Pamghatten: Not ALL standards have tightened .. but the documentation requirements have greatly changed, thankfully. Well, I'm not quite as thankful as you are since an underwriter rejected my mortgage application one week before the scheduled closing. Before I get into the particulars, let me give a little primer to those of you not familiar with federal employment and retirement: Although separate agencies within the federal government hire and employ their employees based on their own rules and regulations, there is one central personnel agency that handles benefits such as retirement for everyone: the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). When an employee is getting ready to retire, their own agency can provide a benefits statement indicating what the estimated annuity will be, but it is subject to review by OPM and is not official until OPM performs their own calculations, sometimes 6-8 weeks after you retire. I'm sure that you can see where this is going.... My agency's HR department provided a memo to Bank of America indicating what my "estimated" annuity will be, down to the penny. The memo literally said that my present annual salary is xxx,xxx and that the gross annuity would be x,xxx.83 per month and the net after taxes and other deductions would be x,xxx.71 per month. Once OPM conducts their own review this could change by a few dollars a month; however, we are talking about a possible change of .001 of the total amount. Nevertheless, because my agency (or any federal agency) is only allowed to say that the amount is an "estimate," the underwriter would not approve the loan at this point in time. Oh, did I mention the fact that I was already putting down over $200,000 (~50%) and also have a FICO of 800? Fortunately, the proceeds from the sale of my house in Bethesda last November were still in a money-market account and were more than enough to pay cash for the house in Las Vegas, otherwise I would have had to sell equities to purchase the house (either that, or let the sale fall through). We've gone from an era where underwriters would approve loans to anyone with a heartbeat, to one where people with guaranteed incomes for life and a seven-figure net worth can't qualify for a loan

We are just finishing a remodeling job on a "blower upper" house we bought in 1992. The original cost was $110,000. With this remodel and all the other work we have put into it, we have put an addition $200,000 into it. That includes roofing, concrete floor in garage, rewiring, carpet, deck on back, garage door, replace all plumbing, central air conditioning, built in custom book shelves, kitchen redo, and now adding 400 square feet, new windows, siding, and redoing both bathrooms. The point is you can make as much out of remodeling as you want. If you are going to live there for awhile, you just bite the bullet and do it. If you wanted to buy this and flip it, I think you need to keep looking. There is way too much to do to get your money back.

kroer2016 I'm thinking that the furniture and accessories is available for purchase by the homeowners, but it really is just for staging. I agree about the budget. It always ends up that they misquote because they conveniently find something major wrong. I would never agree to such a purchase without a home inspection and knowing ALL the details possible up front. ******************************************************** Yes, the finished hse is staged for the show and HO's can purchase the items if they chose. If Jo commissions something from a vendor like Clint, that is a gift from FU Curious, other than a piece of furniture, does anybody know what the HO's appearing on the show get financially? On HH Reno, they get $25,000 towards the reno. I'll bet dollars to donuts the home has been inspected and any issues that come up are reality show drama. As an aside - do you notice how often they say 'You know'?

I was in the same situation a few yrs ago. The house I purchased was a total gut job. But I loved the midcentury lines and it was built by an architect I admire. The house has 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths. It is in very high priced neighborhood. I had cash to start the renovation process and owned a condo that I could live in meanwhile. Before I moved in, I tore out all the plaster and put in new drywall. Rewired most of the house. Tore down EVERY wall I could to open the rooms up. New kitchen (by custom cabinet maker) and redid two guest bathrooms. Added recessed lights. The master bath was hideous but liveable (I am still using it today and will need to replace soon). I had to replace the HVAC system which was around 12k (2 units). New double paned glass throughout plus glass front doors. Because of the neighborhood, I put in high end appliances. I staggered everything according to necessity. First, make the house liveable and move in. Second, after a couple years, tear off roof and put on new roof. Third, repaint and restucco exterior. Fourth, tear out old nonfunctional pool and put in lap pool. Next, landscaping, new fencing, and new patios. Questions to ask yourself: Do you love the architecture of the home? Can you afford (with cash or loan) to make the house liveable? Are you planning to live long term at the residence? What shape is the pool in? The tennis court? Is the area appreciating? Is this a location you are really want to live in, but cant afford to get into otherwise? If you go through with it: Get the best architect you can afford. Possibly live in the house for awhile. Now that I have lived in the house for awhile, I will have to redo things. Beware of high taxes in more expensive homes. If you remodel, your taxes may go up. Before you put down flooring, make sure you have torn down all the walls you want. If you need to have in floor elec. sockets in the middle of large rooms, do it first. Also, beware of landscaping costs. I will definitely get all the money I have put into the house back out of it. If I sold, I should make a profit. But even then, I could not afford to buy in this neighborhood as prices have gone up so much. Despite the tribulations of the remodel, I am still glad that I did it. It has become sort of a hobby now.