"Dream house" needs lots of work

[Anonymous]

OP, look at the neighborhood. Are you in a knock down neighborhood? Will this be an issue for you, emotionally? Some people take this to heart. Given this, if you can live with the idea that your house is a knock down, no matter what you "do" to it, then go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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?

This is good advice. I ignored my parents' advice to never buy a fixer-upper and bought a small, "as-is" 1940 colonial in a close-in neighborhood. We did not do any work before we moved in. Four years later, we have replaced most of the windows, finished the basement, done cosmetic changes to the bathroom (1950s pink!), and redone the sunroom (seriously beefed up insulation). We've spent $50k in all. And it has been a lot tougher than I expected; I am handy enough to hang shelves and such, but anything more is beyond me, so we have had to use contractors for the work. That is exhausting when you live in the house and have pets or kids. We still need to do the kitchen at some point -- at a minimum I really, really want to install a dishwasher -- but even if we do that, there are still things about the house we can't change or won't be able to afford to change. We can't afford to put an addition on, as we originally intended. But to us it is worth it to be in this neighborhood, with good schools and metro access and walkability. Our house will probably always look like a fixer-upper, no matter how much work we put in. I wouldn't call it a dream house. But it is a dream situation other than the house (for this area at least), and to us that is enough. It sounds like you may be in a similar boat, so you will have to decide which is more important -- the neighborhood or the house. If you choose the house, make sure you are able to live with it as is, because like us, you may come to realize you can never make some of the changes you initially assumed you could do.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks to everyone for all the responses and advice. Very helpful and encouraging. It is the unexpected repairs/costs (in addition to what we know will need to be done) that make me nervous. The reality is, we would not be able to afford this house if it were completely renovated, so something has to give. This is going to be our forever home and I'm less concerned about turning a profit than making sure we don't get end up in a situation where we are pouring too much money (that we either don't have or should be putting into our kid's nonexistent college fund!) into the house. We are leaning heavily toward making an offer.

[Anonymous]

I think the OP is my husband. Same exact story. Same conflict.

[Anonymous]

Location is everything, especially in this area. Buy for the mound of dirt the house sits on. You can always renovate, or turn off hgtv and learn to love the functional if not shiny.

Or buy new construction in stafford, I guess.

[Anonymous]

OP, in your situation I would buy the house and live with the outdated bathrooms, etc. it is not really any more fun to take a dump in our master bath, which is redone, than the guest bath which is pure sixties. Paint it a nice cheery color you like, get come cute towels and keep clutter down and it will be fine/look great to company. You don't need to live in an HGTV commercial to have a perfectly wonderful home.

[Anonymous]

We did. Been living here about 4 months. In our case, a good cleaning and moving in our own stuff helped to make the place more like home. I have a laminate counters, yellowing linoleum, etc, but everything works. We live in a great location, in an excellent school district and don't feel pressed money wise. we'll get the comestic stuff when we gt to it.

Stuff we did do: replace rusty electric range with gas, replace carpet upstairs (downstairs in hardwood), tree removal and yard clean up.

[Anonymous]

it sucks when the teardown house you updated is out of character for the neighborhood . This happened down my street where the couple put an addition, redid the kitchen , renovated the house only to have a builder buy it and tear it down.

[Anonymous]

Also think about wether you want to be the poorest person in the neighborhood and school.

[Anonymous]

OP, if the house is in CCDC, then just about all of your neighbors will be in the same boat. All of our friends neighbors are in some state of renovation. The only ones who aren't are those that the did a bump out and updated everything at one, usually after living in the house for many years (one family 20).

I think it is important to generally factor in cost, though that can be difficult because the estimates you see here can run $3K to $30K for a bathroom. But, there are different levels of need, so if you need HVAC or the basement is a flooder, that is more than something truly cosmetic. Has anything been updated? The roof? The landscaping?

If it is going to be your forever home, then you don't need to worry about the cost of upgrades. But, if you are buying in CCDC that is $1m and put in $200K, then it gets hard because you're at the top of the market. (And, your renovations need to be appealing.) But, if the house is $800K and you put in $300K then you're in a very good range.

An older home always has some "charm" left over, even after renovation. Do you want and appreciate an older home?

[Anonymous]

This was us last year. We bought the house and we do I little here and there.

OP, do both you and your husband work out of the home? Reason I ask is that has been our biggest challenge in getting the renovations done - we can't find the time to get the multiple estimates and be home when the work needs to be done. We have the money earmarked; we just can't find the time to arrange the work. That being said I love being able to do things the way I want and have a much less mortgage payment then I would have in a finished home in this neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

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 put in central AC in a 2k sq. ft. 1930 house in 2003. it was $15k to do it. Whatever you do, DO NOT USE SEARS. They took forever (6 weeks) and did a sloppy job that we had to have private contractors reconfigure the duct work a year later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was us last year. We bought the house and we do I little here and there.

OP, do both you and your husband work out of the home? Reason I ask is that has been our biggest challenge in getting the renovations done - we can't find the time to get the multiple estimates and be home when the work needs to be done. We have the money earmarked; we just can't find the time to arrange the work. That being said I love being able to do things the way I want and have a much less mortgage payment then I would have in a finished home in this neighborhood.

Contractors will come after 6 and on weekends to give an estimate--I don't know what you're talking about.