Arkan Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 I'm really just looking around purely for interests, sake. Not saying I going to act, one way or another. But I was looking around, and there is a home near me for sale, that's in a nice semi-secluded area, yard isn't too big or too small. It's roughly 1000 sq ft. (924 to be exact). It is essentially gutted, so I would need to renovate and furnish it completely. I was just wondering if anyone here knew about what it would cost to do something like this, if anyone has any experience. Just thought I'd throw this out there while I was bored sitting at work, hehe. "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." - Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials "I have also been slowly coming to the realisation that knowledge and happiness are not necessarily coincident, and quite often mutually exclusive" - meta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gfted1 Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Now is a fantastic time to buy, no doubt about it. Being a first time home buyer, you are also eligible for 8k from the government in incentives. I wouldnt go for a rehab unless you really know what your doing. A guilty pleasure of mine is watching rehab/flip shows on TV and universally costs triple and schedules fall behind if you dont know exactly what youre doing. "I'm your biggest fan, Ill follow you until you love me, Papa" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaftan Barlast Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I grew up in a "could use some work" house and my dads just bought another one. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone even if you're a professional builder yourself. It takes years just to reach an acceptable level of living comfort and it always ends up costing 1-3 times what you paid for the house in the first place. Unless you have the money to hire professionals to renovate the house completely in a reasonable timespace (under a year), dont buy a broken house. DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself. Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture. "I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkan Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 Now is a fantastic time to buy, no doubt about it. Being a first time home buyer, you are also eligible for 8k from the government in incentives. I wouldnt go for a rehab unless you really know what your doing. A guilty pleasure of mine is watching rehab/flip shows on TV and universally costs triple and schedules fall behind if you dont know exactly what youre doing. I know now is a great time to buy, that's why I've been tossing the idea about. My plan was to get the house, and get it fixed up before I move into it a little bit at a time. I'm in no need or hurry to move (living in an aptartment right now). "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." - Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials "I have also been slowly coming to the realisation that knowledge and happiness are not necessarily coincident, and quite often mutually exclusive" - meta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theslug Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I wouldn't recommend buying a house that has been gutted. It's just way too much work, time and money. Not to mention finding a good contractor is virtually impossible since they just don't exist out in the wilds of society. Doesn't matter if they are licensed or if they are through a reputable company, they will inevitably screw up and/or do shoddy work becuase that is just the nature of contractors and the type of people that go into that line of work. That's not meant to be offensive by the way. It's just a gross generalization that happens to be truth in most instances. There was a time when I questioned the ability for the schizoid to ever experience genuine happiness, at the very least for a prolonged segment of time. I am no closer to finding the answer, however, it has become apparent that contentment is certainly a realizable goal. I find these results to be adequate, if not pleasing. Unfortunately, connection is another subject entirely. When one has sufficiently examined the mind and their emotional constructs, connection can be easily imitated. More data must be gleaned and further collated before a sufficient judgment can be reached. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiro Protagonist Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 (edited) ^ I agree with everything with what theslug said. I would never buy a gutted house. Even if you buy a house and do 'small renovations' can be a headache. My girlfriend and I are doing major renovations to our house at the moment (ripped the carpet out and polished the floor boards, new bathroom, new second smaller bathroom, new kitchen, new master bedroom wardrobe, repaint the whole inside of the house, etc) and I'm doing about a third of the work and we've already gone through and sacked 2 lots of tradesmen and on our third tradesman now who is pretty good. After two weeks, Carpet was ripped out, floors polished, walls painted in lounge room, and bedrooms. The Kitchen, toilet and bathroom were all ripped out, kitchen cabinets, tiles, bath tub, shower, toilet, etc. And we didn't have a toilet for two weeks! Had to drive up to the 24hr McDonalds to go to the toilet. After two weeks we had a plumber put in a temporary toilet but still no shower. I had to go to work 1/2 an hour early Mon-Fri and have a shower at work. The girlfriend went to one of her friends places to have a shower. After the last 5 weeks of stuffing around with previous tradesmen, we're still nowhere near finished. There are too many idiots that don't know what they're doing and just stuff around all day, or do half jobs and go onto something else instead of finishing what they started. I don't know how many times I came home from work and