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BabyAvocado
Happy New Year
Member since 5/05 17334 total posts
Name:
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BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
borrowed money to do home improvements? Meaning, HELOCs, Refi's, credit cards, borrowing from parents, etc.
FOLLOW-UP:
So for those of you who voted no my DH has a hard time with this. He feels that 90% of those who voted no are either (and he means this in the most loving, joking way, trust me  ):
A) full of it
B) didn't DO any improvements (i.e. skewing the poll results)
C) well off
I feel you can do alot without borrowing and by doing alot of the work yourself, even though it will take longer.
He feels that to get anything significant done in a reasonable amount of time, you pretty much have to borrow.
So...help us settle this debate, please. For those that paid upfront for their improvements - what kind of improvements have you done out of pocket (new kitchen, new bath, siding, whatever you did) and did you do it by saving and doing a little at a time (so how long did it take you) or did you save a bunch of money and then do all (or alot of) the work at once?
Message edited 7/24/2006 8:05:46 PM.
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Posted 7/24/06 4:48 PM  |
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june262004
But I love the Snow!
Member since 5/05 15379 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
Heck ya.. 
We put a good amount down so we borrowed that in a heloc. It also helps that I used a product that I sell. So I understand it better
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| Posted 7/24/06 4:53 PM |
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MrsPorkChop
Twinning!!
Member since 5/05 9941 total posts
Name:
Missy
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
i got a salary advance from my company -we pay it off monthly
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| Posted 7/24/06 4:56 PM |
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Beth
The Key to your new home....
Member since 2/06 24849 total posts
Name:
Beth
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
I don't have a house yet- but my Dad either borrowed money from my Grandpa or took out some type of loan
depending on how much I needed- I would ask my Dad- $20K or less or then get a loan of some type
if I needed more
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:00 PM |
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LMFitz
life is good
Member since 5/05 2013 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
we've completely reonvated three houses - and we've used every sort of financing under the sun! Wouldn't have done it otherwise....though they're all substantially paid off......and will be paid back many times over when we sell our primary residence.
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:08 PM |
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2PreciousBlessings
The Perfect Pair
Member since 5/06 19861 total posts
Name:
Best Wife & Mommy
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
Yes, from my dad and we paid him back witrhin one year.
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:10 PM |
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lululu
LIF Adult
Member since 7/05 9509 total posts
Name:
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
We paid cash for all of our home improvements.
However - I am all for doing a year with no interest if it's offered for any furniture or appliance purchase, just because it would be stupid not to!
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:14 PM |
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Bxgell2
Perfection
Member since 5/05 16438 total posts
Name:
Beth
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
Last time, yes, we put it all on 0% credit cards and paid the entire balance off before the 0% expired. This time, no. We made enough of a profit off the sale of our first house (in large part because of the 0% renovations  ) to cover all of our renovation expenses for our new house, and pay off some of our other debts...
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:23 PM |
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Michelina627
LIF Adult
Member since 2/06 1071 total posts
Name:
Michelle
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
Posted by lululu
We paid cash for all of our home improvements.
However - I am all for doing a year with no interest if it's offered for any furniture or appliance purchase, just because it would be stupid not to!
I checked nope, but then remembered we did do a no finance charge account for our carpets.
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:24 PM |
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
We are in the process of refinancing right now. We actually lowered our rate, so we're borrowing a nice amt, and our pmt is only going up $90/month
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:38 PM |
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MrsRbk
<3 <3 <3 <3
Member since 1/06 19197 total posts
Name:
Michelle
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
nope
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| Posted 7/24/06 5:59 PM |
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yankinmanc
Happy Days!
Member since 8/05 18208 total posts
Name:
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
In the states, can you borrow more money on your mortgage like we do here?
What we do is borrow the money and our mortgage goes up like £70-£80 a month....so if you borrow £10k (which is like $17,500) our mortgage payment goes up maybe £80 which is $130 ish)
I never could figure out how my friends were having new kitchens and stuff and finally it dawned on me...they borrow the money!
Message edited 7/24/2006 6:05:32 PM.
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| Posted 7/24/06 6:04 PM |
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~Colleen~
my loves...
Member since 5/05 9129 total posts
Name:
guess
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
Posted by lululu
We paid cash for all of our home improvements.
However - I am all for doing a year with no interest if it's offered for any furniture or appliance purchase, just because it would be stupid not to!
Same here. We had the same philosophy with our wedding too: charged everything for points and paid it all off when the bill(s) came. We're not really into doing things if we don't have the cash to back it up.
We just took advantage of Lowe's no interest, no payments for 12 months when we bought our washer & dryer 
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| Posted 7/24/06 6:20 PM |
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julz33
i run for bacon
Member since 5/05 20584 total posts
Name:
julz
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
Posted by lululu
We paid cash for all of our home improvements.
