Will you look at my details and tell me if the repairs to this house are worth it?

Question

Not so bad things:

Kitchen will need new cabinets
Needs new carpet
Bathroom will need to be updated
Needs heating and cooling unit
Needs a fresh coat of paint

Questionable things I have no idea about:

A hole in the living room ceiling needs repaired. Someone stepped through it in the attic. Is this an easy fix?

I'm paying cash for this house. It has a huge yard, nice deck and an extra bedroom I can rent out to another student.

I would not be hiring anyone to do any of the work. My uncle owns a heating and cooling business (my fam gets deals), my other uncle is a land surveyor and contractor, my other uncle is into real estate investments.

My moms friend's friend remodeled her bathroom for her and just asked for a hot dinner ;) Although my dad had just died, they probably felt sorry for her.

Answer 1

I always get a charge out of what some people *think* it costs to do renovations in a house.
jane mentions 4000 for a heating/cooling unit. Have fun with that when your house is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. That amount will not buy much of a unit never mind the install.
jane also forgot to mention when she says a couple hundred bucks for cabinets that there's also the countertop to install and a sink and taps. Maybe a backsplash if reqired. Is she thinks that's a couple hundred bucks, invite her over to do it.
For the carpet, she's talking 3 bedrooms, you're talking the whole house. Keep that in mind.
1000 for bathroom? Once again she has forgotten most of the incidentals. I'm talking sink, taps, bathtub, tub surround, drywall/cement board, tape and mud, tiles maybe, vanity top, fan if required, toilet, toilet seat, plumbing fixtures, shutoffs if needed, water supply tubes, and then there's that little leak that causes all the damage AFTER you have finished doing all that. Also, flooring for the bathroom and that could also include replacing the subfloor or adding more subfloor.
The 50 bucks for the hole may be about the cost of materials, but how good of a matchinmg job are you going to be able to do? I have seen some real messes and have also fixed some real messes.

There are some things a homeowner can do and some things that they shouldn't do. Sometimes they try and then they call me to come and fix it. They could have hired me to do the job cheaper than the end price for fixing it the *right* way.

Please remind me to never buy anything that jane has owned.

Just some points to ponder on so you don't get in over your head as many homeowners do. If you can't afford to do it all at once, do some now and some later but have someone who knows what they're doing. Once things get ripped off or knocked off, it's a whole new ballgame beind them or under them.

I would say some of the estimates in the first post may be a bit high but it's a lot closer to reality than jane in. She's right out to lunch with everything but the painting.

Answer 2

Sounds like the deck is pretty nice, if there were a way to get rid of the house and keep the deck.

These repairs are going to cost you the price of the house. One estimate is about twice as high as it should be (Mels) those kitchen cabinets, if you want to save money, get unfinished and do the finishing yourself.
Do you need a cooling unit, if you got a heating unit only, you could save a lot.

There are ways to save on this but, you have to concede on some of them. You have a lot of repairs here, major ones.

You should have had someone look at the place for you first, when you say "questionable things" it worries me.

Answer 3

There are too many variables and unknowns to get even a ballpark figure from an Internet forum. Any WAG by well meaning amateurs could be thousands off. When it’s our money you need more accurate information.

Here’s the deal:
- Find out what the market value of the house will be when repaired. A Realtor or consultant can help.
- Get a total repair estimate from a General Contractor.
- Do the math.
Market value - Cost of Purchase - Cost of Repairs = Equity
-

Answer 4

if you do some of the work yourself you can get this done for under $12,000. the heating and cooling is your biggest expense and needs a professional install, about $4,000 depending on the size of the house. the kitchen cabinets you buy prebuilt at Home Depot or Lowes and easy to install yourself or they will install for a few hundred. I think $3000 for some mid grade ones. carpet, i just did a 3 bedrooms for $800 mid grade carpet and nice pad and Lowes installed. the bathroom could get all new fixtures for less than $1000, get some books on plumbing and talk to your hardware associate, this is not difficult to do with the right information in hand. plumbers can charge $80 or more per hour so use them minimally. paint is cheap, about $100 per room for Behr or Olympia which is good paint, do it yourself. if want Ralph Lauren or something your gonna pay 3 times that. the hole can be repaired easily by a drywall patch depending on it's size about $50 max cost here, you can do it yourself. BTW: i remold houses for a living.

Answer 5

Kitchen cabinets estimate $15000
Carpet $10000
Bathroom $8000
heating $10000
Paint $1000

These are low estimates.

Ceiling $500 to patch drywall

Answer 6

It sounds like the front walk is in great shape, you just need a new house.

Answer 7

How much and where?