The cost of everything depends on how much you're going to DIY and how much you'll have to hire out.

The biggest issue I see is that most of the things you're proposing (not counting the master suite addition) are things that change the house to your taste, and not things that add value in general, and thus will result in your being able to recoup (not recuperate :-)) your expenses.

It looks like this house has already been updated. It's got nice new kitchen cabinets, granite counters, tile floors and stainless appliances. So it's priced as such. If you come in and paint the cabinets, replace the counters and floors and appliances, you have spent thousands and not increased the value of the home by one penny.

Likewise, if you cover the brick with something else and replace perfectly good shingles with a different style, you've made it a house you like better, but no one is going to pay you for that when you sell it.

To make what you've proposed work, you need to find a fixer, not a fixed house. That way you can buy it cheap and recover your remodeling investment. Or else decide you like this one well enough that you can live with its existing style and just pay for the changes that add square footage or remedy a problem, like paving a gravel driveway.

thanks for your input! the neighborhood is a mix of homes like the one i showed you - about 1/3 like those and the rest are closer to million dollar homes. here's are a few homes on one street over from the house we are looking at

http://goo.gl/maps/maUkj

http://goo.gl/maps/rqlhf

http://goo.gl/maps/Gl8iC

http://goo.gl/maps/VTlRL

this fabulous glass house that makes me drool
http://goo.gl/maps/ycWoV

almost all of the homes on that street have been updated or were torn down and replaced.

i think that adding slate floors in the wet areas, subway tile backsplashes, landscaping, a driveway, a carport, an attractive patio, landscaping, and REAL windows will add to the value of the home?? oh and the countertops are tile granite, not slab, so putting slab would add to the value as well. the island is slab but the rest of the counters are not.

we don't really want to move again. that's how great of a piece of property this is. for example, across the street there is an empty lot that is listed for 295,000, but it has no house on it. it's a wider lot and a corner lot with a live oak, but that kind of gives you an idea of how property is being priced in baton rouge.

i could find something in 500K that i like, but they are all in new construction neighborhoods further on the outskirts where they have hardly any yards and are right on the street. i really want a yard.

the older 500K homes that have yards need updating, so i'd spend more money updating.

knowing about the empty lot across the street and its price, does renovating this house make more sense?

i don't want to do it, however, if GreenDesign is right that i can never make this home look great. I don't mind 9ft ceilings in the bedrooms and kitchen. I need higher ceilings in the den, however.

thanks again!! i salute you for reading through my long winded post ;)

Well, the house is basically for sale for the price of the land, so a teardown would make more sense and give you what you want. You're NOT adding value to the house by doing all of those things you've listed. You're SPENDING money to make it more to your taste. Even if you were putting in hardwoods where there was carpet, or putting in a 50K kitchen, you'd only get maybe 10-15% of that back as added value to the home. It's an older home, and you'd better like it's bones if you want to buy it. You're not going to change those bones. And you're not going to make a 500K house out of it by spending 200K on it either. It'll still be a 300K home. If you're darn lucky, it might be a 350K home, but that would need to involve adding actual square footage to the home. And that nice new space would still be attached to the older home, which would keep it's value lower than if it were all a brand new home.

If you want a home with all of these "new home" features, then you need to buy a newer home. Or find a teardown.

Ok. well now I'm nervous. I guess y'all are right. I had a feeling deep down that it wouldn't work. I think I just needed someone to tell me that. I'm still not completely convinced because I've been in really old homes that were renovated and look and feel beautiful and seamless.

My husband has a friend that "plays" real estate. He's made junk look good as well as restored valuable historical buildings in their states of decay. He's a millionaire, and we are not, however. Still, I'm thinking of having him look at it this weekend so that he can tell me what y'all are telling me. Once someone sees it in person and tells me that, then I'll be able to walk. I just really don't want to live way on the outskirts of town. The traffic here is a NIGHTMARE! I really wish I dind't have to live in this Baton Rouge to begin with, but husband's job is here to stay :(

I think you need to define a "nightmare commute". I know people who live places that it takes an hour and a half to go 10 miles to work. BR just isn't a large enough of a metropolis to equal that. Data says that average commute times in your city are between 17 and 29 minutes, which is pretty good for any metro area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baton Rouge commute times

