Owning a home means having to fix stuff – there are no perfect houses! Once that reality sinks in, it makes home buying easier – because you begin to see houses for their potential.
Knowing that you have competent help available makes a difference. We can get you quotes on any potential project prior to making an offer, or during the contingency period. Brian Carter of Thomas Construction (pictured in the video below) covers most quotes, and I have other people if needed:
P.S. The buyers of the second house took their own videos of each property that was a contender, which was about one out of four or five. It provided very thorough comparison between homes, and helped shorten the looking time.
P.S.S. Here is the link to the ABS drain-pipe litigation: http://www.abspipes.com/id.html
Jim, any chance you can give me an idea what it costs to do a pony wall?
“Owning a home means having to fix stuff.” Ain’t that the truth!
Are new homes any better than resale homes? In other words does the number of problems slowly increase over time, slowly decrease over time, there’s just a steady state of problems (my experience so far) … ?
In my experience, a new house (we built one) is just a different set of ‘fixing’ initially. Landscape, hardscape, irrigation, window coverings for the first year or so. Since we owned our new house for 7+ years, it was coming time for maintenance like interior/exterior painting. Oh, and the usual stuff breaks, A/C, water heater, etc. Previously we owned a 20+ year old house, and needed updating-roof, paint, popcorn ceilings, carpet, wood floors, bull nosing-never got around to windows. So to me it just seems you’re trading one set of ‘fixin’ for another. But they’re both really fun!
I agree with Deb – different sets of fixes. My house is 70 years old and I’ve replaced just about everything short of the studs and framing. Had I known how far I would end up going, I’d have just bulldozed it right after I bought it and started over. But my remodeling has been spread out over 9 years and it was mostly a labor of love – I’d say 75% of the work was done by myself and my ex. We did the tear off of the old siding ourselves, I insulated my own walls and attic. We’ve rebuilt almost the entire inside of the garage…. I added a covered screened patio off the back, my cousin taught me framing 101 when we built out the patio walls. I also designed and installed all my landscaping and irrigation system.
Not everyone is as into DIY and I am, so I would not recommend this path unless you really like hanging out at Home Depot at 6 am on Saturday. It has been a rewarding experience and I’ll tell you what, having done so much myself, I can spot crappy work and poor craftsmanship at 20 paces. When I do bring in pro’s for things that are beyond me (plumbing! Electrical!) – nothing gets past me.
If I feel brave next week after the new gates are installed, maybe I’ll post the links to my renovation odyssey…. 🙂
First time buyers might be amazed at what you can do with a dumpy little sow’s ear of a house in dodgy neighborhood.
Ours is going to start soon….maybe in the next 6 months! Still trying to figure out exactly what to do…
Art and I (and my husband) see houses as our homes and labors of love (if I may assume Art), as opposed to investments and piggy banks. I love updating and changing and improving for our tastes which thus far has been approved by the general market by how easily we sold our last 2 homes. OK, pricing and a husband with awesome hardscape skills helped as well. But I love being able to do these things and benefiting by increasing my home’s aesthetics and value, and not having to ask a landlord ‘if I can’ and only increasing the landlord’s equity.
Jeeman, I keep hoping Jim will do a follow up video on your home when the work is done. It would be nice to see changes you decide to make.
I’ll guess we’ll be waiting just a little while longer…
I think the costs are different depending on age. If you buy a new house then I think most of your time will be spent on “little” fixes and waiting to see if the builder cut any corners. You might see cracks appear from settling, leaks in plumbing, etc. You’ll probably have a lot of customizing costs (paint, curtains, maybe flooring, fixtures, etc.) and landscaping.
When you buy a home closer to the 20 year mark (like I did) then you can figure you’ll probably need a new roof, windows, water heater, furnace, etc.
Jeeman – Tossing some positive vibes your way ahead of the remodel/update. Make it a fun adventure with the Mrs.
Feel free to run any questions by me “off-blog” if you are looking for a 3rd or 4th opinion.
Been thru 2 major (>$200k) remodels. In both cases, the end result was more than we expected. However, I will never forget being awakened by 4 workers knocking at my door one morning and then realizing that my wife was unaware I’d scheduled work that day.
The MOST important component of a remodel is to make sure your spouse has a very clear understanding of the process.
Yes, I’ll definitely invite Jim over for an update, if he’d like. The process might take a while. I’m estimating a year, if we do an add-on, like I am considering.