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What really matters IMHO is location, location & location. Everything else can be fixed. Dirty doesn't matter, you'll get it dirty yourself just living there, although perhaps not as dirty. But, you'll be cleaning it forever after so one extra cleaning before you move in is a tiny thing overall. If it bothers you, for a couple hundred dollars you can hire someone to clean it if for some reason you can't just get yourself to clean it yourself.
Paint is cheap and easy. If for some reason the hot pink or dark navy some previous owner decided was the perfect color doesn't please you, there's this paint called 'Kilz'. It will cover bizarre colors and stains in one coat and get it to a lovely white color that you can paint any color you want. There were six coats of basic white paint to try to cover a chartreuse kitchen and hot pink bedroom before some kind person at the hardware store sold me some Kilz and we've never been without it since. Although putting down a bizarre color and then another color over it can have some good effects depending on what you want. But, painting is for later, at the moment, you're trying to get something to paint.
A sound structure will save tons of headaches, that's a huge plus. In a hot market, I'd be looking for a nasty dirty house with a great location and sound structure & mechanicals. Cleaning is the easiest, painting the next easiest. You can always live with old and dated cabinets for awhile and if the overall cost is lower, that makes the monthly payments less so life is a lot easier. A coat of paint on dated cabinets may keep them there for awhile to save costs of replacement for awhile.
We bought our first house as 'vacant' land, the structure was deemed a tear down. That was fifteen years ago, it's still standing and is currently a rental house although the tenant wants to buy it so we may sell it. It did take several years of repairs here and there but they were done while we were living there so one room at a time was sheeted off.
The second house was lovely, ready to move in and easy to live in. Unfortunately, when we bought this next rental house (had to sign a waiver before they'd let us in the door to see it) it was more of a fixer upper than we'd expected and we moved into it and rented the nice house to cover the expenses. This has been a bit of an extreme fixer upper, but the location is nicer and after a year of fixing, it's becoming a nicer house than the one before. Better view and better location.
FWIW, fixer uppers are a lot more hassle than new construction. I've built three houses with a lot less effort than the fixer uppers but there's no place to live while building new. Also, the building codes have gotten significantly tighter since the last new construction we did in the mid 1980's.
In the words of my car mechanic, "get what you like, you can fix everything else".
Pretty much where we are at.
It's like buying one of my $500 clunker cars I get 5 years out of.
Don't matter how the outside looks as long as the insides are ok
Pretty much where we are at.
It's like buying one of my $500 clunker cars I get 5 years out of.
Don't matter how the outside looks as long as the insides are ok
You say the words, but it honestly doesn't seem like you mean them. Mostly this is because you were thumbing your nose at a house $30K under your budget because it has outdated cabinets, wall colors you don't like, and a dirty bathroom. That is probably the house you should have offered on since you did say it has large bathrooms and did NOT mention that it seemed to have any structural/safety issues.
For me, outside of foundation/structural issues, it needs to pass the Four Point: Electrical, Plumbing, Roof, and HVAC.
I live in California, not Boston, but having a roof replaced is a piece of cake (easy to hire someone to do it) and does not cost a fortune. Someone handy could do it themselves, with friends. But yes, we do not have snow, so maybe my thought about roofs being an easy redo does not fit for your area.
The thing that catches my eye as a big red flag no-no is when older homes that used to have walls now have them removed. Very often that presents a structural problem. Plus, I just absolutely hate the "open concept" style of homes that costs builders and "renovators" less to build.
You say the words, but it honestly doesn't seem like you mean them. Mostly this is because you were thumbing your nose at a house $30K under your budget because it has outdated cabinets, wall colors you don't like, and a dirty bathroom. That is probably the house you should have offered on since you did say it has large bathrooms and did NOT mention that it seemed to have any structural/safety issues.
Fair enough. That was also a town house.
If you cannot clean your bathroom for an open house, what else wasn't done?
We put in an offer at 255 on that one.
It'll get overlooked but there were some things we didn't like.
The 4 br 1 bath made us happy.
Very dated per say.
But the house had charm and potential.
The wood panel walls were in excellent shape in all the rooms and the heating system was in excellent shape. The hot water boiler was new.
The dropped ceilings were in good shape. Don't care for them but that can be remedied.
The kitchen also had the old built in wood cabinets with a turning under cabinet.
Some of the carpets will be swapped out if we get the bid.
My FIL best friend is a flipper.
He came out with us today and helped show the pluses and minuses on the 2 houses.
That was very helpful.
House is "old" but I like the old stuff. Had an addition to the house as part of the foundation was newer concrete while part of the house had fieldstone that was repaired at some point.
The roof from what access we had appeared to be in fair shape.
The house was very 60's in a lot of ways.
One floor beam was sistered. Structure beams from what we could see was in good shape.
So please don't get the wrong idea. I love older houses and sans wall paper in the bathroom... I could care less.
I've occupied some dumps in my time in the most blighted hoods of Boston.
The townhouse just didn't speak to us. Especially when you can get brand new Reno condos for 225-275 k here .