I'm not in the city. that's the problem. i'm 7 miles southwest of it, and it's a half an hour for me, which isn't bad on good days, but when there's a wreck or a stalled vehicle - its a nightmare. and that's about twice a week. but if i'm in town and want to come home to bring groceries back etc, i feel stupid making the commute to save groceries only to have to turn back around to pick the older kids up from school in the city. toting around a baby and toddler through it is no fun either. the baby hates the car. extra curricular activities are hard because i have to stay in the city and drag the younger children around killing time while the oldest child goes to choir etc. then the 2nd child sometimes has baseball back in the country. it's a big juggling act. i have to use the restroom at gas stations while i wait because i can't return home.

we have 4 kids. 2 aren't in school yet, so the juggling act will only get worse once their activities are thrown into the mix.

those that live East of the city in Prairieville have it worse. they are gridlocked on interstate 10 for an hour every morning.

trust me, since Katrina, anyone here will tell you that interstate 10 is a nightmare commute. Katrina is the reason the housing prices have stayed high here as well. Baton Rouge ran out of land and houses. new construction IN Baton Rouge is around 200/sf.

after looking at This Old House magazine's before and after articles, I'm convinced it can be done. I also watched a few episodes of Property Brothers. I think that we can make this house great. Is ANYONE on here with me??

I admire your gumption!! And your ability to see what might be. I've always wanted to do a reno but have no experience. Your idea to ask your friend who has done renovations before is a great starting point. As the posts before said, how much will you be able to do yourself. Also, would you live in the house while your working on it or would you be juggling 2 homes plus 4 kids?? It's a lot to bite off. Good Luck whatever you decide to do.

*If* it were possible to do what you've said that you want to do, your comments indicate that you have no idea what you're doing.

House renovations aside - you've said that you are not millionaires and that you have four young children; you've implied that you're a SAHM. From a financial planning perspective, before you go at least 200K underwater on this house, I hope that your children's college funds are fully funded and that you have substantial disability and life insurance on your husband.

It's less a case of "can you re-make this house into the style you like" than "does it make financial sense to do so?"

Yes, you can do all the things you mentioned, except perhaps raising the ceiling in the den. The issues everyone is raising point to it probably not being a great financial decision to do so. Meaning you'll spend $200K and raise the value by $50K, or something like that. If it's worth it to you to live in the place you want, then feel free to do it. There's nothing immoral about spending money on your home that you won't get back. But just go in with your eyes open to that likelihood.

None of us can give you a ballpark of what that would cost. You're saying new construction is $200/sf, which is double what it is where I live. Those differences in labor costs make it impossible for us to swag it. Perhaps your husband's friend can give you an idea of costs. Just be very careful about jumping in to such a large project without your eyes wide open and your costs planned out well.

I would suggest that you keep looking. I know how hard it is to pass up something that seems that it will work for you, but you have to remember that something else will come along that is in worse condition that NEEDS updating. At that point, doing all of your renovations will make sense.

Look at this house. Other than putting some kind of false front on it, is there anything about the curb view of it that appeals to you? You want to change all of the perfectly NICE things inside it. That is costly and wasteful. Ask your realtor to sit down with you and just look at past sales. Look for a fixer that needs TLC that is in a good neighborhood. One that attracts you and makes you excited to get your hands on it. Okay, how long ago was that house on the market? How often does a house like that come on the market? Doing this will set yourself some realistic goals for finding the house of your dreams, one where doing all of your renovations will add value.

BTW, I lived in Southdowns at 1155 Aberdeen for four years in the 1980s. That is the other side of Lee Dr, north of the bayou. Because I have joint problems, we had to buy a house on piers, not on a slab. I could not stand on concrete-based floors for long. We looked at a lot of older homes, one was a shotgun house not far from this one you are looking at. Prices surely have gone up!

Oh, I forgot that I was going to suggest a good old fashioned chest cooler with ice inside for refrigerated items and one of these freezers for frozen foods so that you can make fewer trips to town. I always had my cooler in my trunk in BR.

Here is a link that might be useful: 12 volt cooler/freezers

You can buy this house and do all of the work you are describing to it, and lose that money at resale, or you can use that same money to send one of your kids to college.

You could always send your kids to their local public schools and let them ride the school bus instead of schlepping them all the way across town. Or home school. And then use that extra time and money to learn how to strip paint and spackle and operate a nail gun and cordless drill. Then you would be prepared to own a fixer upper should the right one come along.

