The Inland Echo

By Gerry Frederick

Buying a house that is more than twenty five years old is fertile ground for renovations and home improvement. We don’t buy a house because we want a second job, we just know while looking if we like the house in general that’s fine because we can change the things we don’t like.

This can really take some of the pressure off during the sometimes aggravating house hunting tours. You should live in the house you want with all the features you think you’ll need. If you find a house that has the right number of bedrooms you want and the right number of bathrooms then who cares if the floors are old and worn out. We can always change them.

Older houses or those that are over twenty years old don’t always have a modern layout in the kitchen. That’s an easy fix. The same is true for the old tiles and plumbing fixtures in the bathrooms. You can even rejoice when your house hunting delivers you to an older run down house that has leaky faucets and damaged counter tops. This can be cash in your pocket.

As you’re complaining to the real estate agent about how bad the kitchen looks all the while in your mind you’re knocking off handfuls of money from your offer. This is the reverse of your old house where you finished the kitchen off very nicely with a five thousand dollar face lift then added fifteen thousand to the asking price.

This same formula holds true to all aspects of the house. If you want a garage then you should know that they can cost about ten grand to build. If the house you’re eyeballing doesn’t have one then you should expect to pay about fifteen to twenty thousand dollars less. It all really depends on how far you are willing to go with renovations and upgrades after you buy. Another question you need to consider is how long will the family tolerate living in a construction zone?

Rarely does anyone find a house that is just right and exactly what they are looking for. With that in mind, stay calm and look for a house that has good bones as the real estate agents call it. Let your agent know that you are interested in looking at homes that need some work because you are too cheap to pay full price for a house that’s ready to go. So you don’t care if the bathrooms are ugly or the fence is falling down.

Even if you’re not planning to do the work yourself, the math stills works out in your favor for renovations and improvements. I just attended a viewing for a friend that is looking at buying a house. They simply asked me how much it would cost to upgrade the bathrooms, kitchen and flooring. Then they take that information and add it to the cost of the house to work out the math. It either works in their favor or it doesn’t.

As we all know planning renovations is the easy part. If we’re looking at a house that is new to us then it’s easy to plan improvements that will bring the house to the final stage we want. If you think you would like to replace the kitchen cabinets then take measurements of the kitchen you want to upgrade. Take that info to the building supply and figure out what it will cost to buy the cabinets you want.

The same holds true for the flooring, lighting and bathroom fixtures and so on. Small things like paint and landscaping can be done at any time and generally cost more in sweat then real money. Other things to consider are timing. If you buy a house you plan to renovate then only schedule the renos that are important to have done early and the rest can be completed when you’re ready or when you can afford the upgrades you really want.

Windows and doors are expensive but buying a house that really needs them bad can only be money in your pocket because you can save a ton by buying a house that needs new windows and doing it yourself. This still adds value and at the same time saves you money on the purchase price. Flooring is the same. If you’re looking at a house that has brand new hardwood flooring then expect to pay fat for that.

Remember that you have no sentimental attachment to walls or toilets in a new house so it will hurt less when you see them stacked up in the driveway waiting for the trip to the dump.

Related posts:

1. Making your home better than when you bought it
2. The smart way to hire home improvement professionals
3. Price-shopping a plan before beginning work saves money on home improvement projects
4. Planning a new floor covering in advance saves headaches later
5. How to use the economic downturn to improve your home