I can't figure out how to edit... but I will add that I know a stellar inspector is very important. I found one, and I still need to make a few phone calls to previous clients to verify his amazing online ratings.

@Ksc36 - thanks for reminding me about the benefits of a good contractor. I do plan to put in the effort it takes to find a good contractor and hope to build the "best" team I can within my budget (inspector, contractor, realtor, real estate lawyer, furnishing designer (which may very well be the great advice from houzzers for furniture layout, art, ect) along with an architect/or KD depending on how much reno we have to do.

At what point do you start talking to contractors? We don't have a specific house in mind so I am trying to figure out the right steps to take. We know our all in budget, but not sure how to split that with the cost of the actual house/ the renovations.

I have seen a lot of advice to account for 10% overages, contingencies and the unknown. Is it acceptable to give a 90% to account for this?

Who do we actually tell our budget to? I don't want to pay more because we have the budget, but I also don't want to design something that is unattainable. Or spend too much on the house, but not have the resources to make it shine.

Hi Lindsey! Thanks for helping me find you :)

I can understand the frustration of trying to figure out how to approach a contractor about budget. When we bought our place the house had to be completely gutted and partially rebuilt. We had a contractor who was recommended to us and we took him on a walk-through of the place, told him the scope of work that had to be done and what we would do ourselves (lots of the demolition, a different kitchen guy, electrician, plumbing etc. We have friends and family in all the trades and they are very generous with their time and expertise.) We wanted him to give us a rough estimate of what we could expect to pay but he just kept coming back with "what's your budget?" But we needed *him* to tell *us* what we would need to budget for to get the house livable, and we could figure out from there whether we needed to pare back our desires or whether we could afford to do a bit extra. He couldn't get past the idea that we would run out of money halfway through, but isn't that more likely if we don't know how much he's going to charge us! I don't know if he planned to work up to the certain dollar amount and stop or what. He didn't end up working out for us.

Maybe you will have better luck! Of you sit down with someone and say here's our house, here's what we want, how much? They should be able to give you a good idea. Then you can add to or subtract from your to-do list based on your budget.

Some people recommend bringing a contractor along on your house tours. I don't know anything about how helpful that is because I've never done it. I do know that with old houses you are always going to end up doing more than you expect.

What you are essentially looking for is something with good bones and a good layout (or at least one that may only require small changes to make work for you - removal of a non-structural wall, or to swap current use of dining room with current use of living room). If you are looking at additions, moving structural walls, changing the entire layout, bumping out onto more difficult structures, your costs are going to get high very fast.

It is difficult to do a lot of the "planning" or total budgeting until you find the home. When you find a home you are interested in, in addition to an inspection, you can bring a contractor along that can let you know what may or may not be doable. So, you can maybe find some potential contractors and let them know what you are planning to do (buy and renovate).

10% for overages is even low. Think more 10-20%....BUT, that is assuming you have a fixed price to start with. Renovation are frequently cost plus...cost plus can be more common in renovations on older houses as there can be a LOT of unknowns that show up once you start demoing walls and floors and such. Honestly, there are reasons a lot recommend moving over renovating...you have a rosy view of living in the midst of construction now eh...it is not very pleasant.

I highly recommend as you take time to think of what you want, you pick up a copy of "The Not So Big House" by Susan Susanka. My own library has many copies if you don't want to buy it. It may not demonstrate in the photos the "style" of home you want, but if you look past that, and read it, it is very helpful for determining what kind of design and flow you should look for in a house - for a house that works for you and your family and how you live.

And yeah, if a kitchen "needs" a reno, it is my experience that baths do to. As well as other parts of home. Again, that already expensive kitchen reno now gets even more expensive.

A stellar local architect will be very beneficial. One that can get to know you, talk about your needs and desires, see and walk through the house and site, know the area, and have an interactive design process with.

Well..age of the house is preferably to be something built after '78 I'd say, if you don't want to deal with asbestos in ducts, possibly walls, floors whatnot. You don't. And you don't have to, unless it's disturbed-but with renos, you're very likely to disturb it.

(yeah I know the ban was earlier; but they still used what they had in stock after the ban.)

If you want to concentrate on easier(visible) stuff-make sure the roof is in good condition..well, basically the more home inspector (who should be the best you can get) , or a contractor you find in advance, can tell you, and they're not allowed to look too deep either, since the home is not yours yet, can tell you about the house X the better. So you know the approximate scope. As much as one can know it without opening the walls. So it'll be a limited knowlegde, yet still some impression. Then you can decide whether you can/prefer go further with a purchase, or you drive yourself into a money pit, or it's something in between but worth to you still because of location etc. Then you can think of what the scope is..what you do, what you might have to do that you didn't plan on doing, etc. And get different quotes per different scenarios. And yeah..10% won't be enough.