This house could use some landscaping in the front and maybe a front porch or stone sitting area. Paint is easy and fairly cheap update. Adding rooms and raising ceilings are expensive. what are the comps in the neighborhood if you add on? Are they $500k? Or $350k? If they are the higher amount then go for it. If the lower amount, I would really question it.

Have you seen this house?
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/6433-Millstone-Ave_Baton-Rouge_LA_70808_M70530-79395 $440,000 with light kitchen, 4 bedroom and 3 baths. However, I'm not sure the amount of backyard green space because of the pool.

I lived in New Orleans for a bit, so I get the whole "historic area coming back" thing. The land value is definitely pricey, but if you want a new home, you're really better off buying a bare patch of land and doing your thing.

In New Orleans, maintaining the original historic character is of paramount importance. It seems as though your chosen neighborhood doesn't really have that concern, as a lot of the homes are very modern, and that seems more your style as well from your links.

If you really want to buy this for some reason and remodel, you can make tremendous changes to the facade for a reasonable cost. Taller windows, shingles, hardiplank, these are few tens of thousand dollar things and I think they'd make a big difference. Living inside of a remodel is hard, though, and changing interior is fraught with risk and expense.

You won't get back your initial investment, if that matters to you.

In New Orleans, you'd have no choice but to remodel. In Baton Rouge, seems like you can tear down, so that might be a better way to go.

Any time a home is for sale for the land price, then a teardown makes the most sense over renovation. But, only if the surrounding neighborhood would support the comps of a new larger home on the lot. If a lot of teardowns are being done in the neighborhood, and the lot maybe could be subdivided to put 2 or more houses on it, then that would be a money making proposition if the rezoning is friendly for that type of thing. But that's also a risky investment for any bank right now, and there would need to be a pretty good cash buy in from the buyer to make any deals happen.

And if teardowns aren't happening in the neighborhood, it will always cost you to be the pioneer in urban renewal. You do it because it will give you a better result than remodeling, and most likely be cheaper in the long run as well. But, it would be a losing proposition from the bank's viewpoint, so it would also need to be done as a virtual cash build.

If your finances are such that you don't have the capital to do this as a cash transaction, and the neighborhood doesn't really support the appraisal of the additional money spent on extensive remodel/teardown that you are envisioning, then the only way you are going to get the house that you want is to buy one already built. If the location with the amenities that you want isn't satisfactory to you, then something will need to change on your list. Either your budget will have to increase, or you'll have to learn to love the commute, or you'll need to relocate some of the activities to lessen the commute.

Thanks for all your responses. We looked at it again with older, wiser folks ;) and there were some issues that they pointed out. Issues that we don't want to tackle. Also, I decided that if I would ever do a renovation to an older home, it should be on an older home with some sort of character or charm. There's really no point in dumping money into this particular home. There's no architectural charm whatsoever.

One thing that I was "right" about, however, is that renovations in areas such as this can be profitable since the homes range from 250K to over a million. With that being said though, I was NOT looking to profit. I just want to be in a good location in a house that I like.

The example given by an agent is if the land alone will sell for 250K - 290K, then the land with a 2300 sf house all updated nicely can sell for well over 400K. Baton Rouge doesn't follow the usual "rules" in certain locations.

Another example, sort of, is there's a mid century modern house that I really want (husband doesn't like it) for 525K, but they purchased it 6 months ago for 319K, and haven't done a thing to it. Agent expects it to sell for 375-400K according to comps, but wouldn't be surprised if they got closer to what they are asking due to location. Someone may come along and buy it for what they are asking then drive up the price per square foot in the neighborhood. This seems to be a trend over here. Location really talks since the city is running out of IN CITY property.

@ Artichokey, yes we have large life insurance policies on both of us etc etc. My husband is an insurance nut. He gets it on EVERYTHING. It's annoying, really. Also, if anything ever happened to my husband and I needed to go back to work, I could and would.

KickyMarcia, we took a tour of the house you posted, but the pool is an issue and there were a lot of things that I would want to update and or change. I'm the problem. I'm too picky. So, we will just wait until the right house comes up.

Livewireoak, public schools in Baton Rouge are a mess right now. It's a political debate not suitable for here. But trust me, they're nothing like the schools in Tennessee. Either way, we LOVE the Catholic school they are currently attending. It's a great school, Church, and Community that makes the drive just something I have to do. Hopefully, however, we will find a home soon that gets us closer to the school.

In the meantime, NancyinMich, I will check out those coolers. :)

Again, thanks for all of your opinions and advice! Take care!