"Dream house" needs lots of work

[Anonymous]

We have been in our house for six months and although I hate looking at my bathrooms, my kitchen and my basement, they are totally functional. We don't even have AC! But I love my neighborhood, my neighbors, and our yards and garage. The things we hate are things we can change. That's why we bought the house, and we don't regret it. Now if we could just save a bit quicker...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been in our house for six months and although I hate looking at my bathrooms, my kitchen and my basement, they are totally functional. We don't even have AC! But I love my neighborhood, my neighbors, and our yards and garage. The things we hate are things we can change. That's why we bought the house, and we don't regret it. Now if we could just save a bit quicker...

No AC in DC is straight up hardcore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is what we did and we don't regret it bc we love our neighborhood.

+1

[Anonymous]

We bought a handy man special, estate sale, in an awesome close-in neighborhood, and have NEVER regretted it. My DH has bought and sold foreclosure rentals for years, and he could never get himself to adjust to the high home prices in the DC area, though he's from here (whatever). We sold a few properties and paid cash for our current home, which was a freaking mess when we bought it - had the basement replumbed by jack hammering the perimeter (house had flooded for years), new windows installed, have gutted the kitchen, gutted 2 bathrooms, new hardwood floors on 1st level, new cork in basement, installed crown/chair rails - the only room we haven't touched is the laundry room in the basement and I have no desire to start that project. We've completed these projects over 7 years, and the only DIY projects are the crown/chair rails.

Instead of moving to a larger home, we've decided to go up - we have a walk up attic that we can expand to include bedrooms/bathrooms - and stay in our neigborhood. I don't need a big house, but it would be nice to have the bedrooms upstairs. If you're getting a good deal on the home, then I'd go for it. As long as it's clean, you can live in something that is in need of facelift. You might not like looking at it, but at least you know you're working towards customizing the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This might need a s/o, but what is people's definition of gutting? I like older houses too and don't mind customizing, but what about when they need new heat and AC? How involved does that become in a "gut" and what kind of $$ are we talking?

We got brand new hvac and it cost 10k and took three days. This is for a 1500 sq foot house, but even for a bigger house it's not a huge deal. We did a lot of other renovations before moving in but the hvac was the least of our worries.

Did you also replace all of the ductwork?

Yes, floor registers replaced with ceiling registers.

No, I meant the duct work that runs in the walls...

She's trying to suggest you paid too much for an HVAC, pp. And she'd be right.

[Anonymous]

We did this and I regretted it. Not worth it. The next house we bought was all done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This might need a s/o, but what is people's definition of gutting? I like older houses too and don't mind customizing, but what about when they need new heat and AC? How involved does that become in a "gut" and what kind of $$ are we talking?

We got brand new hvac and it cost 10k and took three days. This is for a 1500 sq foot house, but even for a bigger house it's not a huge deal. We did a lot of other renovations before moving in but the hvac was the least of our worries.

Did you also replace all of the ductwork?

Yes, floor registers replaced with ceiling registers.

No, I meant the duct work that runs in the walls...

She's trying to suggest you paid too much for an HVAC, pp. And she'd be right.

But it sounds like duct work too. What about those in the 20-25K range with ductwork. That sounds excessive to me.

[Anonymous]

We did it and haven't regretted it yet. We redid the kitchen ourselves so it took forever, but it's great to be able to pick out everything for it. Bathrooms will stay the way they are for a whir. The way we see it, our showers are five minutes and we never take baths because of the kids being small, so who cares if tey are builder's grade original 1986 style?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been in our house for six months and although I hate looking at my bathrooms, my kitchen and my basement, they are totally functional. We don't even have AC! But I love my neighborhood, my neighbors, and our yards and garage. The things we hate are things we can change. That's why we bought the house, and we don't regret it. Now if we could just save a bit quicker...

No AC in DC is straight up hardcore.

I worry you might be my neighbor. 1950s kitchen?

[Anonymous]

OP, if you are still reading, what is your personality? I don't mind living in an older house that needs updates and decorating. But I have a friend who can't stand it. She literally would not be able to sleep in a house that wasn't absolutely perfect.

FWIW, echoing many posters, we bought a house in a great neighborhood that needed lots of updates. We redid the kitchen and master bath before moving in, did the floors, waterproofed the basement. All that took 3 months. Now that we're in, the rest is going to take YEARS. It's so difficult to renovate when you are living in the house.

I love the neighborhood, though, but it does bother me living in a house that needs a lot of work. But my personality can stand it. Can yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This might need a s/o, but what is people's definition of gutting? I like older houses too and don't mind customizing, but what about when they need new heat and AC? How involved does that become in a "gut" and what kind of $$ are we talking?

We got brand new hvac and it cost 10k and took three days. This is for a 1500 sq foot house, but even for a bigger house it's not a huge deal. We did a lot of other renovations before moving in but the hvac was the least of our worries.

Did you also replace all of the ductwork?

Yes, floor registers replaced with ceiling registers.

No, I meant the duct work that runs in the walls...

She's trying to suggest you paid too much for an HVAC, pp. And she'd be right.

But it sounds like duct work too. What about those in the 20-25K range with ductwork. That sounds excessive to me.

Yes, ductwork too.

[Anonymous]

Good on you then. That sounds like you got a good deal. Everything running OK? And what is up w/ the 25K range estimates for what you got done for 10? same/same?

[Anonymous]

19:30, yes! Can you believe we survived the summer?

[Anonymous]

OP, we moved into a house that was in our target neighborhood, the right size and was sold "as is". We moved from our previous home into a temporary home while basic stuff was dealt with-mold, water diversion, shoring up a second floor porch, roof repairs, repair and paint walls, repair and redo floors. Still have the kitchen, bathrooms and AC as our major projects. Living without AC isn't too bad. One bathroom is horrible, the other livable, kitchen is a bit rough. Yet we are thrilled with the neighborhood, neighbors, location and the house in general. It was a tough first 6 months while we got used to living in a place that is not as nice as our previous home and used to the idea of needing to do the work (I haven't been working which means our projects are that much further down the road) and at the same time, we are getting acclimated to it and increasingly focused on all the things that are great about the house, that caused us to say, "this is the one" and be excited about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been in our house for six months and although I hate looking at my bathrooms, my kitchen and my basement, they are totally functional. We don't even have AC! But I love my neighborhood, my neighbors, and our yards and garage. The things we hate are things we can change. That's why we bought the house, and we don't regret it. Now if we could just save a bit quicker...

No AC in DC is straight up hardcore.

I worry you might be my neighbor. 1950s kitchen?

1970s. We aren't neighbors - all of mine have AC.