Also. I don't know your area. But here (Southern CA)..you haven't start looking for a home just yet. It's March. You want to choose, buy, find a good team, renovate-in best case scenario-quite a lot..moving into renovated home by the end of the year wouldn't happen here. No chance. Unless you barely touch the house. Again, don't know your area; but here it's an issue to bring good subs in a timely manner, everybody's busy as hell, it's a boom that's going on. And don't forget the planning stage, acquiring materials/waiting time, etc. Pulling the permits, for which you have to give blueprints to the city, if you do kitchen/baths/move walls etc. Again every state is different, but generally speaking -stuff like plumbing etc will require permits, inspections, etc.

When listening to opinions on reno-rely on builders only..real estate agents may be best real estate agents, yet they're not the ones who build/remodel homes.

Even people who recently remodeled themselves tend to forget how much the stuff cost:) I think it's a defence mechanism of sorts..:)

@Lindsey – I know
it’s probably unrealistic to expect contractors to attend walk throughs with me,
but maybe if it comes down to two houses I can get someone out there.

EXACTLY!!! I know if I say, hey, I have 75k reno budget they
will spend it, but maybe I would be happy with spending $45k! It’s awesome you
have “handy/trades” people around you. My mother is the most amazing woman,
painting, tiling, DIY maverick – plus she can sew! I’m on pinterest and am
constantly seeing “brilliant” ideas that my mom was doing 25 years ago—oversees
with no TV, no home magazines just a problem solving mind. My sister is also
extremely handy and in the construction industry (commercial). I bought more
tools to the marriage than my DH – he is tech and just never had a lot of
opportunity to get his hands dirty. “My” side of the family – a weekend way to
relax would be to paint a room! No problem changing out light fixtures, faucets,
removing wall paper, painting, putting in toilets. Dad is pretty good- but he
gets frustrated easy when things don’t go as planned – but give him a paint
brush and tell him what to do, or rip out carpet, etc he’s on board. The best
part is my sister and mom and I are all about doing it right – so we research something
until we are confident we know the best way as a DIY. They are out of state, so
they would both come in for a week or so of work… but just the painting and
cleaning is going to add up.

@Rai Kai I’ll
focus on the bones. It seems to be the confess that I won’t be able to do much
without a specific property in mind—that’s actually fine advice. Like I said I
didn’t really no where to start. I’ll heed your warning and assume 20% for overruns.

I Read “Creating the not so big house” by Susan. Lot’s of
great information. It didn’t scale me back from wanting a fair amount of elbow
room—but it has shifted my focus from McMansion/ extra floor space and merging
a few rooms to be multipurpose.

Instead of “Reno” maybe I should say “update”? Realistically,
my goal is to not have to pull permits. I don’t need any help with the value of
my home raising from a property standpoint! I will pull them if needed, but if
I can avoid it—I would like to. I’m in
the DFW area – new homes are going crazy, but not sure about the reno business.
. I’ve looked at homes at the tippy top of our budget and I’m still not happy
with updates that were done. If I’m going to be equally “happy” with the home,
I might as well not spend as much money.

I wouldn’t choose to live in it during the remodel. In fact,
if the right house pops up, we can even just park our RV there and live in it
until completion. I really don’t mind the #RVLife actually. But longer term it’s
not where I want to be.

@Mark Bischak,
Architect – I like that idea. Do architects ever work as a consultant? Like
walk through the house and say if you move this wall and this door it’s gonna make a huge difference for relatively
low cost…. Or are most gonna want to get
in there and rearrange everything? I have no problem paying for consult—but I also
don’t want to create more work if the home is acceptable just not optimized.

@Aprilneverends I
didn’t know when asbestos was an issue – but knew there was potential if we
started looking at old home. I think the oldest home I have seen is the mid
80s. So an inspector should be able to
give me a decent surface view of what to expect, and the contractor would come
in and dig deeper after purchase? I’m trying to find a home with pride of ownership—but
old. I think I should have stated “upgrade” instead of reno in my description.
I’m in DFW, and I am not sure how busy sub contractors are these days. It’s
really good advice to consider. I was thinking we had a nice cushy timeline! I’m
bumping contingencies to 20%. It’s hard to trust anyone, but I’m hoping by
creating a solid team I can have enough overlap to get the best situation for
my family.

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

I have heard the call to make sure plumbing, electrical,
roof, etc are in good condition/ performing as expected for age. I wouldn’t
mind having to put on a new roof in the first few years (vs. having a brand new
just installed) so I can pick something that will reflect a little more of the
Texas heat!