However - I am all for doing a year with no interest if it's offered for any furniture or appliance purchase, just because it would be stupid not to!
ditto.
I wouldn't have done the revoations if we didn't have the money. If it was something like adding a level to the house or something huge then I would consider it.
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| Posted 7/24/06 6:51 PM |
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
No. DH put his foot down about that, which is good, because I would have us in hock. I don't like to wait for things but we have to do things as we accumulate the money, and it is better in the long run for us.
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| Posted 7/24/06 6:55 PM |
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CunningOne
***
Member since 5/05 26975 total posts
Name:
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you
No, we pay for everything in cash, which is why nearly 6 years later, there are still some unfinsihed projects and many more to go 
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| Posted 7/24/06 7:22 PM |
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Bxgell2
Perfection
Member since 5/05 16438 total posts
Name:
Beth
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
FOLLOW-UP:
I feel you can do alot without borrowing and by doing alot of the work yourself, even though it will take longer.
He feels that to get anything significant done in a reasonable amount of time, you pretty much have to borrow.
So...help us settle this debate, please. For those that paid upfront for their improvements - what kind of improvements have you done out of pocket (new kitchen, new bath, siding, whatever you did) and did you do it by saving and doing a little at a time (so how long did it take you) or did you save a bunch of money and then do all (or alot of) the work at once?
You would be absolutely amazed at how much money you can save by doing a lot of work yourself. With our last house we gutted and installed a totally new kitchen, took down a wall, expanded a window, put up a wall to divide the den into a brand new mudroom and brand new office, and painted the entire house. We did all that on a budget of about $15k. We hired an electrician ($2k) and a contractor who helped with a few things, and would mostly show us how to start each project and we would finish from there. He cost about $4k. We bought the kitchen cabinets at Ikea ($2k) and the butcher block cabinets from there as well ($500). We installed the floor tile nad backsplash ourselves ($400). Painting cost about $500 and brand new carpeting for the bedrooms cost another $2k. We bought floor model appliances or at the Sears outlet so they cost only about $2k. We had the cash to cover the renovations but we didn't want to drain our savings so we ended up putting about half of the items on a 0% card, and paid it all off within a year. This took us in total about 2 months to complete. If you do a search on here and on LIW on the Home board you'll find pictures of our renovations.
With this house, we made a nice profit off the sale of our last house so we're paying for all our renovations in cash. But, again, we saved a tremendous amount of money by doing it ourselves. We gutted and installed a brand new kitchen. Hubby took down the wall between the kitchen and den himself to expand the kitchen, and also did all the plumbing work himself (don't ask). The cabinets again are Ikea (this time $4.5k because it's a larger kitchen). Hired an electrician to re-work our electrical box and install recess lighting ($4k), sears outlet appliances ($2k) and we installed the floor tile ourselves ($600). Hubby also built a wall to divide the dining and living room, and installed french doors. The materials in total cost about $400, including the french doors. I painted the entire house myself ($500) and it will probably cost another $1k to install all new light fixtures and ceiling fans throughout theh ouse.
I'm amazed to say all this work took just about 6 weeks, and mind you, we did all that ourselves while tending to our 10 month old daughter and both working full-time jobs. I even have a few days to spare to pack before the big move on Thursday
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| Posted 7/24/06 8:24 PM |
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Teri
my girls!
Member since 2/06 1491 total posts
Name:
Teri
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
I answered no, and I am being 100% honest! We have a huge mortgage, that's enough debt for us right now
We've been homeowners for only 2 yrs now - so far we've done smaller projects like update our 1 and only bathroom, paint, replace carpeting, and then we gutted and re-did the entire kitchen and laundry room area.
That was all paid for from savings. We saved for several years before owning a home and we worked our butts off for it. Do we have enough to re-do the entire house? Hells no! But we do what we can when we have the money. Otherwise it doesn't get done unless it's an emergency.
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| Posted 7/24/06 8:30 PM |
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2girls4now
Proud Mommy
Member since 3/06 1745 total posts
Name:
Kerri
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
we use our yearly bonuses, tax returns and savings for our projects.
I keep a spreadsheet of my wish list that includes the cost and level of priority- so far so good
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| Posted 7/24/06 8:33 PM |
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julz33
i run for bacon
Member since 5/05 20584 total posts
Name:
julz
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
Posted by BabyAvocado
FOLLOW-UP:
So for those of you who voted no my DH has a hard time with this. He feels that 90% of those who voted no are either (and he means this in the most loving, joking way, trust me ):
A) full of it
B) didn't DO any improvements (i.e. skewing the poll results)
C) well off
I feel you can do alot without borrowing and by doing alot of the work yourself, even though it will take longer.
He feels that to get anything significant done in a reasonable amount of time, you pretty much have to borrow.
