements the entire time. Then I sold it, paid off my mortgage, and used my decent profit to pay cash for a second fixer-upper. I still had more work in front of me, but I was mortgage-less with my second home.
I would encourage you to track down a knowledgeable contractor who, for an hourly fee, would go through potential properties with you and give his best guess on what's what.
Ask her/him to teach you how to spot termite tubes, foundation issues, major structural problems.
Most people can figure out how to strip wallpaper, remove popcorn ceiling, haul off old carpet, paint, put down laminate floors, etc.
Anything beyond that usually means hiring the work done for the beginner.
Over time you may find you enjoy the process. A couple post on the C-D house forum about buying and fixing up places they are living in, then selling them. They turn outdated, boxed-in houses into spacious, sunny places. Then sell and start all over again with another fixer-upper. They've lived in some nice homes and apparently are building equity.
It's a bit rough for the first month or two. As I recall, they set up an studio apartment in one or two of the bedrooms while they work on the rest.
If you are up for it, you could end up with a nice home. Or sell it and start over again a time or two.
Last edited by GotHereQuickAsICould; 12-26-2015 at 07:17 AM..
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