I think that buying a 'fix up' old home is an issue in which the most important factor is whether you can be totally honest with yourself before making the commitment. Almost every home, regardless of its condition, is do-able, as long as you have the skills or can purchase them, and the money. The only real deal breakers are your own resources, or lack of them. 20K is a very, very small working budget in the real world. It can go far if you have had a lot of experience in rehabbing, and a lot of skills, and find a unit where there are no major issues. I 'fixed up' an investment house and sold it, having a working budget of slightly less than that. This home had decent cabinets, decent roof, full/dry basement with excellent foundation, all decent windows with storms and screens, decent exterior with newer siding, salvageable plumbing fixtures, new wiring. I had to replace the heating units, hot water heater, install gutters and spouts, clean....clean.....clean, work plaster, paint, carpet and lay vinyl, replace damaged interior doors, tile tub surround, fix leaks in plumbing, install some interior light fixtures and landscape, and bring some stuff up to code. That's about what 20K will get you, if you do most of the work youself. When you do decide to make an offer on ANY older home with the intention of fixing it up, unless you can jockey up the price in cash..........your lender will be inspecting the house, and after that, if approved, your homeowner's insurance company. You may also get a visit from a code inspector, a gas inspector, an inspector from other utility companies. I can tell you it is a lot better to have those done 'before the fact' than after the purchase. In the best case scenario, you walk away unscathed, a little wiser. In the worst case scenario, you could face a break-the-bank repair before you can even move in.

circuspeanut, That makes total sense. And I totally agree that it's a better layout. But---- we're really having renovation burnout now. As you know we started demoing the main living area a year ago.. and we're still installing trim and living with doorless cabinets and plywood counters in the pantry. And that's spending every second of spare time on it! So, I'm trying to find a good compromise between making this cruddy bathroom work and look better, and not making huge amounts of extra work for DH. He's the plumber and electrician. He's already groaning about moving the door.... but I do think that will be a pretty dramatic improvement over the floor plan we have now. We've decided to do a new tub/shower combo, and he was relieved that that meant he didn't need to break into the 1950's drains to move the toilet. :)

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.

Tell me again what is specifically personal about "Chuck in a Truck". That is neither personal nor an unknown term in the contracting industry. It not meant to be derogatory in my estimation and is merely meant to refer to persons that are sole proprietors that have little to no overhead in comparison. If you take issue with Fridge, by all means, take it up with him/her. I would respectfully request that you deal with them by name and leave me out of the response. If you would like to discuss the cost of doing business in a more employee driven system and why those expenses may be higher, I would be happy to do so. Perhaps it will give you some more insight and a better understanding as to why and how things cost the way they do in a different type of organization. For the record, I have more than a few friends that are enormously successful and competent contractors as sole proprietors. I take no issue with that, but to make a comment with regards to "mark-up" that it is merely a company making some enormous profit on the consumer, it flatly false, uninformed, and somewhat irresponsible. You are quite right, it is and open forum and you are more than entitled to your opinion. I would only caution that if you are going to hold yourself out as a resource of information, that the information be somewhat enforceable and factually based is all. I would no more cast dispersions about sole proprietor contractors that paint them in a negative light than I would comment on any large group of persons that are as varied and different as the weather. Perhaps that would be advisable for everyone when it comes to levying negative commentary that they be based in fact rather than opinion.