saw something was started and not finished and the tradesman had started on something else. At the moment, we have our fridge and a small portable gas stove in the laundry and that's where we eat our meals. Kitchen was delivered yesterday and will be installed tomorrow. The bathroom was finished last week. Thank God! Small bathroom will be finished probably this weekend too. And we even haven't looked at doing the home office and the timber deck out back which will be the last thing we do. Also, I have to do the landscaping and gardening as well. The girlfriend said she will never buy a house again where we have to do major renovations. Small renovations might be okay, but major ones are a nightmare. Too much stress. Edited October 16, 2009 by Hiro Protagonist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hiro Protagonist Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 I know now is a great time to buy, that's why I've been tossing the idea about. My plan was to get the house, and get it fixed up before I move into it a little bit at a time. I'm in no need or hurry to move (living in an aptartment right now). My suggestion would be to buy a place which is cheap (not too cheap!), do some small renovations to add value to the place and which you think will go up quite a bit in price in ten years time. My girlfriend bought a 2 bedroom apartment 10 years ago for $220K, paid it off in around 6 years, renovated the kitchen $8000.00 which made it look very modern and put in floating floorboards $7000.00, did some painting inside and used Tile paint on the bathroom (most people can't see the Tile paint) and sold it recently for $400K as it looked liked a brand new apartment that was built yesterday. The only thing that gave it away was the outside of the building, which didn't look 'modern' but still looked good. $15K in renovations was a great investment for a 30 year old unit. Brand new units in the same area were going for $410K. Without the renovations, she might have only got $320K, maybe 340K. Prior to her buying this apartment, the real estate agent could sell it because it looked awful inside, but the building outside was great. She bought it not for what it looked like but for the location. It was the highest apartment in the street, top floor on a 2 level building, and had waterviews. She said, you never buy a place for what it looks like inside, it's always location and you can always change the inside. Whether it's a house or apartment, I think it's best to buy something that's already been built and then you can do some small renovations with modern stuff, like a new kitchen, bathroom, light fittings, etc. Some things to remember though. Things that always add value are: New Kitchen, New Bathroom (or use Tile Paint) with a bathtub (never get rid of the bathtub), built in wardrobe. Because when women and wives inspect the apartment/house, that's what they look at first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calax Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 If you know how to do home improvement stuff I'd say go for it, otherwise what you could do is get a house that is halfway gutted, so you have a living area, and you've got an area that you can slowly work on, preferably a smaller area, like a single room or something. Simply so that you can get it to your exact specs. But ultimately I think the best thing for you to do would be to get a fully completed house, but stay away from somebody in the midst of declaring bankruptcy. My brother's going through that, and he had been told "you'll get the house by the end of August!" which got changed to september.. october... and now it's november and he got so pissed he put an offer on another place. Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyCrimson Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 If you find a house that mostly needs cosmetic work to make it liveable/what you'd personally be happy to live in - no plumbing, no major electrical, no square footage additions, the foundation is solid, etc...just paint, furniture, new appliances, carpet/flooring, new toilet/sink you install over the pipe, that sort of thing, that's not so bad, and I'd say go for it. If you are talking about sq. footage additions, adding bathrooms, re-routing plumbing/electrical and so on, I'm in the same camp as the others...not worth the time and effort and setbacks, and too costly if you can't do at least 80-90% of the work yourself. You also, of course, have to research and abide by all the local building codes/get permits, which can be a real pain in the arse sometimes. In terms of cost...it's very difficult to say without seeing the house and/or knowing what plans you'd have and what materials you would be satisfied with. For example, where I live at least, if you did all the work yourself, you might be able to renovate a badly outdated small kitchen for $5k-$10k...or, of course, tons more. It just depends. Look at the prices in your area for various materials and then add time, labor, and the "everything that can go wrong will" factor on top of it. “Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyCrimson Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 But ultimately I think the best thing for you to do would be to get a fully completed house, but stay away from somebody in the midst of declaring bankruptcy. My brother's going through that, and he had been told "you'll get the house by the end of August!" which got changed to september.. october... and now it's november and he got so pissed he put an offer on another place. Was that a short sale? The issue with those is that the selling owner & agent has absolutely no control over anything. The agent can be as positive as he wants, but he has no clue. They send your offer to the bank, and the bank looks at the numbers, the neighborhood comparables, and whether they think they'd be better off trying to work with the original owner, etc. before ever getting back to you. How long the bank takes to get back to you is up in the air. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes it's....not. “Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurlshort Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 But on the other hand, a short sale will get you home way below the market value in most cases. I say go for it. I'm quite a bit underwater in my condo that I bought 4 years ago, but I don't regret it. It is nice to own a piece of property, better than renting, and I get a nice tax deduction once a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calax Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 But ultimately I think the best thing for you to do would be to get a fully completed house, but stay away from somebody in the midst of declaring bankruptcy. My brother's going through that, and he had been told "you'll get the house by the end of August!" which got changed to september.. october... and now it's november and he got so pissed he put an offer on another place. Was that a short sale? The issue with those is that the selling owner & agent has absolutely no control over anything. The agent can be as positive as he wants, but he has no clue. They send your offer to the bank, and the bank looks at the numbers, the neighborhood comparables, and whether they think they'd be better off trying to work with the original owner, etc. before ever getting back to you. How long the bank takes to get back to you is up in the air. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes it's....not. Well, it wasn't the bank that caused the hold. It was the owner, because she was trying to make it so that the bankruptcy didn't cut into the sale of the house (or something). Also there was a bit of fighting between the two banks that were in the houses finances... Victor of the 5 year fan fic competition! Kevin Butler will awesome your face off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkan Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 If you find a house that mostly needs cosmetic work to make it liveable/what you'd personally be happy to live in - no plumbing, no major electrical, no square footage additions, the foundation is solid, etc...just paint, furniture, new appliances, carpet/flooring, new toilet/sink you install over the pipe, that sort of thing, that's not so bad, and I'd say go for it. Everything is structurally sound, as far as I know. It would be all new appliances, paint, flooring, etc. "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." - Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials "I have also been slowly coming to the realisation that knowledge and happiness are not necessarily coincident, and quite often mutually exclusive" - meta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyCrimson Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 If you find a house that mostly needs cosmetic work to make it liveable/what you'd personally be happy to live in - no plumbing, no major electrical, no square footage additions, the foundation is solid, etc...just paint, furniture, new appliances, carpet/flooring, new toilet/sink you install over the pipe, that sort of thing, that's not so bad, and I'd say go for it. Everything is structurally sound, as far as I know. It would be all new appliances, paint, flooring, etc. Then like I said...sure, why not. Heck, even a brand new house, people often change out the flooring, paint and appliances etc. to suit their personal tastes. If those simple things make it livable for you, you can then move in and worry about/consider any major work/changes one at a time, at a later date. “Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkan Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 If you find a house that mostly needs cosmetic work to make it liveable/what you'd personally be happy to live in - no plumbing, no major electrical, no square footage additions, the foundation is solid, etc...just paint, furniture, new appliances, carpet/flooring, new toilet/sink you install over the pipe, that sort of thing, that's not so bad, and I'd say go for it. Everything is structurally sound, as far as I know. It would be all new appliances, paint, flooring, etc. Then like I said...sure, why not. Heck, even a brand new house, people often change out the flooring, paint and appliances etc. to suit their personal tastes. If those simple things make it livable for you, you can then move in and worry about/consider any major work/changes one at a time, at a later date. That's what I was thinking. It needs a water heater, and I really want one of those tankless coiled water heaters. I hear they're great energy savers. "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." - Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials "I have also been slowly coming to the realisation that knowledge and happiness are not necessarily coincident, and quite often mutually exclusive" - meta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walsingham Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 I would say go for it if you're a seasonal or part-time worker and can't turn your free time into cash to pay someone else to do it. Even if you do have money builders are a total nightmare. It's only recently that I found a guy who's ex-Forces and a senior NCo at that, and he's completely trustworthy. Bills by the day but works like a well organised dervish and if he runs out of things to do before his clock runs out he'll suggest stuff. I suppose the only other reason would be lack of deposit. Or if you're simply hard as nails and don't care about living in a building site. "It wasn't lies. It was just... bull****"." -Elwood Blues tarna's dead; processing... complete. Disappointed by Universe. RIP Hades/Sand/etc. Here's hoping your next alt has a harp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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