What's wrong with it? Seems like a perfectly nice early 1990's house.

Something seems to be wrong with your vision. There is nothing unappealing about that house. Nor does the interior need a ton of work either. Sure, the kitchen could use a different, safer, layout. But spending that 63K won’t get you more home value. It would lose you money. All renovations lose money.

If you want to “make money” on a home sale, you’re going to have to pick one that’s a lot more 1979 gramma looking, or has a lot more actual real problems. And buy it for pennies on the dollar. Not dollars on the dollar. There is no room to make any money on that house.

It can serv as a great family home. And you can personalize it to some degree, as long as you do t do it any harm, like painting the brick. But you’re going to spend money that you will not get back to do any of that personalization. Homes are not investments. On the long timeline, if you actually count the interest, upkeep, maintenance, personalization, etc, renting actually has better numbers for your bottom line. But you’re not looking at this just for the bottom line, right?

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/

Wow - compare landscape 2013 (GoogleMaps) to 2017 (BingMaps). I'll concede removing a few trees might have been a good idea, but the plants cascading over wall, etc.? Could this be attributable to the drought around Atlanta?

Agree with the earlier posters that I don't understand the "house needs a ton of work on the inside too" comment, but Atlanta real estate is WAY different from where I live!

Looks like someone already flipped it with some shaving and and a hair cut on the lawn.

We're looking for an upscale, upgraded home (upgraded trim, floors, kitchen, baths). I know this home isn't hideous, but there's a reason its selling for $84/sq ft when similar homes in the area are getting snatched up in a week at $160-175+. For some scope, take a look at the current dining room and the dining room I envision it could be.

With new trim, new kitchen (opened up to the dining/living area.. which requires structural work), upgrading 4 bathrooms, new light fixtures, new wood floors throughout (does anyone think we could match the existing ones to avoid having to rip those out?), new staircase (iron balusters and wood steps), new basement ceiling (I don't like the office-style ceiling tiles), etc. this is a project that will easily run $100K+. For this area, $500K on a fully upgraded 4500 sq. ft. house is a great deal.

With a house of that caliber on the inside, I would like the outside to match.. and what is currently there is not doing it for me. There are some beautiful homes in that neighborhood that have been very well kept up with. I'd like my home to fall in that category... not the "this home has not had a single update since the day it was built" state which it's currently in.

I appreciate the advice and opinions, but I didn't come to Houzz to be told that a 25 year old un-upgraded house is good enough. I'm here for ideas on how to make it amazing.

With all that said, I definitely won't be painting the outside, but the dormer still really bothers me (I think new siding and some sort of gable trim on it would really upgrade it). That whole room on the right also takes over the proportions of the house (more-so in person), and I am hoping to get some landscaping ideas to help even out the profile of the house.

I also completely agree with @mjlb that the previous owners stripped the landscaping bare and I think adding some of that back will make this house stand out.

No you can’t get your inspiration pic with that house give your head a shake. You want something you can’t have unless you have a really big money tree.So you are looking at a okay builders grade house if you want to throw money at it go for it the dormer on the right is the first thing I would remove.

The dormer window in the right looks a bit phallic to me. Otherwise, no problems with this house.

Sophie is right (as always). This is not a candidate for a flip. You are unlikely to get back what you put into this house, even at its current bargain price.

If you want to modernize the exterior, remove the arches over the windows and the outsize dormer. Patching the brick will require a master mason. A new roof may be required after the dormer is removed. Then get a new professional landscape plan drawn up and implemented. In my area, a budget of $100K for interior updating to a luxury level would cover the kitchen, nothing else.

i find dormers are never successful on a hip roof. "if it was my house" i'd honestly spend the money to remove it.

Sophie nailed it--

This house will never look like your inspiration picture. No to painting the brick. I don't like the dormer either but I wouldn't let that factor into my decision to buy the house if the other factors like price, location and square footage were in line. Check with a contractor about what you could do with the dormer. I know Exovations does work in the area and I think they will give you a free estimate.

For 100K you won't get all on your wish list in the quality you want. What is the condition of the roof, HVAC and windows? I know this house is near the lake. Do you have a view of it?

To get that house to resemble your inspiration is going to cost as much, or more, than the the house’s purchase price. 130K kitchen, 70K master bath, 20K per other bath. Structural work, carpentry, and flooring, another 100K. Then the exterior. Another 100K. So, at least the. 500K range to get where you want it to be.

And the neighborhood doesn’t even support a 100K remodeling budget. Average sellingniricr is 350K. Right there in your link. So, it would appear to already be overpriced for the neighborhood. This is not a money maker. Location, location, location.

If that doesn’t startle your brain and make you think too much, then you need to find a good local professional to work with to make effective changes. For just as much as the house itself costs. If you are very very lucky to do such ambitious changes on such a small budget.

Granted, I don't know your prices, labor etc, (I'm just jealous of your real estate situation that looks pretty good from where I sit)..but here the remodel of scale and quality you want, in a house of similar size, would eat close to 400 K..and that's me being very optimistic.

I love the lot. Right, landscaping needs work..but what a fabulous space.

I also like the exterior much better than that house with the dining room you posted..right it's very upgraded inside but it looks awkward nevertheless..so I definitely get where you're coming from, It's just hard for me to see how it's possible from financial standpoint. It's possible; it just won't cost 100K and won't cost 200K either. Tell me somebody if I'm deadly wrong, I'd gladly admit I might be mistaken.

