Should I Purchase a Fixer-Upper
March 2, 2022 | Posted by: Sherry Corbitt
Many people are skeptical when it comes to fixer-upper houses. However, purchasing a fixer-upper may become your dream home, depending on your preferences and financial situation. Before you can answer if this is a good choice, you need to analyze your skills, schedule, and financial situation.
What is a Fixer-Upper?
A fixer-upper is a house listed at a lower price than other houses. This house will include many maintenance repairs that need to be completed. This can consist of the house foundation, roofing, electrical, plumbing, or heating/AC.
Things that Show a fixer-upper is for you
Construction Experience
To make a fixer-upper livable to your liking, there most likely will be a handful of various repairs that you will need to do. If you have construction experience, a fixer-upper is a perfect project for you. Although you can hire other construction workers to complete the repairs, this will not be worth buying the fixer-upper house. Hiring construction workers can add up very quickly. When you can construct yourself, you are not only saving money on not having to hire workers, but you are saving a lot of materials. When you work on the house yourself, you can easily choose what materials to use. In addition, you can be very creative about cutting costs at stores, such as selecting different models or asking for discounts.
You Are a Fast Worker
Tying into the previous point, being a fast worker is an important factor when purchasing a fixer upper. Although many people may want to take their time making their dream house, this can be a downside. You can quickly lose track of time when you do not plan when every item should be completed. To avoid this cycle of stress and not being prepared, you must have a realistic time plan set in place if you plan to do this. Get a calendar out and set dates for when you plan to have your materials ready, when you want to start a section of the house, and when you plan on completing that section. Of course, things happen in life, so it is realistic for some of these dates to change. Yet the point of having this schedule plan is so that you have a time period to work towards, which will help you stay on task.
Customizing Your House Precisely
If you want your house to be designed to your liking, then a fixer-upper is perfect. Since many things already need to be replaced and fixed, it is worth it. You can have a layout of where you want things situated, appliances, and designs and colours. Redecorating homes has been very popular within the past couple of years, as people have had more time off in the earlier stages of the pandemic. There are many tutorials on more accessible ways to save money on your house repairs. These tutorials include decorating walls and rooms, such as kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. Many people think that decorating your dream home has to be expensive. Yet these repairs and decorations can be done in the budget range. First, you need to establish what materials you are using, whether they are bought from a cheaper section of a hardware store or if you are reusing materials you already have.
Things that Show a fixer-upper is not for you
The Fix-Up Cost is Not Worth it
Although most cases, purchasing a fixer-upper can have many rewards with saving money. Yet there are some cases where a fixer-upper house can take more money than what is worth it. In some cases, buying an already-ready home can be cheaper than making a lot of repairs on a house that was cheaper to purchase initially. Some costs that can rake up the bank include fixing holes or sinking in the house's foundation. This can take thousands of dollars to repair and cannot be done quickly. Unless you have a lot of experience in this area, you may need to hire people to fix it. Roofing is another necessary repair yet can require a lot of money to complete. Depending on what type of tiles or roofing you plan to use, it can range anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000. If you consider hiring workers to complete these tasks, expect the price to go up a couple of thousand.
Busy Career
One thing that can restrict many people from fixing up a fixer-upper is their schedule with work. Various people work full time, and having the time to complete this task can ultimately be impossible. Although you may think you can work on your house over the weekends and evenings, it is essential to consider your other commitments in life. You need to ensure you have enough time to complete everyday tasks, spend time with family, and take time for yourself. If you were to take on the job of fixing up a house, you would no doubt quickly become overwhelmed and overly stressed.
You are Not Organized
With a home project like this, there are many factors involved. You need to have a list of the repairs that need to be done, a timeline for when you want these tasks started and finished, materials, and your budget. For a home project like this to be successful and done well, you need to be organized. If you are not indexed, purchasing a fixer-upper home may not work that well for you. Even if you happen to miss one of these things on the list, such as not having a budget, it will already not be a successful project for you. When you are disorganized, you can easily waste money by not keeping track of what you have purchased and planned to use. You can also feel motivated to start this project, yet you may not feel motivated to finish in a few weeks since you did not create a plan.
If you are a homebuyer, purchasing a fixer-upper is undoubtedly a significant decision you need to make. Ensure that you go over the various factors before making a decision.
If you have any questions about purchasing a fixer-upper house, please reach out to me!
Sherry Corbitt, Mortgage Broker