I actually prefer older houses/ construction as the material and quality of construction are far better then today's materials and "builders" sans high end builders.
If you FIL plans to live out his years in this house with you, you may want to consider whether the house has a bedroom, or a room that can be converted to a bedroom, and a bathroom on the first floor. There may come a time when the FIL will have trouble navigating stairs. Just something to think about when you're considering the layout of various places and their suitability for your situation.
I live in California, not Boston, but having a roof replaced is a piece of cake (easy to hire someone to do it) and does not cost a fortune. Someone handy could do it themselves, with friends. But yes, we do not have snow, so maybe my thought about roofs being an easy redo does not fit for your area.
The thing that catches my eye as a big red flag no-no is when older homes that used to have walls now have them removed. Very often that presents a structural problem. Plus, I just absolutely hate the "open concept" style of homes that costs builders and "renovators" less to build.
Redoing a roof right away is a no-go for a VA loan, though, which is what the OP's future FIL plans to use. VA minimum requirements state that the roof must have five years of life left on it.
Pretty much where we are at.
It's like buying one of my $500 clunker cars I get 5 years out of.
Don't matter how the outside looks as long as the insides are ok
But you're not paying for this house! Your finance's father is paying for it with his VA loan. Looks DO in fact matter with a VA loan. If there's peeling paint, they won't approve.
Quote:
Originally Posted by merewenc
You say the words, but it honestly doesn't seem like you mean them. Mostly this is because you were thumbing your nose at a house $30K under your budget because it has outdated cabinets, wall colors you don't like, and a dirty bathroom. That is probably the house you should have offered on since you did say it has large bathrooms and did NOT mention that it seemed to have any structural/safety issues.
^^This. The OP thumbed his nose at quite a bit in another thread....doesn't want to commute and be exactly where he wants to be....Meanwhile he's not paying!
Fair enough. That was also a town house.
If you cannot clean your bathroom for an open house, what else wasn't done?
We put in an offer at 255 on that one.
It'll get overlooked but there were some things we didn't like.
The 4 br 1 bath made us happy.
Very dated per say.
But the house had charm and potential.
The wood panel walls were in excellent shape in all the rooms and the heating system was in excellent shape. The hot water boiler was new.
The dropped ceilings were in good shape. Don't care for them but that can be remedied.
The kitchen also had the old built in wood cabinets with a turning under cabinet.
Some of the carpets will be swapped out if we get the bid.
My FIL best friend is a flipper.
He came out with us today and helped show the pluses and minuses on the 2 houses.
That was very helpful.
House is "old" but I like the old stuff. Had an addition to the house as part of the foundation was newer concrete while part of the house had fieldstone that was repaired at some point.
The roof from what access we had appeared to be in fair shape.
The house was very 60's in a lot of ways.
One floor beam was sistered. Structure beams from what we could see was in good shape.
So please don't get the wrong idea. I love older houses and sans wall paper in the bathroom... I could care less.
I've occupied some dumps in my time in the most blighted hoods of Boston.
The townhouse just didn't speak to us. Especially when you can get brand new Reno condos for 225-275 k here .
I actually prefer older houses/ construction as the material and quality of construction are far better then today's materials and "builders" sans high end builders.
Be careful thinking you can just remodel drop ceilings in an older home, especially if it's pre-1960s. They used a lot of asbestos in the stuff under those tiles. You may not be able to switch them out with a drywall ceiling without a full abatement--or at all.
I can understand the house not feeling right. Have you all sat down and figured out what "right" is for you--especially the FIL who will be footing the bill? Has your realtor helped you fill out a needs/wants list or anything else to help really zone in one what you want? Or are you just looking at EVERYHING in your price range? Because that could quickly burn you guys out in the process.
I think you sound like a you should be a condo person.
And it doesn't sound like you have the resources for "old". Just the fact that you mention paint? Why? Don't you have the money to repaint?
If true, get the condo!
BTW it doesn't matter what the flipper said. He can't see behind the walls and didn't do a formal inspection which takes hours.
Watch some flipping shows. ONE episode they actually found a FAKE NEW CIRCUIT breaker on a wall that connected to old illegal wiring! hahahaha
Think about what ONE plumbing leak will mean. I had one on the second floor in a house only 7 years old and it destroyed my entire first floor including the ceiling falling down.
And don't think "insurance" because they can drop you if you file too many claims like that.
I think structural deficits should be a warning flag. But that depends of the cost of the repair imo
Anything that can be changed with minimal labor shouldn't be on your list imo
Can you take any of those friends with you to inspect their areas of expertise as you look at homes? It would save a formal inspection in some iffy situations.
The things my husband and I paid the most attention to is structurally sound....neighborhood and does it have all or almost all of the things we wanted....size, number of bedrooms, yard size. We do not have small children, so some of our concerns weren't the norm of a family looking to buy.
I thin if you can sit down and identify your wants, what you can/can't accept as deficits...it will give you a way to edit houses that you want to view.
It can be challenging....but it can be rewarding too. And, the more you actually look at homes, the more you can tighten your list of must haves. Good luck, and please keep updating....
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