The Housekeeping, Decorating, and Furnishing Thread • Page 12

Considering putting an offer on this. There is some work to be done but it is pretty nice inside

 

Definitely make them remove that fuckin' red flag in the yard. Thing is an eyesore.

 

I've been looking at the same thing. Houses that need work tend me to be closer in my price range, plus, I don't mind putting in work. Buying a house is fucking scary.

 

I disagree, it's pretty sweet

The bushes are already gone and I'm not sure about the lamppost. I don't remember seeing that when I viewed the house

 

Purchasing a home is such a money pit. I bought a home (three years ago) that was built in 2009, so for the most part didn't really need any work, but I still spent a fortune repainting the entire interior, re-carpeting the entire house and purchasing appliances and furniture for six different rooms.

All that, and I still would like to finish my basement.

I think I said earlier in this thread, if people are good with handy work and don't mind fixing things up, tearing things down, re-doing kitchens, etc. then by all means, purchase a fixer-upper, but I have had friends who bought fixer-uppers and spent a good 50-70K fixing them up. And I just think to myself, why not just spend an extra 20-40K on a home that is just ready to move in? Some of my friends are built for that kind of stuff, but I have one friend who bought a fixer-upper last Spring and is already contemplating moving because he's sick of the work/spending money.

 

Budget is a huge part of it. I would buy a much newer house if I was approved for $200k or more

 

Well the house I currently own, was built in 1930's, needed a TON of work, but we did half, and half we had people do. We put up crown molding in every room which instantly makes everything feel nicer, painted (was wall paper previously), etc. We paid someone to sand and refinish all the floors, paid someone to redo the kitchen. All that was 5 years ago. Last year we finished our basement which was another 30k in itself (added flooring, drywalled everything, added a full bath, heat/ac vents, etc.). I mean if my wife sold it as it, she might walk about with 5k profits after all said and done.

 

That house in under $200k? Man, everything I'm looking at is $250-300k haha. Sucks living in an expensive area.

 

In no way am I telling anyone to buy a newer home for more money...my point was, someone may buy a home with the intention of fixing it up for let's say...$120K, but then spend 50K fixing it up so in reality, they're actually spending $170K on a home over a few years. My point was (for people who aren't handy or don't want to throw a bunch of money fixing up things) to spend some of that extra money up front (if they can) to get closer to a finished product.

The one friend I mentioned who is already thinking of selling his house, bought his home for I think around 130K thinking he'd sink 10-20K fixing it up, and he's already way over that 10-20K and isn't even half way done fixing things up and is just sick and tired of the work/money being put into it.

 

Damn. 30K to finish your basement? Maybe I won't be finishing my basement, haha. Although, I don't plan on putting any type of bathroom in my basement and I heard that is what's really expensive (plumbing and whatnot). The people who built my house looks like they started to finish my basement, they have some framing up and for whatever reason, they carpeted the basement (which I would re-carpet if/when I finish). My buddy who lives in my neighborhood just finished his basement for I think between 12-15K but he used three different contractors, which is probably what I would do because it was cheaper that way (one for drywall, one for electricity, one for flooring, I think).

 

Yeah, that's tough though, because while I'd rather be able to buy a move-in ready house at $350, mortgages rate would be way higher than if I bought one for $275-300 and just upgraded as I went along and had funds to do so.

 

Oh yeah, my budget is around $140k, which is low end for livable houses in my area. I'm single so that's pretty much what I'm looking at. Of course there are plenty more expensive parts of Dallas that I can't afford

 

Yup, it was a pretty big project, came out amazing though. Before we never let anyone go down there since it was dungeon-like.

 

Glad we don't have basements here

 

Do you have attics at least? Where do the ghosts live?

 

Gotta have attics to keep the Christmas stuff

 

My basement has 4 small windows so it's actually decently-lit (my basement rises above the ground, obviously) so I go down there sometimes with my 2-year-old son because he likes to play down there as mostly it's an open area with a shitload of his bigger toys that we don't want upstairs. Plus, our washer and dryer are down there and just a bunch of storage. But yeah, we never have friends or family go down there.

 

I'm about to settle next Friday and then I'm putting roughly 35 into the house... new floors upstairs, new kitchen, new bathroom, fresh paint on all the walls, new deck out back. I'm doing very little of the work. It should be interesting. Seeing some of these posts scares me, but I think I have a good handle on things.

 

Got pretty lucky with my house, the Colorado market is crazy right now and I swear our house is the only one we looked at (probably 25 houses) that was in our price range that didn't need a ton of updating.

We put in hardwood floors in the living room, though the carpet wasn't all that bad. Repainted almost the entire house (basement was finished recently by the previous owners so thankfully that didn't need any paint) and re-painted the cabinets and doors.

There was so much brown everywhere, oh and we had a bright red bathroom lol. I'm still really mad I didn't take before pictures

 

Well I'm putting in the offer. I guess it's not super likely that I'll get it but we'll see

 

Good luck!

 

Texas contractors are a fuckin nightmare atm. At least they are around Austin.

 

Trying to bump up that curb appeal.

 

You're franchising that Chiptole? Free burritos for everyone!

 

What's everyone's take on lawn globes?Delightful or tacky?