So...help us settle this debate, please. For those that paid upfront for their improvements - what kind of improvements have you done out of pocket (new kitchen, new bath, siding, whatever you did) and did you do it by saving and doing a little at a time (so how long did it take you) or did you save a bunch of money and then do all (or alot of) the work at once?
We did everything out of pocket. You have seen the pics... all new sheetrock, kitchen, bath, roof, siding, floors, everything! Some stuff we got the zero percent cards (like furniture, appliances) just because it was a good way to spread things out, but we had the money in the bank. We did all of this in 20 months. They ways we were able to pay for all of this:
1. Wedding Gift Money
2. We bought a house we can afford on one (MY) salary, so we have DH's Salary (which is more than mine) PLUS DH's bonuses to save
3. We have an apartment in our house that bring in extra $$$
4. Did most of the work ourselves
If we couldn't afford it, we wouldn't have done so much. You saw my house when we first moved in, it was UGLY! But a lot of the stuff we recently did was optional (like our porch, the granite in the kitchen) I don't like living in debt.
What are you planning on doing to your house?? I thought you were considering moving?
Message edited 7/24/2006 8:45:37 PM.
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| Posted 7/24/06 8:33 PM |
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
We fall into (B), sort of. We haven't yet done any MAJOR renovations (bathrooms are outdated, kitchen needs new cabinets and I want to add counterspace).
We put up beadboard paneling in the living room, painted every room, replaced some screens, bought some new furniture (tv unit, bookshelves, dresser) and odds and ends. We also had to fix the washer and dryer not long after moving in, and upgrade the electrical system.
We are saving now to do the bathroom, and we will do as much of that as we can ourselves.
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| Posted 7/24/06 8:43 PM |
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LuckySV
LIF Adult
Member since 10/05 4675 total posts
Name:
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
FOLLOW-UP:
So for those of you who voted no my DH has a hard time with this. He feels that 90% of those who voted no are either (and he means this in the most loving, joking way, trust me ):
A) full of it
B) didn't DO any improvements (i.e. skewing the poll results)
C) well off
I feel you can do alot without borrowing and by doing alot of the work yourself, even though it will take longer.
He feels that to get anything significant done in a reasonable amount of time, you pretty much have to borrow.
So...help us settle this debate, please. For those that paid upfront for their improvements - what kind of improvements have you done out of pocket (new kitchen, new bath, siding, whatever you did) and did you do it by saving and doing a little at a time (so how long did it take you) or did you save a bunch of money and then do all (or alot of) the work at once?
I answered no and we're none of the above as far as your DH's A,B, or C We both work for non-profits so the well-off made me laugh!
We've been in our house for 1 year and 2 months. We have done the bath (extended and moved plumbing), roof, and new boiler. We did a mini-makeover on our kitchen (new flooring and painted walls and cabinets). We have almost enough saved for a brand new kitchen. We only put down 5% so we have a pretty large mortgage. And we closed before the wedding so we had to keep a large sum of money aside for the wedding (we paid about 80% ourselves) but we ended up getting more than we spent in monetary gifts. Therefore, we got a new bathroom! I'm frugal by nature and DH and I are homebodies (in other words we rarely go out and spend). We're just really good with the money we have and how we spend. We save for home improvements but we also save and invest for other things. We just make the most of what we have.
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| Posted 7/24/06 9:01 PM |
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LulaBell
:)
Member since 1/06 3508 total posts
Name:
J
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
We haven't borrowed money such as a HELOC, however, we haven't done any major construction. I would like to redo my kitchen and finish my basement, but I will wait until we have the money saved in order to do that. If we decide to put on an extension, then we will need to take out a loan.
I have financed some of our furniture using 0% CC, although we have the money in the bank. THe other improvements we have done (painting, some new windows, carpets, lighting fixtures, electric upgrade) we paid for cash, but we received good prices from some family friends.
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| Posted 7/24/06 9:23 PM |
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randella
Love my little man
Member since 8/05 16290 total posts
Name:
Randi
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
we have paid for all of our improvements, but it's only been about $10K for mainly the kitchen.. Then there was painting, etc., which was probably about another $2,000.
This exludes furniture and window treatments.
We were very lucky to be able to use our wedding money for our apt-- IL's gave us a VERY generous house warming present so we could use our own money to improve and get some new stuff.
We need to start saving again though.. we still have savings, but it's not liquid.
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| Posted 7/24/06 9:42 PM |
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Karen
Just chillin'!!
Member since 1/06 9690 total posts
Name:
Karen
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Re: BE HONEST - Have you *Updated with follow-up questions for those who voted no*
Every home improvement project we undertook came from our savings, or our current salaries. If we don't have the cash, we're not doing it!
so far we have:
~ put in a patio and walkway
~ laminate flooring in the living room
~ refinishing one of the bathrooms floors.
new appliances for the kitchen are next. if we don't do cash, we will do a 0% credit card and pay it off when it comes due.
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| Posted 7/24/06 9:48 PM |
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