Also, I assume it’s best to find a home with the existing
features I want—so upgrading is easier? For example – if there is already a
built in garden tub, it should (haha) be easier and cheaper than to renovate a
bathroom with only a shower- correct? Or existing double oven cabinet?

I’m happy I am starting to feel optimistic about the home
buying process again.

I know "school ratings" aren't the end all be all. I understand that they are often based on test scores. So I am just using them as a guides. I know that demographics make a huge difference for individual performance.

I am starting by looking here:

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/TX/districtrank.aspx to give me the cities I want to look it.

Then, I am using

https://www.greatschools.org/

Additionally there is information on the Texas Education Agency website:

https://tea.texas.gov/

I'm also utilizing the school rating on Realtor + Trulia as a rough search parameter.

I'm lucky to have an Aunt who is a principal in the DFW area. She's been in education for over 20 years and said that our children could be a big fish in a little pond, or a small fish in a big pond. Each kid is different and could flourish or struggle in different situations. She said to use the ratings as guides, but do more research when narrowing it down to specific schools.

We are at a minimum of 5 years out from needing schools-- and I know things can change, but we are hoping if we find a solid school now it will stay the same or go up.

Hope those sites can help you out @Kingsway Plans LTD

Hmmm. I didn't think about that. In a perfect situation, I could walk to the Elementary (1/8-1/2 mile) that isn't on the main road for school traffic. JR high/ High school, hopefully is 15 minute drive away max.

I am sure we have a little flexibility with which school they end up at, but I am sure we would be responsible for busing them if we go to a school out side of our zone. I don't mind doing it, but I don't want have that be option #1.

I didn't even think to verify the "closest" school is the assigned school!

Couple items for you to see:

https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._educ._code_title_2 - See chapter 25

Public school means you use the local district schools. If the grade is not available in that district then a transfer to another district can be arranged.

House to consider

This is a simple 3/2 on a quarter South face interior lot. 10 Rate elementary #1 in DFW for K-6 grades.

Found it using the:

Texas School Locator GIS Map - zoom in on Tarrant ISD and Dallas ISD

If you click on a symbol it shows you data about the school and gives you a page about the district data. Wasn't giving a rating here though only comparative district data.

@Diane R - Spot on with budget versus buy/reno.

My wife and I are looking at a lot of different options when it comes to buying right now, but our ideas change by the minute because of budget constraints and suitable neighborhoods, etc. We aren't of the age to be looking at schools and such, but we are looking for lifestyle choices, environments to spend time such as local nature options, walking, sports, general entertainment. So it is a mix of how far out of town are we willing to go versus buying wilderness and roughing it. Weird things can be turn offs to different people too. Mine pet peeves are beautiful acre of land but you have to get your water view over a highway or through a power right of way.

Be patient, be diligent, be proactive and not passive in what you need over what you want, do not be afraid to ask straight out what are the costs, time, and labor.

Roanoke Option This one has big trees with a Westerly rear yard on cul-de-sac off a nice blvd roadway. 1/4 acre. If not quite right definitely a good base for adjusting with a reno.

Wow, did not expect that, someone actually thought of a great website that works wonders.

https://www.niche.com

Not only can you find rates for your school but it will show you on realtor.com all the active listings by taking you straight to the district around the school, cool!

@Diane R – We’ve got out budget range. So I think location is
the next place to go like you said. I had a private message suggesting that we
go look at as many open houses as we can. At budget, over budget, under budget.
In dream neighborhoods, and ones we want to avoid. Looking at “bones” and the
like. I think it will also help to see how real people decorate vs a stager/ designer
for model homes!

@Kingsway Plans ltd -
The education aspect is very helpful. I am uninformed… when I was young
my parents handled all that and I just got dropped off at the bus stop for the
right school. The district made arrangements for us to attend different schools
when my parents bought property to build on. Mom wanted us to “start” with the
incoming classes so we switched schools between elementary and JR high for me,
and Jr and Sr High for my sister so we weren’t “new” kids, since everyone
poured in from smaller schools.

The first house is way out of budget my husband and I set (If we went
up to 500K we would want some acreage and I wouldn’t be able to be a stay at
home mom like I am currently planning). I like that it’s fully renovated – it’s
very “on trend” and some of the features are nice (no corner fireplace). Additionally,
we would like 4/3 instead of 3/2. But it’s nice to see a real example.

