First house and it’s a fixer upper... what are these trees?!
5 years ago
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- 5 years ago
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what would be the dealbreaker of a fixer-upper?
Comments (27)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....See MoreAn idea on repairs? (Buying a Fixer Upper Home)
Comments (9)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....See MoreFixer Upper Thread #10? - Gaines' new home
Comments (38)Haven't we all had our personal idea of our 'dream home', especially when we were younger? The Gaines were not wealthy when they came to HGTV, and with 4 kids, may have been 'making do' with Joanna's clever style, and repurposing of wood, and various thrift store items. IMO, this may have been their dream home, very traditional in style, and quite possibly may never have envisioned it being theirs some day. They may surprise everyone by only doing a few upgrades, and NOT painting everything white. I feel Joanna knows where and when to draw the line on that as all the houses they've redone have been fixer uppers, and not stately homes needing very little....See MoreFirst time fixer upper in need of facelift!
Comments (17)What a darling house! Yes the bay window is very typical of this sort of minimalist traditional, and so is the porch style. I'd also go with window boxes and new paint for starters, maybe a new porch light, and nice retro street numbers mounted on the wall instead of the post. If this were the builder's ad, it would have had a trellis at one side of the porch with something vine-y on it. Go the Building Technology Heritage section at archive.org and filter it for the years immediately preceding when the house was built and you'll find a slew of catalogs for similar little houses that you can download, maybe even for that very model, that will give you a nice idea of what the house originally would have looked like. ETA Here's a much larger house from 1946 with a very similar bay window. Sorry, I only have a google street view of it, but it's very much the same, only somewhat bigger.just a box hanging on the wall, really: The actual original windows in it have been replaced, alas. Note how the mounded landscaping makes it look more thoroughly part of the structure, since it conceals the bottom of the box....See More- 5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
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