A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

Okay, so I was born and raised in Manhattan who married a man who was born and raised in Manhattan! We know absolutely NOTHING about owning a house!

We need to move and it looks like a house it is! We saw a really cute house today but I have a few questions:

1. Is it possible to re-do the kitchen, 1 master bath and one guest bath, sand and seal the floors, paint the inside of the house, redo the basement and buy appliances for the grand total of 40,000?

2. How much is a water bill? Electricity?


I really like the house but it needs some TLC. The previous owner was old and died. He pretty much let the house go!

The house is in Yonkers btw!

Thanks!

Message edited 1/1/2008 1:28:43 AM.

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

Probbaly not - but then again, I personally always seem to go for th emore expensive stuff That is a lot to do for $40. Some kitchen remodels cost that or more.

It really depends on what you mean by re-do. If you would be replacing everything and putting the new stuff in the same place, it would be less than changing configurations. Example - keeping the stove where it is instead of moving it to the other side of the kitchen. It also depends on what kind of fixtures and cabinets you pick. I am going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you will not be doing any work yourselves. Otherwise you could save money by doing some of the work yourself, or at least the demo. You could also save money by painting your house yourself. I think we paid $6k to paint ours.

Water bill is around $20. Electric in the summer is around $250-300 and so far in the winter its been about $100. It's also about $450 everytime the oil tank is filled.

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

if you are willing to do some of the work yourselves...then maybe but otherwise thats a pretty small budget for all that you want to do.

Like the other poster said...you can paint yourselves and save yourself a good amount of money

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

My DH is doing so much of our small house with his Dad so we're saving a TON of $$. We only paid for floors to be installed and refinished (and that we paid less b/c my uncle owns a business). He has taken down walls, restructured the house (some terminate damage from previous owners left us with icky beams), done all the painting, is doing our entire kitchen (including moving plumbing & electricity), installed a gas fireplace, etc. We haven't done anything over the top - but we didn't cheap out either (personally I don't think it's worth it in the end to go too low budget). Anyway, I think doing all you listed for $40K would be possible only if you did it all yourself and did it with the budget in mind. Those are a lot of costly projects for $40K. Try IKEA for kitchen cabinets - that can save you a bundle and they're good quality from what I understand.

BUT, if it's done right, it'll def. be worth the investment! Are all the rooms not liveable? Can you take your time with it? Maybe put off the Master Bath for a few years?

Message edited 1/1/2008 9:34:27 AM.

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

that sounds like too much to accomplish on that budget unless you guys can do everything yourselves.
Our electric bill is $140( I don't think other areas pay as much as we pay on LI to LIPA)
Our oil tank is $500(prices are high now) to fill 4-5 times a year
We have well water so no water bill.
Good Luck!

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

I am sorry to say that unless your DH is doing a lot if not most of the work $40k will not cover what it is you are looking to do. You also have to keep in mind that there are always hidden expenses in a house and unfortunately although $40k sounds like a ton of money, it doesn't seem to go very far in a house. We had (what I would consider) some minor plumbing work done in our basement/washing machine area last weekend and that alone was $1k.

When we moved into our home we replaced all the windows, painted the entire house inside and out, redid the entire kitchen, (not a gut renovation, but a complete redo), put in a french door, put in a new doorway to the kitchen and stairs to the attic and that was around $40k and I believe we got a great deal and lucked out with an amazing contractor.

We have not touched the bathrooms, basement, or th floors (house already had beautiful refinished wood floors).

As for our water bill...it is around $30
our electric bill ranges from $140 - $220 depending on the season and how long we run the central air.

Good Luck and feel free to FM me with any questions!

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

If you do the work yourself, then it would be possible to do those things for that budget. However if you are not DIYers, then I don't think 40K will cover it. The kitchen will cost at least half that if done by contractors.

Our electric bill has never been over $90, but we have a gas dryer. So gas+electric is about $200-$250. The water bill is $25 every three months.

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

Re: A few house qiuestions from the city chick!

I'm sorry to say but no way would $40K give you the above renovations in Yonkers UNLESS you were willing to do all of the work yourselves. Labor can run 1/3 to 1/2 of the costs of a job. Kitchens and baths are the most $$$ to redo especially if you must upgrade plumbing or electrical. Always expect surprises when you start rehabbing and cushion your budget by 20%. You never know what you will find behind some walls.

I did a massive refurbishing of my home two years ago. We painted ourselves and have family in the business but labor alone for my extensive renovations (more than you are describing) was more than 40K.
To be honest, I don't see how we would even be able to paint now that the twins are here.

In our case it was 100% worth it to hire a contractor to have it done. The house needed so much work we couldn't live in it while the work was being done. If we did it oursleves or piecemeal it would still be under construction (yeah, now with twins... you don't need that) instead it was a whirlwind of activity ... 4 months but we were in essentially a brand new house in 4 months.

Message edited 1/2/2008 8:24:03 AM.