Has anyone purchased a home for really cheap, then redo it?

a house needs a lot of work, I mean the kitchen needs to be extended and totaly redone, the floors need to be replaced- wood, carpet pulled out in most areas and recarpeted with new, all walls need to be repainted and some replastered.

has anyone done this? the house is a foreclosure and has been on and off the market for a few years. structure wise its fine, also there is a pool in the back and a tennis court, 4 bedrooms plus 3 in the attic. a perfect size house

what would you do?
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k'h

Silver Member Joined: Jul 10 2005 Posts: 687

I would do whatever I can afford.

Posted: Sun, Feb 15 2009, 7:11 pm Post subject:

I would buy it and fix it ... chances are even with all the work you put in - you are still paying less than what a normal house would cost ... providing you got a really good foreclosure price ...

are the floors wood under the carpet ... I would refinish them ... so much nicer than carpet ... plastering and painting is not as hard as it seems ...

how much turn over time would you need - it can take up to a month to fix a lot of this work ...
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Posted: Sun, Feb 15 2009, 7:16 pm Post subject:

the amount of work that needs to be done is gonna take maybe up to 4 months!!! I dont know, if they work straight on the kitchen itself it can take two months, the floor is pine and my husband would like oak or some other nicer wood, I dont know. the floor in the dining room is in really bad condition, the flooring under the carpet could be okay to resand, but its also pine im assuming. the house itself is really great, so much space!!

we bought a house mega cheap and basically redid it.

But you have to know what youre dealing with. If its worth it to you.
If you know an architect who you can trust
and have a good contactor its worth it
there is also the time consideration
people pay more for "move in condition" because htey dont need to deal with the stresses of remodeling, for me (/us) it wasnt a stress because
a) I was not going to be in school anyway for the next yr (ie last year) so it wouldnt be stressful doing stuff after we moved
b) one of FIL's best friends is an architect so we knew we had someone who we could trust to work with
c) we had a great contractor
d) DH is very "handy" with things around the house so when we have/had problems with new hardware or installing stuff we do alot of it ourselves...when we run itno plumbing problems lets say...stuff like that

You can PM me if you want, but I think foreclosures are a wonderful investment...the #1 advantage is you get a "custom" home. yea its true the kitchen of hte home youre looking at is dilapidated-but if you were looking at ahouse with an "ok" kitchen where a frum fam lived there before, but the kitchen is 10 years old, would you consider doing much work? probably not- not worth the $ or x considering the amt you are paying. with a foreclosure its not exactly like that....

Posted: Sun, Feb 15 2009, 7:18 pm Post subject:

I never did this, but knowing those that have. It can turn out wonderful or a huge headache. You really should calculate and see exactly how much will be needed to fix what you neeed, have some come and inspect to make sure there are only surface fixes and for sure no strucural damage etc. Then add that to the price, but also add a bit more to make sure you have what it needs to cover all the changes since sometimes what may be the cost at first grows and grows.

Also factor the time it will take into fixing things into your equation. A lot of things that may need to be doen you might have to be away for either due to mess or fumes or just convience
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Posted: Sun, Feb 15 2009, 7:24 pm Post subject:

ss321- my husband is the handiest man I know!!! he would do everything himself if he had to. but due to time constraints, he wont. we have a few friends that are contractors and we trust them, that wouldnt be an issue . we first have to have a contractor see the place, then we will go from there. they know prices and stuff like that, then based on that amount, we will make an offer on the house... but then again, its not going anywhere, maybe something in better condition will come up.

challi- you are right. it might take longer than expected, the thing is there is a kitchen in the attic that we can technically use, and once the bedrooms and the bathroom are fixed up, we can move in...

Posted: Sun, Feb 15 2009, 7:32 pm Post subject:

I've fixed many houses and usually the wood in the dining room/living room is oak while the other floors tend to be pine ...

WELL I know about this one...welcome to our life! Laughing

we bought a house to renovate and rebuild it WHEN we would someday have enough money...and guess what? 4 years and two kids later the five of us are living in 50 meters and with the housing boom in Jerusalem b'h (good for our investment) we can't afford to rent in the area.

So if you are buying to renovate...make sure it is not a pipe dream, can be done right away, you have the funds, the wherewithal, the knowledge etc..

I think we did make the right decision to buy...but living in a run-down small apartment we couldn't afford to renovate for so long is a high price to pay...iy'h it will someday seem worth it when we do get around to building

b'hatzlacha
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