Reply to "Dream house" needs lots of work

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=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? [/quote]

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. [/quote]

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