Is this a house to live in or buy just to flip? You wont make any money the buying and selling process ($$$$$$)will eat up any money you could make

It's not a money making proposition. I lived in a town similar to Peachtree City in SC (no golf paths though!). We purchased the "meh" house in a good neighborhood and killed ourselves trying to upgrade the builder basic finishes and lighting and carpets and blah, blah, blah. We enjoyed living in the nicer house but no buyers were interested in paying a premium for our efforts and investment.

If you are lucky, it will be a financial wash.

In my experience, making a good house better is a losing proposition. You make your money on the front end, by buying cheap, not by gilding a lily.

I hear what some of you are saying (really), but this home really is a pretty good deal in the area. In this school zone, my options for a house this size are either a turn-key for about $600K (example 1) (example 2) (example 3) (example 4) OR I can get something that needs some work in the $400K range (example 1) (example 2) (example 3). With these options, this house became very attractive to me. It's one of the biggest options and it's in a very nice lakeside neighborhood with lots of updated homes (I don't want the nicest home on the block once I'm done.. that's the situation I am currently in).

None of these $600K listings have $130K kitchens or $70K master baths... even the nicest homes in this area don't have that. My current home (less than a mile away) has a nicer kitchen than most of these homes and I paid $35K for it by buying cabinets and counters from the warehouses themselves and subcontracting the work myself... I also cashed in at HHGregg's going out of business sale on Kitchenaid's commercial style appliances. My master bath redo was about $7500. In this town, almost everything under $1M just has new cabinet doors slapped on with a fresh paint job and Whirlpool appliances, so a $130K kitchen is definitely way off base.

I can put $125K into the inside of this house and it will be nicer than any of the similar sized (and most importantly, same school district) $600K homes... the inside is not my main concern as I have been there and done that (within the last year). My main concern was that the $600K homes I'm looking at (linked above) have more curb appeal.. which is how I got around to making this post.

Agree that the right sided section of the red brick house with a hip roof and a tall dormer should have been a full forward facing gable. Other than that, the exterior of the house has a lot of curb appeal.

Note: I have a bias toward having some kind of front porch -- but that is not for the visual of it ... more for the practical.

One other note: Not sure that window on the left with the arch actually opens. Not a fan of windows that don't open.

Not usually a fan of painted brick but the gray house turned out looking really well. Just wondering what it will look like as it begins to need repainting.

Wow - compare landscape 2013 (GoogleMaps) to 2017 (BingMaps). I'll concede removing a few trees might have been a good idea, but the plants cascading over wall, etc.? Could this be attributable to the drought around Atlanta?

I think it could more likely be attributable to the fact that one photo is taken in winter and one in summer...

read the mcmansion hell blog. This is a classic 90s mcmansion, from the mismatched windows, to giant wart dormer, to the two story foyer. I agree with you about the updating, this house needs a lot. If you dont love the house for its bones/location I wouldnt do it.

I would remove the dormer, remove the arched windows, make all windows consistent with each other, then update stairway, kitchen, and master bath.

I dont love all the tile which would probably be the deal killer. Tearing out perfectly good tile to replace with wood would be a big waste of money.

Ultimately I couldnt buy that house unless it was a particular neighborhood that I had to live in.

If you are doing the updates to help you enjoy the house so you can live in the school district then the house is a good choice. If you are doing updates with the expectation that they will add to your net profit margin when you sell the house, then I would buy a turnkey.

Like I mentioned above, the likelihood that your taste specific updates will add additional value to the house above the neighborhood norms is small. Potential buyers will notice bad windows. But nobody is going to pay a premium for fancy ones. They will notice bad curb appeal, they won't pay extra for decent curb appeal.

Your low estimations for remodel costs are not borne out by the current labor market. You will spend well above your target goal. http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2018/

Buy the move in ready and take advantage of someone else’s overspending. Or be the one who spends way to much to recuperate.

Or get off the ridiculous marketing generated “updating” bandwagon all together. Put that 400-500K in a money market fund and let the kids enjoy the good schools for s few years. Then find the great retirement home that you want, and have enough left over to enjoy that retirement. https://www.curbed.com/2018/3/7/17087588/home-renovation-unnecessary-mcmansion-hell-wagner

Anthony C, you are spot on with the McMansion hell blog.. unfortunately my entire community fits into this category. Peachtree City is a planned community near the Atlanta airport that was built for pilots and their families. A huge housing boom in the 90s left behind dozens of neighborhoods like these full of builder grade semi-custom homes. To make it worse, Delta's near bankruptcy in 2005 left a huge portion of the community unemployed with the rest suffering major pay reductions.. only to be followed by the 2008 recession. All of this has left behind an entire community of huge 1990's homes that have never seen a major upgrade. This is also why the homes that *are* upgraded are sold within days (even relatively outdated upgrades).

All that said, there is zero land left to build in these school districts (top schools in the State) so my only option is to buy a fixer upper (or buy a $600-700K home that will never live up to my dreams).

My main concern was that the $600K homes I'm looking at (linked above) have more curb appeal.. which is how I got around to making this post.

Really? More curb appeal?

I recommend an optometrist.

------------

For some real advice, worrying about curb appeal is often a bad bet, unless your home is a lot worse than the rest of the area. Using even a conservative discount rate, the money invested into the house to improve visual appeal of a house is probably not worth it. Conservatively invest the money that you would have spent on significant changes to the exterior for curb appeal, and when you sell the house add that money to your disbursement and see how you are doing.

In the end, the gain on a house is based on the difference between what you get and what you spent. Spending more to get more may be great, or it may be terrible. Frankly, I think so many people are blind to the exterior of a home that anything will sell.