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Deedlebugs
Blessed
Member since 12/05 10281 total posts
Name:
Kiki
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Would you buy a house...
that needs a LOT of work and updating, but was in your dream area for a really good price??? Im so torn right now, if DH and I want to buy a house, in this area, that is updated and new, we would have to wait a few years to buy, but if we are willing to do the work, we could buy this house right now. What would you do?
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Posted 10/31/06 9:44 PM  |
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alnem
This is gonna be a good year!
Member since 2/06 9562 total posts
Name:
Emily
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Re: Would you buy a house...
I'd buy now and do the work myself gradually. If you were to buy the house all updated and done up you would probably make changes anyway, so save yourself the money and do it the way you want! 
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| Posted 10/31/06 9:47 PM |
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LittleLynn
LIF Zygote
Member since 8/06 16 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Definitely. The best advice I've heard about home buying thus far is to look for the worst house on the best block. You simply can't lose that way. 
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| Posted 10/31/06 9:49 PM |
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dbleplay17
My 2 boys!
Member since 10/06 4578 total posts
Name:
Chrissy
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Me & the DH are doing the same thing
We are going to work on it as we live there
We def can only afford a fixxer upper at the moment
and we wanna be in a certain area
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| Posted 10/31/06 9:58 PM |
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Tine73
Member since 3/06 22093 total posts
Name:
*********
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Re: Would you buy a house...
It depends on if it was liveable in the time being and how much it would cost to update it.
In my case, my DH is not handy AT ALL, so I know if we bought a fixer upper we would have to hire out all the work and it would be $$$$.
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| Posted 10/31/06 10:23 PM |
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MegZee
My bunny
Member since 5/06 8777 total posts
Name:
Meaghan
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Re: Would you buy a house...
we are looking for a fixer - we will update it as we go!
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| Posted 10/31/06 10:24 PM |
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Deedlebugs
Blessed
Member since 12/05 10281 total posts
Name:
Kiki
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Well that is the exact issue IM having. DH is beyond clueless with fixing stuff. I usually have to do all the fixing up when it comes to our condo now. My BIL and dad are very handy and said they would help, but they are stuff of their own to do and it would probably take forever to complete.
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| Posted 10/31/06 10:26 PM |
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MegZee
My bunny
Member since 5/06 8777 total posts
Name:
Meaghan
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Posted by Deedlebug126
Well that is the exact issue IM having. DH is beyond clueless with fixing stuff. I usually have to do all the fixing up when it comes to our condo now. My BIL and dad are very handy and said they would help, but they are stuff of their own to do and it would probably take forever to complete.
then - unless you want to hire people to do the work - i would buy something updated.
FH and I plan to do most of it - and his father would help us(who is retired)
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| Posted 10/31/06 10:29 PM |
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oakslady
LIF Adult
Member since 8/05 969 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Posted by alnem
I'd buy now and do the work myself gradually. If you were to buy the house all updated and done up you would probably make changes anyway, so save yourself the money and do it the way you want!
i agree
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| Posted 10/31/06 11:09 PM |
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mrsmck
Be a big girl!
Member since 5/05 4898 total posts
Name:
Donna
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Posted by BackInNewYork
It depends on if it was liveable in the time being and how much it would cost to update it.
In my case, my DH is not handy AT ALL, so I know if we bought a fixer upper we would have to hire out all the work and it would be $$$$.
This was our situation too! We saw 1 house that was in ok condition, in our price range, but needed work. We figured we could do a little at a time. (hiring out, of course, since DH isn't the handiest of guys). There were issues on the seller's end, so we backed out of the deal. We found a house in mint condition, and are moving in at the end of Nov. Yes, we had to pay a bit more than the first house, but I feel it'll pay itself off in the long run, since we would've had to put about the same amount of money into the first house to fix it up.
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| Posted 11/1/06 12:28 AM |
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Redhead
You Live, You Learn
Member since 5/05 31871 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Would you buy a house...
of course i would
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| Posted 11/1/06 5:38 AM |
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sunnyplus3
:)
Member since 11/05 8749 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
we did exactly that, but my DH is a carpenter so the house of us did all the work.
If the price is that good, set aside a certain amount of $ that you would have paid toward a more improved home & pay pros to do the stuff that can't wait or is most important to you. Then in time your family can help with the smaller things & maybe your DH will learn how to do more as you do it.
I believe in buying in the neighborhood you like, but I'd prefer to be one of the "better off" people rather than the ones struggling to be in a certain town. I hate that keeping up with the Joneses crap.
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| Posted 11/1/06 6:51 AM |
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danielleandscott
My new 71 Super Beetle
Member since 5/05 13476 total posts
Name:
Scott
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Yes thats what I would look for too....Especially in todays market. In levittown there are so many homes available for under $350k that need updating.
Danielle and I bought our house at an estate sale, and even though it didnt need a lot of work to get it liveable, we decided to do things to the house to make it ours...ripping down walls, taking out carpet, tile and linolium, redoing the bathroom, putting in Electric.....etc.