Southlake is a very nice part of DFW with average homes WAY
outta our budget, and most START in the 600s! Gota love those 10/10 schools
tho! My mom worked a very prominent private school (K-12) (MLB players, music
executives, property developers and high on the food chain bankers were the typical
parent types) and I had a few friends there who transferred in and got free tuition
because their Dad worked at the school. It can happen anywhere, but the access
to money these kids had—75K “first cars” designer everything, exotic family
trips every school break, housekeepers, nannies, 5 star dining, amazing house parties at
mansions with more booze and drugs than I could imagine- I did tag along to a few
of those parties – but I was always scared to get in trouble or disappoint my
parents so I played the “Designated Driver.” I sure did like seeing a little of
how the other half “live.” I don’t know if I wanna be the “weird, broke, ‘have-nots’”
in the neighborhood. If you got the money, awesome for you!!! Now if I was
right in the middle of the annual income for the area, I would say bring it on!
For grins I looked up the average household income. I expected the average
income to be about 2x what ours is, since the houses are 2x what we feel is
responsible to spend. Not even close. I guess I am way more conservative than I
thought!

The district locater you provided, I’m gonna trust that way
more than Realtor / Trulia!! Thank you!

The second, home! It’s one I really like. I’ve seen it
before. On that property, there are so many up and down stairs for different
rooms – is that really a deterrent to most home buyers? To me it seems like
something you can never really work around it
- I know I can’t account for future needs in a home, but I do think of
aging parents or heaven forbid a disability with a child or myself – I know
moving is always an option but if I have the concern wouldn’t others? Price
point is pretty close to where I want to but depending on updates/ reno we
could go a little higher. I do love the trees!

I really liked this one (but there is no gas which is HUGE
to me, and only 3 bedrooms but it does have 3 baths which I like so guests have
their own bathroom, it does have a raised/ sunken living room also but only 1 step instead of 3/4) https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1102-High-Meadow-Dr_Allen_TX_75002_M77620-78441

Or

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/32-Edgemere-Dr_Trophy-Club_TX_76262_M88071-71166#photo16

I would like to find a place with good bones but horrible paint
colors so other buyers are scared off. I don’t want to pay someone else for easy
fixes.

How much work is the realtor suppose to do as far as weeding
through all the options? Do they have better parameters for MLS to filter
things such as school ratings, gas stove? Or would they just be flipping through
the houses just like me? I’ve seen plenty of decent/ acceptable options but
most of them leave out the gas.

I saw Niche.com.. but it didn't look so powerful at first glance. I am on it now!! Thanks!

Here is what it looks like - totally cool!!!

Trophy Club is right there for Walnut Grove - nice spot! Good price too. I also found since you considered NE Dallas too that Frisco is considered #2 on the Texas School District list (as opposed to the individual school) very sub-urban but has reasonable pricing and similar design quality. As for realtors, it depends on the realtor being motivated enough to care to look in the same way we are. I have yet to find a realtor who does want to give that extra (worthy of a tip) kind of service. Our market here is so Seller it is ridiculous. So they don't even try to negotiate for you. Very frustrating especially if you see a property that makes sense to you and want to convince the seller you are the right person they should sell it to.

I went to the agents website for house #2 the Tudor and it is a Main floor master up the short stair off the Living Room and 4 bedrooms on the second floor (one looks to be a second master). The stairs are that they built to the slope rather than fight with it. To a young family it is a minor issue to some. To aging parents only the master needs an internal ramp instead. It looks from all appearances to be fairly simple in its layout with the laundry/pantry right off the kitchen. Some minor adjustments to what doesn't work for you now versus what might work for you in the future is really really more of a concern when the need arises. Mom and dad can still visit, kids have rooms to grow into, lots of yard space and local education options, price is negotiable and it looks like they are motivated as they have price adjusted more than once. Kitchen is sound but could use a face lift. Bath rooms are functional. So no need to make any major renos until you are good and ready. one project at a time, so to speak.

The house on Edgemere is 20k more and has a small garage at 19x19 (a standard pick-up is 20ft long) In the close up of the google map view too it looks to have a ravine in the rear which may have had a flood or wash-out as the repair crew was in the photo fixing the culverts in the past 2-3 years.

@Kingsway Plans LTD -- oh Frisco... Yes, they are pretty awesome. Overall-- even though it good sized city (175,000). It's fairly well laid out with spacious roads. And a lot of "amenities" . I was just hoping to find something a little more "country" living. I know something has to give-- and more likely it's the country life.

A pickup is definitely on our list of to purchase in the coming years. We have 2 cars currently, but one more like a once a month car. I only drive it when my husband is out of town... and even then I usually just wait till he gets home. Because we get hail, I'd like to be able to park all cars in the garage if possible. I've noticed a lot of newer homes have tiny garages. We park in the garage, but would like some area for storage of tools.

I forgot about google earth to do some sleuthing! I'll be keeping all these tips in my mind as we go forward. We made the decision to get rid of the expensive car payment (the sunday car) by paying it off. That money came from our down payment fund. Late May early June seems to be the month where we would both be comfortable making any type of offer and will have replenished the funds for the DP from paying off the car.