If there was two houses for sale on a block and one needed work and one was move in ready, I would go for the house that needed work, so you could make it the way you want it....Not the way someone else fixed it up.
Also this goes for people looking for more expensive homes....I would find the worst one on the block, and then dump a lot of money into it.....to make it Spectacular.
Scott
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| Posted 11/1/06 7:31 AM |
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LIMOMx2
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Member since 5/05 24989 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
The only way we would do that is if we knew we were going to stay in it forever and if it was our all time favorite town.
Otherwise no way. We would wait until we could afford something else.
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| Posted 11/1/06 7:42 AM |
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SweetestOfPeas
J'taime Paris!
Member since 3/06 32345 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
if it was in my DREAM area, I would consider it. but it really depends on how bad of a shape it's in. unless you are handy or know a contractor... the smallest of improvements can cost you $$$$$$$$$
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| Posted 11/1/06 7:50 AM |
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cjik
Welcome 2010!
Member since 2/06 8879 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
I probably would not, but that's because DH and I are not that handy (so we would need to hire people to do a lot of the work and that would drive our costs up). Plus, we both work pretty long hours plus some weekends as it is. It would be worth it for us to spend the extra money on a house that needs more superficial work.
That said, if you are both pretty handy and can devote the time to this, it's probably not a bad idea.
However, do not buy anything without an inspection by an engineer. You want to make sure there are not more serious issues than the house just looking crappy.
Good luck!
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| Posted 11/1/06 8:31 AM |
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belladi
LIF Adult
Member since 9/06 1011 total posts
Name:
diana
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Re: Would you buy a house...
location location, absolutely
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| Posted 11/1/06 8:44 AM |
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MrsA
.............................
Member since 1/06 2012 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
This is exactly what DH and I did, we bought a house that needed ALOT of updating but it was in the area we wanted and the updated houses were going for MUCH higher prices.
We hired contractors to do all the work and it has taken more time and $ than we thought but we are very happy we were able to make the house our own.
If you have to live in the house while the renovations are going on then Id wait to buy something updated. We are staying in our apt until the entire house has been completed so it hasnt been bad, it just stinks paying a mortgage for a house you're not living in yet!
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| Posted 11/1/06 9:10 AM |
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greenfreak
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Member since 9/06 11483 total posts
Name:
greenfreak
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Re: Would you buy a house...
That's the exact situation we're looking for actually. We might be concerned about problem updates - like if the roof leaked or something. But if it's merely cosmetic, that's our best option.
We want it the way we want it. So if the kitchen is beautiful but a color we hate, that's not going to be good. We'd rather have an old style kitchen that we can update ourselves without feeling like we're wasting money.
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| Posted 11/1/06 9:29 AM |
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Blu-ize
Plan B is Now Plan A
Member since 7/05 32475 total posts
Name:
Susan
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Re: Would you buy a house...
If it's cosmetic yes, if it's structural no.
Cosmetic things can be done over time. If you would be able to live in the house then yes.
All improvements for the most part cost more than you think when contracting it out.
DH and I became somewhat handy very quickly. We won't renovate a bathroom or anything like that but we now paint, caulk, fix leaks, replace hoses..etc..we didn't know anything about that before.
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| Posted 11/1/06 9:37 AM |
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dpli
Daylight savings :)
Member since 5/05 13973 total posts
Name:
D
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Posted by BackInNewYork
It depends on if it was liveable in the time being and how much it would cost to update it.
In my case, my DH is not handy AT ALL, so I know if we bought a fixer upper we would have to hire out all the work and it would be $$$$.
This is exactly my answer. If the work is more cosmetic - painting, paying someone to put in new cabinets, etc. I would consider the house. If the house needs major work and we would have to gut areas, I would probably pass for something in better shape.
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| Posted 11/1/06 10:03 AM |
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CouponKT
Our family is complete
Member since 6/06 16494 total posts
Name:
K
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Re: Would you buy a house...
I would buy it. Eventually, you would want to change everything in the house to the way to want it, so why not start now?
Go for it!
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| Posted 11/1/06 10:09 AM |
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TheLorax
LOVE
Member since 2/06 5581 total posts
Name:
Suzanne / SuzBride
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Re: Would you buy a house...
I wouldn't but only because DH isn't very handy (love him dearly), so we would need to contract out most of the work. If DH was a bit more handy and motivated, then definitely! Totally worth it in the end
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| Posted 11/1/06 10:24 AM |
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ODonnell
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Member since 9/05 5983 total posts
Name:
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Re: Would you buy a house...
Absolutely. We did and we love our home.
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| Posted 11/1/06 10:42 AM |
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Eleanor
LIF Adult
Member since 2/06 2223 total posts
Name:
Ellie
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Re: Would you buy a house...
yes yes yes!!!!! (unless there were structural damage - ie foundation)
We did this and wouldn't have been able to touch the area if the house hadn't come up!
The only draw back, when you talk to home service people and you tell them a desirable area, I swear dollar signs show up in their eyes!!! I want to tell the people how bad shape everything was before and how little we paid! LOL
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| Posted 11/1/06 2:26 PM |
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